Cara Westmark has spent the past year building the case that a drug designed for fragile X syndrome might help coronavirus patients, too.

Some therapies use play and other activities to reinforce skills that autistic children often find challenging. Trials show these methods can change a child’s trajectory for the better, but the evidence base remains thin.

Aripiprazole, an antipsychotic medication marketed as Abilify, eases aggressive behavior in autistic children, but questions remain about its side effects.

A new approach for delivering gene therapy to the brain reduces nerve damage in primates and could help make gene therapies for conditions related to autism safer.

Two unpublished studies detail improved techniques for delivering gene therapies to the brain.

Treatments for Rett syndrome that aim to boost levels of the protein MECP2 may not help everyone with the condition.

Intranasal oxytocin may spur new neuron growth and changes in social behavior after a few weeks.

Mice that model 22q11.2 deletion syndrome lack social memory, but that trait can be reversed using a drug that targets the flow of potassium ions in neurons.

This is part 2 of Owen’s story. It tracks his early progress in treatment for autism. Part 1 described his difficult path to a diagnosis.

Studies of autism treatments rarely report adverse events, and the scientists involved often fail to disclose their conflicts of interest.