Treatments

About one in three autistic people in the United Kingdom is prescribed drugs designed to alter brain function.

The brains of rats exposed in utero to the seizure drug valproate show a significant increase in brain size around the time of birth.

Consuming Lactobacillus reuteri, a gut microbe found in yogurt and breast milk, may enhance social interactions in three mouse models of autism.

Case reports suggest electroconvulsive therapy is effective for treating catatonia in people with autism.

The latest study to show that autistic children tend to be overweight suggests that the risk is greatest for those at the severe end of the spectrum.

The first monkey with a mutation in SHANK3, a top autism gene, is nearly 3; it spends its days circling its cage rather than interacting with other monkeys.