Women scientists did much of the important early work in the field of autism, but they still struggle with lower salaries, more teaching responsibilities in their institutions and fewer opportunities to head up large, multi-center collaborations.
College students prefer the laughter of children with autism to that of typical children. This suggests that laughter may help children with the disorder connect with others.
New Jersey has the highest rates of autism in the U.S., but prevalence is highest in neighborhoods where annual incomes exceed $90,000.
Some of the same genetic risk factors may underlie both autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, according to a study published 10 August in Science Translational Medicine.
New studies of restricted and repetitive behaviors link autism to other disorders and may lead to more effective treatments.
People with autism aren’t the only ones who struggle to assume the perspective of others. Typical young people who are socially adept have good spatial skills — but only when asked to see things from the perspective of human-like objects.
Children who have more than one older sibling with autism have a one in three chance of developing the disorder themselves, according to a study published today in Pediatrics. The risk is higher for boys: Even if they have only one older sibling with autism, they are almost three times more likely than girls with the same family history to develop the disorder.
Memory is a notoriously unreliable guide, and this is especially true when strong emotions are involved. So it’s not surprising that parents of children with autism tend to recall the exact onset of their child’s symptoms with something less than accuracy.
Marriages between first cousins are frowned upon in the U.S. and western Europe, but they are common throughout much of the world. A new study shows that these consanguineous unions can help researchers uncover genetic risk factors for neurodevelopmental diseases.
The first study to sequence more than 100 genes on the X chromosome in people with autism or schizophrenia has turned up some promising leads.