Spectrum: Autism Research News

Some mutations that contribute to autism and arise spontaneously may be mistaken for inherited mutations.

About 1 in 40 children in the United States has autism, according to a survey conducted in 2016. Roughly 30 percent of those children were not being treated for the condition at the time.

Parents may speak to their autistic children using fewer words and less complex sentences than do parents of typical children, which in turn shapes the children’s language skills.

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.

A cellular pathway that helps neurons grow and move during fetal development may drive the changes in head size in some autistic people.

Experiences may shape the human brain by altering neurons that boost brain activity.

Modified stem cells show promise for delivering gene-based therapies to individuals with Angelman syndrome.

Mice lacking one copy of a leading autism gene have hyperexcitable brains and problems with learning and memory.

Balls of human neurons transplanted into a rat brain receive blood supply and connect with neural circuits.

Analyzing large numbers of autism mice, researchers have found that the mice cluster into subtypes based on brain structure and functional connectivity.