In the past year, several studies have suggested that brain scans will soon help clinicians diagnose autism. But many experts say these scans are far from — and may never be — ready for use as diagnostic tests.
What’s known about the genetics of autism supports the ‘snowflake’ hypothesis — that the molecular underpinnings of disease are essentially unique from individual to individual — says human geneticist Brett Abrahams.
Mice with a mutation in SHANK3, a leading autism candidate gene, show moderate social defects, including less-than-normal interest in other mice. The findings, published 27 May in Cell, suggest that mutations in different sites on the gene can lead to different behaviors. This paper was retracted on 17 January 2013. Associate director of research Alan Packer discusses the implications of the retraction here.
An innovative academic program in New York City public schools is successfully educating children with high-functioning autism alongside their unaffected peers.
Autism is diagnosed based on the severity and variety of its symptoms. This makes it very difficult to diagnose and easy to confuse with other disorders, such as language delay and intellectual disability, cautions Isabelle Rapin.
Genetic screening of children with autism is critical to designing more effective interventions and treatment, says a pediatrician.
Speech-generating devices are a beneficial intervention for people with autism who cannot speak or sign, according to two studies published in the past few months.
Mice lacking CNTNAP2, a gene linked to autism and language impairment, show behaviors and brain abnormalities that reflect those seen in people with disorder, according to new findings presented Thursday at the International Meeting for Autism Research in San Diego.
A new analysis of children with autism and their unaffected parents provides the best evidence to date that mutations in multiple genes may work together to cause autism and related disorders.