Micromovements Hold Hidden Information About Severity of Autism, Researchers Report

Movements so minute they cannot be detected by the human eye are being analyzed by researchers to diagnose autism spectrum disorder and determine its severity in children and young adults.

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Making Sense of Sensation in Autism

Occupational therapy helps children with autism improve their ability to perform everyday better than standard behavioral therapy.

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UCLA First to Map Autism-Risk Genes by Function

UCLA scientists mapped groups of autism-risk genes by function, and identified how mutations in these genes disrupt fetal brain development. Their findings prioritize targets for future research and shed light on autism's molecular origins.

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Neurons in Brain’s ‘Face Recognition Center’ Respond Differently in Patients With Autism

Certain neurons in the brain’s “face-recognition center” perform differently in patients who have autism. In what are believed to be the first studies of their kind, Cedars-Sinai researchers recording the real-time firing of individual nerve cells in the brain found that a specific type of neuron in a structure called the amygdala performed differently in people who suffer from autism spectrum disorder than in those who do not.

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iPads Help Children with Autism Develop Language

Some parents were able to converse with their children for the first time with the help of language development programs on an iPad. Turns out children with autism can learn speech later than previously thought.

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Problem-Solving Education Reduces Parental Stress After Child Autism Diagnosis

A cognitive-behavioral intervention known as problem-solving education (PSE) may help reduce parental stress and depressive symptoms immediately after their child is diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), according to a study by Emily Feinberg, CPNP, Sc.D., of Boston University School of Public Health, and colleagues.

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Clinical Psychologist Alexandra Solomon, PhD Available to Discuss Issues Facing Families With Special Needs Children

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Creighton Professor Probes Protein Connected to Autism

Shashank Dravid, Ph.D., received more than $400,000 from the NIH to study a protein believed to play a role in the development of autism spectrum disorders.

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Scientist Identify Genetic Link Between Language Impairment and Autism

In the first molecular genetic study of families with a history of both language impairment and autism, scientists may have uncovered a shared origin for the two conditions, an important step toward explaining why some cases of autism are accompanied by language difficulties and others are not. The study indicates that a disorder called specific language impairment—one of the most common developmental delays in children—may be caused by the same genetic variants that lead to language difficulties in some children with autism.

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New Study Examines Link Between Pregnancy Weight Gain, Autism Spectrum Disorders

Previous studies have identified links between women’s prepregnancy body mass index (BMI) and pregnancy weight gain to an increased risk for the development of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in children. But in the new study from University of Utah, researchers build on prior research by identifying an association between autism spectrum disorder risk and prenatal weight gain, after accounting for important related factors such as a woman’s prepregnancy BMI.

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