The world’s largest genetic scan of people with autism in their families has found that many patients have their own unique pattern of genetic mutations, not necessarily inherited. Continue Reading

By SHIRLEY S. WANG

By taking scans of sleeping children, researchers are discovering what occurs in the brains of babies and young children with autism.Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, to peer at images of the children’s brains, researchers from the University of California, San Diego, found that autistic children as young as 14 months use different brain regions than youngsters with more typical development when hearing bedtime stories. Continue Reading

By Mark Roth, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

There is something obviously wrong in the brains of people with autism, and one of the chief symptoms of that is the difficulty they have in understanding other people’s emotions and intentions.But exactly what causes that social awkwardness is still being debated among neuroscientists — and the debate only got sharper on Wednesday. Continue Reading

By Jenifer Goodwin
HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, May 7 (HealthDay News) — Infections during infancy or childhood do not seem to raise the risk of autism, new research finds. Continue Reading

The MIND Institute at UC Davis is enrolling participants in clinical trials for an autism treatment developed by Curemark LLC, a drug research and development company in Rye, N.Y. Continue Reading

A self-advocate and Autism Speaks’ chief science officer are among the latest appointees to a federal committee tasked with guiding autism research priorities. Continue Reading

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Many kids are picky eaters but new research suggests the trait is even more common in autistic children who tend to refuse more foods and are more likely to restrict their diets to a smaller variety of foods than other children. Continue Reading

SARAH WHYTE

CHILDREN with autism who attend weekly playgroups have improved development and social skills, a study has found, supporting the inclusion of children with autism into mainstream education. Continue Reading

ASHER MOSES

Few can legitimately boast that an iPhone app changed their life but for 10-year-old Grace Domican, unable to speak due to autism, the touchscreen phone has given her a voice for the first time. Continue Reading

By ALYSSA FORD

Joe Keely of Bloomington never gave up on his lifelong goal of making Scouting’s highest rank. Continue Reading