By Miriam Falco, CNN

November 30, 2009 1:49 a.m. EST

Researchers have shown for the first time that if a child is diagnosed with autism as early as 18 months of age, offering the toddler age-appropriate, effective therapy can lead to raised IQ levels and improved language skills and behavior.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/conditions/11/30/autism.study/

HILLSBOROUGH (CBS 5) ―

The mother of an autistic child developed an online tool that helps parents track their children’s progress and may aid scientists in the search for a solution.

http://cbs5.com/local/charm.autism.tracker.2.1330241.html

By ERIC ADLER

The Kansas City Star

Each year, tens of thousands of children diagnosed with autism, from mild to severe, enter adulthood and leave the safe confines of schools and their services behind.Every day, their parents, such as Jennifer Smith-Currier of Gardner, worry what will become of them.

http://www.kansascity.com/105/story/1569350.html

By Michelle Diament

November 10, 2009

Mothers of adolescents and adults with autism experience chronic stress comparable to combat soldiers and struggle with frequent fatigue and work interruptions, new research finds. These moms also spend significantly more time caregiving than moms of those without disabilities. Researchers followed a group of moms of adolescents and adults with autism for eight days in a row. Moms were interviewed at the end of each day about their experiences and on four of the days researchers measured the moms’ hormone levels to assess their stress.

http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2009/11/10/autism-moms-stress/6121/

A Powerful Identity, a Vanishing Diagnosis

Much of the growing prevalence of autism, which now affects about 1 percent of American children, according to federal data, can be attributed to Asperger’s and other mild forms of the disorder. And Asperger’s has exploded into popular culture through books and films depicting it as the realm of brilliant nerds and savantlike geniuses.

But no sooner has Asperger consciousness awakened than the disorder seems headed for psychiatric obsolescence. Though it became an official part of the medical lexicon only in 1994, the experts who are revising psychiatry’s diagnostic manual have proposed to eliminate it from the new edition, due out in 2012.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/03/health/03asperger.html?_r=1

By: Amy Norton

Reuters Health

When one identical twin develops the developmental disorder autism, the risk of the other developing it is high — substantially higher than it is for fraternal twins, a new study confirms. The study, which gathered information from 277 twin pairs in which at least one had an autistic disorder, found that when one identical twin developed an autistic disorder, the other one also did 88 percent of the time.

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE59L4MW20091022

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -

Children with autism have mercury levels similar to those of other kids, suggesting the mysterious disorder is caused by a range of factors rather than “a single smoking gun,” researchers said on Monday. The researchers at the University of California, Davis, initially found that children aged 2 to 5 with autism had mercury levels lower than other children because the autistic kids ate less fish, the biggest source of mercury that shows up in the blood.

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE59I4W020091019

By Lee Howard

Diane Stephenson of Groton has three tangible reasons for wanting to know as much as possible about autism. Stephenson, associate research fellow at Pfizer Inc.’s Groton laboratories who helped start an autism research unit there earlier this year, has two nephews and a niece with the neurological disorder, which is often accompanied by language difficulties, behavioral problems, sleep interruptions, poor eye contact and low social skills.

http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=019e5c81-642a-4600-90e6-dd5846d3fd22

Anne McIlroy, The Globe and Mail

People with autism were 40 per cent faster at finishing an intelligence test that measures reasoning than volunteers without the disorder, a new Canadian study has found.

Using a brain scanner, the scientists also discovered that their autistic subjects used different parts of their brain to solve problems. They said the work, published in the journal Human Brain Mapping, could lead to new ways to help people with autism learn.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/science/people-with-autism-ace-intelligence-test/article1184701/People with autism ace intelligence test

By Bruce Bower, Science News

PARK CITY, Utah — Mothers with teenagers or young adults living at home face plenty of stress. If the young home-dwellers have been diagnosed with autism, the emotional intensity of caregiving surges dramatically in the mothers and may undermine the functioning of a critical stress hormone, a long-term study suggests.

Over a five-year span, women who had children with autism living at home reported many more challenges in their daily lives than women caring for typically developing teens and young adults, reported psychologist Marsha Seltzer of the University of Wisconsin–Madison on June 4 at the annual meeting of the Jean Piaget Society. Moms of children with autism spent nearly all of their time on caregiving activities, experienced an inordinate amount of daily fatigue, often got into arguments at home and at work, and reported having negative feelings far more often than positive ones.

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/44407/title/Autism_care_takes_biological_toll_on_mothers