Autism Spectrum Disorders News

Improvisational music therapy was not significantly superior to enhanced standard care for children with autism spectrum disorders.

The Autism Observation Scale for Infants, or AOSI, can help ascertain young children with tuberous sclerosis complex who are at higher risk for autism spectrum disorder, according to findings recently published in Pediatric Neurology.

Intranasal oxytocin can improve social functioning in children with autism spectrum disorder, with specific benefits observed for signaling deficits, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Autism was more common in children exposed to antidepressants during pregnancy, compared with children not exposed to antidepressants whose mothers had a history of psychiatric disorder.

Although significant strides have been made in helping youths with autism transition to adulthood, there are still areas where research can help facilitate this process and overcome the challenges these patients face, according to a recent report in Pediatric Annals.

Stress, not dietary intake, contributes to gastrointestinal issues in children with autism spectrum disorder, according to a presentation from the 2017 International Meeting for Autism Research.

Measuring certain proteins in the blood may help physicians diagnose autism spectrum disorder earlier, according to findings published in the Journal of Neuroinflammation.

Greater activation in brain regions associated with social abilities predicted better treatment response among young adults with autism receiving virtual reality therapy.

Autism was associated with an increased risk for violent crime; however, the association was significantly attenuated by comorbid ADHD or conduct disorder, according to recent findings.

Therapies that target the gut microbiome through diet, prebiotics, probiotics, antibiotics or fecal microbiota transplantation could effectively treat autism spectrum disorders, but finding a “cheap and effective treatment” requires better designed and larger studies, according to researchers who reviewed more than 150 studies published since the 1960s.