Children with autism spectrum disorders are better able to recognize faces, facial expressions, and emotions with the help of an interactive computer program called FaceSay, according to newly published research from psychologists at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Included in this report is a video summary of these findings. ...

Free time is not always a fun time for people with autism. Giving them the power to choose their own leisure activities during free time, however, can boost their enjoyment, as well as improve communication and social skills, according to an international team of researchers. The researchers released their findings in the current issue of Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders. ...

New research on the genomics of autism confirms that the genetic roots of the disorder are highly complicated, but that common biological themes underlie this complexity. In the current study, researchers have implicated several new candidate genes and genomic variants as contributors to autism, and conclude that many more remain to be discovered. While the gene alterations are individually very rare, they ...

Funded by the Research Council’s Programme on Mental Health (PSYKISK), a sub-study of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) headed by Ms Posserud was conducted as part of the “Barn i Bergen” (Children in Bergen) project. The study shows that the diagnosis of ASD may apply to as much as one per cent of the population, according to Dr. Posserud, who is a doctor and researcher in the field of child psychiatry at Hau ...

Nationwide Children’s Hospital has been selected to join the Autism Speaks Autism Treatment Network (ATN), connecting Columbus with Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and the University of Missouri as the nation’s only ATN institutions in the Midwest region. The ATN is the nation's first network of hospitals and physicians dedicated to developing a model of comprehensive medical care for children ...

A recent investigation published by the British Medical Journal BMJ concluded that Dr. Andrew Wakefield misrepresented or altered the medical histories of all 12 of the patients whose cases formed the basis of a 1998 study linking Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) to childhood vaccines. Regardless of the cause, in the past decade there has been a huge increase in the incidence of children with Autistic Spec ...

Use of medical, mental health, and case management services for young adults with an autism spectrum disorder appears to decline after high school, according to a report in the February issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. ...

A study from MIT neuroscientists reveals that high-functioning autistic adults appear to have trouble using theory of mind to make moral judgments in certain situations. Specifically, the researchers found that autistic adults were more likely than non-autistic subjects to blame someone for accidentally causing harm to another person. This shows that their judgments rely more on the outcome of the incident ...

Autism Speaks, North America's largest autism science and advocacy organization, is pleased to announce the expansion of its Autism Treatment Network to include 17 leading children's hospitals and academic medical centers in the U.S. and Canada. The continuing and new participating centers are listed at the end of this report with a brief description of the facility and primary investigator. ...

Gerald Spindel, M.D., host of the "Eye On Health" series, recently interviewed neurofeedback expert Edward Jacobs, PhD. Dr. Jacobs is Board Certified in Neurofeedback (BCN) and practices psychology in southern New Hampshire. Dr. Jacobs, a polished and knowledgeable speaker, provides a balanced overview of neurofeedback and its use in the treatment of various disorders, such as attention deficit hyperactivit ...