Autism News From Medical News Today

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a group of developmental disabilities that can cause considerable social, communication and behavioral challenges. People with ASD often have issues with social, emotional, and communication skills. They might repeat certain behaviors and might not be comfortable with change occurring in their daily activities. Many people with ASD also have different ways of learning, paying attention, or reacting to things. There is currently no cure for ASD. However, research shows that early intervention treatment services can improve a child’s development.

• MRI reveals striking brain differences in people with genetic autism

  In the first major study of its kind, researchers using MRI have identified structural abnormalities in the brains of people with one of the most common genetic causes of autism, according to a new...

• No wonder cure, but music therapy can still be helpful for children with autism

  An international study finds the improvements from improvisational music therapy, on symptoms of autism, to be similar to those who do not receive music therapy.

• Autism may reflect excitation-inhibition imbalance in brain, study finds

  A study by Stanford University investigators suggests that key features of autism reflect an imbalance in signaling from excitatory and inhibitory neurons in a portion of the forebrain, and that...

• People with autism are less surprised by the unexpected

  Adults with autism may overestimate the volatility of the world around them, finds a new UCL study published in Nature Neuroscience.

• Autism severity detected with brain activity test

  UCLA researchers have discovered that children with autism have a tell-tale difference on brain tests compared with other children.

• Antidepressant use in pregnant women linked to small increase in autism

  A new study found that antidepressant medications taken during pregnancy may be linked to the development of autism in children - although the effect appears to be limited.

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Latest Aspergers Syndrome News and Research

• First in-car study of rush hour pollution finds alarming results

  The first in-car measurements of exposure to pollutants that cause oxidative stress during rush hour commutes has turned up potentially alarming results.

• Developmental Split-Brain syndrome discovery

  Our group describes a new entity, which we refer to as “Developmental Split-Brain syndrome” which we discovered affected four individuals from three unrelated families. All affected individuals showed disruption of communicating tracts between the right and left side of the brain which meant that there is lack of coordination and communication between the two sides of the brain.

• Researchers discover 'Developmental Split-Brain syndrome' caused by biallelic mutations in DCC gene

  In a study published in Nature Genetics, Dr Saumya Jamuar, co-founder of Global Gene Corp and a visiting scientist at Harvard Medical School, under the supervision of Prof Christopher Walsh and A/Prof Timothy Yu of Harvard Medical School, reports on a new disease entity that they discovered in their quest to map novel human disorders related to brain development.

• Augmented reality improves mental abilities of children with autism

  Augmented reality is of considerable help to children with disabilities and children with special educational needs (SEN) - autism, Asperger's syndrome, ADHD, and others. So says Veska Aleksieva, an experienced educational expert, regarding the products of Duard, a European-based company specialising in augmented reality

• Vanderbilt engineers develop virtual-reality driving environment to help teenagers with ASD

  Astronauts and pilots use them. So do truck drivers and Formula One race-car drivers.

• University of Derby introduces new MOOC to provide better knowledge on autism, Asperger’s and ADHD

  A new Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) to educate anyone interested in learning more about autism, Asperger’s and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has been launched by the University of Derby.