Neurons in an Autism Model Fail to Distinguish Social From Non-Social Touch

3 clues in the way you walk could be signs of autism

An “odd gait” is one of the key diagnostic signs doctors look for when identifying autism, often showing up in early childhood.

This new study challenges long-standing beliefs about autism

Prior research has shown that people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often experience difficulties recognizing faces and even emotional responses. This, many speculate, is what leads individuals with autism to exhibit social communication problems. But the problem with this understanding is that we’ve never had any clear evidence of how a brain affected by autism perceives the human face and body. This has left us with plenty of questions, b…

Neurons in an autism model fail to distinguish social from non-social touch

New research provides a potential brain-based explanation for social touch aversion in some forms of autism. A study published in Nature Communications finds that in a mouse model of Fragile X syndrome, a leading genetic cause of autism, neurons in key sensory and emotional brain regions fail to differentiate between being touched by another mouse and being touched by a plastic object. This apparent neural confusion is mirrored in the animals’ b…

Four autism subtypes map onto distinct genes, traits

An analysis of more than 5,000 autistic children and their siblings underscores the idea that autism can be understood as multiple conditions with distinct trajectories.

New ‘Types’ of Autism Identified in Novel Genetic Study

There’s a common refrain in the autism community: “If you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve met one person with autism.”e60dc2a1-f33c-4a05-9b50-8e3e8e59762980e79057-9cc8-4d78-b30a-c5a75e563514 Dozens of behaviors and characteristics are linked to autism spectrum disorder (ASD) , and no two people experience it the same way.e60dc2a1-f33c-4a05-9b50-8e3e8e59762985b61943-8b3f-4c80-b4e8-74ae08e314ce Now, a new study published in Nature Genetics e…

Four Biologically, Clinically Distinct Autism Subtypes Identified

The findings from more than 5000 children with autism spectrum disorder could pave the way for precision diagnosis and care, researchers say. Medscape Medical News