With no approved medications to treat autism, more parents are turning to alternative therapies to help their kids.
autistic
The First Drug that Could Ease Social Withdrawal in Autism
An experimental drug showed promising results in treating the key symptom of social withdrawal in people with Fragile X syndrome, the most common known inherited cause of autism with intellectual disability, according to a recent …
Why Autistic Kids Make Easy Targets for School Bullies
Bullying can lead to depression, low grades, behavioral problems and even physical illness because of the stress it causes — and kids with autism may be suffering the brunt of the harm
How a Squirt of Oxytocin Could Ease Marital Spats and Boost Social Sensitivity
Oxytocin focuses our eyes — and our brains — on love. It could help troubled couples as well as autistic people
Should Depressed People Avoid Having Children?
Do people with depression or other psychological problems have any moral obligation to forgo bearing children in order to avoid passing on their “bad” genes?
‘Shock’ School Trial: Where Is the Evidence that Abuse Helps Treat Autism?
The video is brutal: a young man, pinned face down in four-point restraints, receiving 31 electric shocks over the course of several hours that convulse his body with pain. But this is not Guantánamo or Syria.
Autism: Why Some Children ‘Bloom’ and Overcome Their Disabilities
About 10% of low-functioning children with autism may “bloom” and outgrow most of their severe disabilities by adolescence.
Understanding Why Autistic People May Reject Social Touch
One of the hardest challenges for families facing autism is the problem of touch. Often, autistic children resist hugging and other types of physical contact, causing distress all around.
Girls on the Spectrum: Q&A with the Author of Aspergirls
Is Asperger syndrome really less common in girls and women, or are females just better than males at masking autistic symptoms?
Prozac May Reduce Symptoms of Autism in Adults
The antidepressant Prozac may alleviate repetitive behavior and obsessive-compulsive symptoms in adults with autism, reducing these defining symptoms of the disorder, according to new research.
Could Amanda Knox Have an Autism Spectrum Disorder?
Amanda Knox, the 23-year-old American college student who was convicted of sexually assaulting and killing her roommate, Meredith Kercher, in Italy in 2007, allegedly after an orgy gone wrong, got good news this week. Independent …
A Controversial Autism Therapy Unravels a Family
Some unproven psychological therapies and techniques for autism aren’t simply ineffective. They can split families and cause untold harm to children, as one family in Michigan learned at terrible cost.
Q&A: Psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen on Empathy and the Science of Evil
Cambridge psychology professor and leading autism expert Simon Baron-Cohen is best known for studying the theory that a key problem in autistic disorders is “mind blindness,” difficulty understanding the thoughts, feelings and …