Communication problems have always been considered a core feature of autism. Yet there are substantial and wide-ranging differences in how people with autism communicate.

In a new program, teachers recruit typical students to help children with autism play during recess.

Examining the teenage years presents a major opportunity for understanding and treating autism.

Many girls hide their autism, sometimes evading diagnosis well into adulthood. These efforts can help women on the spectrum socially and professionally, but they can also do serious harm.

The foster care system is becoming a critical component of care for children with autism.

Experts from various fields should work with parents to develop a standardized questionnaire for gut problems in people with autism.

Measures of adaptive functioning may better assess the ability of autistic people to meet daily demands than do intelligence tests.

Children with autism who have sleep problems are often distracted, hyperactive, irritable and aggressive.

Behavioral interventions and medications can help children with autism-related syndromes sleep better, but the treatments must be tailored to the cause of each child’s sleep disturbance.

Autism researchers and funding agencies should turn their attention to sleep in autism — and its many connections to health, mood and behavior.