Audio research news

The stubborn lack of treatments for fragile X syndrome — a leading cause of inherited intellectual disability and autism — is spurring researchers to revise clinical trial techniques and revisit old drug candidates.

Some types of restricted and repetitive behaviors become more prevalent among autistic children and teenagers over time, depending on their age and intellectual ability, whereas others decrease.

An advanced DNA-sequencing technique has identified gene-damaging mutations, some with ties to autism, in about 1 in 15 men.

For 40 years, the preponderance of autism research has focused on understanding the causes and characteristics of the condition rather than testing assessments or interventions in community settings.