Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and Williams syndrome (WS) both are neurodevelopmental disorders, each with a unique social phenotypic pattern. This review article aims to define the similarities and differences between the social phenotypes of ASD and WS. We review studies that have examined individuals with WS using diagnostic assessments such as the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (AD...

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are etiologically heterogeneous, with hundreds of rare, highly penetrant mutations and genomic imbalances involved, each contributing to a very small fraction of cases. In this issue of Molecular Autism, Soorya and colleagues evaluated 32 patients with Phelan-McDermid syndrome, caused by either deletion of 22q13.33 or SHANK3 mutations, using gold-standard diagnos...

The autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) are behaviorally-defined developmental disorders of the immature brain which affect three domains of behavior: sociability and empathy; communication, language and imagination; and mental flexibility and range of interests. Main symptoms include motion disorders and stereotyped behaviors. This paper presents a neural-network based approach for the analysis ...

It takes considerable time before Autism Spectrum Disorders are diagnosed. Validated diagnostic instruments are available, but not applicable to primary healthcare. By means of a case-control study we investigated whether there were differences in presented complaints and referral patterns between children with ASD (n = 49) and a control group of children without ASD (n = 81). Children with ASD...

Restricted and repetitive behaviors (RRBs) on the Autism Diagnostic Interview- Revised (ADI-R: Lord, Rutter, & Le Couteur (1994) were examined in 165 children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), 49 children with non-spectrum developmental disorders (DD), and 65 children with typical development (TD) at approximately 2 years of age. A factor analysis found evidence for a repetitive sensorimoto...

BACKGROUND An association of selective IgA (immunoglobulin A) deficiency in individuals with autism has been previously described. The objective of this study was to examine the incidence of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in children and siblings of selective IgA deficient patients. OBJECTIVE to assess the likelihood of parents with the most common type of primary immunodeficiency (selective...

A clear and predictive understanding of the etiology of autism spectrum disorders (ASD), a group of neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by varying deficits in social interaction and communication as well as repetitive behaviors, has not yet been achieved. There remains active debate about the origins of autism, and the degree to which genetic and environmental factors, and their interpla...

This study examined the incidence of extreme sensory modulation behaviors in toddlers with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and investigated the consistency of sensory information across measures. Parent report of sensory behaviors in 101 toddlers with ASD was compared with 100 toddlers who were typically developing matched on chronological age and 99 additional infants or toddlers matched on me...

Autism and autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are heterogeneous complex neuro-developmental disorders characterized by dysfunctions in social interaction and communication skills. Their pathogenesis has been linked to interactions between genes and environmental factors. Consistent with the evidence of certain similarities between immune cells and neurons, autistic children also show an altered i...