A proposed new definition of autism could exclude many people now classified as having the disorder. The Times talked to Dr. Fred R. Volkmar, director of the Child Study Center at the Yale School of ...

Few diagnoses have broadened their diagnostic boundaries as much or as quickly as autism. This has affected those with the ...

Late at night, when I’m alone, I sometimes ponder what it means to be autistic. Do I experience sounds and smells differently from an allistic (non autistic) person? Scientific studies suggest I do.

The latest government data shows that autism prevalence is on the rise, but a newly-adopted standard for diagnosing the developmental disorder may be muddying the numbers. The definition of autism got ...

Fei, a mother of three, has two children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Her son Ben, 8, who also has weak core muscles attributed to autism, had received physical therapy (PT) since he ...

Five years after a sweeping overhaul of the diagnostic criteria for autism, research suggests that the changes have led fewer people to be identified with the developmental disorder. The definition of ...

The definition of autism is getting increasingly broader. As a result, we are building a new reality of the disorder that doesn’t accurately represent the most affected population. I first learned ...

An expert panel has taken a new crack at that question, proposing a redefinition of autism and related conditions for the manual used by U.S. mental health professionals. The plan has aroused fears ...

The number of people diagnosed with autism will likely decrease if a new definition of the disorder is adopted by mental health experts later this year. Doctors aren't sure what the implications of ...

I first learned about autism in 1997 in my high school psychology course. It was relegated to a small paragraph in a chapter on childhood disorders. The film Rainman had come out a decade earlier, ...