Autism and ill health: how to spot the subtle signs that something is wrong
People with autism and learning disabilities can die up to 20 years prematurely. So how can we help carers and health workers diagnose illness in non-verbal patients?
Autism in film: X+Y is audacious – but is it cliched or the real deal?
In X+Y, a gifted young man prepares for a mathematics contest. Does it, and films like it, misrepresent or empower those who are on the autistic spectrum?
How robots are helping children with autism
Eleanor Tucker: Researchers believe robots hold the key to early diagnosis, as well as teaching social skills. What can they do that humans can’t?
Autistic boys exposed to higher levels of hormones in womb, study finds
Study of amniotic fluid shows boys with autism had raised levels of testosterone, cortisol and other hormones in the womb
Are we ready for a prenatal screening test for autism?
David Cox: A blood test for diagnosing autism is becoming a realistic possibility, but the ethical implications are profound
The Reason I Jump: One Boy’s Voice from the Silence of Autism, by Naoki Higashida – review
This extraordinary book, written by a 13-year-old autistic boy, challenges popular preconceptions of the condition, says Ned Denny
Autism: inside the brain bank
World Autism Day is on 2 April and new funding is in place to research the causes of the condition. But the programme now desperately needs tissue donors
What I’m really thinking: the autism adviser
'I feel your desperation; your desire for me to get out my magic wand to fix it all'
Far from the Tree: A Dozen Kinds of Love by Andrew Solomon – review
Tim Adams is moved by a study of how disability, crime or illness test the limits of parental love
‘My worries for my son became metaphors in my writing’
At first Max Marek was born with a cleft lip, later he was diagnosed with autism, and then he began to have fits. His father writes of pouring his love and fears into surreal short stories