For years autism was seen as primarily a male disorder. But some researchers are asking whether girls with ASD are going undiagnosed, especially those at the high-functioning end of the spectrum? Do girls simply do a better job masking their symptoms? Are their symptoms being missed by diagnostic tools that may be better suited to boys? As researcher John N. Constantino M.D. put it, are doctors looking at girls through "boy-colored glasses"?
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Diagnosis and autism
The psychiatric manual known as the DSM-5 is being revised, and the definition of autism is being revised with it. Read about the changes being made, how they improve current definitions, and the hopes and concerns being expressed by families and advocates as the await the new DSM's publication. In addition, learn how research made possible by thousands of families taking part in the Simons Simplex Collection (SSC) and IAN projects has helped to inform the process and improve the final result.
Autism occurs more frequently in certain disorders, including fragile X syndrome, or FXS. Fragile X, the most common cause of inherited intellectual disability, is caused by the mutation of a single gene, called FMR1, on the X chromosome.
Significant new research findings just published in the American Journal of Psychiatry include a higher than expected rate of language delay, sometimes with autistic features, in siblings
A child’s diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often comes after months or years of worry and a long and painful search for answers. Receiving that final, official word can be very hard, even if parenta expected the diagnosis, or fought fiercely for the evaluation that led to it. As they begin to regroup, learning how to navigate education, medical, and insurance systems, they may also wonder: When will we tell our child about this diagnosis? When will we tell his brothers and sisters? How will we tell them?
Over the past
Date First Published: February 24, 2010
Answers to frequently asked questions about getting an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis, from one of the experts who developed the current definition of ASD.
ICD-10 Diagnostic Criteria for Research - F84.3 - Other Childhood Disintegrative Disorder 1
The rarest of the autism spectrum disorders, Childhood Disintegrative Disorder,1 was removed from the psychiatric diagnosis manual as a separate diagnosis in 2013.