More than a decade ago, British parents refused to give measles shots to at least a million children because of a vaccine scare that raised the specter of autism. Now, health officials are scrambling to catch up and stop a growing epidemic of the contagious disease. This year, the U.K. has had more than 1,200

U.S. researchers say autistic boys treated with sensory-motor enrichment showed marked improvement compared to boys receiving traditional treatment.Study co-author Cynthia C. Woo, a project scientist at the University of California, Irvine, said autistic children typically have sensory problems, most common involving smell and touch sensitivity. The six-month study involved 28 autistic boys, ages 3-12. Researchers

Mid-tantrum, my 17-year-old son, Danny, will often turn to me, look right into my eyes, say, "I'm sorry, Mom," and then go right back to his tantrum. Danny was diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder/Not Otherwise Specified (PDD/NOS), a form of mild autism, when he was three. One of the many horrifying facts I was told

Kristine Barnett noticed that her little boy Jacob - whom doctors had tagged as autistic - seemed to have a fascination with patterns. So she took him out of his school's special ed program and let him study the things he's passionate about. Now Jacob is on his way to winning a Nobel Prize.As a

A 12-year-old boy with autism left his school and rode a tricycle through a busy road in Yonkers during rush hour Friday. Doreen Rubin, who works for a bus company, said she received a call from one of her drivers who noticed a boy dodging traffic on Saw Mill River Road late Friday afternoon."He was coming

In a high-tech MRI scan, the wiring that makes Temple Grandin's brain unique shows up in vibrant colors. Thinking in Pictures, as her 1996 book described.Grandin, a well-known author who has autism, has four times the typical number of connections in a brain area that controls the visual system. That may explain why she goes

SAN SEBASTIÁN, Spain—Researchers at an international conference on autism Friday presented three new studies lending strength to the notion that environmental influences before birth play a role in the risk for the condition. In one study, pregnant women who were exposed to certain levels of air pollution were at increased risk of having a child

At times, Andy Shih still finds himself overwhelmed by the groundswell of interest in autism apps he's seen in the three years since Apple Inc. released the first iPad.In his role as senior vice president for scientific affairs at Autism Speaks, a national advocacy organization based in New York, Shih helped organize a "hacking autism"

I found this on HuffingtonPost.com and thought it was awesome! I am a special needs mom. And I have secrets. Things I don't talk about and other moms don't know -- or maybe they just forgot about along the way. Here are six of them. 1. Special needs moms are lonely. I yearn for more