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100 Autism Research Paper Topics

Careful selection of autism research paper topics is very important. That’s because there are many autism topics that students can research and write about. The topic that a learner chooses dictates the direction that their research and writing process will take. As such, students should select their topic ideas based on their academic goals. Ideally, what a learner opts to write about should help them accomplish their study goals.

Autism can be defined as a spectral disorder that makes a child seem to have a world of their own. Many parents misinterpret this disorder and assume that the child does not notice them. However, this is usually not the case. Parents are the first people to notice this disorder. With more children being diagnosed with this disorder, educators are asking learners to write about autism essay topics.

If you’ve been asked to write about this subject, take your time to research this disorder. You can even read the autobiographies of autistic people. If possible, meet and interact with autistic people before you start writing. This will give you an idea of what this condition is all about. Our psychology topics may also come in handy. In most cases, you will be required to focus your paper or essay on the creation of more autism awareness. This article highlights some of the topics in autism that you can consider for your paper or essay.

Basic Autism Research Paper Topics

Autism is a broad research area. Researchers have delved into this field and came up with different findings. However, you can still pick a topic for your research in this field and come up with new information. Here are some of the most interesting research topics in autism that can form the basis of your academic paper or essay.

• Why some people autistic and others are not?
• Does being autistic have advantages?
• Why is being autistic disadvantageous?
• Some people have a good memory or recall skills, explain why
• Facts that people should know about autism
• Explain the chemical brain differences between autistic and non-autistic individuals
• Discuss some of major breakthroughs in autism research
• Why do people with autism have difficulty socializing with others?
• What can normal people learn from autistic people’s brains?
• What characteristics should a person with autism have?
• How should an autistic person be trained during care provision?
• What should caregivers understand about autism to do their job right?
• Explain the behavior of autistic individuals towards family members
• Provide an average autistic individual’s overview
• How can the social interactions of autistic people be improved?
• Explain what causes autism
• What educational programs do autistic people have?
• How to diagnose autism in the early stages
• Explain the role of music in an autistic person’s life
• Is there a treatment for reducing autistic people’s disadvantages?
• What are the employment limitations and opportunities for autistic people?
• Discuss the major stories about autism that have been shared in the media
• What is yet to be discovered about autism?
• Explain how healthcare workers can help autistic individuals go through their daily life
• Describe the top 5 autistic individuals that are best known in history

These are some of the most interesting autism topics for research paper or essay. However, you should research them extensively before you start writing. That’s because each of these topics requires you to include verifiable facts in your paper or essay.

Strong Autism Dissertation Topics

With so many children being diagnosed with autism, more learners are writing dissertations on this subject. And there are many autism research topics from which a learner can choose. Here are some of the best autism thesis topics to consider.

• Is there evidence to prove that environmental triggers are responsible for rising autism cases?
• Explain the relationship between stimming self-regulator for anxiety and autism
• Why is autism prevalence in western society greater?
• How is autism related to mental health?
• How can family doctors be supported to take care of autistic people?
• Discuss autism and childhood immunization
• Discuss some of the prominent individuals in history that were most likely autistic
• How can autistic people be supported at the workplace?
• How do autistic females differ from autistic males?
• Can autistic children adapt to mainstream education?
• What are the positives and negatives of special education for autistic children?
• Should autistic children attend special schools?
• Why do people consider autism a spectrum disorder?
• What diagnostic changes have raised the concern that Asperger’s Syndrome might no longer exist
• Does lifestyle play a role in autism?

Some of these topics on autism may seem complex to research and write about. However, you can find relevant and sufficient supporting evidence from different sources. You just need the time and resources required to write about any of these topics about autism.

Autism Parent Training Topics

Raising an autistic child is not easy. Parents and caregivers should learn about autism spectrum disorder and its effects on their children. They should also learn how this disorder affects the entire family. It’s for this reason that researchers focus on research topics in autism that educate parents and caregivers about taking care of autistic children. Here are some of the best autism social learning topics.

• How to manage the parenting challenges for people with autistic children
• How to enhance the communication skills of autistic children
• How to enhance the coping skills of autistic children
• How to address the negative behaviors of autistic children
• How to increase the play skills of autistic children
• How to diagnose autism early in children
• How to increase the independence of autistic children
• How to improve self-help in autistic children
• How does autism in one child affect the other family members?
• How to solve the daily problems of autistic children

Each of these topics is meant to produce a paper or essay that can help parents of autistic children cope with the disorder. The information can also help the parents make their children lead a better life despite their condition.

Paper Topics about Autism and Education

Since it’s a complex disorder that affects brain development, autism touches on education as well. Here are some of the good research paper topics on autism and education that you can write about.

• Why is autism worth researching?
• Discuss the causes of autism
• Discuss the development realms that are affected by autism
• What resources do autistic people have access to?
• Explain how autistic children learn
• Explain how autism affects the learning process
• Explain the struggles of autistic students
• Explain parent training autism
• Discuss the major types of autism
• How does learning differ between autistic and normal students?

These topics focus on the relationship between autism and learning or education. Just like the topics in the other categories, they require extensive research to write about too.

Autism Research Proposal Topics

A lot of information about autism is being discussed by researchers across the world. This makes it hard for some learners to pick proposal topics for their autism papers. Here are some of the topics to consider if struggling to pick your proposal topic.

• What is autism therapy?
• Is autism therapy helpful?
• How should caregivers provide care to autistic persons?
• What is the best way to work for an autistic person?
• Working with an autistic person- What are the major challenges?
• How do you cope with an autistic family member?
• How should autistic people be treated in social places?
• What limitations do autistic people have in modern society?
• Is the current society considerate of autistic people?
• How does modern technology benefit autistic people?

If you pick a research topic on autism from this category, take the time to research it extensively to write a brilliant paper or essay.

Thought-Provoking Autism Debate Topics

Perhaps, you want to write a paper or essay that can form the basis of a debate about autism. In that case, consider one of these topics.

• How celebrities and pseudo-scientists have caused serious damage by claiming that autism is related to vaccinations
• How to educate society about autism
• How to change the future of autistic children with early interventions
• How school officials can help autistic children
• How to help autistic kids whose parents are uncooperative or in denial
• How autistic children can benefit from occupational therapy
• Discuss the DSM-V regarding autism
• How educational opportunities for autistic children compare to those of normal children
• How health officials can convince the public that shots don’t cause autism
• Should children that have not been vaccinated because parents believe that vaccines cause autism be taken to school?
• How to support siblings of an individual with autism
• How to transition a person with autism to community-based services from school-based services.
• How to fight for autistic people’s rights
• How to deal with the psychological struggles of autistic children
• How music affects autistic patients
• Social organizations for autistic people
• Why diagnosing autism early is important
• Can autism be prevented?
• How to interact with autistic people
• What employment options do autistic people have?
• How to manage autism in adults
• A brief history of autism
• How living with an autistic person can affect your life
• How genetics affect autism
• Can the environment cause autism?
• Can medical treatment cause autism?
• A review of autism in different countries
• A review of autism in different cultures
• What signs of autism should parents watch out for?
• How to develop a treatment plan for autism

This category has controversial topics autism researchers can explore too. Nevertheless, whether you choose parenting or autism biology topics for research paper, take the time to research extensively before you start writing. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you need thesis writing help .

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165 Autism Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

Struggle with writing a research paper topics on autism? We’ve got your back covered! Below, you will find a list of 147 topics about autism as well as autism research paper examples!

🏆 Best Research Autism Topics & Essay Examples

👍 good autism essay topics, 💡 psychology research autism topics to write about, ⭐ simple & easy autism essay titles, ❓ research questions about autism.

• Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Autism is a serious disorder that has the potential to disrupt the success of people living with it. This is to mean that the theory of causation regarding autism is not complete as yet.
• Autism Spectrum Disorder in a Child At the moment, M.is more verbal with his parents and siblings and reacts adequately to them, especially in repeated day-to-day situations.
• Autism: Characteristics, Prevalence and Interventions The symptoms of autism are noticeable in the early years of childhood. Occupational therapy is one of the non-educational interventions used to assist kids with autism.
• How Does Having a Child With Autism Affects Parents’ Lifestyle? The creation of a system of psychological, pedagogical and social support can reduce the risk of a complete family life dedication to a child with autism.
• Autism. Child and Family Assessment The other common disorder associated with autism is that of mutism whereby it also lies under the category of speech disorder and in many cases it is difficult to be diagnosed and at the same […]
• Bright Not Broken: Gifted Kids, ADHD, and Autism It is possible to state that the book provides rather a high-quality review of the issues about the identification, education, and upbringing of the 2e children.
• Applied Behavior Analysis and Autism The primary subject of this study is applied behavior analysis while the secondary subject is applied behavior analysis and its effects on autism in children.
• Critical Analysis of Published Articles: Autism It was therefore the goal of the research to find out if the negative attitude of people towards autistic children can be altered to the benefit of the parents.
• “Let Me Hear Your Voice: A Family’s Triumph Over Autism” by Catherine Maurice The book was published in 1994, and it was a success as parents of autistic children were waiting for someone to prove that autism was not an incurable disorder.
• Inclusion Curriculum for Children With Autism In the given paper, the issue of children autism, the developmental issues that autism triggers and the educational prospects for children with autism are going to be considered.
• One-To-One Programs: Supporting Autistic Children The purpose of conducting this essay will be to examine the educational intervention of one-to-one support programs during normal school times within a mainstream classroom and also to discuss the challenges faced by teachers and […]
• Impact of Autism Disorder on Adolescents This essay discusses the impact of autism disorder on adolescents in the community and a nursing intervention that can be used to assist adolescents in becoming prominent society members.
• Progression of Reading Ability in a Child Diagnosed With Autism The battery of assessments and interviews with parents on the participant’s socialization and early reading ability indicates the study applied the Psychometric and Social Contextual approaches.
• Analysis of Behavior of Preschool Age Child With Autism The child’s behavior in the video differs from that of a mentally healthy child, and these differences lie in the child’s other emotional state and degree of interest in talking to people.
• Autism and Disability Advocacy People with autism can contribute to the diversity of disability culture by expanding understanding of what disability is and how it can be accepted.
• Autism Spectrum Disorder Diagnosis According to DSM-5, to fit the diagnostic criteria for ASD, a child must have evident deficits in three major areas of social communication as well as 2 out of the 4 restricted or repetitive behaviors.
• Thinking in Pictures: Autism and Sensory Problems The chapter “The Squeeze Machine: Sensory Problems in Autism” in Grandin’s Thinking in Pictures presents a series of life perspectives of various individuals, including her own, regarding the sensory problems they experienced. They postulated that […]
• Therapeutic Programs for Children With Autism in K-12 Institutions In the paper, the gaps in the research of effective treatments for children with ASD are explored, after which the efficacy of a multi-system aquatic therapy and standardized equine-assisted therapy program is argued.
• Societal Issue Research Project: Autism Spectrum Disorder The first factor is the significant risk that the genetics of siblings who had ASD diagnosis will increase the chance of the disorder.
• Child-Centered Play Therapy and Autism The purpose of the discussed research was to investigate the effects of CCPT on the sample of children with autism, establishing and describing the connection between CCPT and social and emotional growth.
• Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: The Training Program for Caregivers The latter means that many caregivers take care of children with ASD, hence the importance of equipping them with the necessary skills for effective and smooth parenting and coping with various difficulties.
• Autism Spectrum Disorder’s Impact on Child’s Learning In regards to the public-school setting, standardized testing demands youngsters to grasp and react to spoken as well as written communication at an anticipated pace and level.
• Laboratory Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorders The purpose of my study is to discover which of these methods is more accurate, with the reason being the importance of early diagnosis of ASD, which leads to better treatment outcomes.
• Autism and Related Cognitive Concepts It has been suggested that children with autism show a general deficit of cognitive skills in multilevel planning and in the regulation of behavior.
• Bullying and Autism Spectrum Disorder In fact, bullying as a social phenomenon can be characterized as a social and interaction issue; therefore, it is possible to analyze the connection between autism and acts of bullying and inappropriate behavior.
• Face Emotion Recognition in Autism Phenotype One critical aspect of social communication is the capability to apprehend the emotions and intentions of another person. In conclusion, Autism Spectrum Disorder makes the interpretation of facial expressions difficult.
• Misrepresentation of Autism in the ‘Music’ Film While the film was not centered on the topic of autism as its message, the stereotype-heavy portrayal and a lack of research make it a harmful piece of media.
• Autism Spectrum Disorder Prevalence and Impact in Society It has therefore been impossible to determine the level of increase in autism cases that is as a result of improved diagnostic measures and that which can be attributed to the real increase in autism […]
• Autism Spectrum Disorder: Diagnosis, Impact, Treatment The main diagnostic element for ASD is the evidence of difficulties, either in the present or past, which are different across the age groups.
• Autism and Vaccination Refusal Management Among Somalian Parents Somalian parents in their community in Minnesota refuse from their children being vaccinated, as they believe that vaccination causes autism.
• Everyone Has the Power to Effect Positive Change Within the Autism Community This paper presents what is autism, how every one reacts to the problem, what is the difference between the rich and the poor in their response towards the problem.”Autism is one of five developmental disorders […]
• Reducing Off-Task Behaviors Using a Token Economy System in Children With Autism Token economy is a strategy of positive reinforcement that can be provided to children in the form of tokens for completing the assigned tasks.
• Autism Spectrum Disorder: Key Points The requirement to meet these needs is supported by the fact that the rate of students with ASD is high: according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, more than 83 per cent of […]
• “Theoretical Aspects of Autism” by Helen Ratajczak On the whole, it is possible to say that the standards set by Austin Hill cannot be always met, in part because the physiological aspects of this disease have not been fully investigated.
• Dr. Temple Grandin’s Argument on Visual Thinking and Autism A more in-depth analysis of visual activities can reveal the all imagery can be mentally processed and modified by children so that images are rotated and analyzed to make the brain map expand.
• Intellectual Disability: Autism In their adulthood, and because of the communication issues that most individuals with autism tend to have, they will naturally have difficulty in finding and keeping jobs.
• Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy for Children With Autism On the positive side, it fastens the production of different types of reactive oxygen used in the body. It is arguable that the size of the samples used in the study was small.
• Analysis of Children Autism in “The Black Balloon” It is imperative to note that Charlie’s emotions are not regulated and as such, manifest in immature behaviors such as flapping of his hands.
• Occupational Therapy for Children With Autism The main reason for the appearance of autism is the disturbance of the development of the patients brain which results in the appearance of various symptoms.
• The Mitochondria and Autism – Results and Main Function The results are important in health because children with autism were more probable to have dysfunctions and abnormalities of the mitochondria such as over replication and deletion of mitochondrial DNA compared to those without the […]
• Autism Etiology, Symptoms, Beliefs, and Management To date, debate on the cause or etiology of autism still remains divided, with extant literature demonstrating that “although many hypotheses have been proposed, a singular or specific combination of causes has yet to be […]
• Quantitative Assessment of Neuromotor Function in Adolescents With High Functioning Autism: Critique The study authors did not give the benefits and/or risks associated with the study participation. The authors indicated that the ZNA was appropriate for collecting the data because it could measure the 11 parameters of […]
• Critical Appraisal on the Impact of Autism Spectrum Disorders on the Family: A Qualitative Study of Mothers’ Perspectives The study researchers established the significance of the study by outlining the social and financial implications of taking care of children with ASD.
• Autism: External Forces, Causes and Treatment The increasing prevalence of Autism in the United States and across the world is attracting great attention from the healthcare sector to design critical programs tailored to stem the disorder in terms of prevention, treatment, […]
• The Importance of Services for Children With Autism The plea of the majority of Americans for the reverse of healthcare budget allocation is well because it is wrong to interfere with services offered to children with autism. With childcare initiative in place, the […]
• Autism: General Information and Treatment She argues that the treatment of autism is through scientific proven medication that aids in controlling aggressive behaviors and that Trisperidone is the commonly used antipsychotic.
• The Issue of Autism: Task-Group Project The role of B.N.in the meeting can be seen as a summarizer, providing a summary of the minutes of the previous meeting.
• Concepts of Autism and Williams Syndrome The disorder manifests itself in the early years of a child’s life, with long-lasting effects that are not curable but controllable and easy to deal with on condition that, the concerned parties take the necessary […]
• Autism Programs to Enhance Students’ Outcomes In addition to social and behavioral challenges, ASD typically hinders a learner’s ability to gain and process the necessary academic information.
• Autism Program’s Impact Across Contexts In other words, a detailed overview of the issues that administrators face when designing the program and which the teachers have to deal with when addressing the needs of children with autism must be carried […]
• Autism: Teaching Plan for Taking All the Features Into Account For the first child, caregiver training was done at child’s bedroom, and for the second child it was done at living room, and for the third child with severe mental retardation it was carried out […]
• Education Considerations for Students With Autism Two articles under consideration consider the opposite views regarding the education of students with autism; on the basis of the information obtained from these articles, it can be stated that none of the perspectives is […]
• Developmental Psychology: Autism and Vaccination Vaccination of infants is widely used today as the pattern of endemic diseases can be explained in terms of interplay of social, physical and biological factors in an area that is conducive to a continuous […]
• Social Work Methods to Treat the Child Who Is Suffering From Autism This is a clear indicator that alcohol intake by the family is costing the members and it is an issue that needs to be looked into.
• Autism and Immunization: Vaccines and the Changing Epidemiology The interest and attention invoked by this paper were largely due to the fact that it appeared to provide a biological means through which MMR vaccine resulted in autism.
• The Autism-Vaccine Debate, Arguments, and Research Autism is defined by the Autism Society of America as ” a complex developmental disability that typically appears during the first 3 years of life and is the result of a neurological disorder that affects […]
• Autism and False Belief in Psychology The theories are found to be covering the deficits of an individuals’ mind and factors relating to autism, research further indicates that a child’s behavior may be influenced by the executive functions this, therefore, brings […]
• Autism Spectrum Disorder and Interventions However, the negative side of it is that such an intervention is limited to those patients who are verbal and have limited vocabulary.
• Autism: Symptoms, Forms, Diagnostic Instruments Autism is basically a developmental disorder of the human brain that its first symptoms are initially manifested in infancy and it follows a steady cause without relapse.
• Autism Spectrum Disorder Features in Children One of the causes for the appearance of these issues is an inborn disability that might presuppose the need for specific methods to educate a child and guarantee a chance for integration with society.
• Autism Occurrence by Measles Vaccine Status The organization of information in the text follows a logical format by introducing the background for the vaccine, incorporating the issue of ASD connection, and leading up to the primary research question.
• Parental Report of Vaccine Receipt in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder In the introduction, which is the first section, the study’s research problems and their significance to nursing are stated. The discussion section covers how the authors relate the findings to the research objective and the […]
• Teenagers With Autism Disorder Autism is seen as a spectrum disorder since its severity and symptoms vary greatly among affected individuals – from mild and occasional to persistent and interfering with all aspects of life.
• Impact of Autism Spectrum Disorders on Life However, between the ages of two and three, his lack of verbal activity and inability to “echo” simple sounds and syllables were found to be very concerning by the family.
• Autism Should Not Be Viewed as a Disability A good example is that the treatment of autism as a mental disorder makes it possible for pharmaceutical companies and clinics to invent new health systems or procedures that will meet the needs of the […]
• Autist Student’s Behavior and Remedial Plan In the process of reading, I would pay attention to the student’s concentration and ability to integrate what she was reading. She also took long in doing this and did not want to stop the […]
• Autism Treatment, Its Methods and Results It was appropriate to focus on the use of the DSE intervention and examine if addressed most of the challenges facing many ASD patients.
• Autism Spectrum Disorder: Programs Effectiveness The purpose of this PE, therefore, is to evaluate and analyze the efficiency of the programs implemented by the Day Support Services.
• Students With Autism Spectrum Disorders The main goal of this paper is to present a review of relevant literature addressing the issue of helping college students with ASD prepare for workforce readiness and job placement.
• Association Between Vaccination and Autism The study examined whether there is a link between the toxic effects of exposure to thimerosal-containing vaccines and the risk of developing ASD.
• Olfaction and Autism Spectrum Disorder Relationship These findings reveal that the sniff test can reveal both the presence and severity of ASD in young children. The link between ASD and olfaction can be used in diagnosing young children with autism.
• Abu Dhabi Autism Center The Abu Dhabi Autism Center has to operate within the laws and regulations of the Zayed Higher Organization for Humanitarian Care and Special Needs.
• Applied Behavior Analysis Treatment for Autism It is the most commonly applied autism treatment remedy in the United States and several other countries in the world and the major method that schools and therapists embrace and use.
• Inclusive Education: Child With Autism and Spina Bifida It is worth mentioning that Ted’s mother is willing to cooperate with teachers, and her participation can be of great assistance to the teacher.
• Children With Autism’ Communication in Saudi Arabia Parents of children with autism in Saudi Arabia have complained that the government has neglected the needs of autistic children by failing to finance their education and research to detect the effectiveness of the digital […]
• Autism Spectrum Disorders: Testing and Measurement It will begin with the rationale that explain why the issues are critical, followed by the reasons for unavailability of the solutions to the issues and the consequences of the issues.
• Autism Spectrum Disorders and Educational Interventions From this point, this paper aims to discuss the definition of Autism Spectrum Disorders, examine the etiology and incidence of the disorder, focus on the prevalence of autism, and analyze the effectiveness of the DTT […]
• Vaccines and Autism: Separating Facts From Fiction The advocacy groups say that thimerosal, a preservative used in vaccines, is toxic to the central nervous system and responsible for an alarming rise in rates of autism among children in the United States and […]
• Lesson for Learners With Autism: Reflection Observation The essay identifies the instructional methods used by the teacher during the exercise. The teacher also guided the learners to solve the mathematical problems using different visual objects.
• Autism Spectrum Disorder Concept Besides, Temple often explores her own experiences and attempts to understand the feelings of others that are unavailable to her by visualizing herself as other creatures people and animals.
• Dubai Autism Center’ Quality Management TQM employs strategies and effective communication within the organization to incorporate the quality principles into the culture and activities of the organization to ensure that all the activities are geared towards satisfying the customers.
• Vaccination and Autism in Children The problem with this case is that while it may be true that the cause for the development of autism in children have yet to be fully determined, the fact remains that there have been […]
• Video Modeling for Individuals With Autism The video model will be developed according to the needs of autistic children, with the focus on the role of visual and auditory stimuli in the teaching process.
• The Effects of Vaccines on Autism From their study, the findings demonstrate that the presence of thimerosal is one of the causes of the disorder. It is imperative to state that they have used many studies that have indicated that there […]
• Vaccination as a Cause Autism This paper borrows on the arguments of Monica Prasad and Washington and Haydn when they argue that the belief about vaccinations as a primary cause of autism stems from emotional, psychological, and behavioral barriers, as […]
• Youth With Autism Disorder: Education and Employment This includes the communication patterns of the teenager, the extent of social relations and the unusual behavioral characteristics of the teenager in the environment.
• Autism Children Education Inclusion Policy in Private Schools: Compulsory Enrollment Policy 2011 The following are the main areas will be addressed by the policy: Prohibited Private schools will be prohibited from ignoring the needs of children suffering from autism; they will be compelled by the act to […]
• Autism: Pathogenesis and Intervention Similarly, a person with autism has to be trained on the process of communicating normally and forming a relationship with objects, events and people in their lives.
• The Real Causes of Autism However, the main problem is that this association or correlation does not imply that autism is triggered by a vaccine. This is the main argument that can be put forward.
• Autism. Sensory Integration. Tactile Desensitization The poor development that is recorded at the early stages in life is likely to affect the development of different skills by the individuals even in the adult stages The signs that are associated with […]
• Autism Effect on Children It is crucial to understand the behavior of children with autism in the school set up in order to understand how autism affects children and their social interactions. It is up to the teacher to […]
• Autism and Its Effects on Social Interaction The article “Social Impairment in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder” identifies the major challenges facing many people with autism. The authors wanted to examine the social problems and difficulties encountered by individuals with Autism Spectrum […]
• Older Dads More Likely to Have Kids With Autism The author highlights autism as one of the main outcomes of late fatherhood following the release of the results of a study involving the counting of the mutations corresponding to a father’s age at the […]
• Evidenced-Based Practice: Autism Management in Children Autism largely is connected to communication abilities of a child, a situation that later results into the child experiencing disability problems in effectively encoding and decoding communicative messages.
• Miami Dance Project for Autistic Children For me, what the Miami dance project represents is in line with what is known as the concept of confidence building wherein through the development of certain talents children with autism will begin to have […]
• Autism Spectrum Disorders and Family Impact One of the greatest fears of a parent with such a child is the fact that such a child would be taken care of until the advanced stages of their lives.
• Program Models in Autism The DTT technique has been designed in such a way as to target the individual behavior of an autistic child using the available curriculum.
• Autism Spectrum Disorder in Relation to Education Attending to students having ASD in the regular classrooms requires specialized teachers and supplementary staff in order to aid in the realization of the needs of the students having ASD.
• Autism in Saudi Arabia This support may come in the form of modification of the curriculum to cater for the special needs of the autistic children.
• Analysis of Autism Disorder This disorder affects the brain of the child during growth so that it does not develop in the right way thus affecting the social and communication skills of the child. This is especially to the […]
• Psychological Disorders and Their Treatment: An Overview of the Recent Progress and the Current Challenges in Treating Autism in Children In the given paper, the issue of psychological disorders is being addressed in reference to the ideas expressed in Chapter 11 “Psychological Disorders” in Carole Wade and Carol Tavris’s Invitation to Psychology.
• Early Intervention for Young Adults With Autism This is due to unavailability of information on children development stages and the importance of early detection and intervention in the case of autism.
• Different Behaviors in Children With Autism The purpose is to find out whether the co morbidity changes with the environment, and assess the influence that the environment has on the behavior of an autistic child.
• Diagnosis and Treatment for Autism Disorder Children with autism are therefore able to reason and even interpret the feelings of other people but the challenge is to communicate the response to other people.
• Autism: Qualitative Research Design Golafshani continues to argue that the use of the term “dependability” in qualitative studies is a close match to the idea of “reliability” in quantitative research.
• Autism Spectrum Disorder However, the reality is that the number of children with autism and having high intelligence is insignificant. It is apparent that, in autism, a disorder is found in the structure of the brain.
• Vaccines and Autism: A Critical Analysis of Thimerosal in Relation to Measles, Mumps, and Rubella The safety and efficacy of vaccines has been the subject of many studies in the medical field. The disorder was observed in one participant from each of the cohorts in the experiment.
• How to Recognize and Teach Students With Autism If these groups of students have to be given directions that are more than three steps, the directions have to be written down due to their inability to remember sequences.
• Autism and Visual Thought Suprisingly the quality of visual thinking according to Bogdashina is dependent on other factors like time and the state the autistic person is in.
• Autism and Educational Process Owing to these adverse effects that can stem from autism and the shear prevalence of the condition in the country’s population, a lot of research effort has been dedicated to the early diagnosis and treatment […]
• Do Vaccines Cause Autism? Thimerosal is alleged to increase the exposure of mercury in the vaccine to a substantiated high amount. In fact, the amount of antigens between children with autism and without is the same irrespective of the […]
• Language Development Problems in Children: An Indicative Characteristic of Autism This is because it is a time when it is expected that a majority of the kids should be able to talk.
• The Disease of Autism Origin The disorder is one of the new diagnoses of the autism. Other effects of the disorder are constipation and growth failures that may be a problem to the lives of the individual.
• Autism Spectrum Disorder in Children and Its Impact on the Family Manning, Wainwright and Bennet argue that children with autism are faced with a big challenge because of the nature of the symptoms the disorder.
• Autism’s Teaching Tips for Children and Adults The present description is concerned with the role of teacher in the better management of Autism in children. Further, assessment of the interactive and developmental skills is on of the important component in the teacher […]
• How Christopher’s Autism Affect His Life In spite of the fact that the issue of autism is not clearly explained in the story, the condition of the narrator is referred to as high-functioning autism or Aspersers Syndrome on the cover of […]
• What Are Autism Spectrum Disorders?
• How Does Autism Affect the Person With It and Those Around Them?
• What Are the Barriers of Learning for a Learner With Autism/Aspergers in Performing Arts?
• Does Gluten Effect Children With Autism?
• What Are the Causes of Autism?
• How Does Autism Affect a Child’s Educational Performance?
• What Can Autism Look Like and Things You Can Do to Spot It?
• Can Children With Autism Develop a Theory of Mind?
• Which Interventions Reduce Anxiety in Autistic People?
• What Influence Has the Development of Autism Had on a Diagnosed Individual?
• How Does Autism Affect the Development of a Child?
• Are Huddles the Missing Piece of the Puzzle in Implementing Clinical Innovation for the Eating Disorder and Autism Comorbidity?
• How Does Autism Start?
• Can Mouse Imaging Studies Bring Order to Autism Connectivity Chaos?
• How Does ‘Fake News’ Affect Autism Policy?
• Are There Any Relationships Between Latent Toxoplasma Gondii Infection, Testosterone Elevation, and Risk of Autism Spectrum Disorder?
• How Do People With Autism Experience the World?
• Can Robotic Systems Promote Self-Disclosure in Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorder?
• How Did the Media Perpetuate the Autism-Vaccine Scare?
• Are There Cultural Differences in Parental Interest in Early Diagnosis and Genetic Risk Assessment for Autism Spectrum Disorder?
• How Can the Therapist Help Autism Children?
• Can Vaccinations Cause Autism?
• Does Autism Spectrum Disorder Affect People All Around the World?
• Is There a Correlation Between Epigenetics and Autism Spectrum Disorder?
• How Does Autism Affect Regular Brain Functions as Well as Socialization Skills?
• What Can Responses to Music in Autism Tell Us About the Nature of Musical Emotions?
• Why Has the Incidence Rate of Autism Increased?
• What Are the Most Effective Ways to Support/Provide Social Care For Autistic Adults?
• Which Interventions Are Effective in the Development of Communication/Language Skills in Autism?
• How Can Parents and Family Members Be Supported/Educated to Care For and Better Understand an Autistic Relative?
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144 comprehensive autism research paper topics that will help you.

July 28, 2021

Do you need autism research paper topics that will impress your educator to award you high grades? If yes, this article lists the best 140-plus ideas to consider for your papers and essays.

Simple  Autism Topics for Research Paper 

Perhaps, you want to write a paper about an easy topic. In that case, select the idea to work with from this category. Any of these topics can be a brilliant idea for an autism paper. Nevertheless, take your time to investigate it extensively, gather, and analyze data to develop a winning piece.

• Investigating the autism spectrum disorder’s prevalence
• Autism Diagnostic interview
• What are the primary causes of autism?
• Reasons for the increasing autism cases in children
• Effective learning and teaching methods for autistic children
• Mainstream education and autism
• Are there advantages of being autistic?
• What are the disadvantages of being autistic?
• Why are some individuals autistic while others are not
• Explain why some individuals have a good recall or memory skills
• What should people know about autism?
• Who are the top five most known autistic individuals in human history?
• How healthcare workers assist autistic persons in their daily lives
• What are humans yet to discover about autism?
• Discuss autism stories that people have shared on social media
• Describe the employment opportunities and limitations for autistic individuals
• Describe a treatment that can reduce autistic individuals’ disadvantages
• What is the primary cause of autism?
• What role does music play in the life of an autistic person?
• Explain autism diagnosis during the early stages
• Describe the educational programs for autistic persons
• What’s the average overview of an autistic person?
• Explain ways of improving autistic people’s interactions
• Explain an autistic individual’s behavior towards his family members?
• How the chemical brain of an autistic person differs from that of a non-autistic individual
• What are the most prominent research breakthroughs in autism?
• Why autistic persons struggle to socialize with others
• What normal individuals should learn from the brains of autistic persons
• Describe the characteristics of autistic persons
• Tips for training autistic persons when providing care
• Things caregivers should know about autism to do an excellent job
• How family members should behave towards autistic individuals

Autism Biology Topics Research Paper  Ideas

Students can also write autism biology papers and score top grades. If interested in autism biology, here is a list of topics to consider for your research paper. Any of these topics can be the basis of a debate because people have varying views towards them. You need sufficient and reliable information to support your argument.

• Is there sufficient evidence proving that environmental triggers are responsible for the rising autism cases?
• Why is western society reporting higher autism prevalence?
• Do literature and art help in raising awareness about autism?
• Reviewing films whose basis is an autism spectrum disorder
• How the media portrays autism and its effects
• Prominent public figures that lived with autism for years
• The impact of maternal age on autism
• Asperger’s syndrome and autism- An explorative study
• Analyzing the genome’s dark regions and their effect on autism mutation
• Gene expression control and its impact on autism mutation
• The connection between genetic variants and autism
• Obesity and autism- Is there a correlation?
• How a subtle genetic modification can affect an autistic person
• Autism and fragile x syndrome
• How brain homes affect autism
• Autism and vasopressin- What’s the link?
• Brain signature similarities with autism
• Investigating the unusual sensory response in an autistic person
• The effects of the cerebellum on an autistic person’s social behavior
• Anybody that loves biology will be interested in reading a paper on any of these ideas. However, make sure that your essay is on-point.
• Thought-Provoking Autism Controversial Issues to Write About
• Perhaps, you want to research and write about a thought-provoking topic about autism. In that case, consider one of these issues.
• Is autism a disorder or a difference?
• Timeline and history of autism
• Why are autism rates increasing dramatically?
• Things that scientists have disproven about autism causes
• Questionable and risky autism treatments
• The best autism treatments
• Should autistic children have a unique educational setting?
• Which are the best educational options for autistic children?
• Autistic children should have a unique home
• Autism and vaccinations- Is there any relations?
• Ways to raise autism awareness in society
• Changing the autistic children’s future through early interventions
• How educators can help children with autism
• Ways to help autistic children with uncooperative parents
• Can occupational therapy help autistic children?
• DSM-V and autism
• A comparison of autistic children’s and normal kids’ educational opportunities
• Ways health officials can convince their clients that vaccines don’t cause autism
• Should schools vaccinate children that haven’t received their shots because parents believe they cause autism?

Research Paper Topics Dealing with Autism  and Education

Experts recommend teaching people and caregivers about autistic persons. Through training, educators, parents, and other people can know how to treat autistic persons. Here are good research paper topics on autism and education. These topics relate expert advice with parenting and the daily life of autistic individuals. But like the other ideas, they need thorough research to come up with impressive papers.

• Ways to solve autistic children’s daily problems
• Why is autism research necessary?
• Differences in education among autistic kids and normal children
• Different autism types
• Understanding the struggles of students suffering from autism
• What are the possible autism causes?
• Managing parenting challenges when you have an autistic child
• Ways to improve autistic children’s communication skills
• How to enhance autistic kids’ coping skills
• Addressing negative behaviors among autistic children
• Increasing autistic children’s play skills
• Ways to diagnose autism early in children
• Ways to increase autistic children’s independence
• Effects of autism in a single child on family members
• Improving self-help among autistic children
• How autism affects different developmental realms
• Learning in autistic kids
• Resources available for autistic people
• Effects of autism on the learning process
• Why do parents need training about autism?

Autism Research Analysis Paper Topics 

Perhaps, you want to autism research topics you can analyze extensively in your paper or essay. If so, consider these ideas for your project. You can analyze any of these research topics on autism in your paper with proper references to impress the educator and earn the top grade in your class.

• Qualities of an effective autism treatment plan
• Autism signs that every parent should know
• Reviewing autism in various regions
• Analyzing the probability of medical treatment causing autism
• Analysis of the effects of genetics on autism
• Investigating the impact of an autistic person on a standard individual
• Analysis of autism history
• Ways adult patients can manage autism
• Analyzing the employment opportunities for autistic people
• Exploring parental education benefits in managing autism in children
• Analyzing the variations in social implications depending on autistic spectrum disorder and gender
• Analysis of the support autistic people need at the workplace
• Examining the socio-cultural effects of autism on understanding and behavior
• Do autistic children need special schools?- A detailed analysis
• Investigating the contextual drives affecting autism understanding in society
• Analyzing the peer group role in autism
• Investigating the increasing autism prevalence in western society
• Post-traumatic stress disorder- Analyzing its impact on parents with autistic kids
• Exploring the cross-cultural experiences of autistic persons
• Analyzing the role technology can play in improving autistic people’s social skills

Autism Research Questions 

One of the best ways to develop good research topics is by asking questions about the subject you find interesting. For instance, you can brainstorm autism thesis topics by asking questions about this illness. Here are some of the queries you can ask about autism, which can form the basis of your paper.

• Which is the most accepted theory about autism spectrum disorder’s pathophysiology?
• How can caregivers improve service delivery when dealing with autistic persons?
• How can ordinary people understand sensory processing among autistic persons?
• How can companies encourage ordinary people to support autistic employees?
• How can employers implement person-centered intervention to support autistic employees?
• How can companies maximize the performance and potential of autistic people at the workplace?
• How can hospitals improve autism diagnostic procedures?
• How can hospitals ensure the appropriate diagnosis of autistic adults?
• How can family members and parents provide quality care for autistic kids?
• How can ordinary people support families and parents with autistic kids?
• What support is ideal for autistic children?
• Which environments are suitable for helping autistic persons achieve quality education and life skills?
• How can society help autistic persons get the most from life?
• Which interventions can enhance mental health in autistic persons?
• How can caregiver reduce mental health issues among autistic persons?
• How can caregivers adapt mental health interventions for autistic individuals?
• Which interventions work in developing language skills in autistic persons?
• How can society support social care for autistic adults?
• Which intervention work in reducing anxiety among autistic people?
• Is autism treatable?
• Who suffers more, an autistic child or their family?
• What facts do most people not know about autism?
• Which brain part does autism damage?
• Does autism escalate with age?
• Is autism the same as brain damage?
• How can you tell that your kid is not autistic?
• Can a person inherit autism?
• Does an autistic person have a higher risk of having an autistic child?
• Is autism a disability?
• How does level I differ from level II autism?
• Which questions does the doctor ask during an autism assessment?

Students have many autism spectrum disorder research topics and questions to consider as titles for their papers. However, learners should pick exciting topics to develop outstanding pieces. If you are unable to select a topic and write an essay, seek professional writing help online. Expert writers can help you with topic selection or even write a high-quality, custom paper for you.

Take a break from writing.

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207 Autism Research Topics & Paper Examples

Are you looking for research topics on autism spectrum disorder for your paper in psychology? You’re at the right place! StudyCorgi has prepared a list of topic ideas and questions you can use for your essay, thesis, debate, dissertation, and other writing assignments. Read on to discover the latest and most interesting autism topics to write about!

🏆 Best Research Topics on Autism

✍️ autism essay topics for college, 👍 good research topics about autism, 💡 simple autism essay ideas, 🎓 most interesting autism research paper topics, 🔥 hot topics in autism for a research proposal, 📌 easy autism essay topics, ❓ autism research questions, 🔎 more research questions about autism, ✅ autism topics for presentation, 🗣️ controversial autism topics for discussion.

• Literature Review on Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Literature Review
• Autism in the “A Boy Called Po” by Asher
• Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders
• A Skill Acquisition Plan for Children with Autism
• Autism Causes and Treatment in Childhood
• “Assessing the Value of Token Reinforcement for Individuals With Autism” the Article by Fiske, et al.
• Autism Diagnosis Report Example Three children aged between 9 and 11 years are regarded as the ones having ASD, as stated by the licensed psychologist.
• Autism in Adults: Daily Challenges Siri Carpenter’s article “For Adults with Autism, a Lack of Support When They Need It Most” explores the way adult individuals with autism cope with the daily challenges.
• Autism and the Education System Teaching children with autism in the context of their growth and development is one of the urgent issues in the modern education system in the United States.
• Causes and Treatment of Autism in Children This report focuses on determining the symptoms, causes, and treatment of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in kids.
• Autism Spectrum Disorder and Immunization Autism is a more frequently diagnosed ailment than was formerly acknowledged, and much is now being written in the mainstream media.
• Autism and Vaccination: The False Health Claim One of the most popular false health claims concerns the relationship between autism and vaccination, suggesting that the latter causes the former.
• Inclusive Education for Children with Autism The study seeks to establish if some specialized programs can be employed to cater to children who are frequently diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder.
• Development and Management of Autism The paper examines the causes, development process, and symptoms of autism and describes the ways how the disorder can be manageable.
• Technical Quality of Autism Test (GARS-3) The work provides a review and analysis of articles devoted to the GARS-3 implication in the early diagnosis of autism among children.
• Pharma Controversy Presentation: Vaccination and Autism Parents often associate MMR vaccination with autism. No qualitative evidence for the MMR vaccination-autism link.
• Interventions for Children With Autism Spectrum One of the symptoms associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder is communication difficulties. Children with ASD may be sluggish to learn to speak.
• Experience of Work with Children with Autism Autism affects the brain and the disease affects young babies, it triggers in a baby as young as 3 years. Autism is believed to be caused by certain birth defects.
• Biological Bases of Autism: General Analysis The purpose of this paper is to explain the biological bases of the disease while considering specific areas of the brain that are affected together with their associated symptoms.
• Inclusive Education for Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder Autism spectrum disorder has become widely spread in the US today, resulting in developing the debates on the appropriateness of inclusive education for students with ASD.
• Autism Spectrum Disorder in Children Autism Spectrum Disorder is a neurological disorder marked by the onset of social interaction and communication impairment at a young age.
• Autism in the School Environment and Inclusion in the Classroom ASD students may struggle to communicate effectively, making it challenging to practice speaking a new language in a classroom setting.
• The Autism-Gender Relationship Analysis This paper examines the relationship between gender and autism, including the possible involvement of various genetic, environmental, and physiological factors.
• Teaching Students With Autism Spectrum The bibliography analyzes educators’ current practices, approaches, tactics, and strategies for teaching students with autism.
• Applied Behavior Analysis with Children with Autism This paper discusses the application of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) with children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders.
• Autism, Autism Spectrum Sisorder (ASD), and Theory of Mind This paper aims to explore some common features of ASD, its impact on children’s cognitive, social, and physical development, and its relation to the theory of mind.
• Importance of Learning More About Autism Autism awareness addresses stereotypes and misunderstandings, increases early intervention, and makes society more accepting of individuals with autism spectrum disorder.
• Autism Among Kindergartners in Victoria, Australia This paper will postulate two teaching frameworks in an attempt to support previous legislation and policies formulated by different stakeholders.
• Autism Spectrum Disorder Communication The study aims to study the communication skills of children with autism spectrum disorder by assessing their ability to converse effectively within a dialogue.
• Autism Spectrum Disorder and Dialogue Framework The research aims to assess the communication skills of children with autism spectrum disorder by assessing their ability to converse effectively within a dialogue framework.
• Autism Spectrum Disorder Analysis Autism spectrum disorder is a collection of neurological conditions in which a person’s speech, motor motions, and social interaction are disrupted.
• Functional Communication Training via Telehealth for Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder Randomized Controlled Trial was employed for the investigation to compare the therapy with Functional Communication Training.
• Autism: Child and Family Involvement Autism spectrum disorder affects many people aside from its primary target, emphasizing the significance of early identification, and behavioral programs.
• Autism: Diagnostics and Treatment Shedding light on the condition, its key symptoms and treatment options will help improve the quality of life in autistic people.
• Evidence-Based Strategy in Autism The report discusses the various evidence-based practices that can be adopted in diagnosing Autism Spectrum Disorder among children.
• Accessibility For Students With Autism in Education in K-12 For most children and teenagers, K-12 education is the most valuable and influential part of their lives, providing them with many experiences.
• Autism Complementary Treatmen: Diet and Relaxation The following paper proposes diet and relaxation as a form of complementary therapy to the main treatment of autism disorder.
• Correlation Between Vaccines and Autism Before vaccination, large numbers of people with different backgrounds suffered from smallpox and other diseases.
• Dietary and Relaxation-Based Treatment for Autism Exploration studies have been conducted to determine the value of casein/gluten free diets as an intercession to improve cognitive and social functioning of autism patients.
• Autism Spectrum Disorder: Behavior Analysis The paper assesses the status of Autism Spectrum Disorder in children, treatment approaches, and technological innovations for aiding patients in conquering the symptoms of autism.
• Complementary Alternative Therapy for Autism The report suggests diet and relaxation as the form of complementary therapy to the central treatment of autism disorder.
• Social Skills for Preschoolers With Autism Autism Spectrum Disorder is a family of mental disorders that cause deficits in social awareness, communication skills, and stereotyped behaviors.
• The Effectiveness of Peer-Mediated Intervention for Young Children with Autism Peer-mediated intervention is a prominent technique for developing social skills and fostering involvement in children suffering from autism.
• Sources Credibility: The Case of Autism Attention to sources’ reliability is vital for any realm, including the healthcare system, especially – the evidence-based models.
• The Link Between Epidurals and Autism Spectrum Disorder This study captures the uproar that followed after a recent study attributed autism spectrum disorder to labor epidural analgesia.
• “Autism: Insight From Inside” Movie Reflection The movie “Autism: Insight from Inside” by Robert Parish reflects the issue of ASD’s effect on people’s lives.
• Autism Spectrum Disorder: Antecedent Manipulation Project L. is a 10-years-old male student, who was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. The student is to be observed, and his parents and educators are to be interviewed.
• Autism Spectrum Disorder in Children and Adolescents Below 18 Years The problem that has been chosen for conducting nursing evidence-based practice is Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in children and adolescents below 18 years.
• Teaching Communication Skills for Elementary School Students With Autism Documentation by research has shown that non-handicapped youths can be of great assistance in teaching social skills for students with autism.
• Inclusion of Students With Autism in General Education Classrooms The article’s main purpose is to sensitize the need for new strategies that would harness the inclusion of students with ASD into general classrooms.
• Behavior Intervention in Autism Spectrum Disorders The purpose of the article is to expound on the interfering behaviors in persons with autism spectrum disorders, formulate an approach for preventing them.
• Autism and Other Neurological Disorders Autism and other neurological disorders are defined by characteristics of behavior and are commonly considered to be biological in origin and not caused by improper parenting.
• Autism and Associated Healthcare Issues This paper attempts to understand Autism as a health care issue by studying deeply its causes, characteristics, conditions, treatment options, and who can live with it.
• Contributing Factors of Anxiety in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex developmental condition that affects the way a person communicates and socializes.
• Autism as Developmental Medical Condition The paper tries to discuss the meaning of autism, the causes and the possible treatments that have been found to curb the severe symptoms experienced by the victims.
• Autism and Alzheimer’s Comparison This work is aimed at identifying differences and similarities in the mechanism of the formation of Alzheimer’s disease and autism and consideration of their progression.
• Autism in Toddler: Effects of Dietary Intervention Rigorous behavioral programs for developing positive behaviors, correcting certain sensory problems, will be the best alternative to control problems caused by autism.
• Autism Universal Screening: Response to Media Article The paper provides discussion of the article “Why There’s Disagreement over Screening Every Child for Autism?” published in The New York Times.
• Literature Review: How Can Token Economy Diminish Off-Task Behavior in Students with Autism? The students’ academic success largely depends on their behavior, which is determined not only by the environment but also by psychological states.
• Autism, Myths and Realities Autism belongs to developmental disabilities that are frequently characterized by brain-functioning complications.
• Autist Students Identification: Distinctive Features of Autism In identifying autism, there is the triad of autism which consists of autistic aloneness; speech and language disorder, and obsessive desire for sameness.
• Genetics and Autism Development Autism is associated with a person’s genetic makeup. This paper gives a detailed analysis of this condition and the role of genetics in its development.
• Vaccines and Autism: Does the Controversy Persist? Scientists managed to find quite a few vaccines against various diseases. The connection between vaccines and autism was proposed recently.
• Autism Spectrum Disorder in Twins: Genetics Study Autism spectrum disorder is a behavioral condition caused by genetic and environmental factors. Twin studies have been used to explain the hereditary nature of this condition.
• Supporting Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders Depending on the situation, the representatives of the general public interact with autists when being at home, in the educational establishment, workplace, or other locations.
• Autism Treatment: Natural vs. Medications The purpose of the paper is to prove that natural treatment must be the basis for addressing the autism issue.
• Vaccines and Autism Relationship and Debates The link between vaccination and autism is hotly debated in the media despite the fact that the alleged evidence is definitively disproven by the scientific community.
• Diagnosing Adults with Autism There is no single theory which any researcher in the study of autism has found to be convincing in that it thoroughly explains the origin and behavioral attributes of autism.
• Early Social Interaction: Children with Autism This paper analyzes an article addressing how the involvement of parents in the ESI programs affects the outcome of improved social and communication skills among children with autism disorders.
• Pharma Controversy: Vaccines and Autism At the end of the 20th century, Andrew Wakefield conducted his research, revealing the connection between childhood vaccines and autism.
• Autism Ethics: Accept or Cure? The paper considers the debate on whether autistic people should be accepted by the community as a diversity of the society or a cure should be found out and developed.
• Social Science Perspectives on the Autism Spectrum This report will discuss autism, its characteristics, causes, diagnosis, and management. Autism refers to developmental disorder that impedes a person’s ability to communicate and relate to people.
• The Effects of Risperidone on Children with Autism The goal of this paper is to determine if using risperidone can affect cognitive performance in pre-adolescents and adolescents with autism.
• Autism Syndrome Psychosocial Characteristics Autism spectrum disorders present symptoms that may be tricky for the parents to correctly diagnose the condition. The symptoms are sometimes mistaken for other disorders.
• Autism Spectrum Disorders: Control and Prevention This paper aims at determining whether television watching by children below the age of two years can lead to the development of autism.
• Teaching Communication Skills for Students with Autism Ehrough games and other forms of interaction with his/her peers, a child with autism disorders is able to develop in his/her areas of deficiency.
• Concept and Cause of Autism: Reports on Autism A recent survey on people’s attitude toward Autism reveals that a significant percentage of parents still believe that the disease is caused by vaccines taken during childhood.
• Childhood Disorders: Autism Spectrum Disorders In case of autism spectrum disorders the presence of other childhood disorders in a patient often complicates the traditional diagnostic procedure.
• Cell Phones May Cause Autism The main idea of the article is the harmful effect of the wireless radiation which ray cell phones in particular.
• Education for Students with Autism in Saudi Arabia Students with autism in Saudi Arabia are secluded from the mainstream learning institutions because teachers lack the knowledge and awareness related to the condition.
• Effects of Music Therapy for Adolescents with Autism Music Therapy is the clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship by a credentialed professional.
• Autism and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
• How Autism Affects Regular Brain Functions as Well as Socialization Skills
• Autism and Asperger Syndrome: Similarities and Differences
• How Autism Affects the Person With It and Those Around Them
• Autism Spectrum Disorder and Its Comorbidities
• Music Therapy and Drug Therapy for Children With Autism
• Autism Spectrum Disorder and Attitudes About Inclusion Teaching
• Psychological and Social Factors in Informed Consent for Patients With Autism
• Autism and Environmental Determinants of Behavior
• Autism Spectrum Disorder and Narcolepsy: A Possible Connection That Deserves to Be Investigated
• Augmentative and Alternative Communication: For Students With Autism
• Dietary Patterns Impact Temporal Dynamics of Fecal Microbiota Composition in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Autism: Characteristics, Diagnosis, and Understanding
• Diagnose Autism Simply With ‘iPad’ Games
• Atypical Resource Allocation May Contribute to Many Aspects of Autism
• Early Behavioral Treatments for Children With Autism
• Children With Autism May Be Especially Susceptible to Bullying
• Autism and the Physiological Effects on the Brain
• Common Chromosomal Abnormalities Associated With Autism
• Parent and School Autism Wars: A Civil Rights Struggle
• Genetics Studies Indicate That Neural Induction and Early Neuronal Maturation Are Disturbed in Autism
• Aberrant Cerebellar Cerebral Functional Connectivity in Children and Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Dynamical Methods for Evaluating the Time-Dependent Unfolding of Social Coordination in Children With Autism
• Causal Relationship Between Autism & Vaccine
• China Multi-Center Preschool Autism Project: Design and Methodologies to Identify Clinical Symptom Features and Biomarkers of Autism Spectrum Disorders
• Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder and Effective Education Strategies
• How People With Autism Experience the World
• Chromatin Regulators, Phenotypic Robustness, and Autism Risk
• Autism: How Developmental Psychology Can Inform Practice
• Music Therapy Use for Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Individuals With Autism and the Difficulties to Understand Different Emotions
• Asperger’s Syndrome: “The Higher Functioning Form of Autism
• Self Management, Autism, and Skills of Social Interaction Questions
• Are There Cultural Differences in Parental Interest in Early Diagnosis and Genetic Risk Assessment for Autism Spectrum Disorder?
• Improving Interactive Play for Students With Autism
• Evidence for Brainstem Contributions to Autism Spectrum Disorders
• Early Childhood Education for Children With Autism: How Teacher and Classroom Characteristics Influence Student Learning
• Communication Barriers That Exist With Autism
• Abnormal Functional Connectivity During Visuospatial Processing Is Associated With the Disrupted Organization of White Matter in Autism
• Genetically Modified Foods Cause Autism
• Elevated Plasma Reelin Levels in Children With Autism
• Researchers Are Still Unsure of the Origin and Causes of Autism
• Genetic Causes and Modifiers of Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Modern Computer Technologies for Autism
• Dismantling the Presumptions About Autism in the Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida
• How Autism Spectrum Disorder Affects Students Reading
• Acoustic Hyper-Reactivity and Negatively Skewed Locomotor Activity in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders
• Living With an Autism Spectrum Disorder in Hanoi, Vietnam
• How the Media Perpetuated the Autism-Vaccine Scare
• Living With the Form of Autism Called Asperger’s Syndrome
• Autism and Its Treatment: Applied Behavior Analysis and the Developmental, Individual-Difference, Relationship-Based Model
• Gluten and Casein Diet for Children With Autism
• Diagnosis, Symptoms, Theories, and Treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorder Among Children in the United States
• Affective and Cognitive Empathy in Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Fluoxetine but Not Risperidone Increases Sociability in the BTBR Mouse Model of Autism
• Cognitive-Behavioral Approach for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Autism Spectrum Disorder and Interpersonal
• Lost for Emotion Words: A Study on Autism Spectrum
• Autism Prevalence, Research, and the Historical Viewpoint
• Families and Therapeutic Goals Regarding Autism
• Increased Awareness Benefits Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Play-Based Therapy for Children With Autism
• Arousal and Attention Re-Orienting in Autism Spectrum Disorders: Evidence From Auditory Event-Related Potentials
• Autism Spectrum Disorder and Its Perioperative Management
• Financial Issues Associated With Having a Child With Autism
• Autism Explain the Importance of a Person-Centered Approach
• Genetics and the Possible Causation of Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Precentral Gyrus Functional Connectivity Signatures of Autism
• Autism Among Preschool Children and the Interventions to Help Them
• Genetic Syndromes, Maternal Diseases and Antenatal Factors Associated With Autism Spectrum Disorders
• Does Autism Really Affect People’s Daily Lives?
• Which Areas of the Brain Are Impacted in Autism and or ADHD?
• Does Autism Spectrum Disorder Affect the Brain Development of a Person?
• How Is the Brain Affected by Autism Spectrum Disorder?
• What Is the Mental Age of Someone With Autism?
• Can Brain Scans Identify Autism?
• How Does Autism Affect a Child Intellectual Development?
• When Does the Autistic Brain Stop Developing?
• How Is an Autistic Brain Different From a Normal Brain?
• Can a Child With Autism Go to Normal School?
• What Are the Negative Effects of Autism?
• How Does Autism Affect the Brain and Nervous System?
• Is High Functioning Autism Considered a Disability?
• What Are the Main Difficulties of Students With Autism?
• How Does an Autistic Child Learn Best?
• What Should You Avoid if Your Child Has Autism?
• How Does Autism Affect Regular Brain Functions and Socialization Skills?
• What Is the Hardest Part of Life for a Child With Autism?
• Can Autism Go Away Without Treatment?
• What Does a Psychologist Do for Autism?
• Which Is the Best Therapy for Autism Adults?
• How Do Doctors Test for Autism?
• Does Autism Come From the Mother or Father?
• Can a Child With Autism Live a Normal Life?
• What Jobs Are Good for High-Functioning Autism?
• How does genetics contribute to autism development?
• What are the gender differences in autism prevalence and symptoms?
• What is the role of environmental factors in autism development?
• What social and emotional challenges do people with autism face?
• How can assistive technology enhance communication for people with autism?
• How do cultural beliefs affect autistic children’s parents’ experiences?
• What factors contribute to the burnout of caregivers of people with autism?
• How does nutrition affect autism symptoms?
• What are the long-term psychological effects of growing up with an autistic sibling?
• How does social media foster social connections for people with autism?
• Understanding autism: a condition overview and diagnostic criteria.
• Brain structure and function in autism.
• Strategies for enhancing verbal and non-verbal communication skills in people with autism.
• ABA therapy for autism: principles, applications, and controversies.
• Assistive technologies in autism: applications and latest developments.
• Autism-friendly classroom practices.
• Strategies for reducing sensory overload in people with autism.
• Ways to support autistic adolescents’ transition to adulthood.
• Creating opportunities for autistic people’s participation in sports.
• Sleep problems in autism: causes, effects, and interventions.
• Is there a link between vaccination and autism?
• ABA therapy in autism treatment: is it effective or harmful?
• Inclusive vs. special education for autistic children.
• Alternative and complementary treatments for autism: are they safe?
• Should autism research receive more funding?
• Medications in autism: are they overprescribed or necessary?
• Chelation therapy for autism treatment: is it worth the risk?
• Do parents of autistic children receive enough support?
• Are individuals with autism capable of providing informed consent in healthcare?
• Should teachers be allowed to restrain and seclude misbehaving students with autism?

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StudyCorgi . "207 Autism Research Topics & Paper Examples." September 9, 2021. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/autism-essay-topics/.

StudyCorgi . 2021. "207 Autism Research Topics & Paper Examples." September 9, 2021. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/autism-essay-topics/.

These essay examples and topics on Autism were carefully selected by the StudyCorgi editorial team. They meet our highest standards in terms of grammar, punctuation, style, and fact accuracy. Please ensure you properly reference the materials if you’re using them to write your assignment.

This essay topic collection was updated on June 20, 2024 .

Research articles covering work related to austism spectrum disorders are provided below.

New Imaging Technique Identifies Autism Markers with 95% Accuracy

Gender Nonconformity in Play Linked to ASD and Behavioral Problems

Early Brain Changes May Trigger Autism

Brain Overgrowth Linked to Autism Symptom Severity

AI Model Predicts Autism in Toddlers with 80% Accuracy

20% Increased ASD Risk for Kids with Autistic Siblings

BPA Exposure in Pregnancy Linked to Autism Risk

Neurodivergence Linked to Chronic Fatigue in Children

Umbilical Cord Blood Test Could Predict Autism Risk

Cancer Drug Shows Promise for Autism Cognitive Function

Healthy Prenatal Diet Linked to Lower Autism Risk

CBD and Metformin Show Promise for Autism Disorders

Increase in Protein Linked to Salt Intake Implicated in Multiple Sclerosis

How Moths Evolve Through Time-Based Speciation

Autism Research Paper Topics: Autism In Children, Adults, and more

Autism is a difficult and painful topic to talk about. According to a  CDC report , every 1 in 44 children has Autism in our time. Disorder of autism is one of the most radical forms of mental illness. Nevertheless, there are a number of types of it, as well as a number of different research topics related to them. Even though there is no cure for this disorder, many efforts have been made to prevent the occurrence of such disorders. All those efforts are necessary to deal with the effects autistic disorders may cause. It is the researchers who deserve the majority of the credit for this achievement. Research into autism is carried out every single day by thousands of researchers around the world. It is important that they play an important role in developing medicines, therapies, and techniques for interacting with people who suffer from autism in order to help them cope with the condition.

You have found your way onto our blog for autism research paper topics. It is safe to assume that you will be one of those researchers. We wish you good luck and a lot of breakthroughs. We are rooting for you to help make this world a better place. After offering you help writing medical papers and PhD research paper writing services for years, we are happy to share all that we know about autism research papers topics.

Table of Contents

Best Autism Research Paper Topics:

Writing a research paper on Autism is a challenging task. The first step towards accomplishing this is to have a brilliant and impeccable topic. Our research paper writers have spent days finding relevant and catchy autism research paper topics to help you accomplish wonders. Let’s have a look.

Autism Research Paper Topics For High School

High school students often have to write research papers for high school assignments and grades.  Their limited access to top level neurological disorder always hinder the quest for answering research questions about autism. That’s why students need extra help and hands to make it to the end. Our professional writers have curated some of the best autism topics for high school students. Here we go!

• Social Camouflage in Autistic People
• Are there any high schools for autistic children?
• The case of the near-normal autistic adolescents
• Recent Theoretical Trends and Relevance for Autism
• Programs and rehabilitation in infantile Autism
• Asperger’s Disorder and Criminal Behavior
• Perceptual over-functioning in Autism
• The Level and Nature of Autistic Intelligence
• Living with Autism in developing countries
• Early Childhood Development With Autistic Children
• A study of the most significant scientific discoveries of Autism
• Case of miracle children who recover from Autism
• Autism as a disorder of perception
• Early Intervention For Toddlers With Autism
• Studies struggle to pin down gender differences in Autism
• Autism cases in the same family more often carry different genetic risks
• Autism: An Obstacle To Communication
• The stages of language acquisition in Autism
• Cognitive aspects and intelligence of autistic people
• Anxiety in adults and children with autism spectrum disorder
• Stress coping techniques for people with Asperger’s syndrome
• History, characteristics and origin of autism
• Autism according to psychology
• Childhood autism, its detection, treatment and education
• Advances / setbacks in treatment and educational systems for children with autism
• Role of social and digital media in raising awareness and notion of autism symptoms through graphic campaigns
• A brief history of the pioneers in the study of autism

We hope the topics above answered your autism research questions. For more high school research topics, visit: High School Research Topics

Medical and Autism Research Paper Topics

Autism is a great topic for research in medicine and surgery. Autism is often linked to  medical research topics  as well.

• The link between Autism and the digestive system
• Neuroscientific efforts made regarding Autism
• Autism and neurophysiology of the nervous system
• Safety and health of an autistic person during the COVID 19 Pandemic
• Gastrointestinal problems in autistic children
• The threat of heart diseases/conditions in autistic person
• Genetic variants to Autism and intellectual disability
• Impact of mild mutations on Autism
• Medically and anatomically, understanding how the brain works in individuals with Autism
• Main physical characteristics and health issues of children with Autism
• Impact of autism syndrome on health status
• Clinical descriptions of Autism
• Adaptation of physicians’ practice during the consultation towards people with autism spectrum disorder
• Necessary good knowledge of Autism to provide every physician
• Preparing the autistic child for invasive procedures
• Analytical approach to interactions with autistic people during a visit to doctor’s
• volution of the clinical definition of Autism
• Etiological heterogeneity of Autism
• Autism: clinical issues

Are these topics about autism satisfying your curiosity on this subject? If not, then read the topics for university students they’ll definitely answer the research questions on autism for you. Read on.

Read More:  Accounting Research Topics

Autism Research Topics For University Students

When studying in a university,  writing a research paper  is a compulsory part of almost every faculty.

• Group of symptoms in autism spectrum disorders
• Are ADHD and Autism related? How? Why? Or Why Not?
• Misconceptions and detective errors in the autism diagnosis
• Characteristics of Autism in young children
• Detection of Autism at the early stages
• Reasons behind rising numbers of autism cases
• Abilities and needs of people with Autism
• How can we enable people with Autism to live independently?
• Lifelong care and support for autistic person: A thorough guide
• Evidence-based psychosocial interventions to improve communication and social skills of autistic individuals
• Well-being and quality of life of people with Autism and their caregivers
• Stigma, discrimination and human rights violations faced by autistic people 
• Measures and social initiatives to make the environment more accessible for autistic people
• Hot topics in autism research
• Social work to provide equal access to autism assessments
• Effective autism drugs

Read More:  Biology Research Paper Topics

Autism Paper Topics For Psychiatry

• Assessing the potential of autistic children based on their strengths
• What should define Autism: deficits or abilities?
• Impairment of social reciprocity and how psychiatry can help the autistic person?
• Alteration of non-verbal behaviors with Autism
• The term autistic in psychiatry
• Definition of the Autism Syndrome in light of psychology
• Psychological help with Autism for language functions
• The limits of psychiatric interventions in Autism
• Explanatory psychological theories of autism spectrum disorder
• Socialization problems and inappropriate effects on children with Autism
• Transcultural psychiatry related to Autism
• The psychological effects of Autism spectrum disorder within families
• Biopsychosocial, on married, family, and professional life while living with Autism
• Impacts of autism spectrum disorder on physical or mental health status
• Impacts of Autism on social life
• Role of environmental factors in autistic Development
• The spectrum of social reactions to Autism in the media
• Socially unacceptable or dangerous behavior and invasive psychiatry methods with autistic people
• Autism and memory: discussion and conclusions
• Study of the cognitive, socio-emotional evolution and autistic behaviors of children with Autism
• Classification of mental disorders in children and adolescents associated with autism
• Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
• From autism to pervasive developmental disorders
• Hans Asperger’s Autistic Psychopathy

For more psychology topics, explore Paper Perk’s:  Psychology Research Paper Topics  For 2022

Research Questions Related To Autism

Autism is one of the most popular  research paper topics  in the academic world. Many questions have been asked to contribute to that. Let’s look at one of the most popular questions among them.

• Impaired Development and maintaining relationships: How to provide autistic children with social help?
• How to improve communication in an autistic child at a developmental age?
• What are the major  symptoms of Autism in children at an early age ?
• How do researchers contribute to discoveries related to Autism spectrum disorder?
• Is Autism one of the pervasive developmental disorders?
• What are the types and extent of language disorders in children with Autism?
• What are the theoretical approaches to childhood autism?
• What are the experiences, Issues, And Challenges Of Immigrant Parents Having A Child With ASD?
• What is the description of diagnostic criteria for Autism?
• What is the description of the types of language impairment
• What are the symptoms of autism spectrum disorder that impact the lives of related people?
• What are the collateral factors that parents of autistic children must deal with?
• What are other Related Disorders of Autism?
• What are the political actions around Autism we took last decade?
• What is the social model for autistic culture?
• Is it okay to call someone autistic? Are moral ambiguities concerned with Autism
• How to deal with mood swings in autistic teenagers?
• What are the essentials of autism spectrum disorder diagnosis?
• What are the basics of support for autism spectrum disorder?
• What are the statistical analysis and evaluation methods for infant children?
• Can autistic people understand sarcasm? How can we help them understand and enjoy the comic colors of life?
• What are the main characteristics that can be found in an Asperger’s person?
• How is Rett syndrome relevant to Autism Spectrum Disorders?
• What do we know about the causes and effects of Rett’s syndrome?
• What are the main challenges of early detection of autism in psychiatry?
• What are the risk factors of childhood disintegrative disorder?
• What do we know about Leo Kanner’s Early Infantile Autism?
• Is it possible to have developed autism after childhood?

Read More:  Business Research Topics

Interesting Autism Paper Topics

• Appearance and evolution of the term autism in the 20th century
• Classification and diagnosis of Autism
• Definition of Pervasive Developmental Disorders
• The care pathway for children with Autism and their family
• Cross-cultural practice with immigrant parents who have a child with Autism
• Representations of autism spectrum disorder in immigrants
• Financial stress, lack of knowledge of the services available, and delays in the detection and diagnosis of Autism
• Lack of social and family support networks for people with Autism in developing countries
• Development of Asperger’s symptoms in teenage years
• Development of autistic syndrom over time and in later ages of life
• Difficulties experienced by immigrant parents having an affected child from autism spectrum disorder
• Joint attention in early autism spectrum disorder
• The instruments for measuring parental stress in parents with an autistic child
• Health implications of child autistic children
• Socio-demographic characteristics of families with more than one autistic children
• The role of knowledge in changing attitudes and behaviours with Autism
• Verbal and non-verbal communication disorders
• Imitation and communication in children with Autism
• Pathology of childhood disintegrative disorder and associated disorders
• Repetitive and/or restricted behaviors and activities associated with childhood disintegrative disorder
• A complex and difficult diagnosis of childhood disintegrative disorder
• Comparison between childhood disintegrative disorder and autism

Read More:  Chemistry Research Topics

Best Autism Thesis Topics

• Autism symptoms and parental quality of life
• Autism symptoms and parental stress
• Minor symptoms that autistic adults may have
• Interventions for children with autism disorder
• Contemporary issues of today’s families affected by autism spectrum disorder
• Parental stress, ASD, and attachment
• Quality of the bond of attachment of children with ASD
• Autism experienced daily
• Autism and its communication landscape
• The spectrum of social statuses, designations and qualifiers associated with Autism
• Methodology and strategies for autism effects data analysis
• The portrayal of Autism in media and marginalized populations
• Autistic people and families: from disarray to protest
• The role of the media to reduce and end the stereotypes about Autism Spectrum Disorder
• A theoretical approach to autism spectrum disorders
• Focus on people with Autism without intellectual disabilities
• Associations of parents of autistic children
• Diagnostic assistance for adults with high-functioning Autism
• Mild forms of autism spectrum disorder in adults
• General information on the diagnosis of Autism
• Differentiation criteria in the social representations of autistic children among educators

Research Topics For Different Types Of Autism

• Neuropsychological study of memory in autism
• Studies concerning memory in autism
• Fatigue and fatigability due to a double or multiple task situation with Asperger’s Syndrome
• Enhancing learning social codes and school subjects for persons with Asperger’s syndrome
• Improving life for people with Asperger’s syndrome via social activities
• Social activities to help people with autism spectrum disorder
• Greatest works and achievements about autism research
• Clumsiness, motor coordination problems in autistic people
• Selective silence in people with Asperger’s Syndrome
• Differential diagnosis for Asperger’s Syndrome
• Clinical description of Asperger’s syndrome
• Impairment of conversational skills in people with Asperger’s syndrome
• Disorders of executive functions with Asperger’s Syndrome
• Deficit of conversational skills in Asperger’s Syndrome
• The development of conversational skills in a typical person: How are they different from autistic people?
• Is ADHD somehow related to ASD? How can you prove your stance?
• Peculiarities of functioning of people with Asperger’s Syndrome
• Socialization difficulties: Variations in different types of autism
• General presentation of Asperger’s syndrome
• Is Elon Musk really suffering from Asperger’s Syndrome? What is the truth of it?
• Why Rett’s syndrome mostly affects females?
• Genetic mutations leading to Rett’s syndrome
• Autism spectrum disorder: is it a good thing in anyway?
• What is duplication syndrome and how it is related to Rett’s syndrome?
• What are the major Instruments that assess “autistic traits”?
• Using genetics to support the clinical diagnosis of different types of autism
• How to treat the symptoms of Rett’s syndrome
• Pharmacological approaches to treat autism
• Diagnosis of Rett’s syndrome
• Major symptoms of Rett’s syndrome
• Comparing Ssucharewa, Asperger and Kanner disorder’s
• Prevalence, epidemiology and comorbidities in the autism spectrum disorder
• Adolescence and Asperger’s syndrome
• Reports of behavior in autism spectrum disorder
• Sensory processes in autism spectrum disorder

As someone with the superpower of great research skills, you have a responsibility to use your powers for good. When you’re writing about autism, that responsibility is even greater. You have the ability to change the world for autistic people by nailing the research and providing accurate information. If you need any help with your research, we are more than happy to provide assistance. You can  contact us , or read about us to see what makes us great at helping you with your research problems.

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133 Essential Autism Research Paper Topics

One of the best strategies for writing a paper on autism is to choose a topic that you already know about and can manage given time restraints and resource availability. This easy approach can help you get an assignment done quickly but it could also prevent you from earning the highest grade possible.

Table of Contents

Good research paper topics on autism, great autism controversial issues, autism research analysis paper topics, autism biology topics research paper, autism spectrum disorder research topics.

The first step in writing a great assignment or writing psychology papers is to consider several autism topics for research paper that meet all criteria for an academic assignment. Each one will be challenging and require you to conduct ample research:

• Widening the search beyond a single cause to reconcile with the different types of autism.
• Effective ways of motivating students with autism who have made little progress.
• Evaluating the effectiveness of early detection techniques.
• Describe the effectiveness of stimming as a self-regulatory mechanism for people with autism.
• Main reasons why people with autism have trouble communicating with others.
• Identify prominent historical figures that may have had autism.
• Evaluate preparedness of medical caregivers to adequately provide support.
• The difference in brain chemistry between people with autism and people without autism.
• Describe the behavior of children with autism toward family members.
• Compare and contrast male autistic individuals and female autistic individuals.
• Diagnosis by 2.5 years may lead to dramatic improvements in social skills.
• Evidence suggests that environmental factors may be responsible for the rise in cases of autism.
• The advantages and disadvantages of an autism diagnosis.
• Providing one-on-one support to help students with autism adjust to educational settings.
• Addressing mealtime issues in children between 3 and 5 years of age.
• Improving training methods for caregivers working with autistic people.
• Providing adequate resources and support to autistic people in the workplace.
• Provide reasons why autism in western society is more prevalent.
• The positive and negative effects of special education courses for autistic students.
• Screening young people with autism for abnormal cholesterol levels.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of diagnostic instruments in the early detection of autism.
• Evaluating recent research breakthroughs in the causes of autism.
• Addressing positive and negative behavioral changes resulting from specific treatments.
• Supporting students with autism in educational group settings.
• Developing individualized educational support programs for students in the spectrum.
• Evaluating different approaches to teaching social and coping skills.
• Evaluating educational programs that support the inclusion of autistic students.

When writing on research paper topics dealing with autism, you want to exercise some caution when there is a possibility that the issue has been overdone. Conduct your background research and check bibliographies to ensure you find content to back up your claims, but don’t merely repeat what others already know. If you’re struggling you can always refer to a psychology paper writing service :

• Using stem cell research to identify causes of autism.
• Explain the reasons people believe autism is a normal neurological variation.
• The changing criteria for a qualified autism diagnosis.
• Autistic parents raising autistic children.
• Describe the challenges health care providers have faced because of the ASD definition.
• Utilizing stem cells to create treatments for autistic children.
• Investigate and explain the fringe theories surrounding the causes of ASD.
• Autistic children with academic challenges in typical educational settings.
• Inadequate training for ASD caregivers and support staff.
• Reasons why symptoms of high-functioning ASD are often overlooked.
• The controversy surrounding dietary therapies for children with autism.
• Disclosing ASD to a potential or current employer.
• The resistance to applied behavioral therapy on children.
• The link between an ASD diagnosis later in life and worse mental health.
• Evaluating curriculum applied to an autistic child’s education.
• Funding for the care of people diagnosed with ASD.
• Autistic children with behavioral challenges in typical educational settings.
• Explain the emergence of home chelate treatments provided by parents.
• Finding support for low-functioning adults with ASD.
• Diagnosing autism in the womb and the possibility of genetic engineering.
• Explain how the increase in diagnoses has led to a split between scientists that believe genetics and scientists that believe environmental factors are the cause.
• Explain how the different diagnoses in DSM-4 and DSM-5 have caused controversies.
• Evaluating the evidence that suggests that Asperger’s no longer exists.
• Discuss the link between autism cases and childhood immunization.
• Mercury content in vaccines that many believe are the cause of ASD.
• Parents that fear the MMR vaccine and evidence to support their hesitation.

This field offers a lot of opportunities for research on this lifelong developmental disability. These students autism research questions are among the current topics being discussed among experts. You can use this list to develop your ideas or research and write about something from the list that you find interesting:

• Analysis and evaluation of autism charitable programs around the world.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of family doctors in their ability to efficiently support their autistic patients.
• The effectiveness of talking therapies in people with ASD and mental health difficulties.
• Examine the evidence that suggests ASD may originate in a different set of mutations in women than it does in men.
• Impact the Covid-19 pandemic has had on ASD global research efforts.
• Effectiveness of efforts to educate the public about stimming techniques to help people with ASD.
• Evidence that supports environmental causes such as paint, pollution, and chemical additives.
• Examine the increase in the diversity of people represented in research efforts.
• Examine and discuss early detection methods in children exhibiting little to no symptoms.
• Evaluation of children with ASD that are educated in special schools.
• The impact of the recent genetic sequence of African children with ASD and their families.
• The impact music therapy has on improving social interaction in children with ASD.
• Examine and discuss employment limitations and opportunities for people with ASD.
• Describe how parents can respond to the negative behaviors of children with ASD.
• Concerns by parents and caregivers regarding the removal of Asperger’s Syndrome from DSM-5.
• Analyze the effectiveness of diagnosing and treating people with ASD in developing countries.
• Examine and discuss the higher recognition capabilities of signs and symptoms of ASD in the western world.
• Evaluation of mental health difficulties among people with ASD.
• Analyze the combination and effectiveness of autism into a spectrum.
• Social outreach programs and their effectiveness in reaching adults with ASD.
• Examine the effectiveness of current therapies to improve social interactions in people with autism.
• An analysis of methods used to help children with ASD to adapt to mainstream schools.
• An analysis of public education regarding the supposed benefits of stimming.
• Examine the effectiveness of gene therapies for Angelman syndrome.
• Evaluation of community resources available for people with ASD.
• Analysis of different diagnoses and treatment plans for children under 3 years of age.

There is a lot of work yet to be done related to the biological causes of autism. These autism thesis topics explore this area of disability and provide a lot of room for students to take new directions. Be sure to conduct ample research to ensure you back up your hypothesis with evidence:

• The research of organoids from people with autism and the shortage of cells to suppress brain activity.
• The relationship between autism and autonomic nervous system.
• Reducing the presence of Myelin by deleting an autism-linked gene.
• The need to research ASD through a whole-body systems biology approach.
• The challenges caregivers and evaluators face due to an inability to communicate effectively with patients.
• Examine the reasons ASD is the fastest-growing developmental disorder in the world.
• Growing biological research that suggests autism may be linked to 20 sets of genes.
• Discuss the recent breakthroughs in ASD gene research.
• The difficulty caused by the various bodily system interacting in complex and interdependent ways.
• Examine neurobiological underpinnings of social behavior in girls with ASD.
• Examine how etiologies make it difficult to explain the biology of ASD.
• Childhood diagnoses in people that are later diagnosed with ASD as adults.
• The challenges in finding links in specific biomarkers to identify ASD in children.
• The impact ASD has on the metabolic, mitochondrial, gastrointestinal, and neurological systems.
• Steady heart rates in people with autism versus the heart rates in people without autism.
• Evidence to support that ASD is biological due to more males being diagnosed earlier than females.
• Biological factors in the resting heart rates in adults diagnosed with autism and biological.
• Monitoring biomarkers in children with a high risk of an ASD diagnosis.
• The link between autism and a specific brain-gut microbiome.
• Challenges that ASD poses for clinical trials in search of biomarkers.
• Examine and discuss the genetic variants associated with increased risk for ASD.
• Evaluate the theoretical aspects of ASD related to tracking specific biomarkers.
• The relationship between gastrointestinal problems and autistic children.
• Neuroanatomic observations of the brain in people diagnosed with ASD.
• Maternal immune activation due to environmental factors versus biological factors.
• The concern regarding later ASD diagnosis among females.
• The effectiveness of autism biobanks in tracking and researching biological data from children.

These research topics on autism deal specifically with what is understood regarding the range of symptoms and severity a person with autism experiences. Students focused on the “spectrum” are usually interested in the ways a person with autism perceives and socializes with others:

• Early detection of autism spectrum disorder in children as young as 18 months of age.
• The difficulties in treating autism spectrum disorder in children under the age of 3.
• Examine and discuss existing research on focal cortical dysplasias in ASD.
• The impact of intellectual disability in the mental health adults with ASD.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of wearing anxiety detection technologies.
• The ways ASD can affect a person’s ability to retain and absorb water and avoid constipation.
• Helping teenagers with autism spectrum disorder socialize with other students.
• Subtypes of aggressive behavior in children with ASD.
• Examine the impact of mental health difficulties and quality of life in adults with an autistic spectrum disorder.
• Identifying different types of autism by examining and evaluating social interaction, repetitive behaviors, and communication.
• Observing changes in behavioral symptoms following immune results in children with ASD.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of treatment of ASD considering the wide range of diagnoses.
• Diagnosing ASD in adults without identification, family, or medical history.
• Relationship between depression and anxiety disorders in adults with ASD.
• Compare and contrast personal narrative writing by children diagnosed with ASD.
• Issues with communication and socialization in one-parent, one-child homes.
• Explain n and discuss the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in teenagers with ASD.
• Relationship between subtypes of repetitive behaviors and anxiety in children with ASD.
• Quality of health care services for adults with an autistic spectrum disorder.
• ASD assessment techniques using telehealth during the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Self-perceived quality of life in minority women with ASD.
• Aggressive behaviors in ASD children suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
• Developing innovative ways to reduce symptoms of the disability associated with autism.
• Evaluating the effectiveness of helping college students with autism prepare to enter the workforce.
• Evaluating therapies to improve social and communication skills in children aged 1.5 – 3 years.
• The effectiveness of autism biobanks in tracking and researching behavioral data from children.
• Visual attention and inhibitory control in young people versus adults with ASD.

If you need writing help with a research paper dealing with autism, or any other subject, you can trust our professional paper writers for hire to provide custom services for students at all levels. We offer the best prices you will find online, and we provide expert support that will help students achieve at the highest academic levels. If you don’t find any of the ideas above interesting, we will create a custom list of autism research paper topics to suit your unique needs.

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111 Autism Research Topics & Essay Examples

📝 autism research papers examples, 🏆 best autism essay titles, 🎓 simple research topics about autism, 🖋️ autism topics for discussion, ❓ autism research questions.

• Autistic Spectrum Disorder: Needs Assessment Plan This paper outlines the needs assessment plan for this project based on the use of surveys and other researchers’ findings.
• Autism and Neurodiversity: Current Approaches Autism is one of the most severe developmental disorders due to causing difficulties in communication and social interaction.
• Combined Autism Diagnostic Evaluation Zander, Sturm, and Bölte compared the application of ADI-R, ADOS, their combinations, and the clinical consensus diagnosis to establish the diagnostic validity of the tools.
• Vaccination and Related Risks of Autism The persistence of the vaccination myths causes people to hesitate and delay vaccination. Such decisions may have negative consequences for the health of children.
• New Beginning Program Strength and Limitations The organization can publish educational and supportive materials digitally and print to help those in need in areas where the program is not available.
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Autism Research: An Objective Quantitative Review of Progress and Focus Between 1994 and 2015

Associated data.

The nosology and epidemiology of Autism has undergone transformation following consolidation of once disparate disorders under the umbrella diagnostic, autism spectrum disorders. Despite this re-conceptualization, research initiatives, including the NIMH’s Research Domain Criteria and Precision Medicine, highlight the need to bridge psychiatric and psychological classification methodologies with biomedical techniques. Combining traditional bibliometric co-word techniques, with tenets of graph theory and network analysis, this article provides an objective thematic review of research between 1994 and 2015 to consider evolution and focus. Results illustrate growth in Autism research since 2006, with nascent focus on physiology. However, modularity and citation analytics demonstrate dominance of subjective psychological or psychiatric constructs, which may impede progress in the identification and stratification of biomarkers as endorsed by new research initiatives.

“ There are in fact two things, science and opinion; the former begets knowledge, the latter ignorance ”

-Hippocrates.

Introduction

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is an umbrella term encompassing the diagnoses of autism, Asperger’s syndrome (AS) and pervasive developmental disorder – not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS) ( American Psychiatric Association, 1994 ; American Psychiatric Association, 2013 ). Proposed in the early 1980s ( Wing, 1981 , 1997 ; Nordin and Gillberg, 1996 ), the ‘Autism Spectrum’ was first clinically conceptualized with the publication of the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders (DSM-IV, American Psychiatric Association, 1994 ). This reconceptualization was completed with the publication of the DSM-5, which marked the consolidation of previous diagnostic terminology ( American Psychiatric Association, 2013 ; see Figure ​ Figure1A 1A ). However, the amalgamation of formerly heterogeneous disorders under a single diagnostic term was, and arguably continues to be, contentious ( Singh, 2011 ). Clinically, this modification and restriction of diagnostic criteria resulted in an expansion in nosology and epidemiology, raising questions over the latent role of modified diagnostic thresholds ( Fombonne, 2003 ; Hill et al., 2015 ). In addition, this narrowing of diagnostic terminology, to encompass a broader population under a single diagnostic term, sits in contrast to the current climate of medical advancement, which emphasizes the individualization of diagnosis and treatment. Indeed, the Precision Medicine initiative—including Computational Psychiatry ( Friston et al., 2014 ; Insel, 2014 ; Wang and Krystal, 2014 ; Torres et al., 2016 )—endorses a personalized and objective approach to health through the integration of layers of the knowledge network to provide a tailored and objective examination of disorder progression, as well as treatment and prognosis, where appropriate ( Figure ​ Figure1B 1B ). Similarly, the NIMH’s RDoC initiative (Research Domain Criteria; Insel, 2014 ) encourages research to move beyond broad psychological classifications, such as those provided by the American Psychiatric Association, 2013 ), which often lack sensitivity and specificity, and instead, traverse populations based on quantifiable physiological factors.

(A) While the clinical landscape of Autism has witnessed a transformation with the amalgamation of Autism, Asperger’s syndrome and PDD-NOS into a single umbrella term of autism spectrum disorder, the new era of precision medicine (B) encourages the integration of precise individualized information toward a specific diagnosis and intervention https://figshare.com/s/eb6150e5f2fc0acd7a2c .

Despite traditionally conceptualized as a behaviorally defined psychological disorder—as mirrored by the lack of biomarkers for ASD—trends reported in 2007 indicated a promising shift in ASD media coverage and academic discourse toward the examination of physiological axes, including underlying neurological etiology ( Singh et al., 2007 ). Such results were further supported by a broad quantification of Autism research focus between 1980 and 2010 by the Interagency Autism Coordinating Center ( Office of Autism Research Coordination (OARC) and and National Institute of Mental Health and Thomson Reuters, Inc., 2012 ). This comprehensive report profiled a 12-fold increase in publication rates, with a hand coding methodology (designed a priori to target the dimensions of interest), highlighting the now prominent role of biological and physiological processes in Autism focused research ( Office of Autism Research Coordination (OARC) and and National Institute of Mental Health and Thomson Reuters, Inc., 2012 ). Yet, while inferring a promising shift in the scope of Autism research, the reliance on hand coding and counting techniques employed in both reviews limit the applicability of such results. Specifically, the a priori application of user-imposed heuristics to delineate expected thematic clusters, coupled with the subjectivity of hand assessment, artificially constrains and shapes results, rather than allowing self-emerging patterns to be identified.

This article seeks to empirically explore and examine whether broad trends toward a biological and physiological research focus of ASD have continued in light of the consolidation of disorders under the ASD umbrella and recent health initiatives, when no a priori expectations or limitations on thematic trends are imposed. To this end, modern bibliometric techniques were empirically informed and coupled with computational metrics, self-clustering network analyses and graph theory visualization methods, to provide accessible summative data of the dynamic evolution and focus of Autism research between 1994 and 2015. Research focus and trends were assessed at two levels; (1) examination of broad trends in research proliferation, journal focus, and citation analytics through objective time-series analytics, (2) comprehensive empirical co-keyword analysis to delineate self-emerging areas of research convergence via modularity statistics.

Acting as an article ‘tag,’ keywords provide a unique and condensed method to visualize areas of research focus ( Okubo, 1997 ), and facilitate substantial data processing. This is in contrast to traditional full-text co-word processing, which often relies on the refinement of concepts via the hand selection of prominent papers or terminology ( Callon et al., 1991 ). Introduced by Callon et al. (1991) , and refined by Coulter et al. (1996) , these traditional methods of co-word analysis employ a range of methods to sequentially delineate semantic concepts, which are presented and tracked across a 2D space, such as a strategic diagram. However, as outlined above, the use of pre-specified heuristics to isolate internal network parameters raises questions over the objectiveness of such an approach. While underlying association indices are utilized to encapsulate thematic frequency, user manipulation is a feature often adopted in modern bibliometric analysis—from manual semantic coding of core terms to drive subsequent clustering and group identification (e.g., Coulter et al., 1996 ; Topalli and Ivanaj, 2016 ; Williams et al., 2016 ; Isenberg et al., 2017 ), to the manual manipulation and reduction of large-scale data ( Chuang et al., 2013 ), through to the use of arbitrary thresholds for algorithmic calibration to specify term and group selection ( Callon et al., 1991 ; Coulter et al., 1996 ; Zhang et al., 2015 ; Williams et al., 2016 ). Enforcing a priori user-specified heuristics for core elements, such as the number of concepts or keywords that constitute a theme and the number of themes to be identified, artificially constrains, and shapes subsequent clustering. This article departs from this approach, and instead, objectively profiles the evolution and diversity of Autism research with a focus on self-emerging patterns of term association (rather than a priori enforced heuristics). Modularity techniques and graph theory visualization provide a comprehensive, accessible overview of self-identified trends in research focus. Network modularity—indicative of research convergence—was self-identified via keyword co-occurrence (i.e., the frequency of keyword co-occurring in research articles across the corpus). However, to enable discussion within the precision medicine context, trends were a posteriori contextualized using the broad thematic categorizations of Psychological (author reference to traditional psychological metrics subsuming clinical Psychiatry), Physiological (author reference to biological, or quantified physiological based psychological metrics) or Interdisciplinary. This application of statistics before heuristics marks a departure from traditional hand coding and text-processing techniques. Underpinned by empirical, self-emergent trends as identified across the broad Autism corpus, these emerging patterns enable discussion as to the past, current and future direction of Autism research, within a broader context of new health initiatives.

Materials and Methods

Data collection.

A systematic literature search was completed using the core collection of ‘Web of Science.’ Literature with the Topic Field, ‘Autism’ (to reflect pre-2013 term consolidation) was identified and refined based on the following criteria: published between 1994 and 2015 (the year of DSM-IV publication to time of data collection), classified as an Original Research article, published in English and within the United States of America only. This search resulted in a corpus of 17,620 original research articles 1 .

Data Pre-processing, Keyword Extraction, and Frequency Analysis

Bibliometric information was extracted for each article, including author(s), affiliation(s), publication title, journal, attributed keywords and cited references. This information was formatted and processed within R software ( R Core Team, 2016 ) using functionality within the ‘tm’ and ‘Bibliometric and Co-citation Analysis’ packages ( Aria and Cuccurullo, 2017 ). An initial frequency-based time-series assessment was applied to identify the publication rate per year, the most frequently occurring journals for publication per year, and summative citation analytics. Unfortunately, the provision of author keywords is notably inconsistent—with many failing to provide such text markers—as such, database attributed keywords were extracted to isolate areas of research focus. A total of 25,782 extracted keywords were pre-processed to trim white space and remove numeric only entries before being converted to lower case and stemmed to characters 1:6 (facilitating the automatic augmentation of similar terms, e.g., Behavior, Behavioral, and Behavioral Intervention were subsumed into a single representative term). Duplicates were combined creating a unique dictionary of 6242 stemmed keywords for corpus analysis. Tailor-made author software (MATLAB 2017a) generated matrices of database keyword occurrence (frequency) for this unique corpus dictionary, while preserving underlying indexing. A total of 4482 keywords were subsequently removed from the unique corpus due to low occurrence (occurrences less than the median frequency of the database: <6). This refinement resulted in a profile of 1760 unique stemmed keywords (ranging from 7 to 3847 occurrences), which were used for the analytics outlined below. The maximal and minimally occurring keywords across the corpus were also isolated—defined as the 5 th and 95 th percentile—across the trimmed 1760 keyword frequency distribution, and empirically tracked across the corpus to demonstrate the evolution of research topics (see section “Maximal and Minimal Node Tracking” below and Supplementary Section 1 for more information and a full list of maximally occurring keywords).

Levels of Analysis and Assessment

Data was analyzed across the entire corpus, before being split into smaller ‘Decade’ collections to examine any shift in publication focus (Decade 1: 1994–2004 inclusive and Decade 2: 2005–2015 inclusive). In addition, key years were isolated for individual profiling, namely; 1994 as the start year aligned with the publication of DSM-IV, 2015 as the most recent completed year of research, and 2006 which self-emerged as a critical landmark signaling the field was poised for transformative change – see section “Trend Analysis: Growth of the Research Field and Thematic Focus” below). Results for the ‘Full Corpus’ and both ‘Decades’ are presented below, while additional analysis of each landmark year can be found in the Supplementary Material .

Examination of Broad Trends: Research Proliferation, Journal Focus, and Citation Analytics

Research proliferation was initially profiled according to the number of articles identified using the outlined criteria per year. To enable an empirical assessment of the year of inflection (i.e., the critical year whereby research trends demonstrate the largest growth), this data was examined as a time-series trajectory. Specifically, the overarching trend line was subject to cubic spline interpolation—a form of polynomial interpolation—to achieve higher levels of accuracy, from which the derivative of each year/number of publications was extracted, and used to calculate the slope of the trend line of publications (as defined as: Slope = Δy/Δx; see Figure ​ Figure2A 2A inset). The local maxima and minima across the resulting slope trajectory were further extracted, and the first maximal positive difference between local maxima and minima was identified—i.e., the first moment of maximal increase in the slope of the line reflective of an increase in publication rate.

(A) Trend analysis of the number of publications under the topic ‘Autism’ per year, and the critical inflection year highlighted (Slope = Δy/Δx; see inset a). (B) Overview of the number of self-clustered modules identified across the corpus (see section “Keyword Co-occurrence and Modularity: Research Themes – Evolution and Cross Talk”). A number of yearly modules include a single keyword—these are indicated in red. (C) Most frequently occurring journals for publication per year as categorized into broad thematic silos: Psychological, Physiological and Interdisciplinary, and related empirically estimated trend lines. (D) Classification of top cited publications across the corpus 1994–2015 demonstrates the prevalence of Psychological research and tools. See Supplementary Tables 1 – 3 for further information on this classification trend as decomposed to the decade level. For larger high resolution figures please see https://figshare.com/s/5210439deb5a6ba0bcf2 .

To further contextualize trends of research proliferation in light of the precision medicine platform, the journal of publication was considered, with broad categorization according to three disciplinary silos: Psychological, Physiological focus, or Interdisciplinary. This categorization was performed per year of analysis, with the 100 most frequently occurring journals per year extracted (i.e., those that publish the highest number of ASD research papers). 2 To further refine this assessment, the top 100 journals were assessed using K-mean clustering (see Supplementary Figure 1 for depiction). This machine learning clustering algorithm employed minimal squared Euclidean distance to identify groups of closely related observations by randomly inserting placeholders into the data set (user specified N ), and identifying neighboring clusters. While user enforced N specification is required for K-means clustering, this was applied only to identify the most frequently occurring journals, and was empirically justified via systematic exploration of the data settings. For example, if N = 2, N = 3, and N = 4 all resulted in similar group profiles, N = 3 was adopted. Thus, an N was applied when all neighboring values resulted in similar group profile for the isolation of the demarcated ‘tail,’ representative of the most frequent publications.

The most frequent publications were subsequently classified according to the Journals’ official description —extracted from the relevant online presence, and crosschecked (where possible) with Thomson Reuters Journal classification. Terms of focus such as Genetic, Immunological, and Neurobiological were deemed as Physiological, while those such as Education, Intervention, and Mental Health were deemed as Psychological or Clinical Psychiatric in nature. Journal descriptions that explicitly stated interdisciplinary research, or referred to terminology associated with both Physiological and Psychological terms were deemed Interdisciplinary. Authors crosschecked all classification results. While this method involves heuristics, it is applied to enable discussion of research scope and does not impact subsequent modularity techniques employed for keyword analysis. To control for variability in the number of frequently occurring journals per year, the percentage of categorization was calculated. A line of best fit was then empirically applied to the time-series of each categorization distribution, with the slope calculated to allow further trend interpretation and identification of self-emerging trends (see section “Trend Analysis: Growth of the Research Field and Thematic Focus” for results).

The references that researchers cite provide a foundation for further discussion or support, and are therefore indicative of research focus or procedures. As such, the above process was repeated for the most frequently cited articles (extracted via K-means assessment of article citation analytics) across the corpus. To enable a broader discussion in light of the precision medicine platform, these were again broadly classified as Psychological, Physiological, or Interdisciplinary in nature. Note, the full reference for each of the top cited articles is provided for reader clarity.

Keyword Co-occurrence Analytics and Terminology

Acting as an accessible summary of research focus, article keywords were profiled to provide a quantifiable overview of research trajectory, with keyword co-occurrence within a single publication providing insight into broad research themes and convergence. Keyword frequency and indexing were therefore utilized to create weighted keyword co-occurrence matrices across all levels of analysis (Full Corpus, Decades, Yearly) through tailor-made author software (MATLAB 2017a)—with each non-zero entry indicating co-occurrence of keyword i alongside keyword j within a single publication. The matrix entry (weight) is thus the number of instances keywords occurred together within a single publication across the corpus or years of analysis.

Each unique keyword was visualized within associated network graphs as ‘nodes,’ with keyword co-occurrences represented by a network ‘edge,’ weighted by co-occurrence frequency (see Figure ​ Figure3A 3A ). Graph theory connectivity analytics were subsequently utilized to examine the resulting keyword networks and facilitate identification of self-emerging corpus modules (i.e., broad research convergence—see Figure ​ Figure3A 3A for color coded modules). Specifically, machine learning modularity analytics drawn from computational neural networks (see Newman, 2006 ; Reichardt and Bornholdt, 2006 ) were applied to the weighted co-occurrence matrices to enable the self-identification of network modules. Importantly, while this algorithm may result in slight variability of modularity assignment upon successive trials of implementation, the overarching stability of the broad modular clusters was ensured by repetitive iterations. A network module was defined as a group of nodes (keywords) that are maximally internally connected (co-occurrence between module keywords), and minimally externally connected (minimal co-occurrence with keywords in external modules)—i.e., a self-emerging cluster of interconnected keywords. Importantly, in a departure from traditional methods, the number of modules to be identified, and the number of keywords that can constitute a module were not pre-imposed a priori.

Summary of co-keyword analysis completed across the Full Corpus, and both Decades. (A) Keyword co-occurrence matrices are visualized using graph theory methods, and modularity analytics applied to identify self-clustering modules. These modules are initially visualized within the context of the overarching network, with each highlighted by a block color (e.g., two modules are initially identified at the full decade, while four are identified for Decade 2). (B) To aid accessibility, these modules are visualized as colored concentric rings, each reflecting a module’s singular rank and theme ( Psychological: Blue; Physiological: Red; Green: Interdisciplinary ). Node size reflects normalized Eigenvector centrality – with larger nodes having higher levels of normalized Eigenvector centrality, and thus, empirically assessed as dominant across the module; such prominent internal nodes are labeled (see Supplementary Section 1 for full node listing used for thematic coding). (C) Modular internal and external connectivity metrics were extracted, normalized, and visualized relative to the normalized corpus median values via a strategic diagram. Providing a summary of internal connectivity along the Y-axis, this provides a measure of the cohesiveness of a thematic trend – with highly developed and interconnected themes displaying higher levels of internal connectivity. Summative metrics on the X-axis provide an overview of external connectivity, demonstrating the central dominance of a theme to the research domain. The range of corpus internal and external connections display significant growth between Decade 1 and Decade 2, in line with research proliferation (see Figure ​ Figure2 2 ), coupled with simultaneous constriction in modularity, perhaps indicative of the development of cohesive research themes ( Figure ​ Figure2D 2D )—see Supplementary Table 4 . For yearly (1994, 2006, 2015) assessment see Supplementary Figure 3 . Further, for larger high resolution figures please see https://figshare.com/s/9a0f7b0839fef2df1a6e .

These self-emerging keyword modules were then ranked to facilitate later visualization using Eq. 1.

Equation 1: Module Ranking

Module ranking ( R I ) is equal to the product of the number of keywords ( N ) identified within the module times the sum of keyword occurrences (e.g., e 1 …e M ) across the module. Where, I denotes the module ranking index, and index j runs through the keywords included within the module, and index j runs across the size N of the module. Thus, modules with high levels of modular interconnectivity, spanning a large range of keywords, are prioritized.

Module Thematic Coding: Evolution of the Corpus

Self-clustered modules of co-occurring keywords were thematically coded to visualize the evolution of the research corpus and enable discussion within the broader landscape of precision medicine. To empirically guide this process, the internal importance of each keyword within each module was assessed via eigenvector centrality, as defined by Bonacich (1987) . An extension of degree centrality drawn from graph theory, this metric provided a measure of keyword importance according to both the number of connections it establishes to others within the module (i.e., modular keyword co-occurrence), and the central importance of those to which it connects 3 . As such, Eigenvector centrality provides a proportional metric that encompasses the relative sum of a keyword’s co-occurrence neighbor(s) within a module ( Bonacich, 1987 ). The resulting Eigenvector centrality distribution for each module was composed, and the central keywords isolated to guide thematic coding. Central keywords were defined as those within the 95 th percentile of Eigenvector centrality as profiled across the module, with this threshold empirically identified as a result of the skewed nature of the underlying distribution of connectivity and keyword frequency. As with the methods outlined above, the origins of isolated central keywords were utilized for thematic guidance, with all coding crosschecked between authors. For consistency, and to aid discussion relative to the current health initiatives, this broad categorization was restricted to: Psychological (including Clinical Psychiatry), Physiological, or Interdisciplinary. While a broad level categorization, the full list of central keywords extracted for each module, and the subsequent thematic coding, is available for the reader in Supplementary Section 2 .

Network Module Visualization for Accessible Presentation

To maximize visualization of the data, modules were graphically represented in a concentric ring configuration, with central rings reflecting higher ‘ranking modules’ (as derived via Eq. 1), and each keyword represented as a network node. Modular thematic assignment (Psychological, Physiological, or Interdisciplinary) was coded through node color, while node size was indicative of the internal module importance (as measured via Eigenvector Centrality). To enable comparison across all modules at the level of analysis (i.e., Full Corpus, Decades, Yearly), all values of Eigenvector Centrality were normalized via Eq. 2.

Equation 2: Normalization of Parameters

P n represents the normalized parameter value, Po is the original parameter value, and P max and P min are the maximum and minimum parameter values derived from each level of analysis.

External and Internal Connectivity Across Modules – Relative Importance of Network Modules

The External and Internal Connectivity of self-clustering module keywords were calculated according to Eqs 3 and 4, respectively. The modular external connectivity provided a summative metric of the total external links associated with a module. This provides a summary of the links present between keywords within the module (e.g., Keyword i ) and external keywords in neighboring modules (e.g., Keyword h ), with higher levels of module external connectivity indicating a high number of external connections established to neighboring modules.

Equation 3: Modular External Connectivity

In contrast, the internal connectivity metric provides a summary of the number of internal links within a module, such as the number of links between Keyword i and Keyword j as denoted by e ij , where the number of keywords within the module is denoted by N .

Equation 4: Modular Internal Connectivity

Modular internal and external connectivity co-occurrence metrics were normalized across the level of examination according to Eq. 2, and visualized to consider the role and prominence of modules across the corpus. Specifically, these normalized connectivity metrics for each module were plotted on a strategic diagram ( Callon et al., 1991 ; Coulter et al., 1996 ), and viewed in relation to the median values of module internal and external connectivity across the network corpus. Self-clustering thematic modules with higher levels of internal connectivity across the corpus are highly interconnected and well-established. In contrast, those with higher levels of external connectivity provide keywords that are areas of research ‘cross talk,’ connecting to neighboring self-clustering modules.

Areas of Thematic ‘Cross Talk’: Co-occurrence Between Modules

As outlined, levels of external connectivity were profiled for each keyword across the self-emerging modules – with this metric reflective of the number of connections that a keyword establishes with those in neighboring modules. These external connections can be formed with neighboring modules of either the same (intra-thematic) or alternative (inter-thematic) thematic coding. Connections forming across themes (inter-thematic) act as junctures or points of ‘cross talk’ that tie domains together. To this end, levels of external connectivity were normalized (via Eq. 2) across each level of analysis to provide a normalized external metric (NEM). Module keywords with a normalized external connectivity level above the 95 th percentile of NEM were isolated, and associated co-keyword frequency metrics extracted, and systematically ranked. Associated partner keywords (i.e., the external keywords to which these internal module keywords make connections) were subsequently identified. From this, an isolated co-occurrence matrix was created and visualized via a color-coded matrix, allowing the identification of core points of modular and thus thematic ‘cross talk.’

Probing Network Stability

The resilience and stability of the corpus and self-clustering modules was examined via removal of network hubs . Network hubs were defined as maximally occurring keywords across a corpus. Such terms may mask nuanced connections with less prominent keywords across or within thematic modules, and as such were removed to probe the stability of the self-emerging networks. To this end, keyword frequency was profiled across levels of the corpus, with those keywords constituting the top demarcated group (as empirically identified via k-means ( N = 3) see Supplementary Figure 1 ) removed from the corpus. Again, this user specified value of N = 3 was identified upon systematic exploration of settings— N = 2, N = 3, N = 4 resulted in similar group profiles at the full corpus level, therefore N = 3 was adopted for consistency across all levels.

Through this method and across all levels of corpus analysis (Full Corpus, Decades), the following keywords were empirically identified using k-means clustering as network hubs (maximally occurring) and thus removed from the corpus: Asperger, Autism/Autistic, Child (and all variations such as Children, Childhood), and Spectrum. Self-clustering modularity metrics were again processed and visualized, as derived from this refined corpus, allowing consideration of the stability of internal structures and thematic re-organization or prominence.

Maximal and Minimal Node Tracking

Maximal (83 keywords; see section “Data Pre-processing, Keyword Extraction, and Frequency Analysis” above) and minimal nodes were tracked across the research corpus to consider changes in prevalence via time-series analytics (see Supplementary Section 1 for full list). This more in-depth consideration of research focus was refined to systematically profile, and individually track, a core group of 12-prominent (frequency based) keywords. This individual tracking was completed after removal of network hubs (as outlined in Section “Probing Network Stability”), and the amalgamation of related or interchangeable terms to minimize redundancy.

Results and Discussion

Trend analysis: growth of the research field and thematic focus.

A total of 17,620 articles were isolated through the systematic search outlined above, of which 13,513 had database-attributed keywords used for thematic trend analysis. Examination of the number of publications per year ( Figure ​ Figure2A 2A ), illustrates a strong trend of research proliferation—with an average publication growth rate of 14.74%. This trend analysis was further quantified to isolate the year of research expansion—a ‘critical point’ in the evolution of Autism research. Defined as the first point of maximal difference between local minima and maxima (i.e., the first point of maximal increase in calculated slope representing underlying change in publication rate), 2006 was identified as the inflection year ( Figure ​ Figure2A 2A inset). However, despite this general increase in Autism publications across the timeframe, self-clustering analytics demonstrate a simultaneous reduction in the number of modules self-emerging per year ( Figure ​ Figure2B 2B ), indicative of a convergence of research discourse.

Classification of journal focus by broad disciplinary silos (Psychological, Physiological, Interdisciplinary) demonstrates a potential underlying shift in research focus. A clear downward trend in research published within Psychological journals can be identified, along with a growing prominence of research published within Interdisciplinary focused journals. Interestingly, despite being characterized as a psychological construct, the trend for Physiological research (as inferred via journal focus) has remained relatively consistent across the timeframe ( Figure ​ Figure2C 2C ). However, despite the downward trend in publications within psychological journals, results indicate that the most frequently cited articles across the research corpus retain a psychological stance ( Figure ​ Figure2D 2D ). This would imply that psychological terminology and constructs continue to play a role in emerging Interdisciplinary and Physiological research—a trend that continues across both decades of analysis, see Supplementary Tables 1 – 3 . Thus, despite promising trends for a shift toward physiological axes of Autism, potentially reflecting neuroscientific and genetic efforts to delineate quantifiable biological markers, psychological and psychiatric terms, and related methodologies, appear to dominate and influence the foundations of research across the corpus.

Keyword Co-occurrence and Modularity: Research Themes – Evolution and Cross Talk

Modularity analytics were applied to the weighted co-occurrence matrices extracted for keywords across each level of the corpus (Full Corpus, Decades, Yearly). The resulting self-clustered modules were ranked according to Eq. 1, and the underlying connectivity metrics of each were extracted for thematic coding. The below provides a brief overview of this analysis for the complete networks.

Full Corpus (1994–2015 Inclusive)

Examination of the Full Corpus (1994–2015) identified two self-emerging clustering networks through modularity analytics, which were broadly categorized into two discrete thematic silos: Psychological and Physiological ( Figures 3A,B – see Supplementary Section 2 for isolated keywords used for thematic coding). Despite being comprised of fewer individual nodes (see Supplementary Table 5 for network characteristics at all levels), the Psychological module displays prominence across the corpus, with notably higher levels of internal and external connectivity relative to both the corpus normalized median, and the associated metrics of the neighboring Physiological module ( Figure ​ Figure3C 3C ). This would imply a well-established field of Psychological research that acts as a ‘driving’ force within the broader context of Autism discourse. While this trend persists across the Decade level of analysis, results also demonstrate the growing momentum of Physiological research in Decade 2, with an increase in sub-themes.

Specifically, Decade 1 analytics reveal the clustering of modules deemed Physiological according to research focus on Genetic/Genomic, and Cerebellar/Neurological factors, which are expanded further in Decade 2 via the inclusion of Maternal or Prenatal factors associated with Autism. However, despite this increase in Physiological thematic focus, modular interconnectivity continues to demonstrate the prominence of Psychological modules across both Decades ( Figure ​ Figure3C 3C ). Further, examination of junctures of thematic cross talk between modules highlights the prominence of high-level descriptor terminology, such as Autism and Children, in creating research interconnectivity across the broader arena ( Figure ​ Figure4 4 ). As illustrated in the color-matrix of external connectivity, both Psychological and Physiological networks display restricted thematic interconnectivity, with primary junctures largely isolated to such high-level group descriptors located in each module. Initial interpretation may infer inappropriate terminology clustering (i.e., the mistaken inclusion of high-level descriptor terminology within Physiological themed networks). However, high-level descriptor terms identified within Physiologically themed modules are, by virtue of the network algorithm, maximally connected to internal modular Physiological co-keywords. Results thus indicate the role of these network hubs in the consolidation of the broader research arena—providing junctures to create cohesiveness between Psychological and Physiological terminology and research—as well as their role in consolidating each individual research arena.

Summary matrices visualizing the external connections between modules identified across each level of the corpus. Prominent internal module keywords are indicated on the x-axis, while primary external module partner keywords are represented on the y-axis. Note external partner keyword (y-axis) can appear more than once across multiple external connections for individual modules. For instance, the term Brain acts as a prominent external connection for more than one module, and thus is a core network hub enabling multiple module connections. Matrix colors are indicative of normalized levels of external connectivity, with lighter colors denoting a larger number of normalized connections (original count data is also indicated). The top panel provides an overview of the Full Corpus modularity analytics demonstrating cross talk between the psychologically themed M1 and physiologically themed M2. The two lower panels illustrate Decade 1 and Decade 2 modularity analytics respectively, demonstrating external connections between core modules. While Decade 1’s self-identified modules appear to display nuanced levels of integration in M1 and M3, closer inspection demonstrates these are limited to arguably higher-level external descriptor terminology such as ‘Autism’ and ‘Children.’ Further, Decade 2 M2 and M4 display a range of external junctures, yet these appear to be largely intra-thematic. For yearly (1994, 2006, 2015) assessment see Supplementary Figure 4 . For larger high resolution figures please see https://figshare.com/s/3edd5690135926764d04 .

Stability of the Network Upon Removal of Core ‘Hubs’

Modularity co-keyword analytics demonstrate the influence of Psychological research, while also indicating a move toward Physiological themes. However, the persistent trend for prominent interconnectivity located in high-level descriptor terminology questions the quality and level of interconnectivity between thematic areas, and the dominance of Psychological clusters. Specifically, the dominance of descriptor terminology may serve to mask underlying nuanced connections between keywords and modules, and thus impact modular self-clustering. Removal of these network hubs resulted in an intuitive reduction of the range of internal and external connectivity ( Supplementary Table 4 ), and a notable drop in the corpus median across all levels of analysis—allowing expansion of the module networks.

Removal of network hubs resulted in an expansion of modules across the Full Corpus from a discrete Psychological and Physiological thematic cluster to four distinct modules ( Figures ​ Figures3B 3B , ​ 5B 5B ). In particular, the removal of core network hubs—all of which were deemed as high-level descriptive terminology—resulted in the dissolution of the single Physiological module, into three distinct networks all with a Physiological thematic trend ( Figure ​ Figure5B 5B ): M2 Genetics and Mouse Models, M3 Genetics and DNA, and M4 Neuroscience or Neurological Factors. Levels of internal and external connectivity across these refined modules demonstrate the continued dominance of the Psychological module in terms of both internal cohesiveness and external connections to the neighboring Physiological modules ( Figure ​ Figure5C 5C ).

(A) Refinement of the network after the removal of core network hubs to assess the stability of network clusters and modularity at all levels of examination. As demonstrated in (B) , these are classified into Psychological, or Physiological focus based upon core internal nodes. This categorization is color coded ( Psychological: Blue; Physiological: Red, Green: Interdisciplinary ), with the order of concentric rings reflecting each module’s rank. In addition, this corpus was systematically deconstructed to consider patterns across two individual decades (Decade 1: 1994–2004 and Decade 2: 2005–2015), and internal and external connectivity metrics (C) . Intuitively, the removal of network hubs leads to reduced levels of overarching median normalized external and internal connectivity at all levels. See Supplementary Table 4 for comparisons. For larger high resolution figures please see https://figshare.com/s/7f723b2c983a747f7e44 .

When examined considering levels of modularity cross talk, the Psychological module appears to make a range of connections with external Physiological term landmarks including: de novo , Fragile X, and Neurotransmitters (Serotonin). However, the somewhat descriptive term, ‘Brain,’ is identified as the main area of thematic overlap driving connectivity factors between modules ( Figure ​ Figure6 6 ). While Physiological modules (M2–M4) display lower levels of overall external connectivity ( Figure ​ Figure5C 5C ), prominent nuanced junctures are created ( Figure ​ Figure6 6 ). Interestingly, however, the more ‘restricted’ module (M4) demonstrates the highest levels of connectivity ( Figure ​ Figure5C 5C ) in relation to the more nuanced M2—perhaps a by-product of the dominance of the descriptor Psychological terms to which it forms junctures ( Figure ​ Figure6 6 )—again illustrating the importance of such Psychological research themes. In sum, removal of core network hubs results in notable fragmentation in research thematic cohesiveness, which specifically targets the Physiological strand of academic research.

Summary matrices visualizing the external connections between modules within the refined network, i.e., network trimmed of corpus descriptor hubs such as ‘Autism.’ Prominent internal module nodes (keywords) are indicated on the x-axis, while core external partner nodes are represented on the y-axis. Colors are indicative of normalized levels of external connectivity, with lighter colors denoting a larger number of normalized connections (note: original count data is indicated. The left panel provides module networks for the Full corpus, while the two right panels provide those for Decade 1 and Decade 2 respectively). For larger high resolution figures please see https://figshare.com/s/aa56fdd878db4a04a521 .

Decade Examination

Removal of core hubs continues to impact self-clustering modularity during both Decade 1 (1994–2004) and Decade 2 (1995–2005).

Similar to results at the Full Corpus level, the removal of descriptor terminology in Decade 1 fragments the Physiological thematic network ( Figure ​ Figure3B 3B )—increasing the number of modules from two to four ( Figures ​ Figures3B 3B , ​ 5B 5B ). Sub-group thematic trends demonstrate specific Physiological sub-modules related to Genetic (M1) and Neurological (M3) research—mirroring those present at the complete (hub terminology included) Decade 1 level—with two additional thematic clusters now identified focused on Pharmaceutical topics: MMR Vaccination (Measles, Mumps and Rubella – M6) and the administration of Risperdal (M7). Viewing these sub-cluster thematic trends within the context of corpus analytics further demonstrate this evolution. Specifically, while Psychological constructs remain largely dominant, Physiological modules M1 and M6 display high levels of internal and external connectivity ( Figure ​ Figure5C 5C ) during Decade 1, inferring dominance in the wider research domain across this period. As such, results indicate that network hub descriptor terms play a key role in the cohesiveness of Physiological research clusters during Decade 1, and their removal reveals a nuanced pattern of emerging strength in this area of research.

In contrast to the trend of Physiological fragmentation of Decade 1, the removal of network hub descriptor terminology across Decade 2 has a consolidation effect on Physiological modules—now causing fragmentation within the Psychological module ( Figures ​ Figures3B 3B , ​ 5B 5B ). As a result, this descriptor terminology is now core to the cohesiveness of the dominant Psychological modules—rather than Physiological modules in contrast to Decade 1. Combined this may imply greater refinement and consolidation of Physiological research, and a parallel dissolution of Psychological research. Indeed, corpus analytics illustrate that the tenuous strength of Physiological modules in Decade 1 has solidified—leading to a new dominance of Physiological research in Decade 2, with higher levels of external cohesiveness driving the broader research arena ( Figure ​ Figure5C 5C ). In contrast, the growing dissolution and insularity of Psychological research is highlighted via the dominance and impact of higher-level group terminology (network hubs) during Decade 2, and the lower levels of external connectivity indicative of a weakened research area. However, it should be noted that despite the insularity of the Psychological module, and comparable growth in Physiological dominance, lower levels of internal connectivity of the Physiological module infers a need for further consolidation of this research field. This may be reflective of the disparate nature of Physiological constructs and research to date, and may be a contributing factor in the slow emergence of the physiological Autism research domain.

Examination of areas of thematic cross talk upon removal of high-level descriptor terminology also illustrates a more nuanced level of interconnectivity. New junctures or thematic intersections now include terms such as Brain, Fragile, Disorder, Prevalence, Mental, Infant, Diagnosis, Individual, and Behavior ( Figure ​ Figure6 6 —which are subsequently profiled in detail in Section “Tracking Top Nodes – Decomposing the Thematic Evolution to Primary Research Areas”). Detailed examination of Psychological modules that retain dominance across each level of analysis ( Figure ​ Figure5 5 ) further infers a level of intra-thematic insularity inflating metrics, with such clusters subsuming terms such as Behavior, Language and Intervention, yet showing minimal external thematic cross talk ( Figure ​ Figure6 6 ).

Tracking Top Nodes – Decomposing the Thematic Evolution to Primary Research Areas

The growing prevalence of Physiological research, as examined via co-keyword coherence metrics, raises questions as to the specific research focus of the field. As such, the maximally occurring nodes from across the corpus (as defined as >95 th percentile—see section “Maximal and Minimal Node Tracking”) and related minimal nodes (<5 th percentile) were automatically isolated and tracked across the timeline of the corpus ( Supplementary Section 1 for full list and Supplementary Figure 2 for timeline tracking). A sub-cluster was subsequently identified to represent core research topics that are prevalent across the corpus.

These core research topics emerged by trimming the corpus maximal keyword list of high-level descriptor terminology, as outlined above, and then amalgamating associated terminology to minimize redundancy. Specifically, Mental Retardation (now a disputed term) was amalgamated with Intelligence Quotient (IQ) and Intelligence to form an overarching ‘Intelligence’ area. Similarly, Diagnosis was combined with Assessment, Identification and reference to the DSM (all variations) to form ‘Diagnosis and Assessment.’ Finally, Language and Communication were collapsed, as were Intervention and Therapy, and Gene and Genome. A total of 12 prominent keywords were subsequently identified through the application of the K-means clustering algorithm for systematic profiling and tracking, namely: Behavior, Prevalence, Intelligence (originally Mental Retardation), Brain, Individual, Gene, Diagnosis, Infant, Development, Social, Intervention and Therapy, and Language and Communication ( Figure ​ Figure7 7 ).

Systematically profiling and tracking of 12 prominent keyword/themes across the corpus. The count of each theme within the maximal nodes per year was isolated, and transformed into a percentage of the total year publications – providing a standardized metric. The inflection year (2006; see Figure ​ Figure2 2 ), and the year of maximal occurrence for that theme (as denoted by the dashed vertical line) are referenced for contextual understanding. In addition, a line of best fit is empirically derived and illustrated for each theme, demonstrating the continued growth across the academic arena for all themes with the exception of Infant, Behavior and Language and Communication. For larger high resolution figures please see https://figshare.com/s/a98a22865ef50b9b278b .

The 12 themes display a bias toward Psychological terminology. Specifically, of these terms only Gene and Brain are clearly identified as having a Physiological basis. Of these, substantive growth is noted in the term Gene—subsuming Genetic, Gene, and Genome—perhaps demonstrating a gradual move toward an increase in Physiological and Interdisciplinary research focus. Furthermore, in line with this evolution of research focus, declining constructs include Language and Communication, and Behavior (both of which experienced peak occurrences prior to the inflection year of 2006), with Infant identified as the maximally declining prominent keyword across the corpus. Such trends support a broadening scope of Autism research, with a gradual departure from a strong psychological focus and isolated fields of inquiry, such as Language and Communication, toward a more refined examination of outcome metrics. However, in all instances, it should be noted that despite such decline in prominence, these terms remain within the group of maximally occurring themes across the research corpus, and thus retain dominance and strength in the broad research field—again indicative of a continued Psychological framework.

Traditionally, analytical text review techniques employ a range of heuristics that can limit the ability to systematically quantify the inherent dynamics of research trends. While heuristics are often required to enable meaningful discussion and interpretation of data, the order of application is critical. The a priori application of heuristics can result in user-specified criteria that artificially shape results, raising questions of the validity of such an approach. This is often illustrated in user imposed heuristics such as prior manual hand coding to cherry pick thematic modules that are to be delineated across a corpus ( Coulter et al., 1996 ; Office of Autism Research Coordination (OARC) and and National Institute of Mental Health and Thomson Reuters, Inc., 2012 ; Topalli and Ivanaj, 2016 ; Williams et al., 2016 ; Isenberg et al., 2017 ), pre-specification of the number of modules or themes to identify and pre-setting the number of words that can be used to form a module ( Callon et al., 1991 ; Coulter et al., 1996 ; Zhang et al., 2015 ; Williams et al., 2016 ). These methods inevitably impact the utility of high-end mathematical text processing techniques and programs. This review marked a departure from such methods by allowing self-clustering modularity to be identified across the broad research arena prior to the inclusion of any user-imposed heuristics to facilitate discussion. Specifically, augmenting text-processing techniques with network and graph theory enabled an empirical profiling of research convergence as denoted by the co-occurrence of keywords. These broad research modules were further contextualized by a posteriori broad categorization relative to new health initiatives. Thus, user-imposed criterions were either empirically justified through the systematic exploration of settings (e.g., in the setting of N thresholds for frequency distributions), or were applied a posteriori , driven by empirical self-emerging clusters. This use of empirically informed, data-driven methods to define user heuristics ensured minimal subjectivity.

This self-evolving heuristic free principle of modularity analytics to identify research focus, coupled with the empirical examination of publication trends using time-series analytics, demonstrated a trend of research proliferation—in line with increased public awareness and incidence rates of Autism ( Fombonne, 2003 ; Matson and Kozlowski, 2011 )—and resulted in the identification of core landmarks demarcating prominent areas of interest across the field. These automatically identified results include: (1) 2006 as the year of inflection for research proliferation, (2) the continued role of Psychological and Psychiatric terminology, and thus methods, across the broader Autism research arena, and (3) the automatic identification of underlying modules reflective of historical contention and debates within the general Autism community, such as the MMR scandal and the authorization of Risperdal for the management of behavioral difficulties.

Autism Research Over the Years: Growth and Broad Trend Analytics

Empirical examination of the rate of publications across the broad Autism field facilitated automatic identification of 2006 as the year of critical change—the inflection point—where research demonstrated an accelerated rate of change. While in line with previous results inferring the importance of 2005–2006 as derived via parsimonious methods, such as hand counting and subjective interpretation (see Office of Autism Research Coordination (OARC) and and National Institute of Mental Health and Thomson Reuters, Inc., 2012 ), this quantifiable, mathematical examination of rates of publication provides a robust methodology, with an automatic landmark isolated. Contextualization of this self-identified landmark highlights the potential role of the Combating Autism Act passed in 2006 by then President George. W. Bush. This Act facilitated the provision of funds via the NIH to support research efforts that sought to ‘ develop and implement a strategic plan to conduct and support autism spectrum disorder research ’ (full Act available here: https://www.congress.gov/bill/109th-congress/senate-bill/843 ). With an increase in United States funding, it is perhaps unsurprising that 2006 marked the beginning of increased research interest within the American research community. Furthermore, this four-step program explicitly included promoting research into the development and validation of reliable screening tools—perhaps a driving factor in the growth and persistence of core research themes, such as Diagnosis and Assessment, Prevalence and Intervention—as illustrated in the individualized examination and tracking of core research topics.

Broad trend analytics further illustrate a general trend for a decline in publications within journals of a predominantly Psychological focus, and a parallel growth in publications within journals with a Physiological and Interdisciplinary focus. Conversely, the empirical assessment of prominent citation analytics across the corpus infers a continued dominance of psychological constructs and tools. Specifically, these analytics suggest a broad research grounding upon Psychological constructs and knowledge, not limited to the seminal works of Kanner (1943) and Asperger (1944) . Rather, the dominant cited work across the corpus are that of observational psychological or psychiatric tools often used to quantify behaviors for diagnostic and symptomatology characterization purposes, e.g., ADOS ( Lord et al., 2000 ), ADOS-2 ( Lord et al., 2012 ), Vineland scales ( Sparrow et al., 1984 ), and variations of the DSM (e.g., American Psychiatric Association, 1994 , 2009 , 2013 ; American Psychiatric Association, 2013 ). The prevalence of citations to such observational based tools across the corpus infers their central role within the broader Autism research domain. Yet, despite the recent modifications in the clinical conceptualization of Autism serving to magnify the heterogeneity of individuals on the spectrum, the prevalent diagnostic methods and tools remain arguably stagnated (see Figure ​ Figure1 1 ), questioning the ability for these observational, behavioral based tools to be integrated into the broader context of computational psychiatry and precision medicine. So what role do such clinical tools play in the broader research arena? With a characteristic symptomatology profile and diagnostic procedure strongly—and historically—entrenched within the Psychological field, this broad application may imply the field of academic Autism enquiry draws on such metrics and constructs to inform and guide underlying research questions, outcomes and methodologies. Further, the continued prevalence of Psychological constructs and tools, despite a general trend toward growing Interdisciplinary and Physiological research, poses the possibility that Autism research continues to adopt these dominant behavioral paradigms to provide behavioral markers on which to map physiological correlates and substrates. Indeed, psychological and psychiatric metrics such as the DSM and ADOS are often the first step in Autism clinical research—arguably of any nature—providing the pre-defining label criteria to stratify participants by diagnostic terminology. It is this stratification of participants by broad and arbitrary thresholds from DSM criteria, using subjective clinical observational techniques that negate the physiological axes of development ( Hofmann, 2014 ), that subsequent analytics such as neuroscientific, genetic, or indeed, behavioral, must map onto. However, as noted by Thomas Insel, ‘DSM diagnoses are based on a consensus about clusters of clinical symptoms, not any objective laboratory measure,’ thus while adopting modern techniques in conjunction with arguably arbitrary clinical thresholds, we often ‘reject a biomarker because it does not detect a DSM category’ ( Insel, 2013 ). Setting the context for the current RDoC initiative, these criticisms of DSM diagnostic measures, and related psychological and psychiatric tools that seek to operationalize such categorization, highlight the limitations of advancing physiological and biological research using these methods. Thus, despite an initial quantification of journal focus inferring a growth in Interdisciplinary assessment, and an arguably consistent focus from a Physiological stance ( Figure ​ Figure2C 2C ) in line with previous trend assessments ( Singh et al., 2007 ; Office of Autism Research Coordination (OARC) and and National Institute of Mental Health and Thomson Reuters, Inc., 2012 ), these broader results point to a potential tension between clinical (Psychological and Psychiatric) and Physiological based basic science approaches to Autism; a tension that is elucidated further through assessment of broad co-keyword thematic trends.

Connectivity Network Analyses and Machine Learning Methods: Unveiling Thematic Tension

The automatic identification of landmarks and thematic change across the Autism research corpus invites the use of these renovated bibliometric methods to aid problem identification within specific sub-areas of a general theme. For example, this self-emerging analytical model of research convergence further illustrates potential tension between psychological or psychiatric approaches and physiological methods toward the study of Autism. Specifically, thematic coding of self-emerging research modules into broad silos (Psychological, Physiological, or Interdisciplinary) demonstrates the continued dominance of psychological constructs and terminology across the research domain. This is reflected in the internal and external cohesion of these thematic clusters across levels of analysis. However, more nuanced examination relative to the decade evolution reveals a gradual prevalence and consolidation of physiologically focused research—with initially disparate terms of Decade 1 (1994–2004) covering sub-themes such as Genetic, Neurological, Pharmaceutical and Prenatal axes of Autism, converging by Decade 2 (2005–2015).

Further novel metrics facilitated examination of the implicit struggle between Psychological and Physiological defining thematic constructs associated with Autism by consideration of inter- and intra-thematic keyword interconnectivity. These metrics of interconnectivity repeatedly demonstrated the latent role of Psychological terminology in consolidating early research (Decade 1). Specifically, broad group descriptor terminology acts as a cohesive landmark or juncture between early disparate Physiological themes, particularly during Decade 1 (1994–2005). It is not until Decade 2 (2005–2015) that this consolidator role of Psychological terminology in Physiological research is minimized—with the removal of descriptor terminology having a minimal impact on Physiological modularity. Such results are illustrative of the growing cohesiveness of this emerging research arena, with internal and external connectivity metrics now identified at more nuanced levels. By Decade 2 this high-level network hub descriptor terminology provides cohesion to Psychological modules—illustrative of growing insularity (a decrease in inter-thematic trends), dissolution (fragmentation), and reduced dominance as profiled in the corpus strategic diagram.

This implicit struggle in terminology and focus inferred by both self-clustering modularity analytics and supported by broader research categorization and citation analytics, again points to the innate struggle currently evidenced in the Autism clinical and research domain. This evolving physiological thematic dominance may reflect mounting questions raised over the role of broad DSM criteria in light of recent health initiatives, such as the RDoC ( Insel, 2009 ; Insel et al., 2010 ) and Computational Psychiatry ( Insel, 2014 ). The recent health initiatives attempt to operationalize and resolve tension between clinical observational methods defining Autism, and the emerging body of knowledge that points toward the physiological underpinnings of Autism as quantified by scientific and engineering disciplines. Indeed, federal and state agencies across the United States now encourage the use of objective biometrics, machine learning methods and artificial intelligence, as outlined in the associated funding priorities ( Insel et al., 2013 ); a focus that also extends to private foundations 4 . These new initiatives are paired with a fast-growing wave of open access repositories aimed at examining signals from the nervous systems (e.g., the Autism Brain Image Data Exchange repository, the National Database for Autism Research, The NIMH/NIH Data Archive, among others).

Autism in the United States vs. the Rest of the World

The present work constrained the search criteria to the United States owing to the fundamental differences that exist in health system policies and legislation between the United States, Europe and the rest of the world. Such differences shape the type of research, public policies and legislations that drive diagnostics and treatment criteria in Autism and related neurodevelopmental conditions. As such, extending the search to the scientific literature derived from research in other countries would have posed the additional challenge of considering different policies across different nations. Our work aimed at first gaining an understanding of the landscape of autism research in the United States, and then begin the process of evaluating how the outcome of this search would compare with the search that would include scientific literature from other nations, i.e., with different policies and diagnostic criteria. In this sense, the results reported here may serve as a baseline to measure departure in research from other countries with different insurance coverage policies and medical systems, relative to the United States case. We reasoned that perhaps taking this quantitative approach to express and characterize the prevalence of subjective observational criteria may alert the United States system of the unmet needs of scientists working on autism and in this way, begin to explore new horizons by considering approaches in other nations.

Outside the United States, taking a more holistic approach, i.e., one that is inclusive of both mental and physical states of the person, is not new. The ICD-10 ( World Health Organization, 1994 ), the core medical listing of ‘disease and related health problems’ published (open access) by the World Health Organization 5 , provides a comprehensive encyclopedia of both psychological and physiological conditions. Updated yearly, the entry for Autism can be found under section F80–F89, under ‘Disorders of Psychological Development’ of the Mental and Behavioral Disorders: Diagnostic Criteria 6 . This block section, covering Autism and additional syndromes of development, is prefaced with the following statement:

‘The disorders included in this block have in common: (a) onset invariably during infancy or childhood; (b) impairment or delay in development of functions that are strongly related to biological maturation of the central nervous system; … affected include language, visuo-spatial skills, and motor coordination…’ ( World Health Organization, 2016 ; see: http://apps.who.int/classifications/icd10/browse/2016/en#/F80-F89 ). Emphasis added by Author.

While this preface is in reference to a broader set of developmental disorders than Autism alone, it sits in contrast to the DSM, published and approved by the American Psychiatric Association (1994) . Published to operationalize the working symptomatology of mental disorders listed in the ICD-10, this manual omits these Physiological features—in line with a Psychological perspective. Furthermore, with the publication of DSM-5 there has been growing concern expressed over the potential of the DSM criteria of ‘overmedicalizing normal human behavior’ ( Watts, 2012 ), and the existence of latent conflict of interests between APA and pharmaceutical companies that utilize DSM criteria to delineate disorders for drug treatment. Most notably, this profound conflict of interest led to the establishment of the Physician Payments Sunshine Act (2010), which aimed at increasing transparency of financial relationships between health care providers and pharmaceutical manufacturers at large. Within the psychological and psychiatric arena this served to highlight conflicts of interest existing across the American Psychiatric Association ( Cosgrove et al., 2006 , 2009a , b , 2014a , b ; Cosgrove and Krimsky, 2012 ). The notoriety, and controversy surrounding the DSM, most famously the DSM-5, point toward broader discontentment across the academic arena. In this sense, the emerging trend of interdisciplinary research that our study revealed coincides with a new transformative path toward Computational Psychiatry. This emerging discipline relies more on mathematically driven methods analyzing physical data than on observational techniques largely based on opinion.

Automatic Identification of Historical Contention and Public Discourse

Akin to trends inferred by Singh et al. (2007) review of Autism public discourse, self-clustering trends isolated across the timeframe—particularly those mirroring Prenatal and Pharmaceutical facets—also point at researchers’ attunement to these public policy, societal issues, and funding agendas surrounding Autism. For instance, a specific Physiologically coded module with prominent nodes relating to Measles, Mumps, Rubella, and Prevalence self-emerges across examination of research during Decade 1 (1994–2004). With high levels of internal and external dominance across the Decade corpus, this module reflects the growing public discussion and alarm, in light of a now discredited theory by Andrew Wakefield in 1998 of a causal link between the MMR vaccination and the onset of Autism. Similarly, a second Physiological module with prominent nodes relating to double-blind studies of Risperdal is self-identified during Decade 1. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized Risperdal, the trade name for the antipsychotic drug Risperidone, for the treatment of Schizophrenia symptomatology in 1993 (see current label information, FDA, 2006 ). Research into the use of this pharmaceutical intervention for Autism was examined in prominent studies such as McCracken et al. (2002) , with Johnson and Johnson subsequently filing an FDA petition for the use of Risperdal for the treatment of irritability in Autism—which was approved for use in children, aged 5–16, in 2006 ( FDA, 2006 ). This pharmaceutical intervention, now commonly acknowledged to come with a range of side effects 7 , is currently authorized for use to treat Autism in children, Schizophrenia and manic episodes in those that suffer from Bipolar disorder ( FDA, 2007 ). However, a range of recent lawsuits ( U.S. Department of Justice, 2013a , b ) indicates the off-label use of this medication for ADHD. When viewed in light of recent changes in clinical diagnostic criteria allowing (for the first time) co-morbidity of Autism and ADHD (DSM-5, American Psychiatric Association, 2013 ), future questions may be raised as to the implications of pharmaceutical interventions and current diagnostic thresholds. Indeed, recent examination of vast data repositories such as ABIDE (Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange) points at the pervasive use of psychotropic medications in autism and ADHD, and the potential relationship relative to physiological measurements of motor control ( Torres and Denisova, 2016 ; Torres et al., 2017 ).

Autism Discourse: The Next Steps

Under the precision medicine rubric, specifically computational psychiatry, objective individualized metrics of behaviors (biometrics) may be at the future juncture between physiological and psychological Autism research. However, current results that infer the dominance of Psychological constructs and tools driving the research arena raise fundamental questions as to the design, scope and precision of primary psychological methods—and their impact on Physiological assessment. While the current approach of co-keyword analysis limits the extent of this interpretation, it points toward this far-reaching and consistent psychological impact. As such, future studies of refined full-text analysis focused on methodologies may reveal a more nuanced understanding of the application of such tools and psychological methods across the Autism arena. Indeed, such investigation is warranted as current Psychological behavioral (observational) based inventories lack the precision (sensitivity and specificity), and adequate statistical framework (summative discrete scores, rather than continuous physiologically grounded metrics) to enable appropriate translation into the tenets of precision psychiatry ( Torres et al., 2016 ; Torres and Whyatt, 2017 ). The implied existence of an implicit (and explicit) struggle between Psychological and Physiological metrics, combined with the apparent ‘driving’ force of Psychological constructs across the academic arena, may point toward an area of academic enquiry being constrained by Psychological tools and numeric scores that are not yet physiologically grounded, or may lack a scale derived from a properly defined metric space ( Lord et al., 1989 , 2000 ; Torres, 2018 ). With research scope inevitably impacting the direction of funding, and subsequent policy decisions that have a direct bearing on the lives of millions of Americans (and further afield), the persistent role (and adequacy) of Psychological constructs within the Physiological context must therefore be considered.

Future work utilizing similar types of analyses as those used in the present work, but using instead the peer-reviewed scientific literature from nations that provide universal medical insurance coverage, will give us a better sense of how differences in public health policy influence and restrict the type of autism-science we can afford to do in the United States.

Author Contributions

CW conceived study, designed and created the analytical methods, implemented all code for analyses, processed all data, wrote and edited the paper. ET conceived study framework and designed platform for analyses, guided study, edited and revised paper. Both authors approved the last version of the manuscript.

Conflict of Interest Statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to many undergraduate students who helped at various stages of the work. They volunteered their time at the Sensory Motor Integration Lab of Rutgers University, Psychology Department.

Funding. This research was supported by The New Jersey Governor’s Council for Medical Research and Treatment of Autism (Award No. CAUT14APL018).

1 Search completed August 2016.

2 This sampling size was selected based on the minimum yearly data length—i.e., 100 articles were extracted for the year with the fewest published articles (1994).

3 Note: betweenness centrality—another prominent measure of internal connectivity—was deemed inappropriate due to reliance on geodesic features.

4 https://www.autismspeaks.org/docs/sciencedocs/grants/treatment_rfa_2018.pdf

5 The ICD-10 is approved by experts from 193 member countries American Psychiatric Association (2009) . ICD vs. DSM [Online]. Available: http://www.apa.org/monitor/2009/10/icd-dsm.aspx [Accessed], and came into widespread use in 1994.

6 For full diagnostic information for ASD according to the ICD-1O please see: http://apps.who.int/classifications/icd10/browse/2010/en#/F80-F89 .

7 https://www.rxlist.com/risperdal-side-effects-drug-center.htm

Supplementary Material

The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01526/full#supplementary-material

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Autism spectrum disorder

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) refers any one of a group of disorders with an onset typically occurring during the preschool years and characterized by difficulties with social communication and social interactionalong with restricted and repetitive patterns in behaviors, interests, and activities.

Autism, Asperger’s syndrome, and childhood disintegrative disorder are no longer considered distinct diagnoses, and medical or genetic disorders that may be associated with ASD, such as Rett’s syndrome, are identified only as specifiers of the disorder.

Adapted from the APA Dictionary of Psychology

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Research topics: Autism

Identifying, preventing, and developing interventions related to autism spectrum disorder.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and autism are both general terms for a group of complex disorders of brain development. These disorders are characterized, in varying degrees, by difficulties in social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication and repetitive behaviors. Research in the Department of Educational Psychology focuses on early identification, prevention measures, and interventions related to ASD.

LeAnne Johnson

Johnson (special education) researches interventions to improve outcomes for a range of preschool and elementary school-aged children who are at high risk given social, emotional, behavioral, and communication needs. Johnson is focused on creating the next generation of intervention studies that support high fidelity implementation of evidence-based interventions within tiered intervention and prevention models. This includes research projects that are designed to test the efficacy of social-communication interventions for children with autism.

Jason Wolff

Wolff (special education) runs a lab funded funded in-part by the National Institute of Mental Health with two goals -- to leverage brain imaging data to characterize factors associated with the early emergence of behavioral excesses and deficits in autism spectrum disorder, and to identify potential neurodevelopmental moderators of response to early intervention. The ultimate goal of this work is to determine how brain and behavioral data may be used to inform the timing and content of early or even preventative interventions.

Panayiota Kendeou

Kendeou (psychological foundations of education) investigates how people learn new knowledge and revise pre-existing incorrect knowledge or misinformation during their reading experiences. She is currently investigating how misinformation that resists correction influences reasoning and decision making in health issues pertaining to ASD (e.g., reliance on ineffective treatments, withholding vaccinations), and explore ways for effective revision.

M.Y. Savana Bak

Bak's research focuses on measurement and analysis of language in children with ASD using language samples collected from the children’s natural environment. She strives to develop practical interventions and identify environmental factors that facilitate language development and increase social interaction in children with ASD.

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Autism Research Activities and Advances

NICHD's autism spectrum disorder (ASD) research portfolio is spread throughout the Institute and includes extramural components that support research on ASD and other  intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs) . NICHD also conducts some autism-related research projects through its intramural program.

In addition, several extramural and intramural entities within NICHD sponsor or conduct research that is not autism-focused but that can inform our understanding of the developmental and molecular processes involved in autism pathophysiology. Some of these efforts are described below.

Institute Activities and Advances

Recent findings.

• A longitudinal study of parent-reported sensory responsiveness in toddlers at-risk for autism (PMID: 30350375 )
• Potential for digital behavioral measurement tools to transform the detection and diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (PMID: 30715131 )
• Restricted and repetitive behavior and brain functional connectivity in infants at risk for developing autism spectrum disorder (PMID: 30446435 )
• Language delay aggregates in toddler siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder (PMID: 30348077 )
• Automatic emotion and attention analysis of young children at home: a ResearchKit autism feasibility study  
• Parent support of preschool peer relationships in younger siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder (PMID: 28634707 )
• Walking, gross motor development, and brain functional connectivity in infants and toddlers (PMID: 29186388 )

As one of the participants in the government-wide Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) , NICHD's support for autism research is structured around the seven question areas of IACC's strategic plan for autism research :

• Question 1: When Should I Be Concerned?
• Question 2: How Can I Understand What Is Happening?
• Question 3: What Caused This to Happen and Can It Be Prevented?
• Question 4: Which Treatments and Interventions Will Help?
• Question 5: Where Can I Turn for Services?
• Question 6: What Does the Future Hold, Particularly for Adults?
• Question 7: What Other Infrastructure and Surveillance Needs Must Be Met?

NICHD supports and conducts research in all seven areas, with particular support for research relevant to questions 1 and 2.

Much of NICHD's autism research is conducted through the trans-NIH Autism Centers of Excellence (ACE) Program . The ACE project, established in 2007, was a consolidation of two previous research efforts—the NICHD-led Collaborative Programs of Excellence in Autism and the Studies to Advance Autism Research and Treatment . ACE was intended to better coordinate autism research across the NIH.

IACC Question 1: Diagnosis of ASD

NICHD-supported research related to IACC Question 1 aims to develop and improve screening and diagnostic tools for ASD. The  Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Branch (IDDB)  supports extramural research exploring ways to validate and improve screening and diagnosis tools for ASD, such as the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT), an effective screening tool for children aged 16 months to 2½ years. The Branch also supports the development of new screening tools, especially those for children younger than age 24 months, and the development of instruments for assessing symptoms and daily function of people with ASD.

The IDDB also supports studies that may inform the development of new screening tools in the future. IDDB-funded research tracks the anatomical, functional, emotional, communicative, and behavioral characteristics of infants at high risk for ASD over time in order to develop and improve the long-term accuracy of diagnostic and prognostic tools for ASD. The Branch also supports systematic efforts to identify genetic variants associated with autism, with the eventual goal of developing a new early diagnosis and classification system. IDDB-supported research studies also address the development of the linguistic and sensory symptoms of ASD throughout childhood, which may also inform screening tools.

• IDDB-supported findings: Researchers worked with health care providers to screen more than 15,000 low-risk toddlers using an updated version of MCHAT, the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers—Revised, with Follow-Up (M-CHAT–R/F) and found it to be more accurate than earlier versions at identifying children who could benefit from further evaluation . ( PMID: 24366990 )

The IDDB's research support is complemented by support from the Child Development and Behavior Branch (CDBB) for research on the processes of normal development. Data on the development of joint attention, social orientation, and emotional function and communications provide important benchmarks for understanding how early deficits in these skills develop in ASD.

NICHD's intramural scientists also conduct research relevant to this IACC question. Through its Epidemiology Branch , within the Division of Population Health Research (DiPHR) , the Institute is active in the assessment of the M-CHAT for ASD and other developmental screening algorithms. The DiPHR has also conducted research on the patterns of growth, physical development, and hormone levels throughout childhood in autism.

IACC Question 2: Biology of ASD

Several extramural branches of NICHD support research on disorders of neurologic and behavioral development, such as autism, by characterizing the developmental processes, cognitive processes, sensory and motor systems, and molecular and neural mechanisms that are relevant in the biology of the condition and its symptoms.

For instance, the IDDB supports research on the biology of ASD, including studies of the developmental processes underlying ASD biology throughout childhood. This research aims to characterize the cognitive and sensory/motor deficits in ASD, such as difficulties in recognizing emotion in faces and speech and the dysfunction in perceiving time or the differences between sounds. The Branch also supports research on the molecular and neurological underpinnings of ASD in humans as well as in model organisms. Funded research also delineates the function of genes and risk for ASD in brain development and function and maps the altered biochemical pathways and neural networks in brains of people with ASD to determine how these biological characteristics are correlated with behaviors or symptoms.

The IDDB is also interested in research on the biological processes that ASD has in common between ASD with comorbid or causative genetic conditions, such as Fragile X syndrome , t syndrome , Angelman syndrome, and Prader-Willi syndrome . The Branch also funds research to find or characterize subtypes of autism, by identifying new genes related to ASD risk and correlating known risk genes with brain structure and function and symptoms.

In addition, the CDBB's  Developmental Cognitive Psychology, Behavioral Neuroscience, and Psychobiology Program funds studies to identify and characterize the pathways involved in brain development and behavior, including those in the sensory, motor, linguistic, cognitive, and social behavioral domains, all of which are disrupted in ASD. The Branch's studies of typically developing children serve as an important benchmark for understanding the differences found in children with ASD.

The  /about/org/der/branches/dbcab  also supports research on normal and abnormal development relating to the causes and prevention of congenital and genetic defects, as well as research training in relevant academic and medical areas, with an emphasis on the biochemical, genetic, and cellular mechanisms of early development that can be disrupted in disorders like ASD.

The  Section on Cellular and Synaptic Physiology , within the Division of Intramural Research (DIR)   Neurosciences Affinity Group , focuses on the development and regulation of synapses in the cortex and hippocampus. Networks in these areas are disrupted in ASD and other brain disorders.

IACC Question 3: Causes and Preventions of ASD

The IDDB is a major supporter of human and animal studies on the causes of ASD, including investigation of the processes and pathways associated with ASD, autism symptoms, common co-morbidities, and protective factors for ASD. One large area of IDDB support is genetics and epigenetics. The Branch funds studies of the identification, expression, regulation, and interactions of gene variants linked to ASD and autism-related behaviors and symptoms. The IDDB also supports research on potential environmental risk factors and biomarkers for ASD, including gene-environment interactions.

In addition, two laboratories within the DIR conduct research relevant to the biology of ASD:

• The Section on Molecular y conducts research on a potential new endophenotype of ASD related to hypocholesterolemia.
• The Section on Clinical Genomics uses a cell-culture model to study neuronal networks in autism. Its research also examines the expression of non-coding RNA in the brain in autism.

IACC Question 4: Interventions for ASD

The IDDB supports research on the development and evaluation of therapies and treatments for ASD, ASD symptoms, and related disorders, such as Fragile X syndrome , as well as the long-term effects of these interventions. Potential treatment targets include repetitive behavior, joint attention, social skills, emotional sharing, symbolic understanding, language and communication, irritability and anxiety, and insistence on sameness. Researchers working in human subjects and animal models consider a range of treatment types, from behavioral and educational interventions to pharmaceutical treatments, including comprehensive treatments that combine behavior and medication.

• IDDB-supported findings: A recent ACE network study found that directing the attention of preschool-aged children with ASD increased the children's vocabularies and language skills by the time they were age 8, compared to a control. In the intervention, adults actively engaged the children's attention by pointing to toys and using other gestures.

IACC Question 5: Services for People with ASD

As a research agency, NICHD focuses its efforts on evaluating services—how they are delivered or how effective they are, for example—rather than on providing services. For instance, the IDDB supports a few studies of methods to develop or improve services for people with ASD, including services related to teaching life skills and ensuring physical safety of people with ASD.

IACC Question 6: Health Over the Lifespan with ASD

Most NICHD research addresses the early biological origins of ASD, meaning that efforts related to this question are handled by other agencies. However, through the IDDB, NICHD supports one study related to this question, focused on teaching social skills to adolescents with high-functioning ASD.

IACC Question 7: Infrastructure for ASD Research

Much of the Institute's work within this area is related to support of the ACE program. In 2012, NIH awarded $100 million to continue support of the program. The Institute also supports other projects related to ASD research infrastructure, including the National Database for Autism Research, Brain and Tissue Bank, and NeuroBioBank resources that are described in the Other Activities and Advances section below.

Other Activities and Advances

To achieve its goals for autism research, NICHD supports a variety of other activities related to autism. Some of these activities are managed through the components listed above; others are part of NIH-wide or collaborative efforts in which NICHD participates. Some of these are listed below:

• The  Autism Centers of Excellence (ACE) Program  is the trans-NIH research effort on ASD.
• The Collaborative Programs of Excellence in Autism (CPEAs)/Studies to Advance Autism Research & Treatment (STAART) Centers conducted and supported studies on the causes, diagnosis, prevention, detection, and treatment of ASD. These Networks were consolidated in 2007 into the ACE Program to enable pooling of resources and maximum coordination and efficiency for autism research across the NIH.
• NICHD's Eunice Kennedy Shriver Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Centers are located at 15 universities and children's hospitals throughout the country and aim to advance understanding of a variety of conditions and topics related to IDDs.
• The Fragile X Syndrome Research Center Program , funded by the IDDB, supports research to improve the diagnosis and treatment of Fragile X syndrome and related conditions.
• The government-wide  Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC)  includes representatives from NICHD.
• The  National Database for Autism Research  includes relevant data at all levels of biological and behavioral organization (i.e., molecules, genes, neural tissues, social and environmental interactions) and for all data types (e.g., text, numeric, image, time series).
• The NIH NeuroBio Bank is a network of brain and tissue banks in the United States that collect, examine, and store tissues; the banks also make the tissues available to scientists for research on brain disorders.

• About Autism
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ARI’s Latest Annual Report and Impact

Connecting investigators, professionals, parents, and autistic people worldwide is essential for effective advocacy. Throughout 2023, we continued our work offering focus on education while funding and support research on genetics, neurology, co-occurring medical conditions, nutrition, sensory processing, severe and challenging behaviors, and adult and senior issues. We work to push the boundaries of autism understanding, provide practitioners with current research, create accessible resources for everyone, and advocate for the best possible care for autistic individuals and their loved ones.

View and print ARI’s 2023 Annual Report (.pdf)

View and print ARI’s 2023 Impact Report (.pdf) Print ARI’s 2023 Accomplishments (.pdf)

National Autism History Museum

In January of 2023, the Autism Research Institute’s National Autism History Museum officially opened its doors. The museum offers an engaging and comprehensive look at the prolific history of autism research and discovery. Its interactive exhibits highlight prominent autistic figures and underscore critical moments in the evolution of autism research. Leading researchers from many areas are collaborating with ARI to curate a collection of historical artifacts. The museum promises to be a valuable resource in increasing autism acceptance and understanding.

ARI awarded more than $400,000 in grants to scientists whose work will have a direct impact on the lives of those on the autism spectrum. The funds supported research in immune, gastrointestinal, metabolic, neurologic, and sensory issues. View ARI’s 2023 Research Grant Recipients

Robert L. Hendren Research Grant Award Inaugural Recipients – 2023 Emanuel DiCicco-Bloom, MD Ed Levin, PhD

In honor of his many years of support for our work, serving as a member of ARI’s Scientific Advisory Board and Board of Directors, the top-scoring research grant proposals funded each year are now recognized as Robert L. Hendren Research Grant Award recipients.

ARI’s annual in-person Think Tanks occurred during Autism Awareness Month last April, convening researchers and clinicians to discuss emerging findings about autism.

ARI held its annual online scientific meeting in October 2023. This international conference featured live presentations and discussions to provide researchers with updates on metabolic issues, co-occurring gastrointestinal conditions, and genetics.

ARI continues to develop a global research network to keep researchers up to date with the latest news in the scientific community; this includes sharing articles on conducting research, informing them of various funding sources, and notifying them of the latest studies published in peer-reviewed journals

ARI co-sponosored “Autism and/or Intellectual Disability and Older Adults: A Think Tank Promoting Quality of Life and Health” convening autistic seniors, clinicians, researchers, and caregivers to build on previous work to advance priorities related to the quality of life and health of older adults with autism and intellectual disabilities.

Publications

ARI continues to publish its quarterly science newsletter, Autism Research Review International (ARRI) , summarizing current medical, sensory, and educational research.

ARI’s monthly e-newsletter keeps more than 145,000 subscribers up to date on new resources and the latest research.

ARI publishes a bimonthly e-newsletter, Clinical Research in Autism , for obstetricians, pediatricians, and nurses who want to keep up to date with research relevant to their practice.

Continuing Medical Information

ARI filmed a new series of continuing education talks during the fall of 2023 offering updates on co-occurring metabolic conditions frequently associated with autism.

Connecting physicians to improved standards of care is crucial to amplifying understanding of the health needs of autistic people.

Online Learning

ARI continues to host live webinars multiple times each month featuring top researchers and treatment professionals. In 2023, thousands of viewers registered to watch live presentations on various topics, including research updates, nutrition, behavioral support, assessment, educational therapies, adult issues, and more. One webinar each quarter (four per year) is offered in joint providership with the World Autism Organization.

ARI webinars, both live and recorded, offer real-time, captioned translation support in more than 20 languages.

Clinical webinars, aimed at guiding healthcare providers worldwide, are offered with live Q&A and simultaneous language interpretation.

ARI’s YouTube channel offers free access to experts with up-to-date webcasts on medical support and educational videos, social stories, and selected talks from past conferences. Users have tuned in for more than 1 million viewings.

Outreach in the U.S.

ARI offers a hotline for parents and professionals, who can reach a live person for information and support. Contact Us

International Outreach

ARI embraces a global autism community, networking with parent support groups worldwide. The network aims to improve communication among support groups and inform the international community of the current state of the science regarding the underlying biology of ASD and evidence-based treatments. To date, 230 groups have joined the network spanning 77 countries, including Argentina, Belgium, Croatia, Egypt, Germany, Israel, Moldova, Nigeria, Peru, Poland, Romania, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, Venezuela, and Vietnam.

ARI is an NGO (non-governmental organization) registered with the United Nations.

ARI continues to translate many key articles, as well as our Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC) , into different languages—the ATEC is now available in 25 languages online. On average, more than 150 users per day complete ARI’s ATEC.

ARI’s 2022 Accomplishments

At ARI we understand what it means to be different because ARI has always been unique. We have learned a lot over the past 56 years. We continue to focus on education while

ARI’s Accomplishments in 2021

For more than five decades, we have been challenging the traditional view of autism as an untreatable disorder and have advanced research to improve the health and well-being of people on the autism

ARI’s Accomplishments in 2020

The Covid-19 pandemic upended many lives, and the need to provide meaningful support while sustaining research has been as important as ever.  While the causes of ASD remain unclear, recent scientific advances challenge

Help ARI improve the quality of life for children and adults with autism

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Collaborative research cracks the autism code, making the neurodivergent brain visible

by Jennifer McManamay, University of Virginia

A multi-university research team co-led by University of Virginia engineering professor Gustavo K. Rohde has developed a system that can spot genetic markers of autism in brain images with 89 to 95% accuracy.

Their findings suggest that doctors may one day see, classify and treat autism and related neurological conditions with this method, without having to rely on or wait for behavioral cues. And that means this truly personalized medicine could result in earlier interventions.

"Autism is traditionally diagnosed behaviorally but has a strong genetic basis. A genetics-first approach could transform understanding and treatment of autism," the researchers wrote in a paper published in the journal Science Advances .

Rohde, a professor of biomedical and electrical and computer engineering, collaborated with researchers from the University of California San Francisco and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, including Shinjini Kundu, Rohde's former Ph.D. student and first author of the paper.

While working in Rohde's lab, Kundu—now a physician at the Johns Hopkins Hospital—helped develop a generative computer modeling technique called transport-based morphometry, or TBM, which is at the heart of the team's approach.

Using a novel mathematical modeling technique, their system reveals brain structure patterns that predict variations in certain regions of the individual's genetic code—a phenomenon called "copy number variations," in which segments of the code are deleted or duplicated. These variations are linked to autism.

TBM allows the researchers to distinguish normal biological variations in brain structure from those associated with the deletions or duplications.

"Some copy number variations are known to be associated with autism, but their link to brain morphology—in other words, how different types of brain tissues, such as gray or white matter , are arranged in our brain—is not well known," Rohde said. "Finding out how CNV relates to brain tissue morphology is an important first step in understanding autism's biological basis."

How TBM cracks the code

Transport-based morphometry is different from other machine-learning image analysis models because the mathematical models are based on mass transport—the movement of molecules such as proteins, nutrients and gases in and out of cells and tissues. "Morphometry" refers to measuring and quantifying the biological forms created by these processes.

Most machine learning methods, Rohde said, have little or no relation to the biophysical processes that generate the data. They rely instead on recognizing patterns to identify anomalies.

But Rohde's approach uses mathematical equations to extract the mass transport information from medical images, creating new images for visualization and further analysis.

Then, using a different set of mathematical methods, the system parses information associated with autism-linked CNV variations from other "normal" genetic variations that do not lead to disease or neurological disorders—what the researchers call "confounding sources of variability."

These sources previously prevented researchers from understanding the "gene-brain-behavior" relationship, effectively limiting care providers to behavior-based diagnoses and treatments.

According to Forbes magazine, 90% of medical data is in the form of imaging, which we don't have the means to unlock. Rohde believes TBM is the skeleton key.

"As such, major discoveries from such vast amounts of data may lie ahead if we utilize more appropriate mathematical models to extract such information."

The researchers used data from participants in the Simons Variation in Individuals Project, a group of subjects with the autism-linked genetic variation.

Control-set subjects were recruited from other clinical settings and matched for age, sex, handedness and non-verbal IQ while excluding those with related neurological disorders or family histories.

"We hope that the findings, the ability to identify localized changes in brain morphology linked to copy number variations, could point to brain regions and eventually mechanisms that can be leveraged for therapies," Rohde said.

Additional co-authors are Haris Sair of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Elliott H. Sherr and Pratik Mukherjee of the University of California San Francisco's Department of Radiology.

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Autism Spectrum Disorder

What is asd.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurological and developmental disorder that affects how people interact with others, communicate, learn, and behave. Although autism can be diagnosed at any age, it is described as a “developmental disorder” because symptoms generally appear in the first 2 years of life.

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) , a guide created by the American Psychiatric Association that health care providers use to diagnose mental disorders, people with ASD often have:

• Difficulty with communication and interaction with other people
• Restricted interests and repetitive behaviors
• Symptoms that affect their ability to function in school, work, and other areas of life

Autism is known as a “spectrum” disorder because there is wide variation in the type and severity of symptoms people experience.

People of all genders, races, ethnicities, and economic backgrounds can be diagnosed with ASD. Although ASD can be a lifelong disorder, treatments and services can improve a person’s symptoms and daily functioning. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that all children receive screening for autism. Caregivers should talk to their child’s health care provider about ASD screening or evaluation.

What are the signs and symptoms of ASD?

The list below gives some examples of common types of behaviors in people diagnosed with ASD. Not all people with ASD will have all behaviors, but most will have several of the behaviors listed below.

Social communication / interaction behaviors may include:

• Making little or inconsistent eye contact
• Appearing not to look at or listen to people who are talking
• Infrequently sharing interest, emotion, or enjoyment of objects or activities (including infrequent pointing at or showing things to others)
• Not responding or being slow to respond to one’s name or to other verbal bids for attention
• Having difficulties with the back and forth of conversation
• Often talking at length about a favorite subject without noticing that others are not interested or without giving others a chance to respond
• Displaying facial expressions, movements, and gestures that do not match what is being said
• Having an unusual tone of voice that may sound sing-song or flat and robot-like
• Having trouble understanding another person’s point of view or being unable to predict or understand other people’s actions
• Difficulties adjusting behaviors to social situations
• Difficulties sharing in imaginative play or in making friends

Restrictive / repetitive behaviors may include:

• Repeating certain behaviors or having unusual behaviors, such as repeating words or phrases (a behavior called echolalia)
• Having a lasting intense interest in specific topics, such as numbers, details, or facts
• Showing overly focused interests, such as with moving objects or parts of objects
• Becoming upset by slight changes in a routine and having difficulty with transitions
• Being more sensitive or less sensitive than other people to sensory input, such as light, sound, clothing, or temperature

People with ASD may also experience sleep problems and irritability.

People on the autism spectrum also may have many strengths, including:

• Being able to learn things in detail and remember information for long periods of time
• Being strong visual and auditory learners
• Excelling in math, science, music, or art

What are the causes and risk factors for ASD?

Researchers don’t know the primary causes of ASD, but studies suggest that a person’s genes can act together with aspects of their environment to affect development in ways that lead to ASD. Some factors that are associated with an increased likelihood of developing ASD include:

• Having a sibling with ASD
• Having older parents
• Having certain genetic conditions (such as Down syndrome or Fragile X syndrome)
• Having a very low birth weight

How is ASD diagnosed?

Health care providers diagnose ASD by evaluating a person’s behavior and development. ASD can usually be reliably diagnosed by age 2. It is important to seek an evaluation as soon as possible. The earlier ASD is diagnosed, the sooner treatments and services can begin.

Diagnosis in young children

Diagnosis in young children is often a two-stage process.

Stage 1: General developmental screening during well-child checkups

Every child should receive well-child check-ups with a pediatrician or an early childhood health care provider. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that all children receive screening for developmental delays at their 9-, 18-, and 24- or 30-month well-child visits, with specific autism screenings at their 18- and 24-month well-child visits. A child may receive additional screening if they have a higher likelihood of ASD or developmental problems. Children with a higher likelihood of ASD include those who have a family member with ASD, show some behaviors that are typical of ASD, have older parents, have certain genetic conditions, or who had a very low birth weight.

Considering caregivers’ experiences and concerns is an important part of the screening process for young children. The health care provider may ask questions about the child’s behaviors and evaluate those answers in combination with information from ASD screening tools and clinical observations of the child. Read more about screening instruments   on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website.

If a child shows developmental differences in behavior or functioning during this screening process, the health care provider may refer the child for additional evaluation.

Stage 2: Additional diagnostic evaluation

It is important to accurately detect and diagnose children with ASD as early as possible, as this will shed light on their unique strengths and challenges. Early detection also can help caregivers determine which services, educational programs, and behavioral therapies are most likely to be helpful for their child.

A team of health care providers who have experience diagnosing ASD will conduct the diagnostic evaluation. This team may include child neurologists, developmental pediatricians, speech-language pathologists, child psychologists and psychiatrists, educational specialists, and occupational therapists.

The diagnostic evaluation is likely to include:

• Medical and neurological examinations
• Assessment of the child’s cognitive abilities
• Assessment of the child’s language abilities
• Observation of the child’s behavior
• An in-depth conversation with the child’s caregivers about the child’s behavior and development
• Assessment of age-appropriate skills needed to complete daily activities independently, such as eating, dressing, and toileting

Because ASD is a complex disorder that sometimes occurs with other illnesses or learning disorders, the comprehensive evaluation may include:

• Blood tests
• Hearing test

The evaluation may lead to a formal diagnosis and recommendations for treatment.

Diagnosis in older children and adolescents

Caregivers and teachers are often the first to recognize ASD symptoms in older children and adolescents who attend school. The school’s special education team may perform an initial evaluation and then recommend that a child undergo additional evaluation with their primary health care provider or a health care provider who specialize in ASD.

A child’s caregivers may talk with these health care providers about their child’s social difficulties, including problems with subtle communication. For example, some children may have problems understanding tone of voice, facial expressions, or body language. Older children and adolescents may have trouble understanding figures of speech, humor, or sarcasm. They also may have trouble forming friendships with peers.

Diagnosis in adults

Diagnosing ASD in adults is often more difficult than diagnosing ASD in children. In adults, some ASD symptoms can overlap with symptoms of other mental health disorders, such as anxiety disorder or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Adults who notice signs of ASD should talk with a health care provider and ask for a referral for an ASD evaluation. Although evaluation for ASD in adults is still being refined, adults may be referred to a neuropsychologist, psychologist, or psychiatrist who has experience with ASD. The expert will ask about:

• Social interaction and communication challenges
• Sensory issues
• Repetitive behaviors
• Restricted interests

The evaluation also may include a conversation with caregivers or other family members to learn about the person’s early developmental history, which can help ensure an accurate diagnosis.

Receiving a correct diagnosis of ASD as an adult can help a person understand past challenges, identify personal strengths, and find the right kind of help. Studies are underway to determine the types of services and supports that are most helpful for improving the functioning and community integration of autistic transition-age youth and adults.

What treatment options are available for ASD?

Treatment for ASD should begin as soon as possible after diagnosis. Early treatment for ASD is important as proper care and services can reduce individuals’ difficulties while helping them build on their strengths and learn new skills.

People with ASD may face a wide range of issues, which means that there is no single best treatment for ASD. Working closely with a health care provider is an important part of finding the right combination of treatment and services.

A health care provider may prescribe medication to treat specific symptoms. With medication, a person with ASD may have fewer problems with:

• Irritability
• Repetitive behavior
• Hyperactivity
• Attention problems
• Anxiety and depression

Read more about the latest medication warnings, patient medication guides, and information on newly approved medications at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) website  .

Behavioral, psychological, and educational interventions

People with ASD may be referred to a health care provider who specializes in providing behavioral, psychological, educational, or skill-building interventions. These programs are often highly structured and intensive, and they may involve caregivers, siblings, and other family members. These programs may help people with ASD:

• Learn social, communication, and language skills
• Reduce behaviors that interfere with daily functioning
• Increase or build upon strengths
• Learn life skills for living independently

Other resources

Many services, programs, and other resources are available to help people with ASD. Here are some tips for finding these additional services:

• Contact your health care provider, local health department, school, or autism advocacy group to learn about special programs or local resources.
• Find an autism support group. Sharing information and experiences can help people with ASD and their caregivers learn about treatment options and ASD-related programs.
• Record conversations and meetings with health care providers and teachers. This information may help when it’s time to decide which programs and services are appropriate.
• Keep copies of health care reports and evaluations. This information may help people with ASD qualify for special programs.

How can I find a clinical trial for ASD?

Clinical trials are research studies that look at new ways to prevent, detect, or treat diseases and conditions. The goal of clinical trials is to determine if a new test or treatment works and is safe. Although individuals may benefit from being part of a clinical trial, participants should be aware that the primary purpose of a clinical trial is to gain new scientific knowledge so that others may be better helped in the future.

Researchers at NIMH and around the country conduct many studies with patients and healthy volunteers. We have new and better treatment options today because of what clinical trials uncovered years ago. Be part of tomorrow’s medical breakthroughs. Talk to your health care provider about clinical trials, their benefits and risks, and whether one is right for you.

To learn more or find a study, visit:

• NIMH’s Clinical Trials webpage : Information about participating in clinical trials
• Clinicaltrials.gov: Current Studies on ASD  : List of clinical trials funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) being conducted across the country

Where can I learn more about ASD?

Free brochures and shareable resources.

• Autism Spectrum Disorder : This brochure provides information about the symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment of ASD. Also available  en español .
• Digital Shareables on Autism Spectrum Disorder : Help support ASD awareness and education in your community. Use these digital resources, including graphics and messages, to spread the word about ASD.

Federal resources

• Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development  
• National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke  
• National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders  
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention   (CDC)
• Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee  
• MedlinePlus   (also available en español  )

Research and statistics

• Science News About Autism Spectrum Disorder : This NIMH webpage provides press releases and announcements about ASD.
• Research Program on Autism Spectrum Disorders : This NIMH program supports research focused on the characterization, pathophysiology, treatment, and outcomes of ASD and related disorders.
• Statistics: Autism Spectrum Disorder : This NIMH webpage provides information on the prevalence of ASD in the U.S.
• Data & Statistics on Autism Spectrum Disorder   : This CDC webpage provides data, statistics, and tools about prevalence and demographic characteristics of ASD.
• Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network   : This CDC-funded program collects data to better understand the population of children with ASD.
• Biomarkers Consortium - The Autism Biomarkers Consortium for Clinical Trials (ABC-CT)   : This Foundation for the National Institutes of Health project seeks to establish biomarkers to improve treatments for children with ASD.

Last Reviewed:  February 2024

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