Welcome to the autism issue! We interviewed Dr. Serena Wieder on evidence-based developmental approaches for kids with ASD, ones that bring the humanity back into autism treatment by returning our focus to the nurturing relationships between parents and children, building on children’s ideas to improve communication and learning.

It’s a vexing question: At what point do you consider prescribing antipsychotics for aggressive children? The potential side effects—weight gain, sedation, possible movement side effects, and metabolic abnormalities—encourage us to think long and hard about this, and there are few good evidence-based guidelines.

When I think of a child with autism, I want to discover who he is—not just his diagnosis, but how he relates, feels, functions, and learns in the context of family, culture, environment, and education.

ACT seeks to teach us to mindfully observe our internal and external experiences and to increase our willingness to experience things, which may either be out of our control or otherwise necessary to honor our core values.

Disorders of lipid metabolism—specifically inefficient metabolism of lipids—have been implicated as part of the metabolic complexity in children with autism spectrum disorder. Research points to the neuroprotective effects of simvastatin over other statins, due to its greater ability to cross the blood-brain barrier. But does that neuroprotection translate to differences in behavior?

Anxiety is a broad concept that permeates pretty much all of our work. In particular, anxiety often compromises cognitive ability and drives acting-out behavior.

Because of their quick action, benzodiazepines (BZDs) are frequently prescribed to treat patients with anxiety and other conditions. However, clinicians need to consider the potential for unintended and problematic consequences of benzodiazepine use.

When parents bring in their kids for concentration, attention, and learning issues, it’s common to assume a provisional diagnosis of ADHD. In many children, however, anxiety can be the real cause of these problems.

We are all busy clinicians, but if we pause and take note of our natural responses and learn how we typically respond to various kinds of kids, we gain a valuable tool that supports our ability to effectively and efficiently assess a child.