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New study shows that autistic children have larger brains

By Staff Writer

The Archives of General Psychiatry recently published a study by the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disorders that shows that children who have autism may also have larger brains than their peers.

According to recent article about the study in Time, 38 children with autism had an MRI when they were two years old. This data was compared with the brain images of 21 toddlers who did not have autism. All of these individuals were scanned again when they were four or five in order to compare results once more.

The data shows that autistic children have an average of 6 percent more brain volume, with about 9 percent more space in the cerebral cortex in particular, according to the news outlet.

The research also suggests that a toddler with autism has rapid growth in their brain before the age of two, which may account for their behavioral and developmental symptoms.

According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, these symptoms may include difficulty interacting with others, repetitive body movements, slower language development and a short attention span.

Parents who find it overly difficult to manage a child with autism may want to consider enrolling him or her in a therapeutic boarding school, where faculty is trained to assist these students. 

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