Short answers, pulled from the story.
The American Psychiatric Association released the fifth edition of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual in 2013. This document unified previous labels like Asperger syndrome and childhood autism into a single diagnosis called autism spectrum disorder.
Hundreds of different genes influence the likelihood of being autistic according to current research. Autism is associated with genes influencing neural development and connectivity involved in key neuronal processes such as protein synthesis and synaptic activity.
British physician Andrew Wakefield led a fraudulent study suggesting the MMR vaccine causes autism in 1998. His co-authors later recanted the claims made in the study and he was struck off the British medical register for serious professional misconduct after determination that his involvement amounted to fraud leading to loss of his right to practice medicine.
Among antipsychotics risperidone and aripiprazole only medications approved by U.S. Food and Drug Administration specifically for reducing irritability aggression and self-injurious behaviors. These drugs can have significant side effects with responses varying widely.
The World Health Organization's International Classification of Diseases version 11 came into full effect in 2022 describing autism spectrum disorder as neurodevelopmental disorder. Since 1980 committees behind both manuals aimed for greater convergence incorporating biological research while keeping behavior-based criteria.