India, Feb. 17 -- Australian study examines how proposed "profound autism" category may apply in diagnostic settings

24% of autistic children met, or were at risk of meeting, the criteria

Safety risks, self-injury and aggression present beyond the proposed category

Researchers raise concerns over age threshold and funding alignment

When it comes to autism, few questions spark as much debate as how best to support autistic people with the greatest needs.

This prompted The Lancet medical journal to commission a group of international experts to propose a new category of "profound autism".

This category describes autistic people who have little or no language (spoken, written, signed or via a communication device), who have an IQ of le...