In one sentence
In 198 term-born babies scanned at about 10 days of life, a genetic summary score for autism was already linked to how the cerebellum talks to the rest of the brain — and those patterns looked different in boys and girls. This is a preprint, not yet peer-reviewed.
What the researchers did
The cerebellum sits at the back of the brain and is involved in movement, timing, and some social-cognitive functions. It also shows structural and functional differences in many autism studies, so the team asked whether autism genetic liability already shows up in cerebellar connections in the first days of life, and whether that depends on sex. They used resting brain scans, genetics, and later behaviour from the Developing Human Connectome Project. For 198 full-term newborns (mean age 9.7 days) they calculated an autism polygenic score — a number that adds many common genetic variants each of small effect — and mapped connections from cerebellar regions tied to sensorimotor versus social-cognitive functions. They also looked at language, attention, and emotional reactivity at 18 months. None of this is a clinical genetic test or a diagnosis.
What they found
- Across the whole sample, higher autism polygenic scores tracked altered cerebellum–cortex connections, including hemisphere-dependent differences between sensorimotor cerebellum and temporal cortex, and stronger connection between a right social-cognitive cerebellar region and the posterior cingulate (a hub often discussed in social and self-related processing).
- Boys and girls showed opposite patterns. In boys, higher scores went with stronger links between right sensorimotor cerebellum and default-mode areas (networks more active at rest). In girls, higher scores went with stronger links between the right social-cognitive region and sensorimotor cortex.
- Those connectivity patterns showed modest, sex-specific links with 18-month language, attention problems, and emotional reactivity. The authors call these associations nominal — they may not survive a stricter statistical bar.
What this means for families and therapists
This is early brain-development science, not something to order in clinic. It suggests that common genetic variation already relates to cerebellar wiring at birth, and that boys and girls may not share one “autism connectivity signature.” That may eventually help explain why support needs look different by sex, but it does not tell you how this baby will develop. Polygenic scores are research tools; they are not a diagnosis, not a forecast, and not a reason to start or stop therapy. If a family is offered a commercial “autism gene score,” this paper is not evidence that such a product works as a test. Watch language, attention, and emotional regulation as you already would — because those are ordinary developmental questions, not because a scan at day 10 predicted a label.
Limitations and what we don't know yet
This is a preprint and has not finished peer review. The design is observational, so genetics are not shown to cause the connectivity pattern. Follow-up stops at 18 months; later autism diagnoses are not the outcome here. Associations with behaviour were weak and “nominal.” Results may change with other scoring methods or more diverse families. Brain scans of newborns are hard to do and noisy. Larger, longer, reviewed studies are needed before anyone treats this as a map of “autism at birth.”
This is a plain-language summary of Functional Connectivity of the Neonatal Cerebellum is Impacted by Sex and Polygenic Liability for Autism by Wagner L., Chiem E., Liu J. et al., medRxiv, preprint (2026). Source license: CC-BY-NC-4.0. It is not medical advice — talk to a qualified clinician before changing therapy.