A non-protein-coding RNA may influence social and repetitive behaviors linked to autism, according to a new study. The RNA, called PTCHD1-AS, is produced from a gene in a region of the X chromosome linked to autism and other neurodevelopmental conditions. Rather than encoding a protein, the new work suggests, PTCHD1-AS appears to regulate brain circuits […]
In Chapter 2 of “When autistic kids grow up,” after her stint as a semi-professional pool player and the birth of her son, Tempest McDonald goes west to start her belated journey through higher education. Listen to other chapters and read the transcript.
Immune power: Maternal-fetal type 1 interferon may be a key factor in the association between maternal infection during pregnancy and having an autistic child, according to a new mouse study. Maternal immune activation, modeled in mice, increased interferon 1, which, in offspring, altered excitatory synapse function and reduced a microglial regulator of synapse formation. Further, […]
In another life, author Laura Richmond might have been a medieval vowess—but in this one she is a writer, parent, and autism and mental health advocate. She writes for The Daily Tism, and her book is All My Worldly Joy. We talked with Laura about being misunderstood for much of her life before her adult […]
The human brain forms trillions of synapses using only a few thousand cell-surface proteins to guide the process. How can distinct functional circuits form when there are far more neurons than molecules to guide them? New findings in mice provide an answer to this numerical puzzle: Across the brain, neurons repeatedly reuse the same pair […]
“When autistic kids grow up” is a five-part podcast that explores how Tempest McDonald’s lived experience fueled her research and explains how she stumbled onto a problem that has been hiding in plain sight. In Chapter 1, McDonald’s turbulent childhood begins to provide some answers to the question, What leads an autism researcher to publish […]
Deep focus: Subcortical brain structures contribute to autism more than previously appreciated, according to two new preprints. One study used single-cell RNA sequencing to identify altered gene expression and found that excitatory neurons in the thalamus and hypothalamus are particularly enriched in autism-linked genes, along with cortical regions. The other study used a different method […]
Kaligirwa is a noted autistic autism scholar and advocate. They recently had their advocacy and motives challenged after they asked an autism diagnosis and resources company, Embrace Autism, whether it was behaving unethically in coaching people on how to take an online autism screening test. We wanted to know more, and so we talked with […]
Last month’s annual meeting of the International Society for Autism Research (INSAR) was one of its biggest gatherings to date. It also saw an increase in presentations focused on basic science, according to Christine Wu Nordahl, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of California, Davis MIND Institute and scientific chair for this […]
Primate model: Macaques carrying a single copy of a SHANK3 variant, an animal model of Phelan-McDermid syndrome, display more repetitive behaviors and altered sociability than do control monkeys, according to a new paper. The investigators used a deep-learning model to analyze behavioral output from seven monkeys carrying the SHANK3 variant and eight wildtype monkeys. Monkeys […]
My colleagues and I recently did something scary. For the past few years, we built the Neurodiversity Pathways program at Goodwill of Silicon Valley. I worked as a consultant, and my colleagues Ranga Jayaraman (the father of an autistic adult son), and Khushboo Chabria (an ADHD woman) served as full-time employees. Together, we taught career […]
Several variants of facilitated communication—techniques intended to help people with limited speech express themselves—have been growing in popularity among the parents of autistic people in recent years. But a forthcoming analysis has found no convincing evidence these methods help autistic people communicate their thoughts. Using these methods, which are marketed as the “rapid prompting method” […]
