What I want the most is for the world to see A- the way (I think) he sees himself. As an amazing human being. Maybe this is my contribution to why not “profound autism.” It’s not about the term itself. It’s about the reason people want it, and what that would mean for my son. […]
I wish we framed autism around the impact on adaptive skills and activities, instead of framing it around behaviors. I have a lot of reasons for this. One is that “behavior support needs” tends to invite behavior management strategies that are based on external/observable behavior, and focus on the quality of life of the people […]
The autism criteria in the latest version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) lists sensory traits under the umbrella of restricted and repetitive behaviors (RRBs), but this categorization does not reflect how these traits and behaviors present in autistic children, according to a study published yesterday in the Journal of the […]
Many genes linked to autism disrupt the same developmental pathways during embryonic development and the first two weeks of life, according to a new study in mice. As the animals mature, those shared changes give way to more gene-specific phenotypes, suggesting that the underlying pathways shift over time. Different autism mouse models showed similar developmental […]
Profound proclamation: A Delphi consensus study proposes a new definition of “profound autism,” the category used to describe a subset of people with autism whose impairments require lifelong, round-the-clock care. More than 70 researchers, caregivers, autistic people and clinicians went through two rounds of voting and reviewing to settle on the definition: “Adaptive functioning well […]
Subtype sharpening: Measures of language, intellectual and adaptive functioning in late childhood and adulthood point to two phenotypically distinct autism subtypes, according to a new study. This subtype model was drawn from analysis of data from the National Institute of Mental Health Data Archive. Mapping these subtypes onto functional MRI connectivity data of the brain’s […]
We still encounter quite a few people who think, “Ah yes, autistic people lack empathy.” This misunderstanding may happen because of some research and diagnoses based around old tests. Typically, such tests tend to ask particular questions to find out whether someone is or is not empathetic. But, do they measure what they think they […]
An examination of the cousins of autistic children in Denmark, described in a new preprint, sheds light on the direct and indirect effects that maternal genetics may have on autism likelihood. Even without genetic data, “using family designs, we can still probe questions about the role of genetics in certain epidemiological associations,” says study investigator […]
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 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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
