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 […]
Blood flow: Autistic people have a 19 percent greater chance of experiencing a major ischemic event during their lives than do non-autistic people, according to a new preprint. In women, the increase is 71 percent. The study, which examined health records in the United Kingdom over a period of 20 years, found that autistic people […]
That’s the case for Gale Emigh, 73, who separated from her husband of 40 years six months ago. They have agreed to avoid a “messy and costly” divorce, she said, instead asking their financial adviser to pay them equally every month from their shared pot. She is staying in the house they bought together in […]
“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 […]
Insights derived from basic research are generally far upstream from clinical applications. Thus, it makes sense, in some respects, that scientists studying mouse models and molecular mechanisms tied to autism may feel removed from autistic people and their communities. But this distance can be frustrating. How do we know that our research priorities align with […]
Pulling threads: A new study describes how genetic background can influence neurodevelopmental phenotypes linked to a particular gene variant. To wit, when a parent and child both carry the 16p12.1 deletion, they often experience different clinical presentations. The researchers evaluated 17 classes of secondary variants and identified those that influenced risk for specific traits, such […]
Note: This article discusses rape and abuse. I remember the shock when I realized that my ex had raped me. And that it had taken me nearly two years to the day to realize that what had transpired that evening had been rape. I had always been uncomfortable about what had happened. But it’s not […]
Autism research is highly focused on causation and autism “treatments,” areas most autistic people neither benefit from nor want studied. Enter AutINSAR, a much-needed discussion between autistic people, autism researchers, family members, and professionals about priorities in autism research. This year’s AutINSAR chat took place during INSAR 2025, the annual meeting of the International Society […]
It is almost a cliché, at this point, that when questions arise about the increase in autism diagnostic rates, or increase in visibility of autism in public life and schools, for laypeople to protest, “We didn’t use to see this many autistic people 30 years ago!” or “when I was a kid” or “when I […]
Early overgrowth: In their first few weeks of development, organoids with two intact copies of CHD8 (top) developed excitatory neurons more slowly than organoids missing a copy of the gene (bottom). Editor’s Note This article was originally published 11 January 2021, based on preliminary findings presented at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting. The results […]
Many autistic people with a serious or life-threatening condition do not seek medical care, according to a new study. The most common health-care barriers include difficulties in communicating with physicians or making appointments by telephone. “For me, as a physician, to realize that patients are sitting at home with medically serious conditions, unable to access […]
Recording device: The Neuropixels probe has hundreds of sites (black and white) that can make recordings of human neurons (red and blue). Angelique Paulk / NeuroMorpho.org (IDs: NMO_86955, NMO_86997, NMO_109433, NMO_61420, NMO_61421) A high-resolution probe commonly used in animals can be modified to simultaneously record the activity of hundreds of individual neurons across the human […]
