Gene expression profiles for more than 1,600 cells from a small section of the mouse brain have revealed 49 different cell types, nearly twice as many as had previously been identified in this brain area. The findings may help researchers home in on specific cell types that are involved in autism1. …

By Henny Kupferstein, M.A. Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) for autistics is based on Pavlov’s operant conditioning for dogs. In this video, you can see the lone dog waiting for permission to have fun. Watching this clip, I can almost hear the ABA kid saying, “Miss Ashley–what am I working for? Aft…

It’s been nearly three months since Joshua Gordon took the reins as director of the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). In that time, Gordon has made it clear that one of his top priorities will be ‘circuit science’ — investigations into the clusters of neurons that underlie certain beh…

By Finn Gardiner In this issue, Finn talks about making life fairer for all through his disability advocacy and activism. This article is part of our cover series on four autistic trailblazers who are building, bolder, better lives for themselves and others. The gap between the ideal and the real is…

What I learned from watching The Dating Game, The Bachelor, and Beauty and the Geek By Tom Iland Do you watch reality TV shows?  How about reality TV dating shows?  Growing up with autism, ever since elementary school, I wanted to have a girlfriend.  I usually relied on movies or TV s…

Prenatal vitamins help ensure that a fetus has everything it needs to develop. Research indicates that too little — or too much — of certain substances during pregnancy can increase the child’s chances of having autism. But many of these studies are observational in nature and are not set up to prov…

October is National Disability History Month and National Disability Employment Awareness Month. Richard Pimentel was one of the first disability activists to work with United States government agencies and Fortune 500 companies in diversity training and providing employment for people with disabili…

“I want to be there for other autistic people the way my mom was there for me, with the additional level of having actually experienced autism firsthand. It is so empowering to have someone genuinely care about you and understand you.” Brielle Williams By Ron Sandison I was excited to interview Brie…

If you saw the Microsoft in Education event yesterday in which Microsoft unveiled many new features and products for classes and students, you may have heard the presenters mention Learning Tools for OneNote as well. Learning Tools, and specifically Immersive Reader, which is perhaps the main compon…

Only half of autistic people who commit suicide have a diagnosis of depression, and this study sheds some light on why that could be.Source: The Autism Site

The post Getting at the heart of autism appeared first on Spectrum | Autism Research News. Source: Spectrum News

Headlines this week hailed a behavioral therapy that parents can deliver to their babies to lessen the intensity of the children’s autism traits and lower their chances of a diagnosis at age 3, but independent experts urge caution: The observed effects were small, and the study’s analysis raises que…

Jonathan’s is 6 years old and, according to mom, he shows improvement in his speech, brushing his teeth, getting ready for school and other daily living tasks. Mom is soooo proud of the strides that he has made this school year including fewer meltdowns. Ask Jonathan and he’ll tell you t…

In 1987, psychologist Ole Ivar Lovaas reported that the optimal ‘dose’ for an autism therapy he had developed was 40 hours a week. The intensive therapy, a type of applied behavior analysis (ABA), led to “normal” functioning for 9 of 19 children with autism in his study, he said1. Just 10 hours of t…