Hello, and welcome to the Community Newsletter! I’m your host, Chelsey B. Coombs, Spectrum’s engagement editor. The first study to spark online exchanges this week looked at the link between autism traits and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in adults aged 50 and older who scored high on a meas…

Autistic Author Interview Travis Breeding Travis Breeding has written over 15 books about his experiences with autism. Writing is a special interest and hobby for Travis. He feels it is important that people on the autism spectrum use their knowledge and talent to communicate what it feels lik…

By Christa Holmans, Neurodivergent Rebel I spend a lot of time sitting in the background, listening and observing, and soaking in other people’s conversations, especially online, where I can engage in my native language – text. Writing and reading have always been more accessible and mor…

Lovastatin, a drug that lowers cholesterol levels, prevents memory problems in a rat model of fragile X syndrome, a new study suggests1. The drug’s effects seem to last after treatment ends. The results offer the promise of a treatment for people with fragile X syndrome or, perhaps, autism. The synd…

A new chart of DNA’s loops and twists reveals its three-dimensional (3-D) structure in the developing brain. It shows that a genomic region involved in controlling gene expression may influence a gene located far away on a linear genome, as long as the two regions abut in 3-D space1. The findings ha…

Heba Jamjoum, a Jordanian sign-language interpreter, noticed the scarcity of educational content available for deaf Arab children while expecting her son six years ago. In 2022, she and her husband, Mamoun Oudah, who is hearing-impaired, initiated a project named after their kids, Tameem and Reem, t…

The Art of Autism is accepting contributions of art, poems, and prose for Black History Month. Email info@artautism.com By Dr. Angel Durr, Art of Autism Board member As Black History Month approaches, it’s important to recognize how many African Americans are affected by autism. While autism …

Jacqueline Child, a 29-year-old woman living with disabilities, faced continual rejection and discrimination on mainstream dating apps. This struggle, stemming from her invisible disabilities such as lupus and dysautonomia, prompted her to cofound a dating app specifically for people with disabiliti…

Reposted with permission from How To ABA All kids have trouble waiting for things that they want. They even have trouble waiting in line at the grocery store. Waiting is a huge skill. So once our learners have mastered some early instructions, like come here or sit down, then we typically start w…

Children with autism inherit a greater burden of common genetic variants associated with autism than would be expected by chance1. These variants combine with rare, spontaneous autism mutations to boost autism risk. The unpublished results were presented today at the 2017 International Meeting for A…

It’s been five years since the autism community agonized over the debut of a new iteration of a diagnostic manual that set out to rewrite the definition of autism. In this special report, we revisit the concerns and controversy over the fifth edition of the “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Ment…

It feels so good to write 2021 and put 2020 behind us. Though the last year was dark with fires, COVID, and economic uncertainty there were times of light and laughter. Autistry ended the year with stunning success stories. We supported 20 students taking several different courses at College of Mar…

Some people with autism have an unusually large head: This fact has been known since autism was first described in the 1940s. But debate about this finding has raged ever since. How many people with autism have a large head? What causes the enlargement? And does it have any bearing on outcome? Here …

By Nils Skudra One of the most popular hospitality attractions in Greensboro is Chez Genese, a French restaurant located in Greensboro, North Carolina that features exquisite French cuisine for breakfast and lunch seven days a week. A distinguishing aspect of this restaurant is that just over fifty …