Over the past five days, attendees of the 47th annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) in Washington, D.C., consumed the content of thousands of posters, symposiums, presentations — and, by the looks of it, innumerous cups of coffee. And now the 30,000-odd neuroscientists from around th…

By Megan Amodeo Another Halloween is fast approaching and it brings me to the kind an evening I faced with trepidation as a child of the 1970’s and ‘80’s. Before cell phones, social media and selfies, we dressed up like goblins and ghosts and our parents took pictures with cameras with film that too…

An experimental behavioral therapy delivered by parents does not improve autism traits in babies who screen positive for the condition, according to a new study1. The results are disappointing, say independent experts, because they had high hopes for this particular approach’s promise in mitigating …

Last month, Spectrum hosted a webinar with autism researchers Tony Charman and Catherine Lord, who co-chaired the Lancet Commission’s set of recommendations for the autism field. Conversations around the commission continue; yesterday, the European Council of Autistic People published an open lette…

The post 2015 Year in Review appeared first on Spectrum. Source: Spectrum News

Mice missing the Rett syndrome gene, MeCP2, from neurons that dampen brain activity have hallmark signs of the disorder, such as social abnormalities, repetitive behaviors and poor motor coordination. A new study suggests that most of these symptoms stem from MeCP2 loss in just two types of these so…

This article originally appeared at www.bsci21.org.  Nearly six months had gone by since we began Lily’s home-based ABA program, and she had not mastered a single target of a single program. Not one. I stared blankly at my own furrowed reflection through the graph on my computer screen. Wh…

He very easily could have told Colin he was busy, or to come back later, or any number of things, but he didn’t.Source: The Autism Site

The National Autistic Society created a video that simulates the experience using virtual reality.Source: The Autism Site

Developed in association with Sense International India, Samsung Good Vibes is an app for deafblind people that lets them communicate with others using Morse Code! The app has two interfaces  – “Deafblind mode” and “Caregiver mode”. In Deafblind mode, the entire scre…

Mice missing a copy of CHD8, a top autism gene, show a signaling imbalance in their brains — a finding in line with a popular hypothesis about autism’s origins. Researchers presented the unpublished findings today at the 2019 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in Chicago, Illinois. Neurons in d…

Few of the most popular early treatments for autism are supported by strong evidence, a systematic review suggests; even treatments with relatively strong evidence did not meet the review’s high standards1. A second analysis reviewed studies that support pivotal response treatment (PRT) and found th…

A new report published last week by WHO and UNICEF reveals that more than 2.5 billion people need one or more assistive products, such as wheelchairs, hearing aids, or apps that support communication and cognition. Yet nearly one billion of them are denied access, particularly in low- and middl…

By Megan Amodeo In life, there are many rites of passage. For most teenagers, the biggest and most sought after rite is driving a car. Of course if you want to drive, you need a driver’s license. If you want a license, you need to take driver’s education. In our school district, driver’s education i…