Researchers in China have cataloged genetic variations among nearly 3,000 Chinese people and constructed a comprehensive new reference genome for this population. The resource, which is called NyuWa and is freely available online, could help researchers discern the effects of genetic variants found …

Guest post by Emily Ansell Elfer, BA (Hons), Dip. Many children on the autism spectrum struggle with social... The post Navigating the Safety Concerns of Children with Autism appeared first on The Autism Site News. Source: The Autism Site

"He inspired me that every moment is precious, and we can't sort of do a Jenga strategy for our lives and think it's going to work out. It just doesn't happen that way.” The post After 17-Year Hiatus, Autistic Child Inspires Musician Father To Finally Release His Next Album appeared first on The Aut…

Mice that lack one copy of TBX1, a gene in the autism-linked 22q11.2 chromosomal region, produce too little myelin — the fatty insulation that surrounds neurons — and perform poorly on tasks that measure cognitive speed, according to a new study. The work, published 5 November in Molecular Psychiatr…

Naomi Rubin from Atypical Seasons 2 and 3 co-starred this holiday season in It’s a Wonderful Life’s table read which can be purchased at the Ed Asner Family Center website. The proceeds from the production help young adults and families with autism. By Ron Sandison Last year I interviewed Tal Ander…

Move over, Santa. This year, Colorado students are penning missives to their favorite dog. The post Students Practice Their ABCs By Writing Letters To School’s Beloved Therapy Dog, Rex appeared first on The Autism Site News. Source: The Autism Site

After the bride asked on Reddit whether she was wrong for refusing to uninvite her sister, readers responded that she might want to reconsider inviting the groom. The post Man Earns the Wrath of the Internet After Insisting His Fiancee’s Autistic Sister Not Be Invited to the Wedding appeared f…

At a recent family meeting, I had put an item on the agenda- listening to mom and dad so we don’t have to repeat ourselves. In the past week, I had noticed that I was having to say things many more items than usual and my husband and I had both raised our voice more often. So I brought this up in a …

About 1 in 3 American teens with autism obtains a driver’s license. That’s substantially lower than the average... The post University of Virginia is Using Virtual Reality to Help People with Autism Learn to Drive appeared first on The Autism Site News. Source: The Autism Site

The term ‘profound autism’ should be used to describe autistic people who require round-the-clock, lifelong care, a team of autism researchers, clinicians, autistic adults and parents of autistic people announced today. The guidance is part of a set of suggestions for the field to improve autistic p…

Genes that appear to play a role in some birds’ ability to learn songs are frequently mutated in autistic people, according to a new study. The findings show the value of studying the evolution of specific traits in other species, says Sarah London, associate professor of psychology at the Universit…

People who lose one eye have the option to get a fake eye (also called glass eye) – a prosthetic eye that helps them improve their appearance. This lifelike prosthetic eye is typically made from acrylic and is handmade by technicians called ocularists. The current process of manually creating …

Hello, and welcome to Spectrum’s Community Newsletter. Autism researchers on Twitter pondered questions around autism prevalence this week after two new estimates came out. Jack Underwood, a clinical research fellow at the University of Cardiff in Wales, posted a thread about new work that found an …

Autism prevalence in the United States rose to 1 in 44 children in 2018, up from 1 in 54 in 2016, according to a new study examining autism prevalence among 8-year-olds in 11 states. As in previous years, the uptick is likely due to improvements in identification, diagnosis and referrals to services…