"All Americans have a responsibility to protect themselves, their families, and their communities.” Source: The Autism Site

I’m autistic, and I got engaged in July. We don’t have any couples’ pictures — it’s hard to ask someone else to snap a photo for you during a pandemic. But otherwise, it was perfect. My partner and I spent the day hiking in the woods and wading in the Patapsco River in Maryland. After, we sat on a b…

Women who use marijuana while pregnant may be more likely to give birth to an autistic child, according to a study published last week in Nature Medicine1. The findings generated widespread press coverage, but researchers are calling for a cautious interpretation of the results — in part because the…

By Gretchen McIntirePhoto of Gretchen by GhoZt Studioz Photography This month has been transformative through the eyes of “grace”. While finances have been hard, it seems the universe keeps paving a way for things to still happen that need to which is like witnessing one mini miracle after anothe…

One of the biggest mysteries in autism research is understanding how the condition’s discrete set of traits emerges from a multitude of genetic and environmental factors. Over the past decade, scientists have homed in on a possible explanation: Autism’s diverse influences may all affect the same neu…

JJ Moritz and Matt Schultz have created an orthodontic retainer that allows a user to control their phone or computer with their tongue. The engineers began working full time on this project in November 2019, and are collaborating with Colin Heffern, a landscape architect who is quadripleg…

There is even a child-sized mask with each copy. Source: The Autism Site

A pair of tools that gauge social abilities in rhesus macaques may help researchers study autism-like behaviors in monkeys. The first is a refinement of the macaque version of the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS), a 65-item questionnaire that measures social abilities in people and can be used to a…

The average life expectancy is 70 years, but for people with ASD, it's only 54.Source: The Autism Site

Most autistic people — 87 percent, according to the latest estimate — have some sort of motor difficulty, ranging from an atypical gait to problems with handwriting1. These issues are distinct from the repetitive behaviors considered to be a hallmark of autism. And yet, despite their prevalence, mot…

Do you want to just teach skills or teach meaningful responses? Many ABA practitioners and parents struggle to generalize learned skills, whether to parents or other people, to school, community or natural environments. Sometimes they question — will this child ever really learn this behavi…

By Tiffany Hammond, M.A. “You have so much patience.”  This is told to me often and I find it to be both a compliment…and an insult. Sometimes at the same time. Complimentary when directed towards my demeanor when working long hours with my boys, acting as their therapist, teacher, …

The post Confusion at the crossroads of autism and hearing loss appeared first on Spectrum | Autism Research News. Source: Spectrum News

Eating disorders have the highest mortality rates of any kinds of mental illness. They don’t discriminate, affecting people of all ethnicities, sexualities, gender identities, ages and backgrounds. However, one group is disproportionately affected by these disorders: people on the autism spectrum. …