Lynn Adams

My 10-year-old son can change from an adorable, quirky little dude to an aggressive screamer in a second. He sinks so far, so fast, that I forget about his strengths and drown in his weaknesses. I wish I could make it stop.

There’s a diagnosis that explains it: autism.

LOUISVILLE — Shalom Lawson, an 8-year-old Louisville boy who loved hugging people he just met, wandered from a relative's home last summer and drowned.  

He had autism, a disorder that causes many children to walk off. "Elopers,"as they are called, are especially drawn to water and are unaware of the risks. 

"Water makes them feel calm, but water is very, very dangerous," said Shalom's mother, Magdalene Lawson, who came to America from West Africa with her husband, Charles. 

She told Courier Journal she tried to protect her son by locking her bathroom to keep him from filling up the bathtub. She feared he would burn himself or drown. And she said she kept an alarm on her front door that would beep if he tried to get out.

Study adds evidence to growing belief that current clinical tools fail to capture unique autism presentations in females

I’ve written before about autism and dating from my own perspective. This time I asked my girlfriend to weigh in

MATTHEW ROZSA

When you have an invisible disability, the first challenge is getting other people to believe you — to encourage them to express empathy for someone else. After that, though, you need to learn to listen to how your disability may negatively impact them — that is, to show the very empathy for others that you insist on receiving.

Rates of autism spectrum disorder among children in the U.S. remained stable from 2014 to 2016, according to new research—a change from previous studies that found steady increases over the past two decades.

Mark Macluskie packed his belongings and left home for the first time to attend college this fall.

The winner of one of 20 coveted Flinn Scholarships, Mark has a full ride to study mechanical engineering with two minors in electrical engineering and mathematics at Arizona State University.

Mark is the consummate scholar: intelligent, charismatic, a whiz at math.

John McLaughlin

There’s no single way to teach children with autism. Regardless of which method a school adopts, though, it’s no mystery what helps them to thrive: calm, not chaos, in the classroom; one-on-one attention from teachers, aides and therapists; lessons tailored to the individual child’s needs, whether that means learning not to bite or how to make eye contact while shaking hands; and the opportunity to regroup through soothing activities such as swinging, rolling on mats or listening to music.

Paramount has acquired movie rights to Steve Silberman’s science book “Neurotribes” and set up the project with Lorne Michaels at his Broadway Video production company.

MATTHEW ROZSA

Mikey Rowe will take the lead in “Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time,” as theater marks a milestone

It's not only reasonable to criticize the casting of non-transgender individuals as transgender characters or to bemoan the whitewashing of nonwhite characters. It's necessary.