Charles Q. Choi  

People diagnosed with autism in adulthood are nearly three times as likely as their childhood-diagnosed counterparts to report having psychiatric conditions, a new study finds.

Jackie Spinner

For the first time in decades, the nation’s top pediatricians have changed the checklist of developmental milestones for infants and young children to make it easier to identify delays that could be a sign of autism or other social-communication disabilities.

Sam Farmer

Rather than interpret the results of this study as implying that autism is a growing epidemic and a condition which therefore is to be feared, view it instead as being reflective of the natural neurological diversity inherent in humanity, carrying unique challenges as well as strengths.

Zack Budryk

Anthony Hopkins, Wentworth Miller and others are showing us that autism is more varied than it once seemed to be.

In late July, actor Wentworth Miller of “Prison Break” and “Legends of Tomorrow” posted an image of a white square to Instagram, accompanied by the revelation that he had been formally diagnosed as autistic a year before.

“This isn’t something I’d change. No. I get — got — immediately [that] being autistic is central to who I am. To everything I’ve achieved/articulated,” Miller wrote.

When we don't understand autistic kids we create a toxic environment for them.

Posted August 31, 2021 | Reviewed by Tyler Woods

For most autistic children, school can be a toxic environment. Working on the advice of experts, school staff aim to have autistic children’s behavior conform to neurotypical expectations. The more a child is indistinguishable from mainstream peers, the more successful the school intervention is believed to be.

Amy S.F. Lutz

How can something be both "torture" and "best practice" in autism intervention?

Key points

Applied behavior analysis, or ABA, describes an umbrella of interventions based on the principles of operant conditioning.
These principles shape the learning and behavior of all of us, disabled or not.
Attacks on ABA as "torture" reflect a deep misunderstanding of what is actually considered best practice by many researchers and clinicians.

Micheal Sandbank, PhD1; Kristen Bottema-Beutel, PhD2; Tiffany Woynaroski, PhD, CCC-SLP3

Author Affiliations

JAMA Pediatr. Published online November 9, 2020. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2020.4730

Reviewed by James Ives, M.Psych.

The Washington Post's depiction of autism has shifted over the years from a focus on "cause and cure" toward one of acceptance and accommodation, say the authors of a study that examined 315 articles published from 2007 to 2017.