A recent study conducted by Penn State researchers has revealed that children with autism are significantly more prone to suicidal thoughts and attempts than typical children. The question now is, why?
The most viral media correction of 2012 combines My Little Pony with…
Over on Poynter, Craig Silverman has served up his excellent list of the best (and worst) media errors and corrections of 2012. The most viral correction of all was released by the New York Times after it ran this feature, which explores how people with autism spectrum disorders navigate the the uncertain emotional…
It's official: 'Asperger's syndrome' is no longer a thing
We've seen this coming for the past two years, but the American Psychiatric Association has finally made it official: The upcoming DSM-V — the so-called bible of psychiatry — will no longer be including Asperger's syndrome as an official diagnosis. Instead, it will be subsumed within the broader definition of "autism…
Whoa, scientists just reversed autism symptoms in mice
A team of researchers at McGill University in Montreal announced that they've successfully reversed the symptoms of autism in mice. By restoring the production of a critical neural protein (which they had knocked out in the first place), the geneticists were able to alleviate symptoms consistent with the disorder.…
Temple Grandin has a brain like no one else's
Temple Grandin, the world's most famous person with autism, is a "savant" who is known for her exceptional nonverbal intelligence, spatial reasoning, sharp visual acuity, and an uncanny gift for spelling and reading. Now, looking to understand how she is able to perform such amazing cognitive feats, a group of…
Do people with autism have unreliable sensory perceptions?
The last few years have seen an explosion of research into the world of autism spectrum disorders, and now new research has shown that some of its symptoms may be tied to the way people process sensory information.
How Autism is Changing the World for Everybody
There's not much doubt that autism, along with Asperger Syndrome, is finally becoming accepted as a normal part of the human fabric. Even if some people still see autism as a condition that needs to be "treated," it's increasingly obvious that people on the autism spectrum are finding ways to succeed in our…
You could have the IQ of a prodigy and not even know it
Don't get too excited just yet. Sure, you may have an IQ on par with a musical, artistic, or chess-playing wunderkind — but that actually says a lot more about the mind of the prodigy than it does your own.
The Awful Inhumanity of Using Bleach Enemas to Treat Autistic Children
There are almost no words for the inhumanity of this. Someone is not only promoting a treatment of bleach enemas to treat autistic children — every two hours, for 72 hours, every possible weekend — but they've started a religious organization to promote this, with "bishops" and other church officials touting the…
The genes behind human intelligence also made us vulnerable to autism
The exact genetic roots of autism are still being untangled, but we do know that the most common single-gene causes of the condition is Fragile X syndrome, in which errors on the X chromosome trip up normal neural development.
