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Breakthrough Treatment for Autism Spectrum Disorder Within Reach: Scientists Discover Key Clue

By DGIST (Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology) December 25, 2022

In research that could lead to a fundamental treatment of autism spectrum disorder, scientists have identified the cell-specific molecular network of the developmental disability.

Scientists in South Korea have succeeded in identifying the cell-specific molecular network of autism spectrum disorder . It is expected to lay the foundation for treating autism spectrum disorder. Published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry , the research was conducted by Professor Kim Min-sik’s team of researchers at the Department of New Biology, DGIST (Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology).

Autism spectrum disorder is a developmental disability that is known to occur from early childhood. It is a neuro-developmental disorder characterized by continuous impairment of social communication and interaction-related behaviors leading to limited ranges of behavioral patterns, interests, and activities, as well as repetitive behaviors.

Most autism spectrum disorder patients have behavioral disorders, sometimes accompanied by other developmental disabilities. Because there is currently no accurate molecular diagnosis method, early diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder is made at a fairly late period. Although there has been some success in improving symptoms with behavioral management therapy, there is a lack of effective treatments at the molecular level.

Professor Kim Min-sik’s team utilized the Cntnap2 defect model, a spectral disorder mouse model established by Professor Lee Yong-Seok’s team at Seoul National University College of Medicine to extract prefrontal cortex tissue and performed mass spectrometry-based integrated quantitative proteomic and metabolomic analysis. In addition, by comparing and analyzing this with previously reported big data of autism spectrum disorder patients, the team confirmed that problems occur in networks such as metabolism and synapses in excitable neurons.

Professor Kim Min-sik of the Department of New Biology said, “The multi-omics integrated analysis technology developed through this study has advanced the pathological understanding of autism spectrum disorder and made it possible to discover an integrated network ranging from molecular-level cell differentiation induced by a specific autism gene to biometric information,“ and added, “We are trying to find the core network of autism spectrum disorder and discover treatment targets by conducting an integrated analysis of various models.”

Reference: “Cntnap2-dependent molecular networks in autism spectrum disorder revealed through an integrative multi-omics analysis” by Wooyoung Eric Jang, Ji Hwan Park, Gaeun Park, Geul Bang, Chan Hyun Na, Jin Young Kim, Kwang-Youl Kim, Kwang Pyo Kim, Chan Young Shin, Joon-Yong An, Yong-Seok Lee and Min-Sik Kim, 17 October 2022, Molecular Psychiatry . DOI: 10.1038/s41380-022-01822-1

This research was carried out with support from the Brain Science Source Technology Development Project of the Ministry of Science and ICT.

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Study Links Immune Irregularities and Autism

New Stanford Research Shows Differences Between Brains of Girls and Boys With Autism

Autism Spectrum Disorder May Be Caused by Defects in the Mitochondria of Brain Cells

MIT Researchers Say Autism Studies Tend To Exclude Women

282 comments on "breakthrough treatment for autism spectrum disorder within reach: scientists discover key clue".

In addition to the need for meditative treatments we still require effective behavioral therapy. Speaking from experience, autistic people are effectively locked out of emotional development by peers as they advance. The only solution is to allow us to experience the simultaneous expression of positive and negative emotions used to identify and understand boundaries through playful teasing. We require, beyond any possible contestation, an experience of prosocial teasing. At present we are only exposed to antisocial teasing and people wonder why we behave antisocially.

There is no great mystery here. Positive and negative emotions must be allowed to coexist, simply applying negative enforcement against our positively intended actions WILL NOT CUT IT in the modern world.

Another research into eugenics against autistic minority. Thanks for nothing.

Or, we could simply embrace our quirks and learn to live in harmony without the need to make others that there is something “wrong” with them. Also the word autism is being overused and lumps a bunch of people together under the guide of some “spectrum” disorder which is growing so broad eventually it will exclude only a handful of people. One wonders if perhaps these excluded people are not the ones with the problem…

Exactly. I object to being told I have ‘Autism Spectrum Disordet’. It’s Asperger’s Syndrome and it is NOT a disorder.

Smearing s&*t on walls, having severe meltdowns because your routine is disrupted, and not being able to accomplish basic life skills after hundreds of hours of therapy is not a “quirk”. It’s a debilitating condition that needs to be fixed as soon as possible. If you don’t want a potential cure, fine, don’t deny it to families that are suffering.

thank you so much for this, it scares me sometimes that just because some people with autism are comfortable accepting who they are means i shouldn’t ever have the opportunity to have the life i want. its so selfish to say oh its a “quirk” like guys I’m stuck in my room all day everyday i cant work because i have meltdowns i have a battery of social life meaning keeping friends and making friends is a tiring and painful task. my life is miserable but because someone with asd wants to feel ok with who they are I’m meant to what? suffer in silence and embrace my “quirk”…

Or, we could simply embrace our quirks and learn to live in harmony without the need to make others that feel there is something “wrong” with them. Also the word autism is being overused and lumps a bunch of people together under the guise of some “spectrum” disorder which is growing so broad eventually it will exclude only a handful of people. One wonders if perhaps these excluded people are not the ones with the problem…

Yes! My son is amazing and not disordered. He is not in need of a treatment just because people think everyone should be cookie cutter. Who gets to decide who’s the “normal” to strive for? No thanks. He’s perfectly himself.

No. I hate to be this guy, Mary, but I know from experience that you are setting your son up for disaster with that mentality.

While I have extreme mistrust for Big Pharma and politicians (we have been given many reasons to be mistrusting), you have to recognize that autism IS a disorder and that if your son unquestionably has it (diagnosed), there IS something wrong with him. I went YEARS of my life in total denial of having autism, but when I finally began to understand that it wasn’t the rest of the world’s fault that I wasn’t like them, all the talk therapy and group therapy my parents and my school forced me into suddenly began to be a LOT more useful to me.

Much like any other disease or disorder, there comes a point where you have to accept that lifestyle needs to change in order to cope with the symptoms or be cured.

Also, you replied to a robot.

This is very important, so in case my explanation of key clues was not understood, please allow me to try again.

All social development is a two way street. When an autistic person tries to communicate with a normally developed peer, in most cases, something very specific is happening. The autist is using emotions at an age level which the peer recognizes as beneath themselves, and then the typically developed peer pushes the autist away using a variety of displacement techniques. The autist, regardless of ability to mature, is locked out of a path to maturity by peers because they are locked out of necessary attempts and validations which a normally developed person is able to enjoy across the path of their entire lives.

This all comes down to the essence of teasing. Teasing is the foundation of all complex emotional processing. The ability to hold both positive and negative emotions at the same time and then to place the positive above the negative. There is an exact pattern to this, just as music is of the mathematics of emotion, a particular sequence of emotions is necessary for all positive communication. When we start with a negative and have no means to transform that negative into a positive, only negative experiences can be known. This is the fundamental source of exclusion for autistic people. Nobody wants us to directly express a negative, they expect an internal negative to positive transformation to occur before we speak and displace our negativity into the listener. We would love to give this sort of positive communication preference, and to join you in experiencing connections and the capacity to be emotionally healed by peers, yet we can’t. Such experiences are held by typically developed people and willfully withheld from perceived lesser people through negative teasing.

The only solution is to take us back in time to a younger state and let us realize, for the first time in our lives, that teasing actually can be positive, can build bonds rather than break bonds. You such normal people hide that from us and our gaining an equal footing in this matter should be the primary focus of all behavior therapies. We autistic people claim that ABA Therapy feels abusive and causes trauma, we are not joking.

Give us prosocial teasing.

Left side cerebellum death ,but don’t know when or how it happened ,due to no adoption records,history of ,p,d,d w comorbidities,mild torets syndrome ,life long depression ,last MRI was at age ,15 but pons are stable I have amazing memory especially when it comes to detail ,y’all wanna due a newer MRI for resurch on me ,maybe it will help my 13 year old son who also has autism,us this a possibility.

Stop trying to cure us you good for nothing waste of space, I hope everyone working on that drops dead just leave us alone and let us be who we are, I wish people like you didn’t exist people on the spectrum and everyone else would be better off without people like you bothering us.

Obviously you are able to voice your opinion. Unfortunately there are some on the spectrum who are unable to find ways to communicate what they want\don’t want. I think they would be grateful to find an answer. Not to fit into this crazy world but just to get a glass of water without needing to wail. Glad your not one of those people.

Thank you for standing up for those of us that DO want to be able to both learn and possibly benefit from this kind of research. The autism community needs more people like you who fight for the ones who aren’t just “a bit quirky.” This makes me feel a lot less hopeless.

Jayden, while it’s obvious that Autistics are disabled to greater and lesser degrees, Autistic people who are masked and pass as Neurotypical also have the highest suicide rate in any demographic, so don’t believe we’re not morbidly disabled by society’s demands. By definition, a diagnostic of Autism means we’re disabled. Furthermore, the conditions that you struggle with most are not Autism, they are disorders that non-Autistics have too. I hope these conditions can indeed be better understood. Science is barking up the wrong tree.

Absolutely.

I don’t think anybody is trying to push a cure on individuals who do not want to be cured. But there are types of autism that I hope one day can be remediated. A parent would love to her their non-verbal child say, “I love you”. A child who may be experiencing comorbid issues, such as global developmental delay, should be given the tools to help them succeed in life independently, and every parent would want that, I believe.

Your doing exactly the same as you are complaining about. But worse, saying you wish they didn’t exist. Take a long look in the mirror and have more empathy and patience to what the world is about in its entirety. Don’t be so aggressive, its off putting and your not going to be listened to with that attitude.

This is encouraging. I have 14 yrs autistic twin boys and I pray s solution can be found.

Hi there! I pray for a solution too. I pray that your sons may be surrounded by people who understand that there’s nothing wrong with them, including yourself. I pray that they will receive the accommodations and access that they need to navigate life instead of having to change themselves to conform to this ableist society. I pray that they stay autistic forever because it is part of who they are and they deserve to be themselves just like anybody else.

@Josiah please keep your prayers to your nonexistent God to yourself. I don’t know who died and made you the spokesperson for the autism community, but for some people the anxiety that comes with autism is a serious detriment to their quality of life. If you and your nonexistent God wasn’t their suffering to continue them you are as sadistic and immoral as the God you worship.

Keep up the good fight, Macharia! I have my adult life to owe to my Mom, who worked extremely hard to help me overcome my autism starting from a young age. God bless her.

Gunna do research to cure having different skin colors or different looking eyes? This is so gross, I can’t believe this isn’t just straight out labeled as Eugenics. By presenting this as morally neutral you are contributing to the pathologization and dehumanization of autistic people. Just gross.

These research bodies are narrow-minded. Everything people worry about in their autistic loved ones is not autism specific. Depression, anxiety, apraxia, seizures, EDS, food sensitivities, digestive and/or bowel issues… these things are common with autism but not specific TO autism and is experienced by a broad range of people. This implies these things can be addressed both to improve the quality of life in autistic people AND non-autistic people.

Advancements in alternative communication systems is very useful but also, if you alleviate the other conditions that might be causing stress/strain on them, how would that affect their depression/anxiety/apraxia/terrifyingly repetitive behaviour? We don’t know because research is being spent on curing something that hasn’t been proven to CAUSE these co-morbidities. Treat/cure the co-moebidities and see what autism itself actually causes.

Some of the negative experiences can also be addressed through a more accepting society which would help with other disabled people’s quality of life too and allow more autistic people to grow without being told by all those around them that they can’t or are broken, abnormal. Imagine how depressing and delibitating that would be?

On top of all this, if a treatment is made to manipulate autism out of people’s genetic makeup, who gets to decide who gets the treatment? Some autistic people seem at their worst behaviourally when their parents are in control of their lives and medical decisions. So suddenly we’re in the realm of radical treatments that WILL affect the patient’s personality and MAY NOT solve the co-morbidities, but will likely make life easier for parents… being decided on by the parents. ‘Parents know best’ does not quite fit when it’s something so drastic. Treat the comorbidities that hurt autistics and other people alike… don’t treat something that doesn’t necessarily cause harm directly. (Note the term directly here).

But @DariusSpearman is just going to target this comment and claim “There are a lot of self-appointed spokespeople here trying to speak for the entire autism community.” And Darius will likely assume I am not suffering from co-morbidities which is entirely false. But I don’t assume my comorbidities wouldn’t exist if I wasn’t autistic. Frankly, I don’t know what definition of gaslighting Darius has been using but when you tell ‘a lot’ of people to shove it just because they CAN communicate – that sounds like gaslighting. If there are a lot of us, perhaps you should be taking that into account rather than copy pasting your insults everywhere.

@Catherine Gaslighting is when you attempt to make others feel as if their experiences are invalid, telling them what their problems are (as if you can possibly know), and replacing their experiences with your introduction of them. For example, claiming I “tell ‘a lot’ of people to shove it just because they CAN communicate” when I never said that would be an example of gaslighting. I also haven’t insulted anyone.

You have accused so many people of gaslighting when they are not doing anything of the kind it makes me wondering if your using it for a cover of your own gaslighting by saying that “some” autistic are incapable of making decisions for themselves based solely on their communication skills.

GTFOH, dips***. We’re done. (That, in case you were wondering, is what an insult looks like.)

@darrius you also forgot to call me a loser re*** who is incapable of any adult level interaction. But your 45 years to late for that to any effect on me… I hear it everyother day some entitled NT who thinks they know more about life then I do because the are not ASD

@darrius I guess the next thing your going to prove that your somehow supperiour to me is call me a “loser ret*rd” (sorry you are about 50 years to late for that to any effect on me)

I am not so vulgar as to throw a stick and stones insult back you but I will do one better and say by ignoring any postives to ASD your condeming your son to a future of failure by self-profiling proficies.

No, dips***, I want going to do that, but feel free to continue projecting random statements into me like the dishonest doυchebag that you are!

Read The Asperger Husband by Lisa Merle- a very interesting story of family life

Autism is definitely inherited or can be inherited so why does it develop in very early life?

Autism is more than just personality quirks. For a lot of people with autism, their quality of life is drastically impaired due to a constant assault on their senses. I’m all for embracing difference, but if we can alleviate unnecessary suffering, let’s not call that “eugenics.

Who said we wanted a ‘cure’ ,how many actually autistic people were a part of this study. We struggle yes but we aren’t broken or sick. We have children and families, careers . I don’t need Training to behave as a neurotypical, I need neurotypical people to be more accepting . My behaviours and ‘quirks’ make sense to me. Throw some more eugenics around and see how many more neurodivergent people we can traumatise.

I don’t know who died and appointed the spokesperson for the autism community, but this is not an issue of acceptance. For some people, autism manifests in ways that cause extreme levels of stress and anxiety such that it seriously impairs their quality of life. If yours doesn’t manifest in that way, be grateful. For others whose autism manifests such that daily life is a horrific assault on their senses, to call seeking treatment “eugenics,” is just as evil and intolerant as people who won’t accept your “quirks.”

Thank you so much for speaking up for those of us who aren’t just struggling, but are in Edmonton agony on a daily basis. If these emotional masochist want to struggle then that’s fine, but don’t force it on other people because you were force feed propaganda about how having a harder life makes you more special than everyone else. I’m tired of having to work harder than everyone else around me to do literally anything. I want a job, a family, friends, a life. I just want to be angle to eat at McDonald’s like everyone else’s without having a panic attack and leaving on an ambulance just cause the very cooler wouldn’t stop beeping. And frankly, i think i deserve at least that much.

I agree. As Singer et al. (2022) have stated, “There does not need to be a battle between the two viewpoints around autism vocabulary; there is room across the spectrum to acknowledge that autism can be a state of being for some, an impairing condition for others and somewhere in between for many.”

While I see the value in using all available technologies to dx kids earlier so they may get supports and services sooner- I don’t believe people with autism a “cure” or treatment to change them into “normal” kids. We need to expand what’s called “normal”. The best thing I could imagine for the autistic community is a societal change on “normal’. THAT’S the problem. They ARE normal people. They don’t need to be fixed/ changed. The stigmas, the ignorance, the bullying etc should be what’s “cured”!

I have a child on the spectrum who is nonverbal. What infuriates me time and again are the comments from adults on the spectrum that can communicate and complain about research and that to leave them alone. Well by the looks of it, at least you are able to communicate while parents like me struggle to see our kid struggling to even communicate basic needs. So research is important to help those that need this the most. I worry about my kid being unable to communicate and live on his own when we are no more.

Apraxia of speech is not Autism. Extinguishing the Autism gene will not help with apraxia or any of the other disorders that occur in non -Autistic (Allistic) people too. I wish your child all the best in this non-accomodating, willfully ignorant world.

Bravo. Thank you for that @Concernedparent I thought I had stepped into a different universe when reading some of these comments. Know that I am in the same position as you. My son will be 30 this coming weekend. He is beautiful and special. I have spent the last 29 years caring for and fighting for him. After all back then most doctors didn’t know squat about Autism/ASD etc.. They just labeled him ‘mentally re***ed’ when the changes were truly noticed. But, his communication is severely limited and he definitely cannot do a reply in a website (unlike many here). His speech is his own version (we have come to learn it). He also cannot wash himself, nor feed himself (unable to prepare simple items), he cannot operate a simple game boy, or the newer TVs, he cannot read, doesn’t know letters, numbers, colors etc… He is funny, outgoing and too trusting. Meaning others can easily do harm. I am in the same camp as you. I worry to death what will happen when my husband and I are not here. I have a younger son and while he has said he would take care of him, that is a huge burden to put on someone. To all those who have replied here? At lease you CAN communicate via typing, language and keyboards. Not everyone out there can . Not everyone out there is trying to change who YOU are, or trying to “Control you” (as one person eluded to). Or the whole eugenics thing. (massive eye roll) So maybe, if possible, have some sympathy and compassion for those of us dealing with far more severe forms than you have.

Waste of money and space. Autistics don’t want to be turned into society darlings. Just because y’all don’t want to learn how to be accepting and kind to everyone doesn’t mean we should have to change.

YOU don’t, but some of us do. Don’t try to speak for me. You do not have that right.

You can speak for me with this opinion because I believe in self acceptance and advocacy.

To the concerned parent, that’s not autism. And it’s non-speaking. Just because your child doesn’t speak doesn’t mean they don’t communicate. How about you stop trying to turn your child into an automaton and instead accept them for who they are. A lot of non speaking autistics don’t use verbal language because they feel like no one cares what they have to say. After all, we have our poor sympathy-seeking parents to do it for us.

Respectfully, the fact that you may be on the spectrum doesn’t give you the right to gaslight others. A concerned parent knows their child a lot better than you do. Please speak to your own experiences instead of trying to pretend that you know other people’s experiences better than they do.

And not being on the spectrum doesn’t give you the right to gaslight those who are on it!

@Aryeh F your opinion on this is irrelevant. This conversation is pointless. The research isn’t going to stop no matter how butthurt you are over it. Get over yourself. Peace out!

So when all else fails dismiss anyone who has ASD as being so deaf, blind and stupid that any statement they make is “irrelevant”… You do the Führer proud, Sieg Heil!

@Aryeh F. Yet another example of your blatant dishonesty. I’m not dismissing “anyone who has ASD.” I’m dismissing YOU for being an absolute tool and a doυchebag. You have made several references comparing people’s statements to Naziism, which is the absolute lowest form of dishonest doυchebaggery.

Darius is right. If there’s a new medication that would make it easier for me to “read” people why can’t I take it? Or at least try it? It’s not like everyone else isn’t on drugs trying to cope with the rapidly deteriorating world around us, may as well get some better ones that have less side effects.

Thank you! There are s lot of self-appointed spokespeople here trying to speak for the entire autism community. If you are functioning well enough I’m happy for you, but there are a lot of people whose autism manifests on ways that make their daily lives a living hell. My son can’t even go to the park or enjoy a movie without constant fear of hearing a sound that might trigger him.

Autism is not needing a “cure” or “medication “. It’s not an illness or disorder. It is a difference in the way the brain is wired. Autistic people don’t want or need to be cured. Like others have said, they just want to be accepted for who they are and not what they have. Acceptance is what is needed. It’s common knowledge that the synapses have miscommunicated at some point. Autistic individuals know this and don’t need some busybody interfering and saying a lot of tosh!!

My 9 year old grandson is a non verbal, non potty trained individual. He would love to be understood and be able to fit into a catagory where he can go and play with other kids but he can’t. So he is often crying or whimpering in his quest to be the same as others. I too am desperate for treatment.

I am in awe of the comments of those who say that they don’t want their love one who deals with this issue to be cured. Apparently those who recommend this your child must be on the highly functional side of the spectrum. My son unfortunately is not. He is non verbal and is has anger outbreaks out of this world. I would love for someone to find a cure for autism.

I suspect many of the people saying that are them selves on the spectrum and everything being equal we don’t want to be NT’s (some stuff is easier for us some is harder)

What these self-appointed spokespeople need to understand is that autism is a spectrum disorder that affects people in a variety of ways. For some people it causes unbelievable stress and anxiety that’s seriously impedes their quality of life. This isn’t an issue of just accepting people’s quirks. It’s about alleviating unnecessary suffering.

As someone who is one of the co-founders of a local support group here in NYC and formally has level 2 autism (requires some community support but can accomplish most simple day to day tasks without much help [when I feel like doing them that is!]) I can very much express how much it hinders one both in school and out of school (I am willing to have a piss contest with anyone in terms of messed up K-12 schooling and a very odd ball career path as well as some of my complete failures to live long-term [18+ months] on my own without some “adult” supervision… luckily my GF is also on the spectrum and gets me completely but is a level 1 and thus theoretically more “adjusted” to “earth society” then I am).

So if I had it 100% to do over and have zero of the experiences both good and bad of being on the spectrum I would say sure why not mightiest well get a peek at the manual all the NT’s where given at birth this time around.

But since I have had those experiences I would not trade them in for the more non-going where the wind blows me experiences I have had. In short I do not want to be an NT because of who I am (my memories and experiences) not what I am (autistic) it is impossible to separate the two.

@Aryeh F. No one is asking you or anybody else to be NT. If you are able to function without a “cure,” I’m truly happy for you. There are many people, however, for whom this disease causes extreme stress and trauma such that it makes daily functioning horribly difficult for reasons having absolutely nothing to do with “accepting people as they are.” I’m all for acceptance, but a lot of these self-appointed spokespeople for the autism community Don’t seem to understand that for some people on the spectrum, relief from the constant anxiety they experience would be life-altering.

Even calling it a “disease” is incorrect both in terms of medical jargon (a disease is not something your are born with and/or is innate to how you function/perceive the world) and it is unnecessary abalist.

Let’s instead call it a condition just like say being black skinned is a “condition” (i.e. not much can be done to change it without causing more harm). when was the last time you heard any non-Neo-nazi say black people needed to be “cured”?

I am not a spokesperson for anyone but myself. If due to what ever position other people in and outside of the community put me in I might appear to be speaking for someone besides myself. If other people have similar experiences to me then they will identify with what I am saying and if they have not they won’t.

Finally there are areas where ASD is actually helpful… In the 90’s it allowed me to be one of the co-inventors of streaming media (I was able to do this because I had ASD not despite of it)… But I also spent 12 years in special ed and I wish that on no one… So on balance I have no real regrets about should of beens (for example if I was a NT).

Also please be aware part of acceptance is accepting what you can’t change and that in most cases comes down to accepting what is between someone’s head regardless of how much it fits or does not fit into NT reality.

Anxiety is not my thing but I have major clinical depression co-occurring with my ASD and take anti-depressants for that and they work really well (at least according to everyone else I notice no real difference and that is half the point isn’t it?)

As a member of a support group I belong to said above if you have met one autistic you have met that exactly one autistic and not any other autistic. The also say normal is a setting on the drier. This means if some ASD treat really is effecting me I will work on that trait but I am not willing to throw out the postives of ASD to do so.

Believe it or not, no, I actually want my children to have Asperger’s Syndrome. And I want their children to have Asperger’s Syndrome too.

I don’t want it to be ‘cured’. I want more of us. Thank you.

@Aryeh F While it is technically more accurate to refer to autism as a disorder, it is not inaccurate to refer to it as a disease. It is not ableist and it bears absolutely no similarity to Naziism. Your hyperbole here is reprehensible as are your attempts to gaslight others. This has NOTHING to do with acceptance. No one is asking you to throw away something you see as a positive. If you are not suffering, I’m genuinely glad for you. Many people are suffering, though. I don’t know who died and made you the spokesperson for the autism community, but your attempts to download other people’s suffering just because YOU are not suffering is very disturbing.

If your going to flame me at least have the courtesy to do it as a reply to me not someone else who is not me. And have the courtesy to actual read what I wrote and to see I am making no claims about anyone but my self here (nor even pretending to so). If other people can identify with my situation good… if not oh well.

@Aryeh F I’m sorry you feel “flamed” there was no “reply” box available for your comment which is why I “atted” you. I also carefully read what you wrote and responded.

You are really something. And you’re such a racist. How can you say having black skin is a condition and comparing it to autism. I am totally convinced you are sick and need help. Just speak for yourself and stop pretending you’re speaking for those on the spectrum. If there’s a breakthrough that’s going to help people, those that want to access it have a right to and people like you can pass. Simple as

@ches spoken like a parent who has yet to realize that their kid’s ASD is not going to magically cure it self the day they turn 18 and/or graduate school (which ever comes last).

Stop focusing so much on fixing people who don’t want to be fixed and instead ask what areas we have problems and what solutions can be made to make them less of a problem. This is the primary reason why so many ASD men turn into incels (I am not one of them and I do my best to help those who are on that path just so ASD doesn’t get blamed for another mass shooter)

If you can verbalize that you have autism, you are one of the lucky ones. My 22 year old son cannot do that. Don’t judge people that want to “cure” this disorder… I want my son to be able to live a normal life like you do.

Please define normal… Many of my ASD traits actually *HELP* me professionally… for example my many sensory problems helped me co-invent streaming media in the 90’s (i.e. I didn’t do it despite ASD I did because I saw the world differently)… Don’t get me wrong I spent 12 years in special ed and would not wish that on anyone but at the same time I would not trade my life for for the life of a NT.

I agree with some of the comments here. Why are we trying to change people who are autistic? Are not these people to be celebrated for who they are? There are many autistic people who have mad enormous contributions to society. My son has Asperger’s, and he has a brilliant mind. I wouldn’t want to change a thing. It might be easy for me to say, because my son is not severe, but overall can we not just embrace the diversity? My other son was transgender, and just committed suicide this year. He faced the same fate of people trying to change who he was. I don’t get it.

You could have stopped talking when you said, “It might be easy for me to say, because my Son is not severe.” You are absolutely correct. For whose autism manifests more severely, daily life is an unending assault on their senses causing unimaginable stress and anxiety. I can accept “quirks and differences.” What I cannot accept is my son’s inability to enjoy a park or a movie out of sheer terror that some sound might trigger him.

1st please stop with bs about accepting quirks. If you are able to type then you don’t have debilitating classic autism(like my son). 2nd Korea has a big concentration of autism in a small area where it’s likely highly genetic. This might not be the same in the rest of the world. Autism is a condition with common symptoms but it’s mostly understood that it may have many different causes. Lastly knowing a genetic marker does not mean there is a cure.

Hi Sam. Forgive the interruption but what part of Korea is this high concentration of people with ASD if you do not mind me asking? I have family in the very South part of the peninsula, not far from Busan. Coincidentally this is also where most of my Korean genes can be traced to.

No takeaways from this. The title is missleading

My youngest child has been diagnosed with both severe autism and Kabuki syndrome. I hope this is something that would lead to a treatment that would give her some independence. My fear is that she will end up going to a State run facility if my wife and I have died or are both too old to take care of her.

Jason Cline, thank you so much for your comment. I read as much as I can and listen as much as I can to the community to be the best that I can in this field. I truly care about each child I serve and come from a place of compassion and trauma informed care. This playful teasing you mentioned is so important as is knowing that every expression of excitement is too. Thank you again.

It would be nice if people who should know better stopped talking about ‘curing a disease’. It’s not a disease. Maybe effort should be focused on isolating the causes of the genuine issues experienced by some autistic people and less on ‘fixing’ all autistic people?

If I were given the option of ‘fixing’ my debilitating executive function issues at the cost of my out-of-the-box thinking and ability to hyperfocus, I’d have to take a hard pass.

That and neurotypical people need to do give some serious thought to accommodating people who are different. A lot of the issues many of us face stem from neurotypicals fearing what’s different and trying to force us to be ‘just like them’ and having panic attacks when people act a bit differently.

Normal…. Is… A… Setting… On… A… Dryer!

“Autism parents”: Begin by taking stock of where your child’s strengths are, rather than where their weaknesses are. My son did not fit in public school because they focused on trying to get him to ‘behave normally’. We have been homeschooling for several years and he is now ahead of grade level in several subjects. He’s very bright and incredibly creative. His behavior gradually improved as he learned slowly how to socialize. This is a child the public school system wanted to let fall through the cracks.

Stop trying to ‘fix’ what isn’t broken. We’re not broken.

It seems there are a lot of self-appointed spokespeople for the autism community in these comments. If your quality of life is not seriously diminished due to the constant stress and anxiety that autism can manifest in, I’m truly happy for you. For those whose lives are made of living hell due to the constant assault on their senses, their suffering isn’t a matter of “acceptance.” Being on the spectrum doesn’t give you the right to gaslight others seeking relief from their suffering.

Based largely upon me being born during W.W.II (food rationing) and sixty years of American adulthood including 42 years of lone lay investigation (enhanced with decades of diagnostic training and experience as an industrial electrician on mostly production shifts) into my own chronic illnesses, the primary cause of now epidemic ASD is probably estrogen-masked long-term chronic subclinical non-IgE-mediated food allergy reactions aggravated with officially (FDA in the US) approved added ‘cultured-free’ (can cross the blood brain barrier) MSG (since 1980 in the US) related elevated serum uric acid levels (asymptomatic gout), resulting in calcium (minimally; standard blood serum testing being unreliable due to blood pH regulation) deficiencies in expectant mothers and newborn babies. As with most industrial electrical devices, prevention is probably vastly superior to accepting dysfunction as normal, providing perpetual treatments and/or seeking costly cures indefinitely. It now makes me curious as to how much benefit mere improved nutrition might provide to all who are affected by ASD?

I love how anything it anyone different from you needs a cure so that you can feel better about being you.

Stop trying to “cure” us just because you can’t accept that some people are different. I’m sick of the eugenics.

This makes me really sad and conflicted. My son had what was called Asperger’s before. He was unique and amazing and I adored him. Crappy, ignorant people in our society didn’t, bullied him, and treated him terribly. He had trust issues as a result, depression, and passed away in a drug accident. If he’d been “treated” maybe he’d still be alive, but he wouldn’t have been the amazing man I loved & admired. Could you develop a treatment for what causes people to have such narrow definitions of “normal”? Could you treat bullying?

A cure would be amazing…. I hate living like this. I just want to be normal. I don’t know where all of you get off with this “we don’t need a cure” bs. I WANT ONE! I NEED ONE! My autism causes severe social anxiety to a point it is severely affecting my life. I hate my life. And no matter what I do I can’t fix the problems. It gets worse every day. I would gladly stop being “special” if I could have a conversation or go in public without massive anxiety, depressive, or panick attacks. You don’t speak for all of us.

As a mother of an 18 year old son with autism I read almost everything I can get my hands on. This article is one that I could have done without. It is clear that they are not trying to understand, rather, they are looking to omit. We have encountered multiple struggles with our son, however, he is a beautiful young man who I am blessed to be his mother. My world is a much better place with him in it and I would not change that for anything! Instead of trying to omit people with autism/spectrum disorders, maybe we should focus on how we approach people in general.

I think you might feel differently if your child’s autism manifested in ways that made it difficult for him to even go outside out of sheer terror of hearing a sound that might trigger him. For some people, the constant assault on their senses that comes with autism causes a serious detriment to their quality of life. If that’s not the case with your son, I’m genuinely happy for you. Please don’t disregard the suffering of others, though. This isn’t about acceptance. It’s about helping people who are suffering.

Thanks for seeking to cure my son of who he is. He doesn’t need to be cured but understood by ignorant neurotypicals who think they know best.

Hey, I’d just like to remind you that there is nothing inherently wrong with autism. It is not physically or psychologically harmful, it is just different from being neurological. The psychological damage comes from the rejection and mockery of autistic people’s differences. Your autistic children and loved ones are not miserable because they dislike eye contact or don’t communicate verbally. To them, that is a good life, far better than one in which they’re forced to act a certain way to please others. Please remember that the things the autistic community goes through are because of discrimination, not a “defect”.

@Josiah Please stop with the gaslighting! For a lot of people, their autism is extremely harmful to their quality of life. You don’t get to tell people that their experience of autism isn’t harmful. Many people are suffering. Do not disregard their suffering.

This is really messed up. Neuro-diverse people don’t need to be “cured” to fit for into the maladaptive societal mold. There are so many gifts of beyond on the spectrum and hyperfocused and sensitive. I’m very high functioning on the spectrum. I do not fit into society and never want to. Neurotypical neurosis is something that could use a cure though.

We don’t need to be cured

YOU don’t need to be cured. Please stop trying to speak for the entire autism community. Some people are suffering.

Those of you with autism who are condemning possible treatments for autism seem to be functionally quite well. You read the article, understood the complex neurological study, and wrote an opinionated post. What about the others with autism that do not function as highly as you obviously do? How can you speak for them and their caregivers? Wouldn’t you, being a part of the community, want others to have comparable abilities as you and the opportunities that come along with them? Before you label studies and their resulting potential treatments as “gross” or “shameful”, perhaps you should consider autistic persons other than yourself.

Well stated and, as a caregiver, you might be interested in what I posted above, especially the part about blood serum testing for calcium (minimally) being unreliable. However, using calcium carbonate (minimally) as a calcium supplement can cause a serious phosphorus deficiency (binds with and gets excreted; e.g., myself). Be careful and get help with that if needed.

Are you going to suggest miracle mineral water next? (look it up if you want)

I suggest Badoit if you can find it in North America. It won’t cure autism, but it’s very good mineral water. 🙂

Nuerotypicals – back at it with the eugenics war yet again. Christ you lot can be so f**king disgusting as a sentient echo-chamber, and also twice as st*pid. You’ve likely never spent more time with any autistic person other than through a clinical textbook lense; or you’ve specifically cherry picked your subjects for relevant stereotypes; are twisting representation of the truth for media business agendas (what else is new? Journalists continue to act soulless); or, as usual with any majority groups heading into awareness of a new and ‘threatening’ minority – your egos/worldviews/reptilian amygdalas are threatened and you’re striking the relatively undefended weak while still vulnerable. Could be a mix of all the above. For all the researched flaws of every other nuerotype, nuerotypicals sure blind to how f**king annoying and inconvenient their own flaws can be left unchecked to every other nuerotype on the planet. Primarily the incessant need to follow the social crowd like sheep, sacrificing a backbone and conforming with the status quo – going as far as to destroy anyone acting different even if they’re completely harmless – as long as it serves a purpose to fulfil you in the social ranks. God damn, you people have no f**king idea how vulnerable you are to group think influence until you stand on the other side in exhaustion watching people with otherwise perfectly humane hearts dehumanize and destroy another person psychologically because a puzzle piece toting hate group convinced them that these ‘victims’ are ‘monsters’ using nothing more than emotional appeal, fear mongering, and the implied support of nuerotypical social privilege and majority. If you’ve met one autistic person you’ve met one autistic person. If social awareness is a weak area, you can damn well bet that that person still has emotions, a psyche, a personality, a heart, a soul, whatever the hell you want to define it as. Even with the struggles in social skills an autistic person can definitely still care, feel, psychologically process, react in turn, grow, be hurt, be traumatised, develop PTSD and get really f**ked up by a majority nuerotypical population who they could strangely coexist and flourish aside a lot better if only they met them halfway, accepted nuerodiverse interactions a bit left field from the norm, and learned past the harmful stereotypes dominating the past couple decades. I don’t want to be altered to be nuerotypical, I want to think like me, it’s served well in it’s own way and truly the problems I have encountered came from people of nuerotypical privilege that project their worldview onto others as “the only way to be.” Question to think on: How does humanity hope to ever meet and encounter extraterrestrial life one day without repeating the mistakes of colonisation or invasion? You don’t even empathize with the differing nuerotypes alongside you on earth. The aliens are going to think differently. No living brain is flawless, we’re all biological structures evolving out of earlier evolutionary processes. The dynamics between a leftover, fearful lizard brain and a more recently evolving rational brain are not great set ups – being as it cripples the whole of humanity with a desperate need to master it’s darker impulse to dehumanize other fellow humans, enabling otherwise questionable actions and stances to be justified/weaponized against a ‘threatening’ new minority.

TL/DR: No brain is perfect, neither are nuerotypicals, despite the fact that majority privilege has meant that many nuerotypicals never had to analyse that level of awareness concerning their own situation. Check yourselves, because your dangerous ignorance is leading into eugenics – like every. Other. Minority vs majority. Struggle. In recent. History. That. No one. Learns. From. Ever.

I’m so f**king dead inside when I see this sh*t these days. I need a f**king drink. F**k the lack of paragraphs, much like detached medical opinions and irresponsible narratives f**ked the mental health of an entire nuerodiverse generation.

Autistic people have a limited range of interests? The horror! As an autistic person I find myself surrounded by so-called normal people who do nothing but sleep, work, pay bills, and watch TV while drinking beer.

Neurotypical people, stop trying to “fix” us and start fixing yourselves to be more tolerant and accepting.

As many of others have said (as well my self in other replies): We (I and anyone else who considers themselves in the same boat) want to be left the F alone, we don’t want a “cure” (if there is a “cure” that works for someone and they do it with informed consent I won’t stop them or complain as long they don’t try to become “religious zealots” about the “cure”), we don’t want to be “fixed”. We are happy just the way we are (again if someone wants to be a NT so bad they are willing try a “fix” I will not stop them).

Like anyone else I have some strengths and I have some weaknesses. Perhaps ASD makes these more spiky but that is part of my personality and would be in human to remove it this late in life (my mid 50’s).

Or how about maybe if the neurotypicals would stop traumatising us.

As an autistic woman I do not like the term disability. I don’t feel disabled. I have a higher IQ than most of the people around me and this is a fact not conjecture. I don’t appreciate neurotypicals thinking they can “fix us” when there’s nothing to be fixed. How about just be less of a douchebag and more inclusive and try understanding people where they’re at? Did neurotypical people ever stop to consider how strange they behave to us? I doubt it because they think there’s nothing wrong with them. That’s laughable. This is all just smoke in mirrors. I’ve had enough judgments in my life without some study to come along and continue to judge me. GTFOH!

I’m very disappointed in you for thinking that someone like me with autism needs a cure or treatment if other’s like me or that had similar unique ways of thinking on how our brain developed is such a problem then we would have come forward about it but we didn’t not all of us we need you guys nitpicking at our brain every the same as if we did it to you I’m not coming off as aggressive this is passive aggressive and now if you want a proper study and want to actually do something positive go directly to the people that actually have this ask them what they have trouble with on a daily basis don’t just be like oh this looks like fun let’s try to explore this to find out where it’ll lead and then push it on to others and make them feel belittled or like they should be a science experiment just for your own fun no this is not right in any measure or time of measurement I have autism but at least I can understand when something is wrong this should not have even been messed with or done with you all were just doing this as selfishness to the point of just trying to over justify the fact that you need to find a cure for some more treatment when everyone is supposed to be individual and unique if all of our brains function the exact same way they would be no individuality there be no creativity that we know thought process of higher intellectuality there would be nothing but boredom this needs to stop and I truly mean that I have a high IQ and I have autism but even I can function normally on a day-to-day basis I may not meet the requirements to get a job but I can still be an entrepreneur and sell food that I grow or do art and sell it to earn money in a way of living others like me don’t need this and I know it’s going to make so many upset just from this article it should be literally removed and deleted and burned it should never have been made to begin with this is how problems arise when people get too curious for their own good and think they’re doing a lot of good when they’re doing a lot of wrong this is how you imprison people make them into scientific slaves no one truly likes this and if you do then I’m sure for a doubt of a fact that your in on this with them.

i think there`s a difference between autism as it`s defined and diagnosed in the dsm 5 and icd-11, and the autism that many of the people in this thread are talking about. autism as it`s defined and diagnosed doesn`t include things like talking or toileting as part of the autism. those are comorbid or co-occurring things. they may be connected to a specific genetic disease that also causes the autism. or they may not. but most autistics, when they talk about not wanting a cure, aren`t talking about things like epilepsy, not talking or low iq because those things aren`t part of autism as it`s defined or diagnosed. most autistics are talking about the core parts of autism when they say they don`t want or need a cure. this isn`t about quirks, either. it`s about how autism has a number of aspects that many autistics like and would prefer to keep.

most people, and most autistics would agree that being able to speak or not have seizures or not need diapers is important. but those are all things that can easily happen even without being autistic. we need to be more clear about what it is we really want to see happen.

Note the above comment was made by someone else (not me). Likely due to a bug in the system and not their fault or mine (I am a software engineer and thus find this the most likely exlination). I do agree with all the comments made though (they are almost word for word ones my GF would make to me). So I am not complaining.

Found a major security hole in this site which explains this. Probably has to do with coding. Will explain offline.

Did you send it to me on gmail if so I never got it. But if your talking about non-password protected ID’s that is obvious but the comment was not mean or something I disagree so I say it is a pure and simple bug. If found something else let me know off line so we can decide who if anyone needs to be alerted to repair it.

Eugenics is alive and well. We don’t need a ‘cure’, we need people to start treating us like human beings.

This is disgusting. Autism is present at birth it dictates one’s entire neurobiology. We don’t need to be fixed or cured, being disabled isn’t bad. You all just want to make it so we’re more convenient for you/our care givers. Just call this an article in eugenics. I bet no autistic voices are being heard or even sought out by those conducting this research. We don’t want or need your “help” we want you to accept us and let us be who we are. Next you’re going to come up with research on treatments for not having light skin, perhaps?

Wow I don’t understand I’m trying to understand but I don’t I work in a school for children with multiple disabilities and anything that can help a child on the spectrum I think would be a huge breakthrough these kids struggle to express themselves and speak..I don’t understand why wouldn’t we want to do everything we can to help them

Did anyone ask them if they wanted “help”?

@Aryeh F Now you’re being silly. It’s not common practice to go around asking people with ANY type of disorder before researching treatment options. If you don’t want treatment, cool, but don’t disparage the people who are actively trying to improve people’s lives.

I am only “disparaging” people who are barking up trees that have already been looked by others and proven to not be a tree that a cat could get into.

There has been a long line of people who suggest nutritional “cures” not a single one of them has stood up to a simple double blind study.

oops wrong reply…. what I meant is what gives you the moral right to decide for someone else how to “help” them…. I think many Jews would owe a Hitler a thank you if that was that case…. so if it is wrong for a religious group what makes it right for something like a “disability”?

@Aryeh F who are you to say that they are barking up the wrong tree?!?! I’ll say it again… YOU ARE NOT THE SPOKESPERSON FOR THE AUTISM COMMUNITY!!! You do not get to decide what treatment options are available to people who are suffering. This isn’t Naziism. If autism doesn’t affect your quality of live, cool! There are people are suffering. It is not your place to say that treatment options should not be pursued for people who can benefit from them.

As someone with lived experience and developing policies to improve inclusion for all individuals in my home province, I think the key takeaway for this research is the fact that medical science is able to provide amazing new information, and as a high-tech global world we need to embrace all individuals equitably and use information as education to creating a world with more understanding between people.

Be nice to use that money for accommodations in society for those on the Spectrum instead of trying to cure us.

I welcome this news with great joy! Finally something that will make a great difference!

Eugenics and the tyranny of the neuromajority. Just look at the culture of consumerism, commercialisation, and social malaise and tell me hand on heart that neurotypical norms are worth aspiring to. Oh, and read up on the Double Empathy Problem. It’s not us who need social skills training. It’s you.

I have an autistic nephew. He can’t speak, look you in the eye, or communicate meaningfully in any way. If his parents were to die suddenly, he would not be able to take care of himself. He is interested in watching the same movie repeatedly, or playing on his tablet. It is not a life. A cure is needed.

I completely agree with you. This sort of thing makes me so angry.

Cured??? I wouldn’t want to be ‘cured’. That would mean losing about forty IQ points. It would mean becoming insensitive and dull witted.

Why would I want to be a herd animal bleating away like the rest of the sheep? By cure, you mean essentially lobotomising us I guess.

Not only are you sterilising our kids, now you want to ‘cure’ us???

No. No. No. Leave us alone. Stop this attempt to exterminate us.

Autism isn’t a disease and it doesn’t need treatment. Instead of trying to treat autism we should be embracing differences and listening to minorities. Take it from someone who’s autistic themselves, there’s nothing more ableist, rude and annoying then ABA and supposed “treatment.”

I recently read that hyperbaric chambers were helpful for autism. That’s something that can be accessed right now albeit at a cost due to it most likely being off label.

To FBN, the headline isn’t misleading. It includes the term “within reach,” which is true.

To all those suggesting a cure for autism violates their right to not have a cure, or that it will lead to eugenics, as though you care about the quality of other people’s lives, your self-centered point of view doesn’t account for people who are not you. Why, in that case, should your opinion matter to anyone else?

To these, first, no one can force you to be treated. That’s your choice, just like everyone else. Second, what right do you have to say others should not have a choice? Third, being a spectrum, some autistics will likely be far more debilitated by the condition than you must be. Do you lack social empathy?

You have the right to keep your cancer, lung, heart and liver disease, broken legs, missing limbs, deafness and blindness. But others welcome new treatments and cures that promise longer, more productive lives. And this is only from the patient’s viewpoint. Scientists are the other side of the coin. They generally have a lifelong passion to know how things work in all of their intricacy. Your getting what you want would deprive many young people from being free to pursue their intellectual interests and passions to their fullest, and to contribute to or understanding of life, nature, and the universe overall.

Trust me it was the mmr shots that caused it, now they keep blaming everything from the flu to Tylenol that for sure didn’t cause it. I had 1 doctor admit it. When my granddaughter was 5 she had to get her chicken pox shot. I screamed at the doctor about the shots. She closed the door and said yes the mmr caused it but they took the preservatives out. I said its a lil to late now, the damage it caused. But no one will ever blame the pharmaceutical cuz of a big law suit. Go figure.

What a BS explination I was born before MMR’s where available and still have ASD please explain that if MMR’s are at fault.

@Jamesbaker Hi, I am on the fence about taking my son in the be tested for Autism. He is 5 in 2 months. I could list all the things he does..but that is not the point. The only thing they would do for him is the behavioral therapy. So I was wondering…if you went back to being a child…how would you like to be parented? I have tried everything I can think of, but maybe you can broaden my mind….please?

Sorry I meant @Jasoncline or anyone? I love my son so much. I just want him to be happy…

End this line of research, we don’t want it, we won’t have it, autism does not need a cure, it will never have a cure, we are not sick, we are not broken, we are human, we are alive, do not research us like lab rats, we are they way we are, accept it, and move on, spend money on social studies and training so we can be accepted into society, because like it or not, we are here to stay, in fact, I personally believe we are the next step in human evolution, so, stop trying to cure us, and accept reality, we are here to stay.

I don’t know who died and made you the spokesperson for the autism community, but for some people the constant stress and anxiety that comes with autism is a serious detriment to their quality of life. If that doesn’t include you, I’m genuinely glad for you, but to disparage those seeking a cure is to disregard the suffering of many people who are not at fortunate as you.

The worst part is when and if they are going to speak and also trying to control those horrible seizures.

My 5 year old has autism, I would love to cure him. The fear of when I die, and who will care for him is terrifying. I want him to be able to look after himself

I have 8 year-old twins who are autistic, non verbal,and I pray that God will bring healing and restoration. They don’t deserve to be the way they are. So any divine treatment will be well appreciated 🙏

Finding a solution to this spectrum shouldn’t be a problem for anyone. Let’s face the fact, the vast majority would embrace some kind of miracle to make them whole like every other individual. Being autistic sucks and that’s the reality. I have an immediate family who is going through this and im not excluded either. I hope the solution comes soon enough and those who don’t get it, should simply forget about it. Thanks for the research and hopefully, the solution is around the corner.

Listen, this approach is the problem. You want to help line the pockets of your funders to line your own pockets. Parents ,in most cases, need to quit treating their children like they have something wrong with them. Character is a good thing. Cruel peers make for a strong will to overcome stereotypes. The scientists working on this surely are socially lacking. Autism spectrum disorder only exists because folks want to choose how other folks should interact. It’s only classified because people classified them in a broad range of characteristics. It’s a diagnosis of lack of acceptance from peers. Like buck teeth.It’s hard to fit in when your physical or emotional traits go against the grain of what is “normal”. If your child can function, let them figure it out. Teach them to keep their chin up instead of hiding who they are.

Thank you for this research. Many with autism are disabled to the point they cannot communicate at all, and they want a cure. The people commenting otherwise are disenfranchising an entire group who cannot speak for themselves.

A cure is needed, at least for the most severely affected. If people with mild autism don’t want a cure, they don’t have to have it.

Severely disabled people with autism exist and they need help. Thanks to the research team and thanks Scitech for sharing this article!

Almost everyone even the non-verbal communicate in someway or an other you just need to learn how to “listen” to that communications. For example I didn’t talk til I was 4 and it was frustrating and I have a bad memories ABA style speech therapy being used to “force” me to talk.

So please get of your high horse and NT assumptions that talking/writing/etc. are the only forms of communication possible. And even if the person is non-verbal later in life they can always find other non-verbal ways to communicate (like writing).

So it is you who is totally disenfranchising a whole demographic by assuming spoken English is the *ONLY* way to communicate.

So not asking them if they “want” a “cure” is violation of basic human rights. It is ableist to assume you have any right all to make a decision for an other human being in anyway shape or form. This is called infintalizing in the adult autistic community and considered one of the highest forms of insult possible. Go read about it on various adult autism on-line forums like wrong planet or different on-line meetings that formed during Covid.

@Aryeh F You are being extremely dishonest claiming to speak to your own experiences while making statements like, “even if the person is non-verbal later in life they can always find other non- verbal ways to communicate (like writing).” You don’t know that and you are once again attempting to speak for an entire community. It is not abelist to make decisions for someone who is otherwise not able to communicate their wants/needs. There are legal processes that allow for that and there are certain situations where it is the only ethical thing to do. I wish you would consider how you are completely disregarding people who are suffering just because you don’t feel that YOU need a cure.

Please live my life and my experiences then tell me if I am generalizing in anyway. I spent 12 years in special ed so I know very well how the “system” looks at stuff and that is what I am referring to an the attitudes that lead to the system in the first place.

As to anything I say about personal experience that is just that personal experience but I can back it up by linking to article/post after article/post by others who have almost identical issues.

For example your assuming I (like some of the more radical posters here) am completely against such research, I am not and if good adaptations can be made for some the more annoying ASD treats that is wonderful, but saying you want to “cure” someone’s personality is a violation of basic human rights.

@Aryeh F. Taking YOUR lived experience and applying it to an entire community by saying, “WE” don’t need a cure is the very DEFINITION of generalizing. Also, where did you get the idea that anyone was attempting to cure someone’s personality? I LOVE my son’s personality. I DON’T love the fact that he can’t go outside or have the TV on without covering his ears out of constant dread of hearing some noise that might trigger him. His autism causes him to live live in CONSTANT anxiety. THAT’S what I want to cure. Now PLEASE tell me how that’s a human rights violation!!!

@darius You like making unreplable replies… Also from how inflexible your thinking is on this I wonder which one of is showing more stereotypical ASD behaviour me or you (i.e. fixation on a topic and refusual to change your opinion no matter what the “facts” are)… I will assume your not autistic since you have not said if you are or not… so this brings up the idea of double standards…. if I said I wanted to cure being NT I am sure I would get a huge backlash from successful NT’s also…

So do your self and stop alienating the very people your attempting to “help”

Also your earlier comment about autism being a disorder is also technically incorrect it is only a disorder in how autistics interface with a world that is not designed for our style of thinking there is nothing inherently wrong with that style of thinking (hell it helped me become a very successful software engineer with a lot of co-inventions if what later became the core of the modern Internet… like cloud computing and streaming media)

So, you’re just going to ignore what I said and again try to gaslight me, huh? I’m done attempting to converse with you you dishonest POS! Honestly, it’s not as if your opinion even matters. You think research is going to stop because of your selfish myopic,”I don’t need a cure, so NOBODY does,” BS? GTFOH.

@darrius you are the one putting words in peoples mouths not me. I never once said I would oppose someone trying such a “cure” I only said it was not for me (and anyone else who identifies with what I am saying). Two qualifications are needed here though 1) it has to the the actual person affected by what they want to “cure” and they need to have made the decision with full informed consent (*NO ONE* else can make the decision *FOR* them) and 2) They and/or their loved ones don’t be come religious zelots about the “miracle cure” they found that worked for them… ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL!

@darrius before you think stuff like co-existing sensory issues are all bad let me quote a part of a letter I wrote a few days ago to a potential client (they already know I have ASD due to how we met, via their GF who is in my support group… I ***DO NOT*** normally disclose I have ASD in business settings just so I can avoid @ssholes like you [your not as bad as some]):

In addition to my technical background, I also have some physical sensory sensitivities that make me unusually aware of various aspects of video quality, giving me a very sharp eye when debugging video streams:

1) Unusual visual sensitivity to motion: I need a higher-than-normal frame rate to be fooled into the continuous motion illusion. (The average person needs 12 fps whereas I need about 20 fps.) This makes me hypersensitive to flicker of all types, including variations in the rate of flicker. Thus I can easily see when frames are missing, and I can tell if the playback is truly at an even frame rate.

2) Color blindness, a condition with some compensating advantages in terms of the ability to see fine visual details. (See, for example: https://www.colorblindguide.com/post/the-advantage-of-being-colorblind .)

3) Auditory issues: I have super-sensitive hearing (I can hear people whispering a few rooms away) and I am also super sensitive to when my eyes and ears do not agree, e.g. badly-dubbed movies.

Thus I have a very keen eye regarding any hiccups in a video stream. It is even physically painful to me to watch a poorly streamed (for whatever reason) video.

For example, in 2020, early during the pandemic, I tried Zoom once and I had to turn it off after 30 seconds, because it gave me a pounding headache that lasted more than an hour (even with Advil). But what I observed in that 30 seconds shocked me. Zoom’s video quality issues include (or at least DID include; I haven’t looked again to see if they’ve improved since then): (1) filling blank/missing frames with black screens, (2) very random jittering/flickering of the stream, and (3) the default UI that assumes I want to watch everyone in the meeting (all with the same head-splitting glitches) all at once. (I know Zoom has an option to make it so you see only one person at a time, but that doesn’t solve the flicker/jitter and missing-frame issues.) Worse yet, I observed Zoom’s glitches via a good solid Internet connection (Spectrum cable, via a wired Ethernet connection to a desktop machine). I cannot bear to imagine how much worse they would be via a phone in a neighborhood with spotty coverage.

Given my own personal history of having successfully solved both the flicker/jitter and missing-frame issues way back in 1997, at much lower bandwidth and with much higher packet loss, I consider Zoom’s lack of video quality to be unforgivable.

Aryeh F, searching “autism and mineral water” proved to be inconclusive. On the other hand, while never diagnosed with ASD myself, the kind of allergy related calcium deficiency I referred to covers a large spectrum of disorders (e.g., dementia, depression, diabetes, gout, mass shootings, obesity, suicide, etc.) and has been ignored by still ‘dark-ages’ mainstream medicine since the early 1930s, at least. Furthermore, like the Covid-19 ‘scamdemic,’ it was illegally foisted on an unsuspecting American public by 1980 (primarily FDA approved added MSG) exacerbating the listed conditions and more, affecting and diminishing tens of millions of American (minimally; going/gone global with the western diet) lives for profit; medical and pseudo-food manufacturing. For me it now begs this question: “Are you a victim (like me) and/or a victor (like me)?” Ionic testing is said to be reliable for calcium and poor bone density is another reliable symptom of long-term added MSG poisoning. Be safe; be well; share, please, for the sake of all.

I specifically was refering to “miracle mineral water” not just mineral water (btw MMW is not minerals it is stuff like bleach and mercury and such)

I have asd and other disabilities and I find it hard to make sense of the world and what people are saying and doing and I have attachment problems with my family members too and bad at money skills and I have discan coulier with is dyslexic with numbers

Hopefully, this research will lead to something that will make your life easier despite all of folks who are butthurt over the idea of the research community trying to improve people’s lives simply because THEY don’t need it.

Attempting to change how someone feels and thinks, and effectively rebuild the personality is unlikely to work in context of a spectrum disorder with so many variable where each may be interrelated (e.g. improve one at the expense of the other). It also seems like push society in the direction of increasing intolerance, rather than trying to encourage harmony where individuality is accepted, and the mavericks differing from the norm are not ostracised, despised or persecuted. Assuming a ‘cure’ for someone diagnosed with autism was available, could the long-term negative impact be accurately assessed? Sir Isaac Newton would probably have received such a diagnosis. Would the world have been better if his likes and dislikes had been irrevocably changed? How many great scientists and mathematicians in the pipeline might end up lost to the world by such treatment? Leibniz and Newton developed differential calculus, leading to major advancements without which we wouldn’t have the modern world. A lot would depend on the age at which such treatment was implemented, but in today’s society with many children labelled autistic at an early age, and taken out of mainstream education, it seems highly likely! As the song Rotterdam goes: “And everyone is blonde And everyone is beautiful And when blondes and beautiful are multiple They become so dull and dutiful.” Surely mankind knows better than this!

My 2 young grandchildren are 6 years old with autism and 3 of them wear diapers, their parents do not have the economic power to have a house and they live in a small apartment and there are times when we do not even know how to control it because the medicine that the doctor gives them is very small and there is whole nights we can’t sleep he has a lot of problems at school because of all the viruses so please someone who can help us😭🙏♥️♥️

Any help for my daughter-in-law who is the mother of my 2 grandchildren with autism, how important is it because she is the one who suffers all my son is the only one who works, any help is very important to us

No guarantee but maybe some of my comments above about allergies, added MSG and calcium (minimally) deficiency could provide you with some help. Certainly, pure/safe foods and complete nutrition should help to improve any person’s mental health and well being, to some extent.

I have worked with the autistic population for over 30 years.if you have autism and are making anti social comments degrading this science and the fine scientists behind it claiming you don’t need help, then you have been locked into your own selfish world of high functioning autism.

The professional community has stopped using the terms high/low functioning because they imply value judgements about how much someone is worth by how well the “function”/”communicate” not what is in the heart or soul.

There is no such thing as high functioning autism. That is a label not a diagnosis.

Autism isn’t an illness, it doesn’t need treating or curing. It’s present from birth

I agree with most of these comments that autism doesn’t need to be full on cured. I have ADHD which can share a few symptoms with it and even has a higher chance of including autism (and vise versa) and I noticed “limited interests” being characterized as a negative but that’s the super power of both these disorders. It grants us the ability to become experts very quickly in our interests. And then (for autism) there’s being hyper analytical and hyper organized which is extremely useful in the workplace and allows for big picture thinking. There are many accompanying behaviors that need no changing, they define our personalities, identities and many of our strengths.

With that criticism out of the way however I fully support this research haha. If there could be a short term medication produced from these studies which could, like ADHD medications, eliminate the negative side effects of having this disorder, it would be a net good in my opinion. Overwhelm and meltdowns can be pretty intense, an inability to filter background noise and stimuli can not only be distracting but distressing. So having a medication that could allow a more comfortable performance when needed would probably help a lot of folks. Imagine a young parent of a baby, they would have the option of not getting overwhelmed from the loudness of the crying and might have a bit more stress control. Or if the overwhelm of school gets in the way of learning, perhaps within that environment a medication would be advantageous.

I’m beginning to believe that the real issue here is ‘clickbait’. The headline contains the phrase ‘breakthrough treatment for ASD’. This is a trigger for those of us on the spectrum who don’t want or need a cure and have been screaming at bullies and teachers and our kids’ bullies and teachers for decades for some accommodation.

If someone wants to help people on the spectrum, the best way to do so is to get to know the individual and accommodate the individual. Yes, the individual. If you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve met… One person with autism. We’re all different.

In my experience, the way to help us is to accommodate us. No ‘breakthrough treatment’ is necessary. If someone is nonverbal, there is tech available to enable them to communicate. If someone gets anxious in social situations, therapy can be helpful, as can noise-cancelling headphones and some forethought as to choice of venue.

It would be nice to have even a small fraction of the resources squandered on the Crusade for the Holy Grail ‘breakthrough treatment’ used toward accommodating me or my son or Aryeh and his gf or others I know or even Darius’ son and the children of the other people here who desperately need help. Maybe clean up the oceans and space junk before you start terraforming Mars?

Side note to authors: Please consider your choice of words in choosing a title for your article. Your quest for clickbait is triggering two subsets of the community and causing them to fight each other when they should be working together. Stop it.

I agree that the title is “clickbaitty”, but it’s not technically incorrect. Respectfully, though, it’s not always possible to just accommodate. we have done the best with therapy and he has made some progress, and his medication has done a lot to help with his anxiety. Unfortunately it also has implications on his quality of life . It has caused him to gain almost 200 lb, he is now pretty diabetic and will likely need medication for that as well, and while progress was made, he still does suffer.

I agree with the adage that adage that, “If you have met one person with autism you have met one person with autism.” That’s what makes it all the more infuriating when people who say they don’t need a cure take it as some sort of personal insult when research is done to help people who do need it. They are ONE person. They are not the entire autism community.

Sorry they put your son on psych meds with harmful side effects for something which is really not a psych condition. That said, I’m not a psychologist or a psychiatrist and I’m not in your shoes (other than being ‘one person with autism’ with an autistic son). I think there should have been a better way to address this, but in the end I can’t speak for you or him. In my son’s case, accommodation and alternative teaching methodology has made all the difference in the world.

FWIW if I get anxious from a social situation due to loud noise, I can choose to avoid this situation or wear earplugs or a noise-cancelling headset. I live my life, not the life someone else might consider ‘normal’. This comes with the territory of being autistic.

There are people here who are triggered by the prospect of being forced to be ‘normal’ because we have PTSD (and/or our children have it) from ABA ‘therapy’ (Pet Training Applied to Humans) and the like. We don’t want that kind of ‘help’ and we don’t want anyone else like us to be subjected to it ever again. I hope your son gets what he needs to build an independent life for himself.

@Archmage Arcane PLEASE…F***ING…STOP!!! You don’t get to tell me what my son’s condition is or isn’t. You seem like a nice, well-meaning person, but the period in your sentence should have been after the words, “I’m not a psychologist or a psychiatrist and I’m not in your shoes.”

I realize that there are people who are triggered by the prospect of being forced to be “normal.” I 100% agree with you that that is s***ty. What is also s***ty is the people in this comment section who are both diminishing the work of others who are trying to help people that are suffering just because THEY don’t need it while completely trivializing the lives of people who are ACTUALLY suffering. I appreciate that your anxiety can be alleviated by headphones and earplugs. My son’s cannot. Headphones and earplugs are bothersome to him. I also appreciate that accommodation and alternative teaching has made a difference for you and your son. That is also the case with me and my son, but it hasn’t alleviated his suffering. In our case, we had to make a choice between medication that had harmful side effects and something much much worse. We chose the lesser of two evils. If you or anyone else takes issue with that choice, frankly (and I can’t stress this enough) I don’t give a flying f***! I have been working for nearly 30 years to help my son have an independent life, but I have come to realize that is not a realistic goal. I have come to terms with it and accepted my son where he is at.

Please take the heart the words, “If you’ve met one person with autism you’ve met one person with autism.” Your experience is cool and all, but it has f***all to do with mine or my son’s experience.

@Archmage Arcane PLEASE…F***ING…STOP! You don’t get to tell me what my son’s condition is or isn’t. You seem to be a nice, well-meaning person, but the period in that sentence belonged after the words, “I’m not a psychologist or a psychiatrist and I’m not in your shoes.” I realize that there are people who are triggered by the prospect of being forced to be normal. I would 100% agree with you that that sucks. What also sucks is the people in this comment section taking a giant dump on the folks who are doing the work of helping people who are suffering Just because THEY don’t need it while simultaneously taking a giant dump on the people who DO need it and ARE suffering.

I appreciate that your anxiety can be ameliorated by wearing headphones or earplugs. That is not the case with my son as he finds headphones and earplugs bothersome. I also appreciate that accommodation and alternative teaching has made a difference for you and your son. That is also the case with me and my son, but that hasn’t stopped his suffering. In our case, we had to make a choice between medication with harmful side effects and something much, much worse. Is your or anyone else takes issue with that, frankly (and I can’t stress this enough), I don’t give give a flying f***.

I have been working for almost 30 years to help my son have an independent life. I have come to realize that despite my best efforts, that’s not going to happen. I have come to terms with it and accepted my son where he’s at.

Please try to take to heart the adage that “if you’ve met one person with autism you’ve met one person with autism.” Your experience is nice, and all, but it has f*** all to do with my son’s experience.

@darris So you would support any “cure” that “works”? does that include old fashion electroshock therapy? (which has been labeled as a crime against humanity by the UN Human Rights Commission) which is still practiced to this day is some school therapy settings like the Judge Rothenberg Center https://www.judgerc.org/ which has been the center of about 10 different law suits for using stuff like electroshock. An other example is a school in Illionese that I forget the name of but was in the national news a few days ago for having cops there almost everyday to arrest “disruptive ASD” students.

That is the kind of thing people are talking about when we say we don’t want to be “cured” and frankly the big research efforts have not moved beyond that thinking because they never ask anyone of the spectrum how to design these studies or what they should be studying

For the record, this is what being a dishonest doυchebag looks like. No, I do not support shock therapy, you dishonest POS! 👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇

To the Lady MJ Who has twin 14 year old boys. My Daughter has a 14 year old son who has Autism. I wish there was a cure ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

I am autistic and I have a first class honours degree. Does that make me valid? I am human and if everyone gets in a flap about a cure for autism, remember folks it is only the rich people who will have access to the cure for their kids. Ordinary people who are already adults will not be deemed worthy! After all economic prejudice cuts across all of this. So no one can cure you of being you! There is no cure for who we choose to be. And autistic people generally are of higher intellect than the rest of the population. Women are diagnosed later after passing off as neuro-typical most of their lives. I know how to look like you, I just don’t think like you (non autistic people). If you are trying to cure anything it is your own sense of frustration in the face of people who cannot be socially persuaded, or bribed, or made to act like you. Claiming a cure is at best silly, at worst a waste of time… But that’s what some people what to spend their time doing.

Yes, Anne. I know how to look and act like them as well. I got an advanced degree despite debilitating executive function issues. I needed literally a genius-level IQ to compete with NTs of normal intelligence due to lack of accommodation.

‘Passing as normal’ is something most of us can do after enough practice (think decades), but it’s very draining and can lead to shutdown/burnout. There are relatively minor accommodations (compared to wheelchair ramps and autimatic doors and the like for people in wheelchairs) which would make life easier for many of us and simply possible for others.

So true. One has to be super smart to survive in a world of complete sensory and functioning chaos. Well done for your academic brilliance!!

From knowing you in real life I still think you would make the PERFECT contestant on Jeopardy!

I wonder how many of you are really bothered about anyone but themselves? If you kid is having problems with loud noises, buy him a pair of headphones. If your child can’t cope try spending less time in the internet wingeing about how terrible it is to have an autistic child. And spend time being a better parent.

F*** you, and f*** you judgemental BS. We are doing the best we can with what we have. If you weren’t so wrapped up in yourself, maybe you would quit being so butthurt over the research done trying to improve other people’s lives just because you don’t feel that YOU will benefit from it. Kindly, f*** off with that BS!

@anne is right a little bit of common sense goes a long ways for example I not only discovered I love what is now called Classic Rock back in the 80’s but having it on was one the best ways to shut out the outside world and not be bugged by so stupidities as someone arguing a block away. The longer I listen to the same songs (not on infinite repeat but on infinite loop through about 1500 of them) the easier it is for me to focus on the outside world since the music blocks out all the distractions.

It is experiences like this that leads honest researchers (not the ones looking to be “rock stars” by finding a “cure”) to come up with ideas like using white, pink and brown (brown being stuff like my love of classic rock) noise generators and the use of headphones to lessen the sensory onslaught of the real world.

Alot of progress has been made in the last 20 or 30 years with such adaptive tech. Alot of it invented by people on the spectrum themselves.

Cool. You both can go f*** yourselves. I have zero interest in either of your opinions. Your butthurt isn’t going to have the slightest impact on the research community, so your opinion is irrelevant anyway.

Your level of ignorance and complete lack of empathy is outstanding.

As your apparent level of intolerance for anyone who does not agree with your world view. How amazing narrow minded and NT! (I am purposely stereotyping here so you can see what s*** people on the spectrum have to put up with almost everyday).

As your apparent level of intolerance for anyone who does not agree with your world view. How amazing narrow minded and NT! (I am purposely stereotyping here so you can see what BS people on the spectrum have to put up with almost everyday).

… and f*** you too, you lying, dishonest, POS!

@Darrius a serious piece of advice (me an Archmage discussed privately and we both agree on it) you might want to look into if your on the spectrum or not because your reactions to anyone who disagrees with you are so amazingly stereotypical.

Also if you care so much about being honest why not list all the exact areas where you feel I am being dishonest instead of just dimissing me (like you are likely doing to your son also) because I do not agree with you and I happen to ASD and not an NT (and thus some how damaged and incapable of any coherant statement on anything).

How many different ways can I say this? GO…FυCK…YOURSELF!!! I have zero interest in your completely uninformed armchair diagnosis of me and even less interest in what you think of my relationship with my son. I have neither the time, nor the inclination to go back through our conversations and list all the ways you have been a dishonest interlocutor and a complete doυchebag! I don’t give a f*** what stereotypes you think I’m living up to, and you have made it clear that you don’t give a f*** about people whose quality of life could be made better through scientific research, so I no longer give a f*** about you. F*** you very much, and have a nice day!

You are free to do what ever you want but don’t claim it is the only or the right way! As to your son who knows what he actually thinks because you refuse to let him “talk” even when he “wants” to… As I proved above I have the same damn issues with TV he does but I learned how to make them a positive not a negative you are

@Aryeh F. Thank you for once again revealing yourself to be the dishonest doυchebag that you are. I never came remotely close to claiming that my way was the only way. You have no f***ing clue what I refuse to let my son do or what he wants. Pretending to know other people’s lives better than they do is classic gaslighting. F*** you very much. 🖕

I should be more careful about what nerves I hit next time then… but honestly parents like you are the ones who need the help to accept something that they can’t change not the other way around… For example you didn’t say what triggers your sons meltdowns? So why not actually try to get him to explain what happened and doing nothing but that will likely make them less severe and frequent…. the truth is most ASD meltdowns are due to who ever we are dealing with just simply refuses to be the least bit accommodating and explain things in a way we can understand

No, I never said anything about triggering any meltdowns. I never even mentioned the word. What I said was that it causes him stress and anxiety. And thank you for telling me what I need help with, without even having bothered to pay attention to what the f*** I said, you absolute tool. You have absolutely no clue what I have and have not accepted, and you have also have no clue what conversations we’ve had over the past 30 years. But thank you for once again attempting telling me all about my lived experience as if you have a slightest idea what you’re talking about and showing what a gaslighting doυcebag you are!

… if humankind would put more effort together toward things like this, we would be way better of now, but just because covid 19 proved the real state of human mind… we are where we are, now…

Maybe we need to look at vaccines. Now 1 in 54 kids have autism. I suggest RFK jr website childrenshealthdefense. org for real science and Dr Peter McCullough for current jab “problems”.

Let’s not resurrect long debunked fringe nonsense, please! Autism rates have “gone up” simply because our ability to diagnose has improved. It has nothing to do with vaccines. Science is a process by which are best understanding of reality arrives through results being verified and a building scientific consensus. Just because one scientist publishes something that comports with your preconceived bias, that doesn’t make it “real science.”

Have obesity rates “gone up” due only to improved diagnosis? I don’t presently recall if I personally wrote Dr. McCullough but I do recall writing JFK Jr’s website about allergies, FDA approved food poisoning and possible nutritional deficiencies, albeit in-vain. Some of my findings are unique to me so I try to inform those with incomplete higher educations of my lay findings but, regrettably, they are too highly educated to learn from a mere former industrial electrician with only 42 years, now, of dealing with his own externally imposed allergy related chronic illnesses. And, while $Trillions have been spent on a phony Covid-19 pandemic, as a lone lay victim, investigator, experimenter and discoverer I’ve never been eligible for any research grant I’ve ever investigated. So, please, don’t be so quick to dismiss the possibility of autism, like obesity, being illegally foisted on those who are unfortunately naturally susceptible to such things.

@Charles G. Shaver No, obesity rates have not gone up because of our ability to diagnose. Are you capable of having an honest conversation, or are you just going to respond with ridiculous strawman arguments? You haven’t been given a research grant because you are a self-admitted laymen with zero expertise. It’s for that reason I will dismiss your opinion in favor of those who actually know what the f*** they are talking about.

Darius, by the time I became mysteriously, seriously ill for the second time, in 1981, I was already a journeyman industrial electrician for a decade and a community college drop-out for seven years. Too ill and broke to continue my college education, immediately, following a failed thorough medical examination in mid-1981 I simply embraced the challenge of solving the problem myself and, therefore, some of my at-home discoveries are unique to me, not anything you’ll find in any medical texts, yet. At 79 years of age I’m still battling FDA approved food poisoning but again prescription drug free. I’m not the ignorant savage you suggest I am. Quite the opposite, I’ve unsuccessfully tried to share my successful lay findings and practices with thousands of more authoritative, qualified and/or resourceful professional others, beginning with the FDA (with replies) in October of 2005 about obesity; obviously, now, in-vain. Many more highly educated, successful younger others (e.g., the Commissioner of the FDA in 1980, when the expanded use of added MSG was approved, and the global health expert Dr. Paul Farmer, quite recently) have already died as I live on. Mainstream medicine is still so ‘dark-ages.’ Look them up; more upon fair request.

@Aryeh F. I didn’t suggest that either. Are you completely incapable of stringing words together to form a sentence that ISN’T dishonest to its core, you utter tool?

I never suggested that you are an ignorant savage, so I guess that answers the question about whether you are able to have an honest conversation.

No you just suggested that you do not agree that “that all men [sic] are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”. Where you disagree is when you deny that people with ASD (not matter how “mild” or how “severe”) have any capacity for freedom or happiness and thus must be “cured”.

Note all people being equal does not mean we are all identical, far from it, and I mightiest well let my nerd flag a little and say I live my life by the Vulcan slogan IDIC — Infinity Diversity in Infinite Combinations … this means while we are all unique and special because of that uniqueness we are also all still human and therefor if we are Americans (since everyone here is using perfect American English I will assume we are all Americans) we are by the very fact of being a human being have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness (how ever we may define those terms due to our right to the Freedom of Expression by the 1st Amendment). Look at the world as a salad bowl not as a melting pot and you will see the variety makes us richer not poorer.

I didn’t suggest that either. Are you completely incapable of stringing words together into a sentence that isn’t COMPLETELY dishonest, you utter diρs***?

@Aryeh F. I never suggested that either you, tool, but thanks for demonstrating once again that you are incapable of stringing a sentence together that isn’t completely dishonest!

To the typical democratic replies “what’s wrong with having it.. bla bla bla…” Tell that to a child who cannot speak, so you think it’s fair that they cannot speak in order to not offend others who have autism??????? I love how you don’t even have autism and I’m betting don’t even have a child who does because as a parent WITH autism having a child WITH autism we would greatly like to see where this research leads… my son wants to talk if OK with your hurt feelings.

Buy your son a communication board, for now? If I had my way, he would be given one free of charge.

One of the highest compliments I was ever paid was back in the early 2000’s when I was in a double blind study to see if Prozac helps ASD (turns out it doesn’t but it does help the often co-occuring depression… who wouldn’t be depressed with all the BS we have to put up with from NT’s on top seeing the world differently… thus I have continued to take it despite it not “helping” my core ASD because it does wonders for my depression)… As I was waiting to do my bi-weekly interview by one of the researchers I ran into a parent of a 12 year old on the spectrum. After talking for a few minutes the parent was amazed saying they have never seen their son open up like to anyone (period)… I told them I had no idea what I did special except also being on the spectrum and went along with my day.

Aryeh: FWIW I was on track to ve a teacher. Wanted to teach languages, but might well have gravitated toward special ed. I was ruthlessly weeded out by an old lady who was supposed to be my mentor because I reminded her of kids she was actively making fall through the cracks. Kids on the spectrum, before the diagnosis was common (1980s). This caused me to burn out, so I switched to library science. Adults on the spectrum suffer horribly from lack of accommodation.

Same kind of thing for me when I went back to school in my late 20’s it was to get a degree in computer science education (how to teach CS) after being disillusioned by the commercial software world. Then the dept head directed a fellow student my direction who had a business idea and you know the rest of the story.

this is eugenics but also i’m skeptical of these conclusions drawn because the data has been cherry-picked in the past with studies like this. the age-old one about trans people being supposedly detectable based on brain matter comes to mind… people like to give answers to get attention, funding, etc. etc.

For those who are offended and feel there should be no cure for those who want it for better outcomes in life, it is very likely that your autism or your loved one’s autism is mild, meaning you can write the abuse on here against the research and any research into treatment smh. You completely fail to consider or understand that not everyone autistic person has mild symptoms. Believe you me if you ask a severely affected person or their family, you might find some of them (not all) would like some help to get to some level of independence. To be able to read and write like you, to be able to express their needs and fears including reporting abuse. Just because you can and are happy with your experiences DOES NOT give you the right to speak for all autistic people and their families because you don’t know the half of it. Remember no autistic person is like the other. It’s a spectrum so being on the high functioning side does not give you the right to impede on potentially beneficial research! #CARRYONWITHTHERESEARCH

For Darrius and all the other parents who are convienced they know better then their ASD kids (note I think the orginal movie was great for it’s time but is very much harmful in the modern world as a model for ASD) [except in my case replace Pinball with Computers and the Internet ;-)]

Welcome to the Camp I guess you all know why we’re here My name is Tommy and I became aware this year

If you want to follow me You’ve got to play pinball And put in your earplugs Put on your eyeshades You know where to put the cork

Hey you getting drunk, so sorry I’ve got you sussed Hey you smoking Mother Nature This is a bust Hey hung up old Mr. Normal Don’t try to gain my trust ‘Cause you ain’t gonna follow me any of those ways Although you think you must

We’re not gonna take it We’re not gonna take it We’re not gonna take it We’re not gonna take it

We’re not gonna take it Never did and never will We’re not gonna take it Gonna break it Gonna shake it Let’s forget it better still

Now you can’t hear me Your ears are truly sealed You can’t speak either Your mouth is filled You can’t see nothing And pinball completes the scene Here comes Uncle Ernie to guide you to Your very own machine

We’re not gonna take it Never did and never will Don’t want no religion And as far as we can tell We ain’t gonna take you Never did and never will We’re not gonna take you We forsake you Gonna rape you Let’s forget you better still

We forsake you Gonna rape you Let’s forget you better still

See me, feel me, touch me, heal me See me, feel me, touch me, heal me See me, feel me, touch me, heal me See me, feel me, touch me, heal me

Listening to you, I get the music Gazing at you, I get the heat Following you, I climb the mountain I get excitement at your feet

Right behind you, I see the millions On you, I see the glory From you, I get opinions From you, I get the story

F*** you very much, you POS! 🖕🖕🖕

Are 4 letter words the only ones you know? I guess I will give up deciding who the more “mature” person at this table is

I know quite a few words that are longer than four letters, dips***! And f*** you for trying to tone police me. 🖕

I should of posted this song instead since it explains what many autstics have deal with when faced with @ssholes like you:

I am Iron Man Has he lost his mind? Can he see or is he blind? Can he walk at all Or if he moves, will he fall? Is he alive or dead? Has he thoughts within his head? We’ll just pass him there Why should we even care? He was turned to steel In the great magnetic field When he traveled time For the future of mankind Nobody wants him He just stares at the world Planning his vengeance That he will soon unfurl Now the time is here For Iron Man to spread fear Vengeance from the grave Kills the people he once saved Nobody wants him They just turn their heads Nobody helps him Now he has his revenge Heavy boots of lead Fills his victims full of dread Running as fast as they can Iron Man lives again

Dedicated with all my heart to Aryeh F.

Were you born an a**hole, or did you work it at your whole life?

Well I was driving down I-95 the other night, When somebody nearly cut me right off the road. I decided it wasn’t going to do any good to get mad, So I wrote a song about him instead. It goes like this…

Were you bo-rn an a**hole, or did you work at it your whole life? Either way it worked out fine, ’cause you’re an a**-hole tonight.

Yes you’re an A-SSHOLE, and don’t you try to blame it on me, You deserve all the credit, you’re an a**hole tonight.

You were an a**ho-le yesterday, you’re an a**-hole tonight, And I’ve got a feeling, you’ll be an a**hole the rest of your life.

And I was talking to your mother, just the other night, I told her I thought you were an a**hole, she said “yes, I think you’re right”.

And a-ll your friends are a**holes, ’cause you’ve known them your whole life, And somebo-dy told me, you’ve got an a**hole for a wife.

This article is incredibly abilist and abusive towards us asd folks. How about allistics stop being abusive garbage instead? Our “social deficiet” is us not conomying with abuse structures in yt supremecy, abilism, misogyny, and homophobia. Instead of eugenics you could try supporting our needs and stop using abuse as “therapy”. Try meeting our needs instead of treating us like we’re the problem. If my needs had been met as a child I wouldn’t have had so many “behavior” issues, as an adult I constantly have to advocate for myself and its not asking a lot, yet allistics view us as less than and it’s beyond vile and abilst.

It would be nice if they had up votes (and down votes) on this site I would give you a infinite number of up votes for the above.

there is no “treatment” for asd “for me specifically aspergers” and its not a disorder. its from birth and we already know the most prevalent causes, one of which is receiving too much testosterone in the womb. for low functioning forms of autism the best we can do is give them alternative means of communication and patience.

It fine to embrace yourself but my autistic granson cries and hits himself in the head and attacks others , is non verbal and miserable! Its a spectum disorder and he needs a cure.. you may not!

Hello people. I hope you all had a good Christmas. But I do believe that some of you were on the naughty list this year. It is really illuminating to see so much of the diversity of the human condition expressed on the internet. It really helps me appreciate a good book a lot more. So thank you for demonstrating why cats are better company than people. Happy new year dearies.

Agreed! Not only is being completely indifferent to people’s suffering, judging parents when you know absolutely nothing about them or their relationships with their children, and taking a giant dump on people who are working to make the lives of others better a bit naughty, it is also the height of doυchebaggery. Happy New Year, doυche! I’m sorry that your poor cat has to suffer your doυchiness!

Will scritch my rabbit’s ears and my friend’s 3 cats for you. They’re very good company. Have a great new year!

Cool! At least you can’t gaslight them.

… idk, maybe one of the cats has a kitten that you’ve never met (or even heard of prior to today) and you can try to convince the cat that you know more about its kitten than they do.

Please prove you know how to do something other than be a transparent troll…. troll’s don’t make for cute and cuddle pets and that what every NT parent really wants a cute of cuddle pet.

Please prove that you are not an insufferable doυchebag who could actually give two f***s about something that might help people who are suffering even if you don’t benefit from it.

…and maybe not be completely dishonest in the process!

@darrius At this point no comment is needed for an objective reader to know which one of us is the real @sshole. Thus I will not even attempt to correct your perceptions of me and others on the spectrum (something that is apparently impossible)

@Aryeh F. of course you don’t need to comment about me… yet you can continue to do so. Thank you for demonstrating (yet again) what a dishonest douchebag you are!

What an apallingly written article. Terrible journalism. Non factual, biased, mis-representative. The autistic SPECTRUM is a developmental DIFFERENCE rhat sometimes manifests with disability. It’s a different skillset, with different strengths and weaknesses.

Sadly to many people with loved ones on the spectrum that aren’t on the spectrum themselves will not see it this way. Mostly because they can’t get over the fact that their kid is not cute and cuddly like NT kids should be and looking for someone or something to blame (in in there case that seems to be anyone on the spectrum that has found a there own “voice”).

Equally sad is that some douchebags will pass judgment on parents that they don’t know, have never met, and could have no possible way of knowing anything whatsoever about their relationship with their children who are on the spectrum.

Your own statements have spoken for themselves I need not put any words in your mouth.

Darius, final comments from me: okay, you only implied I’m an ignorant savage, I apologize. The fact of the matter is that by the time I became mysteriously, seriously ill in 1981 I had sufficient higher education and training and diagnostic experience as an electrical troubleshooter to put a research group together if I had the funding. In 2011 I wrote the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and The Lancet of my early lay findings of calcium deficiency related illnesses (e.g., bad moods, fatigue and short-term memory problems, minimally) and of the unreliability of standard blood serum testing for calcium. I estimate about fifteen million American lives could have been extended (and can only guess how many ASD persons may have been affected one way or another) by now if my submissions hadn’t been rejected for it being only ‘a one subject study,’ as if it didn’t/wouldn’t apply to many others. I suspect you too-typically have a medically undiagnosed calcium deficiency and suggest (not prescribe), if available to you, get ionic and/or bone density testing for calcium, minimally. If calcium supplements are indicated-for, avoid long-term calcium carbonate; can cause a very serious phosphorus deficiency. And, because there is a natural ratio of calcium to magnesium (‘natural tranquilizers’), it probably would be wise to maintain that. I don’t get paid for trying to help others I just know I have rare/unique information and insights to share as a decent human being and a dutiful American. For a few more details, if so desired and you can locate them, I’ve uploaded a one-page overview of my lay findings to the “About” page of my non-economic Odysee dot com/@charlesgshaver video channel. Best regards, and wishes for a great new year of improved health and the sharing of “how?” if it applies.

@Charles G. Shaver thanks, but if your research methods are as sloppy as your interpretation of my comment that apparently somehow implied that you are an ignorant savage, it’s a hard pass for me.

As usual, a posse of high functioning autistic (and probably several “self-diagnosed” autistic) people have descended here to speak for the entire community of people with autism. Any treatments coming from research like this will surely be optional and you are free to stay autistic for as long as you would like. For those who actually would like to find new treatments, are you their spokesperson?

High/low functioning are NT designations not ones that many in the ASD community (professionals or people on the spectrum), btw I am level 2 and thus likely would not meet the outdated definition of “high functioning”. What we take issue is not the idea of a “cure” if it works for you good just don’t ram it down our throats.

By ram it down our throats you never once stop to ask *US* our opinion before doing this research because after all we are deaf, blind, and stupid and thus unable to make basic decisions about our own lives. This is a violation of human rights and is deeply un-American.

@Ryan A actually yes. In case you are not aware, @Aryeh F. is in fact the official spokesperson for the autism community. Aryeh F. must be consulted before pursuing any research or treatment options… because that’s how research works. Additionally, Aryeh F. is the official parenting coach for all parents of children on the spectrum due to their demonstrated expertise on diagnosing parenting issues of people they have never met.

I like how your attempting to crown me something I never claimed to be. All I said is if people identify with me good if they don’t oh well.

@Aryeh F. Of course that’s all you said… And then you proceeded to compare people who don’t identify with you to Hitler. Seriously, were you born an a**hole or did you work it at your whole life?

… and an absolutely no way did you judge my parenting or pretend to know things about me and my relationship with my child that you couldn’t possibly know. Not only are you an a**hole, you are a f***ing liar!

I sure hope your taking out your 30 years of rage at ASD on me and not your son.

Because your getting more and more unglued by the post.

@Aryeh F. I’m beginning to suspect that you have very little experience with people calling you out on your bullshιt. What you experience as “30 years of rage,” is actually nothing more than somebody confronting you with the truth (which you have yet to challenge me on). “Rage” and all, am I wrong about you being a liar? As unglued as you think I am, please tell me where a single thing I said is wrong.

… and by the way, it’s called “sarcasm,” dipshιt!

[crickets]… Yep, that’s exactly what I thought. You judge my parenting based on absolutely nothing, you are a completely dishonest interlocutor and an outright liar, and when I call you out on it, “Oh my god… The rage! He’s so unglued!” GO F*** YOURSELF, DOUCHEBAG!

Crickets due to my work being done here… I am worried if you get any more unglued you will end in the psych ward and be no help to your son at all… thus it will be crickets from now on from me re: you.

@Aryeh F. So, I challenged you to point out where I’m wrong, and instead you AGAIN deflect to my being rageful and unglued. Thank you for tacitly acknowledging that you are a liar and a douchebag by deflecting every time you’re called out on it.

crick, crick, crick… snoore

… and then flip the table.

I can see that some people are going to be unreachable. I’m seeing a pattern here: When we present our life experiences, which are different from yours and at least in our individual cases invalidate what you’re saying, we’re gaslighting. Then you get angry and start insulting us. And it gets worse and worse. And then we rage about gaslighting rabbits and cats (pets are great de-stressors) for autistic people…

I’m done here. I’ve said my piece.

OK, ça fait tout. C’est fini.

À bientôt…

Cool! Goodbye, douche!

I, for one, would be extremely glad if there is a “cure”. My 5 year has severe ASD and it’s heartbreaking to see him suffer. When I say suffer I don’t mean him not eating properly, not responding to potty training and shoving hands in to the diaper and taking out what he just made and smearing on his face, not being able to communicate his thoughts and feelings and so on. None of these account for suffering in my books. It’s the fact that he has to take 4 different meds everyday to keep him functional and when the dosage becomes too small for him, his shrieking, screaming and crying. His constant digestion problems. I am glad that a lot of you people with ASD in the comments are able to use the devices, read the articles and curse the researchers in the comments and I would’ve given anything in the world for my son to be like you guys and not to dread the time when he grows up and is still non verbal and all of the other “fun stuff”.

I was not totally potty trained until I was 8 or so (got out of diapers around 6 or so I think)…. even to this day I have an unfortunate “accident” once or twice a year… I think I did just as interesting stuff with my sh*t (maybe that why I am so go at steering it up as an adult in others it seems). Even now I have severe IBS many times (I must be one the people who keeps the laxative companies and Immodem in business).

What I am saying is just because he is like that 5 (I think was likely worse) doesn’t mean he will always be like that. That’s where finding solutions for the individual issues/problems and not looking for a big bang cure comes in really *DOES HELP* but wasting money on such big bang cures your cutting funding to stuff that actual does help.

I will also add that the study this article cites makes the assumption that ASD is a one size fits all “disorder”.

As my GF (who is also on the spectrum) privately said about this study (posted with permission):

I don’t think it’s at all likely that they’ve discovered anything anywhere near as significant as they claim. These experiments are being done on a “mouse model” — of what, exactly? There are hundreds, maybe even thousands, of different kinds of autism. A one-size-fits-all “mouse model,” much less a one-size-fits-all “cure,” is highly unlikely.

Scientists have been experimenting with “mouse models of autism” for decades. Never gets very far, but both the government and billionaire parents of autistic kids continue to be willing to pay for it.

Unfortunately, stories like this tend to convince parents that a total “cure” is just around the corner. These parents, in turn, become extremely hostile toward autistic self-advocates.

Oh I also forgot the pure joy of 15 years ABA-style speech therapy to first force me to “talk” and then “talk right” (any bad english here can likely be traced to this btw)

It’s all about helping people who are suffering. My son is severely speech impaired and has extremely limited social skills. None of that seriously impacts his quality of life and if he never progresses in those areas of be okay with that. What does cause him suffering is his extreme sensitivity to sound. Some self-appointed parenting gurus will suggest simple solutions like earplugs, headphones, and certain avoiding places (as if we’ve just been sitting here with our thumbs up our butts not trying that). They also suggest these “simple solutions” render this research unnecessary as if they get to make that decision. I too am glad that some on the spectrum are not suffering as my son is. Many on the spectrum are not so fortunate as they are.

@darrius you just have not been reading any of the life experiences anyone on the spectrum has relayed at all… for example if you read I showed point by point I have the same sensory sensitivities as your son and gave you some ideas on how to work on them… you rejected all them because they came from a fellow person on the spectrum and not some professional or high cost researcher

Hint on my sensory issues I am triggered by things not even other people with the same sensory sensitives that I have get. For example I am extremely triggered by CFG light bulb’s (to the point of needing non-otc headache medicine for it) due to their 60 Hz flicker.

Now back to cricket mode… snore

@Faridun see what I mean? The sheer level of douchebaggery knows absolutely no limits.

@Aryeh F. Tell you what, douchebag. I’m all for medical consent, but in your case, if it’s your autism that’s manifesting in your being an absolute douche, I hope you are cured. I hope you are strapped to a gurney, gagged, kicking and screaming, and forcefully injected with anti-douche serum. I know… I know… “Hitler”… “Nazi”… Blah blah blah. F*CK OFF!!!

… and the next time you present your OWN life experiences, maybe try not telling other people what their experiences are who you have never met, what their children’s experiences are who you have also never met, what their relationships with their children that you have absolutely zero experience with are like? Maybe then you will come across as left of an insufferable douchebag!

In other words, when telling YOUR OWN life experience, STICK TO YOUR OWN F***ING LIFE EXPERIENCE! M’Kay,douche?

No you are worse then a Nazi your the Jewish parent that thanks the Nazi’s for “curing” their kid by BBQ’ing them.

Yep! Nailed it! That’s absolutely 100% me!

Your clairvoyance on people you’ve never met is mind-blowing. Tell me… What color am I thinking?

It’s weird people “feeling offended” by a research saying the OBVIOUS, sorry unfortunately a person who’s got autism isn’t mentally health as you want to believe, my brother was an autistic guy from the beginning till his death and I can say that an autistic person isn’t a normal healty person and YES needs professional help.

Heil Hitler!

I have three grandbabies they have autism when it’s 2 1/2 the other two or one and a half and they are nonverbal Though I love them dearly just the way they are. I wish my grandkids could have a better life a more normal life. Have close friends , the boys could foot play ball. Jalaya could be a ballet dancer. But they will probably never be to do that. Because of their autism. They are all level three and go through so much misery. Not being able to talk to us when somethings wrong kills me. Not being able to express emotion. Or just play together like normal brothers and sister. And my seven year old grandchild suffers to from her parents not being able to spend time with her because all the time goes to the three babies you never her. and she has ADHD and ADD and wants so much attention that she can never get. and my heart is broken to see that.

Brace yourself for a dose of parenting shame from @Aryeh F. based on zero knowledge of you or your relationship with your child which, if you don’t accept, obviously makes you a Nazi.

Nonsense, autism is a “gift”! You should be happy with them as they are because they are amazing miracle babies. It doesn’t matter if they smear s&*t everywhere, still haven’t master basic life skills by teenage years, and prevent you from being able to enjoy any family time together because they meltdown due to every little thing that happens externally. Society is the problem, not autism! They’re so cute and quirky.

The depression and massive anxiety experienced by autistic people is largely because non-autistics are either forcing us to behave in unnatural ways, judging us because we’re different, attributing negative traits to us whilst exhibiting them themselves (the double empathy problem. We feel empathy but express it differently. NT’s wrongly claim we don’t have empathy because they are unable or unwilling to empathize with, or understand our differences)

In my experience NT people are generally dishonest and highly manipulative, choosing to hint and insinuate rather than state a need or intention. Why don’t you all start figuring out how to erase those disordered, faulty individuals from our species?

I think the opportunity of being well and having a better quality of life is essential but if you don’t want that then that’s your choice but I know my grandson and his siblings would go to the end of the world for treatment as he is so disabled that affects all of their lives it’s heartbreaking. So don’t jump down someone’s throat who can help if help is wanted. Bring on the cures and embrace science

At the cost of not founding less “sexy” research that acually has a larger impact *NOW* not in the *FUTURE*?

Was this article written by a f***ing A.I.? Nonsensical AND ableist? Smh my head, y’all NTs needa chill tf out

So much arguing here. The most important thing is What does the autistic person want? It is so easy for us, as parents, (in general, with or without autism being involved) to ignore what our kids want in life and instead define that according to what WE want for then rather than what THEY want for themselves. Some unspoken social rule about needing to have many friends was one such definition I first came upon. Parent (and society) thinks child should have X amount of friends but child is perfectly happy with the number of friends they have. Who is correct here? The child is.

Yes, we all want what’s “best” for our kids….we want them to lead fruitful and productive lives….but most of all they need to be happy with the lives they lead, and need to be supported to make the changes that THEY feel are necessary in order to lead the lives that THEY want, not the lives WE want them to lead.

To this end yes, autism specific (and autism friendly) “therapies” are invaluable for those who want them….and for those who don’t want them that’s fine also. Everyone is entitled to the autonomy to choose their own path.

These members of the autistic community who keep trying to insist that we must all fit inside a tiny tightly defined box need to stop IMO. They are doing more harm to the cause than good. And I also believe that it is more a reflection of their own trauma or insecurities, than a general autism issue.

We need to 1. Ask the autistic person what they need to lead the life they want. 2. Support the autistic person to obtain whatever they decide they need.

We need to do this from the getgo. “What do you need….? How can I help you achieve that?” And if they are non verbal we find ways to communicate and find out. (Yep, it’s hard, harder than taking the easy way out of making all the decisions for them) We can’t put our own desires and anxieties onto them. We must love them unconditionally and come from that place to continually find out what THEY want and need to make their life better.

And we have to accept that it may look very different to what WE thought they might want or need.

In a meeting I was in last night on the topic of “ASD politics” this article was the main topic as well as the comments. Among other things we decided if we ever did start a group that attempts to “educate” parents in general (personally I have been blessed by parents who do what you suggest) we came up with potential future group name of “Hi, we are autistic. Are you listening?”

We need to have more options available to us, if autistic people don’t want a potential cure that’s fine, but they shouldn’t try and come together a community to stop research from finding one. Autism can be very debilitating for a lot of people and families, so having a cure available could do so much to improve the quality of life for many. If it takes thousands of hours of therapy to learn basic life skills that typical children master in very little time, then we can’t simply see autism as a “gift”, or different way of viewing the world. We have to see it for what it can be, a hugely detrimental disability that can destroy people’s lives.

Jason Cline, you are so correct. If I could have spared my son of the YEARS of teasing, I would have. If people are happy and well-adjusted, no “corrections” are needed. However, for those who are enable to adapt, this research offers hope. Thank you.

I feel speech is one communication we have learnt to get around. Using one word instead of a sentence still does not prevent us as as a family communicating in sentences. My three year old understands but mainly answers with very few words, yes or no. Food is complex and has led to other issues. We have learnt to use the combination she likes. Still much time wasted on the way forward by the specialists

This article is both disgusting and disturbing. While there are aspects of autism that we do need assistance in, autism is not something that needs to be “cured”. The sooner they learn that augism is permanent, the better. It’s a disability, yes. But sometimes it’s not always bad. Some of our characteristics can come in handy in multiple situations. Since I just woke up, I can’t think of any off the top of my head.

Knowledge is power. Not everyone likes the same books, food, shoes. When we do not recognizing new research whether we like it or not should not prevent further research to be done. I teach in a public schoolsetting. I am blessed to be surrounded by kids with and without physical and learning disabilities. These disabilities are just obstacles that make life a bit harder, not impossible. I have a family member who had dyslexia, he is now an engineer. I have another family member who was diagnosed at the age of 17 to be on the autism spectrum. He now creates and produces video games. I have students with nothing impending their learning, yet they choose to fail. They choose not to do homework, write essays, or read books. When asked why, they respond they did not want to. These same students excelle on standardize test. Embrace research, progress. It may be the right fit for some, maybe not all. We should not belittle others for trying to help people they may know struggle.

while I do think that there is things that can be learned from this research, I think that motive behind it, and the idea of having to “cure” autism actions flawed. there is nothing wrong with being autistic, and nobody should be trying to “fix“ autistic people. really people should just try to learn to be more understanding and not constantly think that neurodivergent people have something wrong with them.

Neurological diversity looks different in nearly every description of the understanding because no two bodies function exactly the dance. Idiosyncratic functions express our unique eccentricities. Take for example, synesthesia, a neurological enhancement experienced by 1 in 20k humans may actually be more like 1-300. It is my belief that when and if we begin to understand the various neurological differences we can better understand a more rounded definition of individualism, prejudicial treatment practices, and how we can better support every human attempting to live their best life!

I would like a cure for my Aspergers. I agree with others that this shouldn’t be forced on anyone, but why should those of us who don’t want to have Aspergers or Autism anymore not be allowed to be rid of it if they want to be?

I just want a normal life where I can understand sarcasm like others, know what to do in a social situation, have as many chances to date as other people, be able to make friends more easily and not get obsessed about certain things.

I want the same experiences that everyday people have and to live my life to the fullest! I hope everyday for a cure to this debilitating disorder.

Fck this so much, thanks for promoting literal eugenics! 🙂 It’s the fkking world that needs to change and understand that everyone isn’t the same and shouldn’t be shoved into a singular mold. It’s hurting EVERYONE and needs to stop.

This is a wonderful Christmas gift, I have a lot of hope that eventually we’ll find a cure for this maddening disorder and families will never have to suffer being unable to enjoy their children because of this debilitating condition.

I really love the comment from the person who objects to it being called a disorder. I have also been diagnosed with what is commonly called Asperger’s syndrome. I think it’s somewhat funny that we have had something in the diagnostic manual whose chief characteristic is being highly intelligent. Perhaps if we called it intelligent persons syndrome we be trying to develop something that would make everybody this way. We live in a world that is happily embracing sexual diversity but we don’t want to embrace psychological diversity. Do we only want to have vanilla as our choices and eliminate chocolate, caramel, cinnamon?

Please get the medicine for autism as soon as possible,my son is 3.5 yrs old,unable to express his feelings,it’s so hard for him to attend therapies,supplements to eat in this 3 yrs age,and I see a lot of parents are suffering almost dieing for their kids to recover,and trying hard to help them with the tears and prayers,iam one of them,please help these children and parents to give a second chance to live a happy life

I am also searching for new research-based narrow down diagnosis of ASD and treatment. Please guide if there is any breakthrough in this regards.

For this web site, you will see our account, remember to go through this info.

Listed here you’ll learn it is important, them offers the link in an helpful webpage:

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• Published: 28 May 2021

Advances in autism research, 2021: continuing to decipher the secrets of autism

• Julio Licinio   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6905-5884 1 &
• Ma-Li Wong 1  

Molecular Psychiatry volume  26 ,  pages 1426–1428 ( 2021 ) Cite this article

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• Autism spectrum disorders
• Neuroscience

We are proud to publish this Special Issue focused on autism, a topic that has been exceedingly important for Molecular Psychiatry since our inception. It is not too bold a statement to say that we were a fundamental contributor to bringing autism to the forefront of the national discourse. A Pubmed search reveals 403 articles published in Molecular Psychiatry since our founding in 1996. Our first autism article by Vincent et al., published in July 1996, examined the fragile X syndrome gene (FMR1) for mutations in autistic individuals, using single-stranded conformational polymorphism analysis; those authors identified three new FMR1 polymorphisms and identified specific and significant association findings with autism [ 1 ].

In late 2001–early 2002 we received four exciting papers with findings on the genetics of autism that were published together in our March 2002 issue, with an accompanying editorial [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ]. We issued then a press release that was picked up by Time magazine and served as the basis for their unprecedented May 6, 2002 cover story on autism, featuring as that iconic magazine’s cover a young boy who was visibly autistic [ 7 ]. That was the first time that a person with autism was the cover of a national magazine. The magazine’s cover displayed in big yellow letters “Inside the world of autism” and it had a subtitle stating “More than one million Americans may have it, and the number of new cases is exploding. What scientists have discovered. What families should know.” The full story, by Nash [ 8 ], was entitled: “The Secrets of Autism,” with the following subtitle: “The number of children diagnosed with autism and Asperger’s in the U.S. is exploding. Why?” Time ’s cover article was so successful that their editors expanded that from a single issue into an entire series on autism over multiple issues. That Time series effectively made autism emerge as a mainstream topic of kitchen table conversations across America. As that effort was triggered by our press release and four articles on autism, it is reasonable to boast that Molecular Psychiatry launched the national conversation on autism.

The four papers highlighted in our March 2002 issue were within the first 20 articles that we published on this topic. Now, 383 papers later, we have a much more substantial body of work that further unravels the secrets of autism, the culmination of which is this autism Special Issue, with 26 truly superb papers on autism [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 ]. These extraordinary articles cover essentially all aspects of this disorder, from the training of specialists, to the interface with other disorders, such as polycystic ovarian syndrome and Alzheimer’s disease, and in-depth analyses of genetics, structural and functional imaging, as well as neuroscience, including postmortem brain studies, transcriptome of induced pluripotent stem cell models, assessments of the role of vitamin D, and studies highlighting the contributions of inflammatory mediators to autism.

We have had for over three decades a particular interest on the interface of immune mediators and psychiatric disorders [ 35 ]. It is very rewarding to see the interface of immune mediators and psychiatry evolve from a hypothesis, that we and others explored decades ago, into a broad and established area within psychiatric neuroscience. As we have developed a new model of analysis of the simultaneous contributions of multiple genes and environmental factors to a psychiatric phenotype [ 36 ], were also encouraged to see studies looking at the polygenic risk for autism in the context of childhood trauma, life-time self-harm, and suicidal behavior and ideation [ 30 ], as well in comparison to several other psychiatric disorders [ 32 ].

One paper in this issue, by Frye et al., is highly usual, and particularly intriguing: it investigates the role of the mitochondrion, in the influence of prenatal air pollution exposure on neurodevelopment and behavior in 96 children with autism spectrum disorder [ 22 ]. Second and third trimester average and maximal daily exposure to fine air particulate matter of diameter ≤2.5 µm (PM 2.5 ) was obtained from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Air Quality System. Mediation analysis found that mitochondrial respiration linked to energy production accounted for 25% and 10% of the effect of average prenatal PM 2.5 exposure on neurodevelopment and behavioral symptoms, respectively. Those results suggest that prenatal exposure to PM 2.5 disrupts neurodevelopment and behavior through complex mechanisms, including long-term changes in mitochondrial respiration and that patterns of early development need to be considered when studying the influence of environmental agents on neurodevelopmental outcomes.

We are honored to have initiated the national conversation on autism twenty years ago and we believe that the 403 autism papers published to date in Molecular Psychiatry , including, but not limited to those highlighted in this Special Issue, report major advances in a key area of molecular psychiatry. It is particularly rewarding to see that these articles cover the full spectrum of research translation [ 37 ], from molecules to society.

In future issues, Molecular Psychiatry will continue to publish outstanding advances in autism research.

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Licinio, J., Wong, ML. Advances in autism research, 2021: continuing to decipher the secrets of autism. Mol Psychiatry 26 , 1426–1428 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-021-01168-0

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Scientists discover how dozens of genes may contribute to autism

Using a host of high-tech tools to simulate brain development in a lab dish, Stanford University researchers have discovered several dozen genes that interfere with crucial steps in the process and may lead to autism, a spectrum of disorders that affects about one in every 36 Americans , impairing their ability to communicate and interact with others.

The results of a decade of work, the findings published in the journal Nature may one day pave the way for scientists to design treatments that allow these phases of brain development to proceed unimpaired.

The study delves into a 20-year-old theory that suggests one cause of autism may be a disruption of the delicate balance between two types of nerve cells found in the brain’s cerebral cortex, the area responsible for higher-level processes such as thought, emotion, decision-making and language.

Some nerve cells in this region of the brain excite other nerve cells, encouraging them to fire; other cells, called interneurons, do the opposite. Too much excitation can impair focus in the brain and cause epilepsy, a seizure disorder that is more common in people with autism than in the general population. Scientists therefore believe a proper balance requires more of the inhibiting interneurons.

In the developing fetus, these nerve cells start out deep in the brain in a region called the subpallium, then migrate slowly to the cerebral cortex. The process begins mid-gestation and ends in the infant’s second year of life, said Sergiu Pasca, a Stanford University professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences who led the study.

Pasca’s team, which included researchers from the University of California at San Francisco and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, tested 425 genes that have been linked to neurodevelopmental disorders to determine which ones interfere with the generation and migration of interneurons. Genes linked to autism were among those identified in the study.

“What’s really cool about this paper is that autism is a collection of different behaviors, but we don’t have [an] understanding of how those behaviors are connected to differences in the brain,” said James McPartland, a professor of child psychiatry and psychology at the Yale School of Medicine, who was not involved in the study.

The new work advances research into autism by “beginning to create a fundamental understanding of the building blocks of brain development,” he said.

A new way to screen for autism genes

For ethical reasons, it is not possible to view developmental processes as they take place inside a fetal brain.

Often, scientists can instead learn the role an individual gene plays by observing what happens when that gene is knocked out of cells in a lab dish. But knocking out 425 genes one by one is time-consuming.

For their study, Pasca and his colleagues used a technique they developed six years ago that allowed them to test all 425 genes at once. They engineered the cells so that only those nerve cells that inhibit others from firing would cast a green glow. They also used the gene-editing system CRISPR to create different cells, each missing one of the 425 genes.

The scientists created clumps of cells that model the structures and functions of the brain’s subpallium and cerebral cortex. Then they placed the two different clumps beside each other in a lab dish.

“We discovered that if you put them together in close proximity, they’ll fuse immediately,” Pasca said. “And the cells know exactly what to do … and they invade the cortex exactly as they would in people.”

This was all the more remarkable because in living brains, the region of the subpallium that makes interneurons is not right next to the cerebral cortex, but is inches away, Pasca said.

Pasca and his colleagues allowed time for interneurons to form and migrate to the cerebral cortex. Then they examined the genetic profiles of the various cells. This allowed them to hunt for the genes that caused two defects: the failure to generate interneurons and the failure of interneurons to journey into the cerebral cortex.

They found 13 genes whose absence prevented interneurons from forming. They identified another 33 genes that, when missing, prevented interneurons from traveling to the cerebral cortex. All told, 46 genes — 11 percent of the 425 linked to neurodevelopmental disorders — appeared to affect the nerve cells that inhibit their neighbors, leading to an imbalance.

The scientists learned that one of the genes crucial to the migration of interneurons, LNPK, has been linked to seizure disorders. This would support the idea that seizures result from too much excitation of neurons and too little inhibition.

A new, more diverse human genome offers hope for rare genetic diseases

Using the fused clumps of cells, the researchers “performed by far the largest screen for autism and [neurodevelopmental disorder] genes,” Guo-li Ming, a professor in the departments of neuroscience and psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, wrote in an email commenting on the study.

Ming, who was not involved in the project, described it as a “tour-de-force” that may one day lead researchers to develop treatments for autism and other disorders — therapies based on the genetic profile of an individual patient.

The autism services cliff

Experts stressed that autism is not one disease, but a group of disorders. The neuron imbalance is only one of multiple possible causes.

Many people with autism, for example, have defects of the microglia, cells that regulate brain development, injury repair and maintenance of the networks that process information.

And genes alone cannot account for autism, said Yale’s McPartland. “It’s complicated, and it’s fascinating. You can have [autism in] identical twins and they almost always will both have autism. But not always.”

Jennifer Singh, an autism expert and associate professor in the school of history and sociology at Georgia Institute of Technology, said too much money has been poured into searching for the genetic underpinnings of autism spectrum disorder. Singh pointed to a 2018 report by a federal advisory committee, which found that 60 percent of the funding for autism research addressed the biology and risk factors, but only 2 percent dealt with “life span issues” for people living with the spectrum of disorders .

“This hyper focus and massive investment obscures the real issues people with autism and their families face,” Singh wrote in an email. She cited the “autism services cliff,” which occurs when people with autism can no longer attend public school. “Services that would be useful for autistic adults do not exist or are no longer available,” she said.

Pasca said that it’s important to study “the natural history of the disease. But we also need to understand the biological basis if we want to develop effective [treatments].”

Scientists reveal two paths to autism in the developing brain

Two distinct neurodevelopmental abnormalities that arise just weeks after the start of brain development have been associated with the emergence of autism spectrum disorder, according to a new Yale-led study in which researchers developed brain organoids from the stem cells of boys diagnosed with the disorder.

And, researchers say, the specific abnormalities seem to be dictated by the size of the child's brain, a finding that could help doctors and researchers to diagnosis and treat autism in the future.

The findings were published Aug. 10 in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

"It's amazing that children with the same symptoms end up with two distinct forms of altered neural networks," said Dr. Flora Vaccarino, the Harris Professor in the Child Study Center at Yale School of Medicine and co-senior author of the paper.

Using stem cells collected from 13 boys diagnosed with autism -- including eight boys with macrocephaly, a condition in which the head is enlarged -- a Yale team created brain organoids (small, three-dimensional replicas of the developing brain) in a lab dish that mimic neuronal growth in the fetus. They then compared brain development of these affected children with their fathers. (Patients were recruited from clinician colleagues at the Yale Child Study Center, which conducts research, service, and training to improve understanding of health issues facing children and their families.)

The study was co-led by Alexandre Jourdon, Feinan Wu, and Jessica Mariani, all from Vaccarino's lab at the Yale School of Medicine.

About 20% of autism cases involve individuals with macrocephaly, a condition in which a child's head size is in the 90 th percentile or greater at birth. Among autism cases these tend to be more severe.

Intriguingly, the researchers found that children with autism and macrocephaly exhibited excessive growth of excitatory neurons compared with their fathers while organoids of other children with autism showed a deficit of the same type of neurons.

The ability to track the growth of specific types of neurons could help doctors diagnose autism, symptoms of which generally appear 18 to 24 months after birth, the authors say.

The findings may also help identify autism cases that might benefit from existing drugs designed to ameliorate symptoms of disorders marked by excessive excitatory neuron activity, such as epilepsy, Vaccarino said. Autism patients with macrocephaly might benefit from such drugs while those without enlarged brains may not, she said.

Creating biobanks of patient-derived stem cells could be essential to tailor therapeutics to specific individuals, or personalized medicine.

Abyzov Alexej, an associate professor of biomedical informatics at the Mayo Clinic, is co-senior author of the paper.

• Birth Defects
• Children's Health
• Brain Tumor
• Nervous System
• Learning Disorders
• Disorders and Syndromes
• Child Development
• Psychiatric service dog
• Adult stem cell
• Mental illness
• Autistic spectrum

Story Source:

Materials provided by Yale University . Original written by Bill Hathaway. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference :

• Alexandre Jourdon, Feinan Wu, Jessica Mariani, Davide Capauto, Scott Norton, Livia Tomasini, Anahita Amiri, Milovan Suvakov, Jeremy D. Schreiner, Yeongjun Jang, Arijit Panda, Cindy Khanh Nguyen, Elise M. Cummings, Gloria Han, Kelly Powell, Anna Szekely, James C. McPartland, Kevin Pelphrey, Katarzyna Chawarska, Pamela Ventola, Alexej Abyzov, Flora M. Vaccarino. Modeling idiopathic autism in forebrain organoids reveals an imbalance of excitatory cortical neuron subtypes during early neurogenesis . Nature Neuroscience , 2023; DOI: 10.1038/s41593-023-01399-0

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Brain cells, interrupted: How some genes may cause autism, epilepsy and schizophrenia

Jon Hamilton

New research probes the relationship between certain genes and brain disorders like autism and schizophrenia. Jill George / NIH hide caption

New research probes the relationship between certain genes and brain disorders like autism and schizophrenia.

A team of researchers has developed a new way to study how genes may cause autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders: by growing tiny brain-like structures in the lab and tweaking their DNA.

These "assembloids," described in the journal Nature , could one day help researchers develop targeted treatments for autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disability, schizophrenia, and epilepsy.

"This really accelerates our effort to try to understand the biology of psychiatric disorders," says Dr. Sergiu Pașca , a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University and an author of the study.

The research suggests that someday "we'll be able to predict which pathways we can target to intervene" and prevent these disorders, adds Kristen Brennand , a professor of psychiatry at Yale who was not involved in the work.

Shots - Health News

Researchers link autism to a system that insulates brain wiring.

The study comes after decades of work identifying hundreds of genes that are associated with autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders. But scientists still don't know how problems with these genes alter the brain.

"The challenge now is to figure out what they're actually doing, how disruptions in these genes are actually causing disease," Pașca says. "And that has been really difficult."

For ethical reasons, scientists can't just edit a person's genes to see what happens. They can experiment on animal brains, but lab animals like rodents don't really develop anything that looks like autism or schizophrenia.

So Pașca and a team of scientists tried a different approach, which they detailed in their new paper .

The team did a series of experiments using tiny clumps of human brain cells called brain organoids . These clumps will grow for a year or more in the lab, gradually organizing their cells much the way a developing brain would. And by exposing an organoid to certain growth factors, scientists can coax it into resembling tissue found in brain areas including the cortex and hippocampus.

"We can actually make different parts of the nervous system in a dish from stem cells ," Pașca says. When these parts are placed in the same dish, they will even form connections, much like an actual brain. The resulting structure is called an assembloid .

Pașca's team thought they could use assembloids to study how developmental disorder genes affect special brain cells called interneurons, which are thought to play a role in several psychiatric disorders.

Research News

The first wiring map of an insect's brain hints at incredible complexity.

During pregnancy and the first two years of life, these special cells must complete a remarkable journey.

"Interneurons are born in deep regions of the brain, and then they have to migrate all the way to the cortex," Pașca says. "So you can imagine that during that migration a lot of things could go awry."

Pașca's team simulated the migration of interneurons by creating assembloids containing two types of organoids. One resembled an area deep in the brain called the subpallium, where most interneurons are generated. The other organoid resembled the cerebral cortex, where interneurons are supposed to end up.

"And then we've put them together, allowing these interneurons to move towards the cerebral cortex," he says.

The process worked just the way it's supposed to in assembloids containing typical organoids. So next, the team used a gene-editing technique called CRISPR to alter the organoids.

This approach allowed the team to study the effect of more than 400 genes associated with neurodevelopmental disorders. And they found that 46 of those genes were involved in either the generation of interneurons, or with their migration. Knock out a part of those genes and interneurons no longer arrived where they were supposed to.

In the cerebral cortex, interneurons serve as inhibitory neurons, which means they act a bit like the brake in a car. The interneurons can release a neurotransmitter that tells other neurons to reduce their activity.

Meanwhile, excitatory neurons act as the accelerator, telling other cells to become more active.

Brain networks rely on a delicate balance between excitatory and inhibitory neurons. Too much acceleration and the result can be an epileptic seizure. Too much brake and vital information may get lost or delayed.

Want to understand your adolescent? Get to know their brain

The study is important because it offers a way for scientists to study the effect of many genes at the same time, and identify the ones that affect a particular type of cell or cell function during brain development, says Dr. Guo-li Ming , a professor of neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine.

The research also shows clearly how gene variants could lead to autism or some other neurodevelopmental disorder by disturbing interneurons.

"That would be a disaster" in a developing brain, Ming says. "The circuitry would be wrong and the signaling would be wrong, and ultimately the brain functioning would be wrong."

Ming, who was not connected with study, says her lab would like to use the combination of assembloids and CRISPR in their own research on schizophrenia, another psychiatric disorder with a neurodevelopmental origin.

Pașca's study could help brain scientists make the sort of advances that cancer researchers have in the past few decades, says Brennand.

"Thirty years ago, we might have thought all intestinal cancers should be treated the same way and all lung cancers should be treated the same way," she says. "Now we know a lot better."

Instead of choosing treatments according to the location of a cancer, doctors study a tumor's genes to determine which therapy is most likely to work. A similar approach could eventually help people with autism spectrum disorder, epilepsy, and schizophrenia, Brennand says.

"This improved genetic understanding will let us do better," she says, "because we'll know which pathways we can target to intervene."

• brain disorders
• autism spectrum disorder
• neurobiology
• genetic research
• schizophrenia
• neuroscience

Autism Research in 2022

Written by staff and the SAB of the Autism Science Foundation

COVID Recovery Was Slow, But Scientific Progress Continues

After two grueling pandemic years, 2022 saw a return to quasi-normalcy in both the world at large and in the world of autism research. Although the pandemic was incredibly challenging for autism families and researchers, the pivot to telehealth led to advances in online autism diagnoses, mental health supports, and interventions that will likely benefit autistic people across the globe for years to come.

Autism scientists working in diverse areas of research made important strides this year and continued to gain valuable insights into every facet of autism. They also identified more effective ways to support people on the spectrum. Researchers developed a better understanding of the unique needs and priorities of specific groups of autistic people , better-defined links between biological mechanisms and behavior , and disparities in autism diagnosis and treatment.

This work was only possible because of families like yours: You actively participated in important research studies. You agreed to have your data shared with others. You donated. You advocated. Your U.S. tax dollars supported $100 million of NIH grants funded in 2022 . 

Autism science simply cannot progress without your continued partnership. Earlier this year, ASF launched a “ Participate in Research ” directory to match families with research studies that meet your needs and interests. Many of these studies offer compensation, and can also provide valuable information and resources to aid your family member. The goal is to use the information gleaned from research to improve the real lives of real people, both now and in the future.

Here’s a little bit of what 2022 taught us.

Early identification leads to earlier diagnosis, but diagnosis happens at all ages

• Developmental milestones are skills that most children reach at a certain age and are used by healthcare providers to track progress. This year, the CDC updated these milestones to track what 75% of children can do by certain ages, rather than 50%, causing some pushback. In addition, the CDC added new time points as well as markers that might predict an autism diagnosis. 1
• In autism, reaching developmental milestones can be delayed from months to years. Delays are often more severe and variable in those with co-occurring intellectual disability and a rare genetic variant. New research reinforced the need to focus on milestones and the importance of early intervention.: If you notice your infant is struggling with new skills, tell your healthcare provider. 2
• Language skills in infants are an important predictor of an ASD diagnosis. Recent work from the ASF-supported Baby Siblings Research Consortium (BSRC) showed that maternal education levels and early gestures are important predictors of these language skills, suggesting markers for intervention. 3
• Researchers have suggested that early behaviors that are predictive of a later diagnosis may be part of a larger “developmental cascade,” where, for example, the trajectory from laying to sitting to language may be disrupted. These are intertwined behavioral and neurobiological networks that affect how a person with autism functions. 4
• There are now multiple biomarkers under investigation. Some are better than others at not just autism diagnosis, but the response to intervention. 5 In the future, they can be used to promote earlier diagnosis and more objective measures of the effectiveness of interventions.

Key takeaways: Parents and clinicians should monitor developmental milestones early in life. Early signs are not a substitute for a diagnosis, but some supports and interventions can be provided that allow for an improvement of trajectories across the lifespan.

Parent-mediated interventions and training – they work.

• A review of 30 studies showed promising results from parent-mediated interventions, but improvements in studies are still needed. 6
• Parent-mediated interventions can be used for teaching everything from core autism symptoms to self-care like tooth brushing. 7
• Autism interventions can and should be customized to culture and race. 8,9
• Some parent-mediated interventions have been tested successfully in a hybrid format, leading the way for others to investigate their effect on parent and child outcomes. 10
• While some have suggested parents only recognize the weaknesses in their children, recent research strongly notes that parents know their child’s strengths and use those strengths to help support their family.  Educators also note these strengths in the classroom. 11,12
• Siblings play an important role in the outcome of autistic individuals, while they also experience unique challenges themselves. 13,14

Key takeaways: Parents and caregivers often feel helpless when they are concerned about their child’s development and are facing long waiting lists for services. New research shows that providing support is beneficial for both the parents and the child outcome, and elevates strengths while mitigating support challenges. Further research should continue to explore the role of sibling relationships and support.

The brain has a distinct “signature” and sensory issues are on the front line

• One type of immune cell of the brain called the microglia has been known to affect cell communication, shape, and number. Researchers have now determined when and where these cells are expressed during development, laying the foundation for research into a critical brain cell type. 17
• The greatest differences in gene expression in the brain are in sensory areas like the visual cortex. 15 This may explain the almost universal problems in sensory processing that autistic individuals experience, and why sensory problems are so common in ASD. 18
• The visual area, specifically the occipital cortex, was also enlarged at young ages, more so in kids who have siblings with a diagnosis, demonstrating that genetic heritability plays a role in brain activity involved in sensory processing in families. 19
• A new marker of sensory processing was detected: differences in the activity of a neurotransmitter called GABA. GABA commonly slows down the activity of brain cells, which is important when they are too active, indicating this neurotransmitter is critical for sensory processing. Changing the activity of GABA neurons can alleviate sensory problems in autistic individuals. 20
• In addition, changes in the thickness of different cortical regions may influence sensory responses, depending on whether there is overstimulation or understimulation. 21
• Another brain region called the amygdala may relate to anxiety in autistic people. Certain areas of the amygdala are different in size, 22 and can explain variability in anxiety. 23   There is also disruption in connectivity from the amygdala to outside regions, 24 which may also explain how anxiety interacts with autism features.
• Rather than examining one autism feature at a time, it seems that ability to make gains or show potential for change over time is correlated to differences in brain structure. Markers of change over time are also linked to genes associated with ASD. 25 Targets of intervention based on biological markers may need to focus on sensitivity to change rather than a specific number on an instrument per se.
• The use of biological tools has increased this year. These tools include induced pluripotent stem cells (IPSCs) and organoids that are based on cells from individuals with different forms of ASD. Studies have looked at different types of autism (idiopathic and genetically-based) and identified creation of new brain cells as a common biological mechanism. 26 New studies also used novel tools to improve the validity of these cell-based systems. 27
• Animal models can be used to identify mechanisms by which genes and environmental factors exert their influence over behavior. Right now, there are hundreds of animal models of ASD, but not all of them are used appropriately to understand ASD. The ability of the model to recapitulate both the biology and behavior involved in ASD is essential. 28

Key takeaways: While different brain regions are specialized in their function, they interconnect and turn on and off in synchrony. Researchers need better models of human neurobiology, including better animal models, to understand the core and associated autism features, from sensory dysfunction to GI issues. If you want to learn more about research involving the brains of people with autism, sign up for more information at Autism BrainNet .

Genetic markers start to explain phenotype.

• The presence of rare genetic variants and common variants tend to funnel people into groups defined by intellectual disability (ID) or high educational attainment. 29,30 Scientists have identified and characterized two major types of genetic variation associated with ASD. Rare genetic variants are commonly associated with lower cognitive function and profound autism, but that is not always the case. 31  Even with hundreds of thousands of samples, scientists have still not found a direct gene – outcome linkage.  However, genetics are still important.  Genetic findings can help identify specific needs leading to appropriate supports.
• Certain types of gene mutations can explain associations with features like psychosis, 32 as well as obesity and depression. 33
• Five new variants were identified that are not linked to intellectual or developmental disability (IDD), but are linked to other neuropsychiatric issues besides ASD. 31,34 Therefore, rare ASD or DD gene mutations usually lead to some sort of deleterious outcome.
• There is a significant overlap between ASD genes and genes associated with developmental disorders in general. Researchers suggest that autism specificity may be the result of when the gene is expressed. For example, in developmental disorders, genes are expressed in progenitor cells while in ASD they may be expressed in developing neurons. 35  
• Other studies have not found any ASD-specific gene, they show linkage to neurodevelopmental problems in general, and can be grouped based on what cells are affected. 35
• There are shared pathways between ASD and other neuropsychiatric disorders. 36  
• Studies have shown linkages between epilepsy, ASD and ADHD. 37

Key takeaways: Genetic markers associated with ASD are also associated with other developmental conditions like ADHD and intellectual disability, as well as comorbid conditions like obesity. Two major types of genetic markers, rare and common variations, may represent biomarkers of two different phenotypes, but there is overlap, and rare and common variants are likely mixed in most people. Genetic research is important for a better understanding of ASD and the development of individualized approaches for supports.

But genetics doesn’t tell it all.

• Parental genetics and environmental factors are intertwined on a biological level. Genes associated with depression in parents are also linked to ASD. 38
• Maternal immune infections are an established risk factor for ASD. However, the genetics of children with and without maternal immune challenges during pregnancy are different. 39
• Studies in Norway offer a unique perspective of gestational exposures by banking blood taken mid-pregnancy during usual obstetrical visits. One study has shown that certain cytokines, or markers of immune activity, are elevated during pregnancy in both boys and girls with autism, particularly in girls. It’s unclear what role these cytokines play collectively or individually, or where they came from in the first place. 40
• Where you live can affect the role of genes vs. environment, evidenced by environmental factors playing a bigger role in heritability in certain areas of Sweden and the U.K. 41
• Genetics and the environment clearly interact when it comes to the influence of an ASD diagnosis. For example, pesticide exposure exacerbated the effects of the autism CHD8 gene on rodent behavior. 42
• The role of environmental factors may depend not just on a diagnosis but on specific autism traits. 43
• Given that autism is likely part of a larger developmental disorder spectrum, regulation of toxic chemicals which are harmful to development must be expanded. 44

Key takeaways: The role of environmental factors in ASD has often been disassociated with genetics when it should be integrated into the understanding of autism’s causes, behavioral features, and interventions.

Biological sex plays a role.

• Studies replicated this year showed that females with autism have a higher burden of rare genetic mutations. In addition, research is demonstrating that females with an autism diagnosis also show a higher level of “common” variations. 29,45
• The effect of higher levels of common variation in females extends to even undiagnosed members of ASD-impacted families, demonstrating that females carrying ASD genetic variation are resilient. 45
• The two above studies implicate an important role of the female protective effect but do not explain all of the differences in diagnosis. 46
• Some scientists have wondered if biases in instruments used to inform a diagnosis play a role in the sex difference. One study used a mathematical algorithm to eliminate the difference in M:F diagnostic differences, but still, females show different behavioral profiles. This further reiterates that instruments should be used to inform, not make a diagnosis, and that autism is more than a yes or no diagnosis. 47
• Clinicians may miss an autism diagnosis in females because of camouflage. Females are also more likely to camouflage, which means they (consciously or unconsciously) pretend to fit in as a typically-developing girl. This leads to lower quality of life. 48
•  Intellectual disability plays a bigger role in autism features in girls vs. boys. 49
•  New genetic mutations involving the X chromosome were identified – and these mutations are more likely to occur in females. 35
• Sex differences in brain region size can be attributed to gene expression patterns. In other words, brain differences in males and females with ASD are due, in part, to underlying genetics. 50

Key takeaways: Females with ASD show different biological and behavioral profiles and are understudied in research and underserved in the community. Future research should aim to include more females to better understand their unique needs and provide targeted support.

It’s still not over, but families are in a better place than a year ago.

• Despite a rocky start at the height of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, opportunities to receive autism diagnoses, mental health supports, and interventions via telehealth have been improved, and polished, and are not only acceptable to families and clinicians but are effective. 51-57
• Families and clinicians were happier with remote diagnosis and evaluation when the diagnosis was clear; in cases where there was some ambiguity, it caused frustration. 58,59
• While many families and individuals experienced a mental health decline during the pandemic, some exhibited resiliency under social distancing guidelines. 60 The differences could be due to the degree to which services were lost, coping styles, and pre-existing mental health attributes. 61

Key takeaways: Autism families suffered during the pandemic, but it also allowed for new approaches to be developed that may ultimately improve practice – including hybrid clinical services, holistic family support, and more comprehensive diagnostic practices.

It’s not all about the asd.

• Individuals with ASD experience higher levels of anxiety, GI issues, epilepsy, and other developmental disorders like ADHD compared to those without a diagnosis.
• While not a core autism symptom, anxiety is linked to insistence on sameness in toddlers with ASD, which indicates a similar underlying mechanism. 62
• Gastrointestinal issues plague people with autism, and there are few options for treatment. The gastrointestinal microbiome has been a target for intervention for autism symptoms, although studies are still ongoing. 63 GI issues were the focus of a major NIH-funded meeting this year .
• Suicide risk is higher in ASD. 64
• Sleep problems, while mostly studied in children, are now shown to follow kids into adolescence and adulthood. 65
• There is a high degree of overlap in the brain activity profiles between ADHD and ASD kids. Differences are mostly seen when symptom severity is accounted for. ADHD and ASD show more similarities in the brain than differences. 66
• Behavioral profiles between ADHD and ASD are also similar. 67
• Mental health concerns are present in adolescents and adults with ASD with cognitive inflexibility strongly linked to compromised mental health. 68,69 Cognitive inflexibility, which is different than cognitive ability, is how someone shifts their attention from one thing to another based on what is going on around them. This may be a focus for future mental health interventions.
• Unfortunately there are no strong individual-level predictors in childhood of mental health issues in adults, but some factors that may lead to better mental health are better living skills and higher IQ. 70

Key takeaways: Outside the core features of autism listed in the DSM5, individuals experience a wide range of associated features, ranging from psychiatric issues to medical comorbidities. For many individuals, these associated features are highly debilitating.

Biases in underserved communities are getting more attention.

• A recent analysis showed a reduction of the disparities in the age of ASD diagnosis for Black and Hispanic children over the last four years, but a difference still exists. 71
• This is likely due to provider bias, but not necessarily diagnostic instrument biases. The standard diagnostic tools are not biased toward race or sex. 72
•  Lessons learned from the pandemic reiterate the need for intense community engagement, flexibility, and an understanding that a holistic approach – rather than one focused on ASD – is necessary for working with underserved communities 73,74 .
• A culturally-adapted parent training program delivered by Black providers was effective in the Black community and could be a model for future engagement efforts. 8
• Only 25% of intervention studies report the ethnic and racial makeup of their participants, 75 indicating that researchers need to do a better job of deliberately including racial and ethnic minorities, recruiting them as research leads and coordinators, and including them on boards for scientific review. 76
• Low socioeconomic status contributes to social and communication deficits in young children with ASD. 77

Key takeaways: Racial and ethnic biases are still pervasive in autism research and diagnosis, and we need a holistic approach to support families in all aspects of their lives beyond just autism symptoms. Scientists must continue to focus on the deliberate inclusion of these groups in both research and career training to better serve all individuals with autism.

On a final note, there has been a lot of debate this year about the language used to describe autism. 78-81 There is a diversity of experiences with autism and likely to be a diversity of perspectives. Families and scientists should use scientifically accurate terms to best describe the wide range of autistic people and their symptoms. 82   What that is may differ from person to person, and situation to situation, which means context and preference need to be considered as well.

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Where are you on your autism journey?

New Research May Change How We Think About the Autism Spectrum

Insar keynote suggests brain differences correlate with cognition—not diagnosis..

Posted May 16, 2022 | Reviewed by Davia Sills

• What Is Autism?
• Find a therapist to help with autism
• Dr. Evdokia Anagnostou presented the results of neuroimaging studies at the International Society for Autism Research 2022 annual meeting.
• Of note, brain differences clustered along dimensions of cognition and hyperactivity, not diagnosis.
• These findings suggest we need to reconsider how we classify neurodivergence.

University of Toronto child neurologist Evdokia Anagnostou dropped a bombshell in her keynote Saturday at the annual meeting of the International Society of Autism Research (INSAR) in Austin, Texas, which may call into question the validity of the autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis.

What Brain Scans Tell Us About Autism Spectrum Disorder

Anagnostou and her colleagues had set out to use neuroimaging to identify brain differences unique to ASD, as compared to other neurodevelopmental differences like ADHD , OCD , and intellectual disability. And they did find that brain differences clustered into different groups—but not by diagnosis. In fact, brain scans could not distinguish children who had been diagnosed with ASD from those who had been diagnosed with ADHD or OCD.

“Dr. Anagnostou reported data from multiple papers that looked at over 3,500 children,” Dr. Alycia Halladay, Chief Science Officer at the Autism Science Foundation, explained to me. “These studies looked at multiple structural and functional features of the brain—including cortical gyrification (the way the brain folds in the cortex), connectivity of different brain regions, and the thickness of the cortical area—and found no differences based on diagnosis.”

Groupings did emerge, but they were along totally different axes. Added Halladay, “The brains themselves were more similar based on cognitive ability, hyperactivity, and adaptive behavior.” In other words, the brains of mildly affected autistic children looked much more like the brains of kids with ADHD than they did like those of severely autistic children.

Validity of the Autism Spectrum Diagnosis May Be at Stake

If replicated, these findings could have tremendous implications for our current diagnostic framework. During the question and answer period following her talk, Anagnostou described two children who both carried the diagnosis of autism; one was very mildly affected, while the other had such disordered behavior that “even their bus driver knows” he is autistic. “Should these kids have the same diagnosis?” she asked.

Right now, they do—but there has been a growing dissatisfaction among many stakeholders in the autism community with the American Psychiatric Association’s introduction of the all-encompassing ASD diagnosis in the 2013 revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5) to replace more narrowly defined categories, including Asperger syndrome, pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS), and childhood disintegrative disorder.

In 2021, the Lancet Commission —a group of 32 researchers, clinicians, autistic individuals, and family members—called for the creation of a new label, “profound autism,” that would carve out those autistic individuals who also suffer from cognitive and language impairments and require round-the-clock supervision. “Anagnostou’s data converge nicely with the Lancet Commission’s proposal,” Halladay observed. “They provide biological evidence for a category that was originally defined solely by external criteria.”

At the very least. The real question is whether this work demands an even more radical re-imagining of our classification of neurodevelopmental differences. If, as Anagnostou’s data demonstrates, cognition and hyperactivity are much more correlated with brain difference than variables like social deficit that have been considered core symptoms of autism, then perhaps it’s time to scrap our current model and introduce new diagnoses based on these more salient dimensions. Aligning our diagnostic system with underlying biology is the first step in the development of targeted interventions for some of the most intractable and dangerous behaviors exhibited by the developmentally disabled, such as aggression , elopement, self-injury , and pica (the compulsion to eat inedible objects).

As Anagnostou opened her talk, “Nature doesn’t read the DSM.” But, as our understanding of the brain advances, shouldn’t the DSM reflect these divisions in nature?

Amy S.F. Lutz, Ph.D. , is a historian of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the author of We Walk: Life with Severe Autism (2020) and Each Day I Like It Better: Autism, ECT, and the Treatment of Our Most Impaired Children (2014) . She is also the Vice-President of the National Council on Severe Autism (NCSA).

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Autism Spectrum Disorder in 2023: A Challenge Still Open

Annio posar.

1 IRCCS Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna, UOSI Disturbi dello Spettro Autistico, Bologna, Italy

2 Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences, Bologna University, Bologna, Italy

Paola Visconti

In this paper, we provide an update on autism spectrum disorder (ASD), including epidemiology, etiopathogenesis, clinical presentation, instrumental investigations, early signs, onset patterns, neuropsychological hypotheses, treatments, and long-term outcome. The prevalence of this condition has increased enormously over the last few decades. This increase prompted a search for possible environmental factors whose effects would add up to a genetic predisposition leading to the development of autism. But the genetic and environmental variables involved are extremely numerous, and conclusive data regarding the etiopathogenesis are still far away. Assuming that a well-defined etiology is still found today only in a minority of cases, numerous pathogenetic mechanisms have been hypothesized. Among these, we mention oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, alteration of the intestinal microbiota, immune dysregulation, and neuroinflammation. These pathogenetic mechanisms could alter epigenetic status and gene expression, finally leading to ASD. Inherent in the term spectrum is the great clinical heterogeneity of this condition, mainly due to the frequent comorbidity that characterizes it. The earlier the diagnosis is made and the earlier psychoeducational treatment begins, the better the prognosis. In this sense, the role of pediatricians can be decisive in making children with signs suggestive of autism undergo a specialist diagnostic course. The development of increasingly advanced cognitive-behavioral educational techniques has considerably improved the prognosis of affected individuals, even though only a small minority of them come off the autistic spectrum. Pharmacological therapies are used to treat comorbidities. During childhood, the most important prognostic factor for long-term outcome seems to be intellectual functioning.

Introduction

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5), autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is an early-onset, mostly lifelong condition characterized by persisting deficits in social-communication skills (including social-emotional reciprocity, nonverbal communication, and developing/maintaining relationships) and restricted, repetitive behaviors (including stereotypies, insistence on sameness, highly restricted and fixated interests, and sensory abnormalities). Symptoms are present early in development and cause significant impairments in social and occupational functioning. ASD symptoms are not better explained by intellectual disability or global developmental delay, and this is a very important concept in order to avoid confusing these conditions. However, ASD often co-occurs with intellectual disability; comorbid diagnoses of ASD and intellectual disability are possible only when social communication skills are lower than expected in relation to the general developmental level. According to DSM-5, 3 levels of severity of ASD have been established: level 1 (requiring support), level 2 (requiring substantial support), and level 3 (requiring very substantial support). 1 The choice made in the DSM-5 to cancel the subdivision into the 5 diagnostic categories established by the DSM-IV (autistic disorder, Rett’s disorder, childhood disintegrative disorder, Asperger’s disorder, and pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified), 2 unifying everything under the term ASD, 1 has not been without criticism, and it is hoped that it will be corrected in the next edition of the DSM. 3 Despite various attempts to find a biological marker, today, the diagnosis of ASD is still based solely on clinical criteria. 1

From a historical perspective, the first reports of children with autism have been till today attributed by most authors to Leo Kanner (1943) 4 and Hans Asperger (1944), 5 but in reality, the first to describe this condition in a scientific journal was a woman, Grunya Efimovna Sukhareva, who in 1926 reported 6 boys with autism (which today would be defined “high functioning”), providing a lot of clinical details, including sensory abnormalities, 6 , 7 which acquired their proper weight only in the DSM-5’s description of ASD. 1

As concerns ASD etiopathogenesis, while in the past the psychogenetic theories prevailed, today we know that ASD is a condition with a neurobiological basis. The etiology is multifactorial and is characterized by an interaction between genetic and environmental factors. 8

In this narrative review, we aim to provide an update about this condition, considering epidemiology, etiopathogenesis, clinical presentation, instrumental investigations, early signs and onset patterns, neuropsychological hypotheses, treatments, and long-term outcome.

Epidemiology and Etiopathogenesis of Autism Spectrum Disorder

According to the most recent epidemiological studies carried out in the United States, ASD recurs in 1 in 36 children at age 8, and it is about 4 times more frequent among males than females. 9 The prevalence of this condition has increased enormously over the last few decades; This increase would be to some extent apparent as there is now greater awareness of this condition, but it would be largely real. 10 This last aspect prompted a search for possible environmental factors whose effects would add up to a genetic predisposition leading to the development of autism. 8 Indeed, early exposure, in particular during pregnancy and in the first year of extrauterine life, to air pollutants (especially particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter ≤2.5 μm) 11 or to agricultural pesticides 12 is associated with a higher risk for ASD.

But the genetic and environmental variables involved are extremely numerous, and conclusive data regarding the etiopathogenesis of ASD are still far away. Assuming that a well-defined etiology is still found today only in a minority of cases with ASD, numerous pathogenetic mechanisms have been hypothesized and supported by interesting data. Among these mechanisms, we mention oxidative stress, 13 , 14 mitochondrial dysfunction, 15 alteration of the gut microbiota (see the wide variety of microorganisms colonizing the human gastrointestinal tract), 16 immune dysregulation, 17 and neuroinflammation. 14 Note that these mechanisms are not mutually exclusive but could act in synergy with each other, leading to the development of ASD. 8 In reality, the true meaning of the alterations to these mechanisms has yet to be understood. Let us take the example of the gut microbiota: are the alterations found in subjects with ASD the cause of the disorder or its consequence, taking into account the food selectivity they often display and their propensity to bring inedible objects to their mouths? 18

A key to understanding how these pathogenetic mechanisms could act is given by the concept of epigenetics. Epigenetics is a crucial gene regulation system based on chemical changes in DNA and histone proteins without altering the sequence of DNA. The abovementioned pathogenic mechanisms could alter epigenetic status and gene expression, finally leading to ASD. Also, some environmental factors, including heavy metals (e.g., lead) and endocrine disrupting chemicals (e.g., pesticides), could directly or indirectly modify the epigenetic status. 19 , 20

However, the fact that, according to the most recent studies, the prevalence of ASD in males is confirmed (male-to-female ratio = 3.8) 9 suggests that, in the etiopathogenesis of the disorder, genetics still outweighs acquired factors.

We dedicate a last mention to the so-called syndromic autism. It describes the minority of individuals with ASD who present comorbid features and/or a putative genetic etiology. This concept has been deeply criticized, also because it has no single definition, and is probably destined to fall into disuse. 21 We have preferred not to use it in this review.

Heterogeneity of Autism Spectrum Disorder Clinical Presentation

Inherent in the term “spectrum” is the great clinical heterogeneity of this condition. The range of possible impairments in ASD goes from severe disability with almost complete absence of personal autonomy to a so-called high-functioning condition in which the individual can have normal or even higher-than-normal intellectual functioning and can play a role of responsibility in the social context. 3 The considerable heterogeneity of the ASD clinical picture is mainly due to the frequent comorbidity that characterizes it. Intellectual disability, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), insomnia, mood disorders, and epilepsy are just some of the possible neuropsychiatric comorbidities. Also, medical comorbidities, in particular gastroenterological ones (including celiac disease), can complicate the clinical picture of individuals with ASD. 3 , 22

Another element of clinical heterogeneity is given by the possible presence of sensory abnormalities that are very often found in subjects with ASD, especially in the first years of life, leading to a distortion of the perception of reality and representing the possible key to understanding many of their atypical behaviors (e.g., attraction to artificial lights, annoyance for crowded environments, food selectivity) and also of the so-called challenging behaviors (e.g., auto- or hetero-aggressiveness, throwing things, tantrums). 23 An impairment of multimodal integration (i.e., the ability to integrate information coming from different sensory channels: visual, auditory, somatosensory, etc.) has also been implicated. 23 In this regard, functional magnetic resonance imaging studies have highlighted elements that suggest an alteration of brain long-range connectivity in individuals with ASD, 24 which could lead precisely to an impairment of this integration capacity.

Instrumental Investigations in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder

From the point of view of the etiological diagnosis, nowadays it seems essential to carry out the following investigations: hearing evaluation through behavioral audiometry or, if not possible, through an auditory brainstem response (ABR) test; genetic tests (array-based comparative genomic hybridization, or array CGH; in males, molecular search for fragile X syndrome; and in some cases, next generation sequencing); electroencephalogram possibly also during sleep, even in the absence of overt clinical seizures, in particular to rule out electroclinical conditions such as continuous spikes and waves during slow sleep (CSWS), which are potentially treatable with a drug therapy. 25 Common neuroimaging techniques, and in particular brain magnetic resonance imaging, are usually normal or at most show nonspecific findings; 26 therefore, they should be performed only in some cases, including: a clinical history characterized by marked and persisting neurocognitive deterioration; the presence of clear neurological signs (macrocrania or microcrania, cerebral palsy, dystonia, etc.); a genetic condition that notoriously predisposes to a brain malformation; epileptic seizures; an electroencephalogram showing relevant alterations such as focal paroxysmal abnormalities or asymmetries of the electrogenesis. At the conclusion of the etiological workup, genetic counseling is recommendable, even though instrumental investigations have not shown any significant results, aiming also at calculating the risk of recurrence of ASD (or other neurodevelopmental disorders) in the family.

Early Signs and Onset Patterns of Autism Spectrum Disorder

A reasonable diagnostic suspicion of ASD can usually be placed around 18 months of age, while a definitive diagnosis of ASD can commonly be made within 3 years of age. There are several tools for early screening of ASD; one of the most used is still today the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT). 27 To make the final diagnosis of ASD as objective as possible, standardized assessment tools are used today, such as the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule—Second Edition (ADOS-2), 28 and Autism Diagnostic Interview—Revised (ADI-R). 29 In this context, the time factor is very important. 27 The earlier the diagnosis is made and the earlier psychoeducational treatment begins, the better the prognosis. 30 In this sense, the role of pediatricians can be decisive in making children with signs suggestive of ASD undertake a specialist diagnostic course. Nowadays, several ASD screening tests for pediatricians are available, none of which, however, is without setbacks; they represent useful tools but should not be considered the only source of information in order to decide whether to start a diagnostic workup in a center specialized in neurodevelopmental disorders. For this purpose, it is very important to pay attention to all possible warning signs reported by parents as well as to directly observe the behavior of the child. 27 In infants, even before a possible speech delay becomes evident, the most indicative signs of ASD are strictly related to social-communication skills as follows: looking at the faces of others; orienting to name; presence of joint attention (i.e., the ability to share focus with others on 1 object); affect sharing; and imitation. 31 When some of these behaviors are lacking, a specific assessment is mandatory. Further, let us not forget that the core signs of autism are not infrequently preceded by signs of impaired motor development, 32 such as motor delay, mostly slight, 33 hypotonia, 34 walking on tiptoes, and/or clumsiness. 1 Therefore, the presence of an early motor impairment, even if mild, should be included among the first signs that could lead to a timely ASD diagnosis. 32

Several different ASD onset patterns have been reported. The most frequent are the “early-onset” pattern, characterized by social-communication deficits developing in the first year or so, and the “regressive autism”, characterized by an onset of autistic signs in the second year, mostly at 16-20 months, associated with a loss of social-communication skills. Another onset pattern is characterized by mixed features: first delay and later loss of social communication skills. There is also an onset pattern named “developmental plateau”, characterized first by normal social development and/or non-specific abnormalities (involving also feeding or sleep), and later by a lack of new acquisitions on the socio-communicative level. 31

Neuropsychological Hypotheses About Autism Spectrum Disorder

From a neuropsychological point of view, 3 main hypotheses have been developed to explain cognitive dysfunction in individuals with ASD. 35 First, failure of theory of mind refers to the inability to interpret the behaviors of others based on their feelings and beliefs and to identify their intentions and emotions, leading to social communication impairments. 36 , 37 Second, there is the hypothesis of a deficit of executive functions, which are a series of cognitive processes including attention, working memory, inhibitory control, planning, and cognitive flexibility that are crucial for adaptive behavior and social cognition skills. 38 , 39 Third, weak central coherence theory refers to the propension of individuals with ASD to use an information processing style that is excessively detail-oriented, 40 , 41 leading to an impairment of social interactions for which an adequate integration of diverse elements such as voice, mimicry, gestures, and environmental context is necessary. 41 This theory partly overlaps with what was mentioned above regarding the multimodal integration deficit and underlines once again the fact that, although visuospatial skills and attention to detail represent strengths in these subjects, when they have to integrate this type of stimuli with other types of stimuli, they may encounter great difficulty. 35

These 3 theories are not mutually exclusive. Each of them is able to explain a part of the autistic symptomatology, but none is able to give a complete explanation. 35

Treatments for Autism And Longterm Outcome

The development of increasingly advanced cognitive-behavioral educational techniques, of which the best known belong to applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy, has considerably improved the prognosis of affected individuals. Applied behavior analysis utilizes the principles of psychological learning theory in order to modify the behaviors usually present in subjects with ASD. In the 1970s, Ole Ivar Lovaas developed a method that was based on Burrhus Frederic Skinner’s operant conditioning theory, with the aim of changing behaviors and improving social interactions in children with ASD. During the past 60 years, ABA has changed considerably, evolving into many treatment practices, with the aim of dealing with the problems of individuals with ASD in all functioning domains, such as cognition, social skills, language, daily living skills, and challenging behaviors. 42 Today, only a small minority of these subjects come off the autistic spectrum, but almost all can improve considerably by increasing their level of autonomy. 43 After the diagnosis, psychoeducational and often emotional support are very important for parents. Several other interventions are used extensively around the world for children with ASD, although the evidence for their effectiveness does not match that of ABA. Occupational therapy interventions, in particular those using new technologies such as the computer, have shown positive effects on activities of daily living and social skills. 44 In the contest of occupational therapy, sensory integration interventions, in particular when using the principles proposed by Anna Jean Ayres (e.g., tailoring challenges to assure that they are slightly beyond the current performance level of the child), showed positive effects on participation in daily-life activities and routines. 45 Floortime, a relationship-based therapy, has shown that it can improve communication, emotional functioning, and daily living skills in children with ASD. 46

A pharmacological therapy for the core symptoms of autism does not exist. However, pharmacological therapies are used to treat comorbidities: for example, melatonin or (if not effective) niaprazine for sleep disorders, antiseizure drugs for epilepsy (the choice of drugs depends mainly on the type of epilepsy and possible behavioral undesirable effects), and methylphenidate for ADHD. In addition, drug therapy is used to treat challenging behaviors when cognitive-behavioral interventions have not produced adequate results. In these situations, atypical neuroleptics (e.g., risperidone and aripiprazole) are currently the most commonly often used drugs. Indeed, based on a recent systematic review and meta-analysis of antipsychotic medications in autism, there is some evidence for favorable effects of risperidone and aripiprazole on irritability and agitation in children with ASD. 47 However, we wish to underline that the use of pharmacotherapy should be resorted to only when there is a real need and, if possible, for limited periods of time.

Based on the hypothesis that children with ASD have increased levels of systemic heavy metals interfering with their neurodevelopment and leading to autism, in many of these patients, chelation therapy has been attempted using an agent that binds to the excess heavy metal, causing its excretion. Yet, clinical trials of this therapy in ASD are lacking. Based on literature data, in ASD there is no evidence for the effectiveness of chelation therapy, which is associated with very severe and potentially lethal side effects such as cardiac arrhythmias and hypocalcaemia. 48

Interesting findings are emerging regarding diet therapy. One recent systematic review and meta-analysis suggests that diet therapies (including ketogenic diets, gluten-free diets, and gluten-free and casein-free diets), may have favorable effects even on ASD core symptoms. However, more high-quality clinical trials are needed. 49

During childhood, the most important prognostic factor for long-term outcome seems to be intellectual functioning: the higher the intelligence quotient, the better the long-term evolution. But also, the presence of verbal language (although atypical) within 5-6 years of life appears to be a favorable prognostic factor. 43 Unfortunately, approximately 25%-30% of affected individuals develop very little to no verbal skills; they are called “minimally verbal” and usually show a poor long-term outcome. The severe deficit of communication skills (verbal and nonverbal) is very often the basis of the aforementioned challenging behaviors. Also for this reason, providing early non-speaker individuals with alternative means of communication, such as augmentative and alternative communication, is of paramount importance. 50

Conclusions

For professionals who deal with ASD, it is a frustrating situation to witness the growth in the prevalence of this condition without knowing exactly the reasons and consequently without having the most suitable tools to counter it, despite all the knowledge about the neurobiology of ASD that has accumulated over the last years. Today, however, it seems clear that genetic factors alone are unable to explain this phenomenon that some have called the “autism epidemic.” Therefore, in recent years, growing attention has been paid to the environmental factors that can trigger the mechanisms leading to the development of ASD. For these factors, actions of prevention could be very useful, but they require potentially unpopular political decisions whose possible effectiveness could be evaluated only in the long term. Unfortunately, nowadays we still know too little about environmental factors to undertake fully effective prevention actions.

From the research perspective, perhaps to better understand why a child develops an ASD, it would be interesting to study not only what is possibly missing in him/her (e.g., chromosomal deletion detected by the array CGH) or what malfunctions (e.g., focal paroxysmal abnormalities on the electroencephalogram), but also the existing possible protective factors, for example, in the genetic heritage of typically developing individuals and which would be missing in subjects with ASD. This research approach could provide very useful information in the future, but it would clearly be very complicated to put into practice.

The increasing prevalence of ASD clearly has a very negative impact on the public health service, due to the large human and material resources that must be employed to address the problem on the diagnostic and therapeutic sides. However, it should be clear that what we do for today’s autistic children will inevitably affect tomorrow’s autistic adults. Spending many resources on treatments for individuals with ASD in their developmental age in order to give them as much personal autonomy as possible, for example in terms of communication skills, is an investment for the future as it reduces the risk of challenging behaviors arising in adolescence or adulthood, which in turn involve the prolonged use of large resources.

Funding Statement

This study received no funding.

Peer-review: Externally peer-reviewed.

Author Contributions: Concept, Design, Writing, Literature Search – A.P.; Concept, Supervision, Critical Review – P.V.

Acknowledgment: The authors would like to thank Cecilia Baroncini for help in editing the text.

Declaration of Interests: The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.

College of Biological Sciences

New research suggests cerebellum may play important role in autism.

NIMH grant will fund studies on how autism risk gene impacts a crucial, but long-overlooked brain area

• by Douglas Fox
• April 02, 2024

Researchers in the College of Biological Sciences have received a grant to study the role of the cerebellum in autism. “We need a more holistic understanding of the brain circuits that drive this disorder,” says Alex Nord, an associate professor of neurobiology, physiology and behavior (NPB), and a researcher at the Center for Neuroscience (CNS). “The cerebellum is a key component that has been largely overlooked until recently.”

Nord partnered with Diasynou Fioravante, also an associate professor of NPB and CNS researcher, and received an R21 grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). Announced in November, it will provide $435,000 of funding over the next two years.

With this grant, they will study how a potent autism risk gene, called chromodomain helicase DNA binding protein 8 ( Chd8 ), alters function in the cerebellum, which plays a crucial role in physical movement, and how this drives autism-like behaviors. Their research ties together two emerging trends in autism research.

Surprising discoveries in autism

Researchers long believed that autism involved genes that regulate communications between neurons — especially the synapses, where neurotransmitters carry signals from one neuron to another. But starting in the early 2010s, genetic studies revealed that many autism risk genes actually play a very different role: they encode proteins that reside far from the synapses — in the cell’s nucleus, where the DNA is located, and regulate the activity of hundreds of other genes.

“This was a huge surprise,” says Nord. Chd8 , a typical member of this group, regulates how tightly DNA is packaged and coiled with proteins. As such, it may regulate many genes that govern the formation and function of synapses.

At the same time, another major area of study is advancing the field of autism research. Scientists had assumed that autism was driven by changes in the cerebral cortex, which performs all sorts of tasks, such as recognizing words and faces, and “executive function” — controlling working memory, guiding our spotlight of attention, and making choices — such as whether to act on the impulse to withdraw one's hand when an unfamiliar dog approaches.

But in 2012, researchers reported that mice with mild abnormalities in the cerebellum developed behaviors that resembled autism in humans, such as reduced social interaction with other mice. “The autism field was really rocked by this discovery,” says Fioravante.

People had previously believed that the cerebellum mainly coordinates body movements such as walking, speaking, and typing. “When you damage the cerebellum, it causes profound movement problems, and this probably made it difficult to see more subtle changes in behavior,” says Fioravante.

But she points out that the cerebellum has significant connections with brain structures like the prefrontal cortex, which guides executive function, and limbic system, which regulates sociability, mood and emotions . People with cerebellar injuries often show autism-like changes in their emotions and social interactions.

Then in 2017, Nord and his colleagues reported a discovery that tied together these two intriguing threads : they found that the autism risk gene Chd8 helped guide the development of the cerebellum. Mice with one non-functioning copy of the gene had smaller cerebella.

That discovery “planted the idea of our project,” says Fioravante. She and Nord sat in offices next door to one another. And while Nord studied Chd8 , she worked on the cerebellum. In 2021 they applied for, and received, an earlier NIMH grant, to study how Chd8 influences the development of the cerebellum in mice, before and shortly after birth. Fioravante also received a pilot grant from the Behavioral Health Center of Excellence at UC Davis that launched Chd8 cerebellar studies in adult mice.

Working on these earlier grants from 2021 to 2023, they found that Chd8 mutations in mice triggered changes in the cerebellum and in behavior that resemble what is seen in humans with autism. For example, mice with a mutant copy of the gene had impaired social cognition. While regular mice prefer to explore and interact with mice they have not met before, mice with mutant Chd8 had more restricted interests — preferring mice or objects that they already knew.

New targets for treatment

With the new grant, Fioravante and Nord will pick up where they left off. In adult mice with normally developed cerebella, they will use genetic tools to disrupt Chd8 . They will examine how loss of Chd8 alters gene expression and function in neurons of the cerebellum, and how the connections between it and other brain areas change. They will also study whether disruption of Chd8 causes autism-like behavioral changes, such as reduced social interaction with other mice, or reduced interest in novelty. Cesar Canales, an assistant professional researcher in NPB, who has expertise in cerebellar anatomy, will take part in these studies.

These experiments “will help shed light on the totality of what the cerebellum does,” says Fioravante — getting beyond the traditional narrow view that it mainly coordinates movement. The team also hopes to uncover new strategies for treating autism.

Although autism involves early brain development, the condition usually isn’t diagnosed until children are years older — when the abnormal brain connections are already established, potentially making treatment difficult.

In these upcoming studies, Nord and Fioravante hope to explore whether the treatment window for autism can be extended. “If we see changes in behavior or neural circuits when Chd8 is disrupted in the developed cerebellum, then we know there is a treatment target,” says Nord.

These studies could also shed light on schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder, which occur more frequently in people with mutations in this gene, says Nord: “It’s a molecular handle, an entry point into the pathophysiology of these other complex diseases.”

Media Resources

• Douglas Fox is a freelance science writer based in the Bay Area.
• Fioravante Lab
• Germline Chd8 haploinsufficiency alters brain development in mouse ( Nature Neuroscience 2017)
• Cognitive-affective functions of the cerebellum ( The Journal of Neuroscience 2023)

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A new understanding: how research into autism is evolving

With an emphasis on working with autistic people to design interventions, pathways are opening up through social communication therapy and drug trials

K irsty Orton didn’t mind whether her baby was autistic or not – she just wanted her 12-month-old to enjoy being with his mummy: to notice her when she came into the room. To meet her eye when she talked to him and to be able to communicate.

“All I wanted to do was be able to connect and bond with Fynn,” she said. “But when your baby looks everywhere else in the room except at you and stays in their own zone, like you’re completely unimportant to them, it’s upsetting in a way that I struggle to put into words.”

Orton reiterates that it wasn’t about not accepting the autism that runs in her family. “I was fine with that,”’ she said. “But Fynn’s lack of communication wasn’t safe for a child and would be even less safe as he grew up: you need to be able to communicate if there’s something you don’t like.”

Orton, who lives in Kent, turned to the internet and discovered the first experimental trial of a targeted social communication therapy programme for babies as young as 10 months old with an increased chance of developing autism.

The pilot therapy – still in its infancy – aims to support and maximise the babies’ communication and brain function by focusing on the one-to-one social interaction they receive in their first year with parents or carers. It hopes to change later behaviour too, as the child ages.

Led by Prof Jonathan Green and his colleagues, and based on work funded by the Medical Research Council, the charity Autistica and the national autism team at NHS England, the project claims to improve the developmental trajectory of babies. Autistic children will still have developmental differences but will be more easily social and able to engage.

“This is going to change our concept of what autism is,” said Green, a professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Manchester. “It will redirect our attention away from an idea of intrinsic social impairments and get us into a deeper level of what autism is really about.”

Autism research has transformed in the last two to three decades. Gone are the offensive and misguided attempts to “cure” the condition – the depersonalised, medicalised approaches that treated autistic people as objects in need of treatment.

Gone too is the discredited and controversial approach of teaching autistic children to hide their autistic identities using behavioural techniques.

Green said: “Treatment, as it was traditionally given, focused on removing autistic behaviour and came to be felt by many autistic people to be an assault on their identity. A focus on genetic ‘cures’ led to concerns that the aim was to remove autism from the world.”

But despite the evolution of research into autism, there is still so much we don’t understand about the condition that continuing work is crucial.

We don’t understand, for example, how its many genetic and environmental influences give rise to so many different presentations. And importantly, despite the condition’s impact and prevalence, and the fact autistic people do not always respond to conventional treatments for mental health difficulties or may experience unacceptable side effects, there are still no specifically tailored medications.

Research is now striving to address those issues, and many others. But it is doing so by using a participatory approach: engaging with the autistic community and co-designing interventions focused on developing an empathic understanding of the autistic experience. Researchers then take that understanding and use it to devise environmental adjustments to help autistic people flourish.

Green’s therapy aims to modify aspects of the infant’s environment by helping parents understand their child’s communication style and adapt their own responses to it. Families who have taken part in his project talk of vastly improved outcomes for their children, deeper connections and transformed relationships.

He said: “What we’ve shown is that children whose parents have gone through our process are still autistic but are better adapted and happier individuals.

“We have proved that our early interventions, both iBasis and the version for older children, called Pact, change a child’s autistic profile in a way which suggests a whole range of autistic expressions – not making eye contact, repetitive behaviours, not communicating and so on – can often be seen as secondary products of environmental experience rather than necessary parts of the autism itself.

“It’s such a success that I would dearly like to see it proposed as a new model for early-years autism services nationwide.”

Green’s is far from the only project working hard to make a fundamental difference to autistic people’s life experience. Declan Murphy is leading the National Autism Project, the largest autism research network in the world. Funded by the EU and conducted across 14 countries with 48 partners, he hopes to have results as early as May 2025.

Murphy, from King’s College London, is exploring drugs to modify the brain signals in autistic individuals to, he said, modify the differences between them and neurotypicals. “This is not a cure – we don’t think like that any more,” he said.

What the drugs do is modify sensory processing, for example visual, thereby improving symptoms for issues that can cause many autistic people distress, including sensory sensitivity and irritability.

The exciting thing about Murphy’s research, part funded by the National Institute for Health Research Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre, is that he is using drugs that already have regulatory approval and are commonly used for other conditions, so if his study results are a success, the treatments could be introduced immediately.

Murphy said: “At the moment it looks like 30% to 40% of individuals have a significant brain response to this drug. If that translates into a clinical trial outcome then this could have massive implications for the lives of one-third of all autistic people, reducing pressure on services by the same proportion.”

Dr Grainne McAlonan, a clinical professor of translational neuroscience at the department of forensic and neurodevelopmental sciences and Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College London, has just started investigating a psychedelic compound – psilocybin – found in magic mushrooms .

She is looking at the serotonin pathway, which plays a key role in a range of essential functions such as sensory processing, cognition, mood and sleep. One of the most consistent findings in autism research are differences in the serotonin pathway: more than 25% of autistic people have high blood serotonin levels.

If McAlonan identifies individual differences in the brain serotonin system targeted by psilocybin, the next step will be to ask whether they can establish if there is a biological response to the drug that might be clinically useful. “Ultimately, this research may allow us to provide more personalised choices for those autistic people who want the option of a medication for their difficulties,” she said.

This was an exciting time for autism research, said Matthew Swindells, an evidence, research and evaluation manager at the National Autistic Society.

He points to other research that addresses real-life issues, including the Bridging Project led by the University of Plymouth, which uses virtual reality to reduce the autism employment gap; autism in affinity spaces , led by Queen Mary University London, which explores how young autistic people use social media platforms to engage in their interests; and Audit 50 , led by University College London, which focuses on the experiences of older autistic people, an often overlooked population.

Swindells said: “Perhaps, most importantly, researchers have moved away from stigmatising, deficit-based language and approaches. Instead, it has started to focus on the topics that really matter to autistic people. This can be seen with the emergence of more autistic lead researchers, as well as some brilliant examples of participatory approaches within research practice.”

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What Causes Autism? Study of 100,000 Kids Reveals New Clues

From genetics to fevers, Columbia psychiatrist and epidemiologist Mady Hornig discusses the possible roots of this mysterious condition.

Autism is, for the most part, an inherited disorder: scientists estimate that up to 80 percent of a child’s risk of developing it is determined by DNA. But environmental and behavioral risk factors may also play a role, and since rates of autism in the US are at an all-time high, new and expecting parents are eager to learn more about the roots of this complex condition. 

For the past two decades, a team of researchers including  Michaeline Bresnahan ’99PH,  Mady Hornig , W. Ian Lipkin , and Ezra Susser ’74CC, ’82VPS, ’93PH, all epidemiologists at Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health, has been searching for nongenetic clues to explain why some kids develop autism and others do not. The researchers, in collaboration with the Norwegian Institute of Public Health and other Columbia scientists, have scrutinized the medical histories of more than one hundred thousand children, as well as those of their parents. Armed with unprecedented amounts of data, the researchers are investigating dozens of hypothesized risk factors for autism — everything from parental age to maternal infections to vitamin deficiencies. Columbia Magazine recently spoke to Hornig, who is herself the mother of an adult son with autism, about the team’s research.

What are the major risk factors for autism?

Well, a father’s age, which was one of the first risk factors identified a couple of decades ago, is certainly consequential. My colleague Ezra Susser published a major study on this subject in 2006. Using data collected in Israel, he showed that men who become fathers when they’re over the age of forty are six times more likely to have a child with autism than men who father kids before turning thirty. In 2016, I coauthored a larger study , which analyzed our Norwegian data together with information from Israel and three other countries, that confirmed the impact of paternal age while adding some new twists. We discovered that women at the beginning or end of their childbearing years — those in their teens or in their forties, roughly — are also more likely to have children with autism. And the biggest risk here is when older men have children with much younger women. There may be something about the big mismatch in age that can disrupt a child’s neurodevelopment. 

Is this a reason for certain couples to avoid having children?

No, not necessarily. The thing to keep in mind is that autism is an extraordinarily complex condition that’s probably influenced by hundreds of genetic, environmental, behavioral, and dietary factors, several of which may have to co-occur and reinforce one another for the condition to arise. So even though parental age is one of the most powerful variables, it probably accounts for 5 percent or less of any child’s total risk. 

Do any other factors rise to this level of importance?

One of our more recent discoveries is quite significant: we found that if a pregnant woman experiences a high fever in her second trimester, her child’s chances of developing autism increase by 40 percent. We’re not sure why this is, but molecular evidence suggests that inflammation in the mother’s body may be associated with a delay in the formation of blood vessels in the fetal brain during a critical point in the development of the central nervous system. 

Does it matter what causes the fever?

We suspect that any number of viral or bacterial infections can probably have this effect, but we’d need to conduct even larger studies to know for sure. Influenza appears to be implicated: the mothers of many of the children diagnosed with autism in our cohort suffered a serious bout of influenza in the second trimester. But the type of infection seems to be less important than its severity, since it’s the fever itself — indicative of a systemic, full-body inflammatory reaction — that we found to be strongly associated with autism. That said, I wouldn’t want to be alarmist. A lot of women experience fevers while they’re pregnant and go on to have perfectly healthy kids. Again, the risk this poses for any particular child is quite small. 

So what’s the takeaway for pregnant women or women who plan to get pregnant?

Get a flu shot. Get vaccinated against COVID-19. Wear a mask and practice social distancing. Keep your immune system strong by exercising and eating healthy food. And if you do get sick and have a high temperature, talk to your doctor about possibly taking an anti-inflammatory medication like ibuprofen. (Acetaminophen does not counter inflammation in the same way). Physicians have traditionally cautioned against taking ibuprofen while you’re pregnant because it carries a risk of miscarriage, especially in the first trimester, or possibly deformation of the baby’s heart if given close to the time of delivery, but administration of anti-inflammatory medications for fever during the second trimester might be discussed with one’s physician. At that stage, you really want to reduce a fever as quickly as possible. 

Are any dietary factors important?

We analyzed the diets of all of the women and children who participated in our project to see if any vitamin or mineral deficiencies contribute to autism. What jumped out of the data was that women who take supplements of folic acid, or vitamin B9, early in their pregnancy are almost 40 percent less likely to have a child with autism. That wasn’t a shock because folic acid, which is found naturally in leafy vegetables, beans, and eggs, has long been known to be essential for fetal brain development. But our research revealed that folic acid supplements only protect a fetus against autism if a mother begins taking them shortly before conception and throughout the first two months of pregnancy, which is earlier than many women start on prenatal vitamins. That’s why I suggest that women who are planning a pregnancy talk to their doctors about taking prenatal supplements before they conceive. 

We’ve also found preliminary evidence that heritable differences in how the body regulates levels of vitamin D in the body may be associated with autism in certain subsets of people with the condition, but we need to do additional research to confirm that.

Other researchers have claimed that altering an autistic child’s diet, such as by removing gluten, dairy, or other potential allergens, can sometimes ameliorate symptoms. Have you found any evidence that a child’s diet might contribute to the condition’s onset?

No, though it’s possible that dietary factors play such a role and that we’d just need larger studies with more statistical power to spot them. But we’ve tended to focus our investigations on pregnant women’s health in the Norway cohort because we believe that the roots of autism are likely established in the earliest stages of brain development, in the womb, and that improving our understanding of these processes holds promise for uncovering tractable pathways for prevention.

What are you looking at next?

Our findings about the role of fever in causing autism raise all sorts of questions. For example, we’d like to know if psychosocial stressors in the mother during pregnancy may pose a risk by triggering low-grade inflammation in the body that translates into neurodevelopmental risk for the child. The use of antidepressants by expectant mothers has previously been hypothesized as a risk factor for autism, but other data suggest that antidepressants themselves are unlikely to be the culprit; we’ve considered instead that underlying or untreated depression or anxiety may be the real danger. 

Do you expect that we’ll see a spike in autism cases as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic?

Yes, sadly, I think that’s possible. And not just because many pregnant women have been getting COVID-19, but also because many people, pregnant women included, have been dealing with serious mental stress during the pandemic. It will be a few years before we know if autism rates rise in response, because the condition is usually diagnosed around age three or later. It is also quite likely that rates may rise more generally for a range of neurodevelopmental conditions, including ADHD.

Autism’s prevalence in the US has nearly tripled since 2000. Why?

Part of the explanation is certainly that doctors are more aware of the condition and are diagnosing it more frequently. But my colleagues and I suspect that other factors, like people having children later in life or environmental changes that are making our bodies more vulnerable to infections and immunological problems, are contributing to the uptick in cases.

You’ve spoken publicly about your own experiences raising a son with autism. Is there anything that you wish you’d known back when you were pregnant?

You know, it’s interesting, because I just discovered, through my own participation as a subject in an unrelated medical study, that I have a genetic mutation that’s known to interfere in the body’s absorption of folic acid. So this tells me that it’s possible I wasn’t getting enough folic acid when I was pregnant back in the late 1980s, even though I was taking the recommended four hundred micrograms per day. Now, did a lack of folic acid cause my son’s autism? That’s way too simplistic, because there were probably lots of genetic and environmental factors involved. Did it contribute? Maybe. I certainly wish that I’d known I was susceptible to folate deficiency when I was pregnant, because then I could have talked to my obstetrician about it and explored solutions. 

What is the genetic variant you have? And are pregnant women routinely tested for it today?

The gene variant, which is carried by about 15 percent of all Americans, is located in the gene MTHFR . Pregnant women aren’t routinely tested for it, and a physician might initially balk at ordering it, unless he or she is knowledgeable of cutting-edge autism research and knows how to interpret its results. But if a woman can find a doctor who thinks the test is beneficial and she has good insurance, she might get it covered.

Are there any genomic tests that can tell an adult if he or she is likely to have a child with autism?

No, because the genetics of autism are still poorly understood. Although scientists have identified more than a hundred genes linked to the condition, we can’t say precisely what many of these genes do, nor the degree to which they increase an individual’s risk. There are some geneticists who will analyze and interpret men’s and women’s DNA in an attempt to estimate this risk. However, such analyses don’t offer definitive predictions, since we still haven’t identified all of the mutations involved in autism. Further, the influence of certain gene variants on autism may also depend on whether an individual is additionally exposed to specific environmental risks that may affect the function of that gene variant during key periods of early neural development — much as the rare inherited disorder phenylketonuria (PKU), caused by genetic mutations, can be treated by reducing or eliminating the amino acid phenylalanine from a child’s diet. A good source of information on this topic is the SPARK website of the Simons Foundation, a New York–based nonprofit that supports autism research.

Eventually, we’d like to get to the point where we’re able to recommend a whole range of preventive steps parents might take to mitigate the damaging effects of specific mutations they carry. But we still have a lot more work to do, both in terms of identifying the causes of autism and in understanding how various risk factors interact. Right now, we’re still building the scientific foundation for that kind of customized clinical care. 

For more information on this research, see the following articles from Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health:

Study Identifies Biomarkers Linked to Autism Risk

Could Flu During Pregnancy Raise Risk for Autism?

Autism Risk Linked to Fever During Pregnancy

Autism Risk Linked to Herpes Infection During Pregnancy

This article appears in the Spring/Summer 2022 print edition of Columbia Magazine with the title "In search of autism's roots." 

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The National Autism Strategy is urgently needed. Does the government’s new draft do enough to help those in crisis?

Bennett Chair of Autism, Telethon Kids Institute, The University of Western Australia

Disclosure statement

Andrew Whitehouse receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council, the Autism CRC, and the Angela Wright Bennett Foundation. Andrew was a member of the Social Inclusion Working Group that contributed to the National Autism Strategy.

University of Western Australia provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation AU.

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The Australian government released its draft National Autism Strategy yesterday. It aims to power a “coordinated national approach, supporting Autistic people at each stage of life”.

The strategy is the fulfilment of an election commitment by the Albanese government, which was met with great optimism by many in the Australian community at the time.

The strategy was co-designed after consultation with more than 2,000 autistic people, families, carers and researchers. It follows the lead of South Australia which released a strategy and appointed an assistant minister for autism in 2022.

Now focus shifts to whether the draft strategy – open for public feedback until the end of May – fulfils the hopes of the community.

Why a national autism strategy?

The prominence of autism in Australia has grown considerably. Increased awareness has been a key factor behind the surge in the prevalence of autism diagnosis in Australia, estimated to be at least 3.2% of school-aged children .

Autistic Australians have among the poorest life outcomes in Australian society. As reported in the draft strategy, the life expectancy of autistic Australians is on average more than 20 years shorter than non-autistic Australians. They are nine times more likely to die of suicide and they experience higher rates of physical and sexual abuse.

There is an urgent need to turn these horrifying statistics around.

Governments contribute to each person’s life through early childhood programs, education, employment, the health and justice systems, to name just a few functions. A whole-of-government strategy is important because it focuses all departments on the same goal.

Read more: New national autism guideline will finally give families a roadmap for therapy decisions

Who is involved?

The National Autism Strategy is being developed by the federal government, guided by an oversight council of sector representatives, predominantly members of the autistic community. This is a great strength of the development process, which also involves working groups in key topic areas.

But the fact the National Autism Strategy is being developed independent of state and territory governments constrains it. The strategy can’t include commitments about functions under state and territory control. Unfortunately, it is these areas in most need of urgent action.

Education systems are struggling to meet the demand for the growing number of autistic students coupled with our expectation of inclusive classrooms . There is an acute shortage of safe housing options for generations of autistic Australians who are either in adulthood or approaching it. Autistic Australians are encountering the justice systems at high rates, with evidence they receive longer sentences than non-autistic Australians.

The administration of education policy and public housing rests with the state and territories, and the vast majority of Australian prisoners are convicted under state and territory laws.

The potency of a strategy unable to guide government commitment on these most urgent issues is diluted from the start.

Read more: We don't need a hydrotherapy pool in every school, but we do need quality public education for all kids

What does the strategy include?

The draft strategy proposes 24 commitments across key areas such as:

• social inclusion
• economic inclusion
• services and supports.

The commitments are structured around the human rights of autistic Australians, and their rights to accessible and inclusive environments that meet their needs.

The draft strategy calls for public education campaigns about autistic Australians in the workplace, facilitating meaningful employment opportunities, and improving access to quality and timely supports that nurture autistic identity.

It also calls for greater leadership and active involvement of autistic Australians in related policy and accountability mechanisms.

But there is room for improvement

Even within a scope that is constrained to the roles and responsibilities of the federal government, there were a range of urgent issues not addressed within the draft.

Autism is an area that has historically been plagued by non-evidence based therapies and supports . Improving this evidence base is a key priority to ensure the safety and effectiveness of supports for autistic individuals, but currently the strategy remains silent on this.

Neither does the strategy touch on early childhood education and care (such as child-care subsidies and preschool funding) or aged care, both of which are largely federal responsibilities. Quality support and inclusive policies at these vulnerable and highly impactful times of life are critical to meeting the human rights of autistic Australians.

Even where states and territories have primary jurisdiction, the federal government can still play a major role in leading change. For example, the federal government can strengthen the justice system by creating diversionary programs for autistic individuals, which could avoid situations such as the recent encouragement of a 13-year old autistic boy in his fixation on a terrorist organisation by an undercover federal agent.

Similarly, while education policy is set at the state and territory level, the federal government is a significant contributor to school funding. A strategy that included a commitment to adequate investment for schools to promote inclusive classroom policies would be a system-changing commitment.

Read more: The government says NDIS supports should be 'evidence-based' – but can they be?

Is the draft National Autism Strategy a game-changer?

The draft National Autism Strategy includes an array of commitments that represent a critical step forward for the understanding, inclusion and empowerment of autistic Australians. This is an important document, which marks a celebratory moment for Australia.

However, its title of “National Autism Strategy” implies an ambition the terms of reference mean it could never meet.

Many of the truly thorny challenges that plague autistic Australians – reduced life expectancy, inadequate housing, educational exclusion and underachievement, unemployment and underemployment, experiencing higher rates of physical and sexual abuse – cannot be solved by one government alone.

This work requires the hard grind of all levels of governments working together across multiple generations to integrate and evolve complex systems. Alongside a top-down strategy, the goal of a coordinated approach could be better met by National Cabinet, which brings together the prime minister and the state premiers and territory chief ministers.

All it takes now is the will.

Read more: From deficits to a spectrum, thinking around autism has changed. Now there are calls for a 'profound autism' diagnosis

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The government is looking to improve the lives of autistic Australians and wants your advice

Whether it's your son or daughter, sibling, partner, friend or colleague, chances are you know an autistic person. 

You might be autistic yourself.

From stigma to lack of support and a decreased life expectancy, the challenges the community face can be huge. 

But when the environments and people around them make it possible, autistic people can thrive.

A new draft national autism strategy has just been released, aiming to help shift the dial so the community can live, work and play like everyone else.

What is the strategy and what is it trying to do?

Make life better for autistic Australians, basically. 

To get to this draft stage, autistic people and their families, researchers and other stakeholders were asked what would help improve outcomes for autistic people across all stages of life. 

Four key areas were identified: 

• social inclusion
• economic inclusion
• diagnosis, services, and support, and
• health and mental health 

Now the government wants more community feedback before it decides on specific reforms. 

Clare Gibellini, who is autistic and a co-chair of the strategy oversight group, says it's a historic moment for the community. 

"It's person-centred. It looks at our strengths, rather than things we can't do. It's trauma-informed and it's guided by our own lived experience," she says. 

It's hoped the strategy will ultimately lead to a greater understanding of autism across the community, help make education and employment more inclusive, and provide better support for parents and carers. 

Ms Gibellini is also hopeful having a national strategy will go some way in helping autistic people feel heard. 

"It's time to acknowledge that being autistic doesn't mean we're flawed or broken and need to be fixed. It's also time to work towards preventing anything that seeks to erase autistic identities." 

Why is a national strategy needed?

Outcomes for autistic Australians are much poorer than for the rest of the population. More on that in a bit. 

The lack of a national approach has also led to inconsistencies across the country when it comes to inclusion and support. 

Countries including England, the United States and France already have national autism strategies. 

Domestically, South Australia provides a model. It became the first jurisdiction to appoint an assistant minister for autism when Emily Bourke took the job in 2022.

She welcomes the prospect of a national autism strategy, and since taking up the portfolio has been able to implement several initiatives.

"We're now the first in the nation to have autism inclusion teachers in our public primary schools," she says. 

What are the stats on autism? 

WARNING: This section contains references to mental health and suicide. 

The number of Australians with an autism diagnosis has surged in recent years. 

It's thought at least 200,000 Australians have an autism diagnosis, though the true number of autistic people is likely to be much higher. That could be attributed to several factors, including the time and cost of getting a diagnosis. 

Every autistic person is unique. Autistic people can have a wide variety of abilities and significantly different support needs — some may require occasional speech therapy while others may need round-the-clock care.

The life expectancy of autistic people is 20 years less than the general population and are nine times more likely to die by suicide, according to the draft strategy. 

Autistic people are almost eight times more likely to be unemployed and they are at a higher risk of homelessness and violence, according to the department. 

About 95 per cent of autistic Australians also have other disabilities or neurodivergent diagnoses. 

Out of 646,449 participants on the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), 230,119 — or 36 per cent, the highest proportion on the scheme —  have autism listed as a primary diagnosis, according to the most recent quarterly report .  

Autistic participants, particularly children, have been joining the scheme in rising numbers. Campaigners say that's due to a lack of support elsewhere.

What happens next? 

The government says it will continue to work with the oversight council, working groups and the autistic community to develop an action plan. 

That, along with the final strategy, is expected to be released by the end of 2024. 

Public consultation is now open via the Department of Social Services  Engage website and closes Friday May 31, 2024.

Given the strategy is the first of its kind, Ms Gibellini acknowledges there will be gaps. 

But she's confident further consultation with the community will help pick up on those missing pieces. 

"I really want people to get involved … to be open and honest [and say] whether or not they think it'll be effective in improving outcomes," she says. 

"There should be no policy developed that impacts our lives without us having a seat and an equal voice at the table." 

Beth Radulski, an autistic autism researcher at La Trobe University, is upbeat about what the strategy could achieve. 

"Society is built to benefit people who are abled and neurotypical," she says. 

"[We need to look at] how are our environments built, what are the lighting and sound factors that are present in those environments, how that impacts sensory processing [and] how are our workplaces organised."

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Cannabis use during pregnancy linked to increased risk of ADHD, autism and intellectual disability in children

by European Psychiatric Association

A new study presented at the European Psychiatric Association Congress 2024 reveals a significant association between prenatal cannabis use disorder (CUD) and an increased risk of neurodevelopmental disorders in offspring, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and intellectual disability (ID).

Cannabis remains by far the most consumed illicit drug in Europe. Around 1.3% of adults in the European Union (3.7 million people) are estimated to be daily or almost daily users of cannabis. Though males have a typically higher prevalence with regards to cannabis use, the latest statistics show that women are catching up with men in drug use, especially in the younger population.

There is increasing concern around the increase in cannabis use observed in younger females in the EU, especially among pregnant and breastfeeding women.

This concern is amplified by recent studies that have shown that the content of delta9-tetrahidrocannabinol (THC) is currently around two-fold higher than it was 15–20 years ago, therefore increasing the risk of adverse effects for young women and their offspring following use when pregnant. Additionally, it has been noted that the prevalence of ADHD and ASD in children and adolescents is on the rise with estimates of 5.3% to 5.9% worldwide and 4.6% for Europe for ADHD and one in 2,000 for ASD across the EU.

This large-scale study, conducted by researchers at Curtin University in Australia, analyzed data from over 222,000 mother-offspring pairs in New South Wales, Australia. The research team utilized an innovative approach, leveraging linked data from health registries, ensuring both the exposure (prenatal CUD) and outcomes (neurodevelopmental disorders) were confirmed using diagnostic tools based on the ICD-10-AM classification system.

Key findings from the study include:

• Children born to mothers with prenatal CUD displayed a 98% increased risk of ADHD, a 94% increased risk of ASD, and a 46% increased risk of ID compared to offspring without such exposure.
• The study also identified a significant interaction effect between prenatal CUD and maternal smoking. Children born to mothers with both prenatal CUD and a history of smoking during pregnancy exhibited an even higher risk of developing ADHD, ASD, and ID.
• Additionally, the research found synergistic effects between prenatal CUD and other pregnancy complications, such as low birth weight and premature birth , further increasing the risk of neurodevelopmental disorders in offspring.

These findings highlight the potential long-term consequences of cannabis use during pregnancy and emphasize the importance of preventive strategies.

Abay Woday Tadesse, lead researcher of the study at the Curtin School of Population Health said, "The increased risk of neurodevelopmental disorders in children of mothers diagnosed with prenatal cannabis use that we have observed in this study underscores the critical needs for preventive measures, including preconception counseling, to mitigate the potential adverse outcomes."

Professor Rosa Alati, Head of the Curtin School of Population Health and senior author of the study, added, "These findings highlight the need to increase awareness of the risks associated with cannabis use during pregnancy among women planning to become pregnant."

"This study is unique because it utilizes linked data with confirmed diagnoses, providing a more robust picture of the potential risks associated with prenatal cannabis use. The results underscore the need for public health education campaigns and clinical interventions to raise awareness about the potential risks of cannabis use during pregnancy and to support women in making informed decisions regarding their health and the well-being of their children," said Dr. Julian Beezhold, the Secretary General of the European Psychiatric Association.

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What is autism spectrum disorder? How to support the community this Autism Acceptance Month

April marks Autism Acceptance Month with World Autism Day occurring on April 2 every year. The month is meant to be a time for uplifting autistic voices and sharing in the community's joy. But for Samantha Edwards, an autistic content creator and neurodivergent life coach, the month also signifies an influx of harmful myths about autistic people. 

"April is a wonderful month to crack down on that and listen to autistic voices and their stories and listen to their struggles," she says. "Acceptance, at the end of the day, is going to promote more inclusivity."

Here’s how you can uplift the neurodivergent community this April and all year long.

​​​What is autism? 

Autism is a developmental disability that affects the way people experience the world . This may include differences in processing senses, thinking, physically moving, communicating, socializing and going about daily living. 

“We’re born autistic and we’re autistic our whole lives,” says Zoe Gross, the director of advocacy at Autistic Self Advocacy Network . “It affects everything about the way we interact with and perceive the world.”

Autism affects every autistic person differently, and there isn’t one way to be autistic. Gross describes it as an ice cream sundae bar: The traits of autism can be mixed and matched from person to person. 

Here’s what autism isn’t, Gross says – something to be scared of or pity.

“In truth, autism is just a neutral fact about us, it’s not necessarily a good or a bad thing,” she says. “It’s just the way our brains are.”

Another misconception is that autistic people don’t have empathy. Gross recalled a time when a teacher asked her if she loved her parents. Of course she loves them, she responded, but the question itself was a symptom of a larger myth about autistic people and emotions. 

“Where that comes from is that we may not know what other people are feeling if they don’t tell us because autistic people may not be good at reading body language or other kinds of subtle social cues,” Gross says. “But that doesn’t mean we don’t care what people are feeling.”

World Autism Day: A love letter to parents of a newly-diagnosed child

How common is autism? 

About one in 36 children have autism spectrum disorder, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states. This number is on the rise, especially as children of color receive more diagnoses after being largely overlooked throughout history. 

Edwards started her online autism advocacy journey to combat the misconceptions about autism. As an autistic person and a parent of two autistic children, she says she wants to make the world a more accessible place for future generations. 

A large part of her work is advocating for the self-diagnosed community, which she says “are very welcome and included in the autistic community.”

One of the more harmful narratives is that people, especially teenagers, are self-diagnosing after watching a handful of TikTok videos with captions like “Signs you may be autistic” or “10 things that are actually traits of autism.” But that’s “really not the case,” says Edwards. Online platforms like TikTok give the autistic community, like other marginalized communities, more visibility than ever before. 

“It is harmful for all of these self-diagnosed autistics that really did put in the research – some have years, even a lifetime of research – to be told, ‘Oh, you watched a couple TikTok videos so you’re not valid,'” Edwards says. 

Some medical professionals push back against self-diagnosing, especially when it comes to social media. But there’s also the nuanced issue of access to healthcare services that may lead to a professional diagnosis, which can be limited for some autistic individuals . 

What is Autism Acceptance Month?

April is Autism Acceptance Month but many, especially those outside of the autism community, used to refer to the month as " Autism Awareness Month." Autistic advocacy organizations have been using “acceptance” rather than “awareness” for over a decade, and the Autism Society of America shifted the terminology in 2021.

According to ASAN, Autism Acceptance Month was created by and for autistic people to respect the rights and humanity of all autistic people and center “the perspectives and needs of autistic people with intellectual disabilities, nonspeaking autistic people, and autistic people with the highest support needs.”

Using “acceptance” instead of “awareness” is an intentional choice because, as Edwards says, “we’re just moving on.”

“It’s 2023, I do believe most people are aware of what autism is,” she says. “We’ve got the awareness and now we need the resources, we need the advocacy.”

Awareness campaigns have historically focused on how many people have autism or a search for a “cure.” A now-removed  2009 campaign  from advocacy organization Autism Speaks opened by saying “I am autism. I’m visible in your children, but if I can help it, I am invisible to you until it’s too late.”

The “awareness” approach, Gross says, further stigmatizes autism as something scary.

“That’s not the way we want to approach giving people information about autism, we want people to view autism as a part of human diversity and autistic people as part of their community,” Gross says. 

How to support the autistic community

Don’t speak over autistic voices

“ Nothing about us without us ” is a disability rights slogan that’s top of mind during Autism Acceptance Month. 

When it comes to research, policy and advocacy, the most important thing is that autistic people are “in the driver’s seat,” Gross says. It means that decisions about autism need to be made by or with autistic people. It also means centering the stories and experiences of autistic people.

Avoid harmful labels and language

“Low-functioning” and “high-functioning” are labels often ascribed to autistic people. These are harmful ,  ASAN says, because “we all have things we are good at and things we need help with.”

“People will say, ‘How can I do without the terms low-functioning and high-functioning?’ And what I want to ask is like ‘What are you doing with them now?’” Gross says. “What I encourage people to do is just say what they mean. If they mean this person can’t speak, (say) ‘I’m talking about someone who can’t speak.’ If they mean this person has a job, just say ‘I’m talking about an autistic person who has a job.’”

Neurotypical people may also wonder what’s more appropriate to say – person with autism or autistic person? 

Many self-advocates prefer identity first language  because it works against the stigma that being autistic is something bad or something that makes you less than. Identity first language (“autistic person”) recognizes and validates that identity. 

“Autism is something that you are and not something that you have, you’re not carrying autism around in a bag,” Edwards says. “It’s something that makes your brain different.” 

But it’s a personal preference . For example, Gross says people with intellectual disabilities may use person-first language ("person with autism") because “they feel they’ve been so dehumanized and people only see their disability and don’t see them.” 

The bottom line: How someone refers to their autism is personal based on what makes them feel the most affirmed and validated.  

Support autistic-run organizations and businesses

Edwards recommends supporting organizations that center autistic voices and are run by autistic people, like ASAN and the Autistic Women and Nonbinary Network.

This month, Edwards says she’ll be using her platform to uplift other autistic and disabled creators.

“There’s so many of us that are … trying to make a really big difference in this movement, so I’m really proud of everyone this past year,” she says. “I just want to uplift each other and get the right message out.”

Organizations with primarily neurotypical leadership have led autistic advocates to move away from their symbols  (like Autism Speaks’ signature blue color and puzzle piece) in favor of new ones created by autistic self-advocates. The first puzzle piece logo in 1963 featured a crying child in the center and was designed to show autism as a “puzzling condition.” A 2018 study found the general public has a negative implicit bias against the imagery of a puzzle piece, which participants associated with “imperfection, incompletion, uncertainty, difficulty, the state of being unsolved, and, most poignantly, being missing.”

“We recognize discord within the community, including those who dislike the puzzle piece symbol or prefer a different symbol, but there are also many who embrace it and want to continue to see it associated with autism,” Autism Speaks told USA TODAY in a statement.

The organization says it is regularly seeking feedback from those within the autistic community on whether or not to continue its use and encouraged feedback at [email protected] .

Many favor a rainbow or gold infinity symbol and use “ Red Instead ,” which Edwards says symbolizes the passion autistic people have. 

Don’t perpetuate myths about autism 

Edwards recommends neurotypical people support the neurodiverse community by staying up to date on  current research  and taking a second glance before sharing something that furthers stereotypes about autistic people. 

“We all deserve our human rights, and we all deserve respect,” Gross says. “We all deserve to be able to make choices in our lives, we deserve to live free from neglect and abuse, we deserve to have services that are truly person-centered and individualized for us and that meet our needs. Those aren’t optional, fancy things that you get by being mildly impacted.”

Acetaminophen during pregnancy not associated with ADHD or autism risk

Taking acetaminophen during pregnancy has been associated with an increased risk of autism, and ADHD in children in some research. A new study suggests that it is not acetaminophen that is linked to neurodevelopmental disorders, but likely other issues such as genetics.

The new report, published in JAMA on Tuesday, focused on data from more than 2 million Swedish children who were followed for up to 26 years. After an initial analysis that revealed a very small increased risk of neurodevelopmental disorders in children whose mothers took acetaminophen during pregnancy, the researchers went back to the same database and did a second study, looking at pairs of siblings whose mothers used acetaminophen during one pregnancy but not the other. 

This time they found there was no increased risk of neurodevelopmental problems associated with acetaminophen, which suggested there was something else raising the risk of these disorders. 

Both the initial and sibling studies were published in the same report. 

In this study as well as in earlier ones, researchers have had little information on whether the parents’ themselves had autism, ADHD or an intellectual disability. When the parents of the children in the study were young, diagnoses of neurodevelopmental disorders weren’t as common. 

“The bottom line from this study is that pregnant women do not need to worry about autism if they use acetaminophen during their pregnancy,” said the study’s co-senior author Brian Lee, an associate professor at Drexel University’s Dornsife School of Public Health and a fellow at the A.J. Drexel Autism Institute.

Still, Lee said, “women should always consult with their physician before initiating medication use.”

Of the 185,909 children whose mothers took acetaminophen during pregnancy, about 9% were diagnosed with autism, ADHD or an intellectual disability. Among the estimated 2.3 million children whose mothers did not use acetaminophen while pregnant, about 7.5% were diagnosed with one of the conditions.

After adjusting for factors such as mother’s age, smoking status and maternal diagnoses of autism, ADHD and intellectual disability, the researchers found that among those children whose mothers had used acetaminophen during pregnancy, there was a 5% increased risk of autism, a 7% increased risk of ADHD and a 5% increased risk of an intellectual disability.

An estimated 2.8% of children will be diagnosed with autism by age 8, according to 2023 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ; 11.3% of children and adolescents will be diagnosed with ADHD and 2.35% of children aged 3 to 17 will be diagnosed with an intellectual disability. 

Dr. Catherine Caponero, an OB-GYN at the Cleveland Clinic said she was reassured by the results..

“This is a very well-studied drug during pregnancy,” Caponero said. “Studies have shown over and over again it is one of the few options women can use for pain and fever.” 

Not treating fevers in moms could also be a problem, said J. Blake Turner, an assistant professor of social science in psychiatry at Columbia University. Turner pointed to studies that have linked fevers during pregnancy to an increased risk of autism. “The risk can be quite dramatically higher if it’s untreated,” he said.

The new study’s use of a sibling analysis highlights the importance of genetics, said Manish Arora, a professor of environmental medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. The sibling analysis provides an adjustment that “is missing in many studies,” he said. “I really appreciated that.”

Linda Carroll is a regular health contributor to NBC News. She is coauthor of "The Concussion Crisis: Anatomy of a Silent Epidemic" and "Out of the Clouds: The Unlikely Horseman and the Unwanted Colt Who Conquered the Sport of Kings."