Autism Blog

Just yesterday, a commenter named Jackie wrote of her child with autism: My son and I have a wonderful group of families/friends that have children of all ages. Oddly enough, only ... Read More

Mel Yates/Getty Images The story of Alex Barton who was "voted out of kindergarten" has raised a lot of strong feelings among parents who see their children (or their ... Read More

This article was printed on the TC Palm (Florida) website on May 29th: Morningside Elementary kindergarten teacher Wendy Portillo has been reassigned until further action may be determined, according to ... Read More

For the past few days, this story from a Florida website has drawn a lot of attention and even more anger from the autism community: Melissa Barton said she is considering ... Read More

Todd Williamson/Getty Images For months, the California-based Talk About Curing Autism website has featured a short video and information about a planned June 4 march on Washington. The ... Read More

There's a well-used expression in the autism world: "if you know one person with autism, you know one person with autism." The same certainly holds true for people with ... Read More

John Giustina/Getty Images A reader writes: I am struggling with my school to provide my 12 year old son with adequate PE. They have what they call Adapted PE, ... Read More

New York Magazine has taken on the issue of Autism Rights in a long, very personal article by Andrew Solomon. I enjoyed the article enormously, if only because I ... Read More

Juan Silva/Getty Images A friend of mine has an eleven-year-old son with moderately profound autism. One day, he expressed interest in the game of golf. His dad ... Read More

Jose Luis Pelaez Inc./Getty Images How far should churches go to accommodate people with autism? The question has become the focus of debate this week as the ... Read More

Ken Reibel is a frequent commenter on this site. Over the past few days, we've been in conversation about the limits of science, research, and autism. Recently, Ken made ... Read More

Recent headlines on various websites would make you believe that the key to early diagnosis of autism has been found. A few of today's headlines read: New test spots autism ... Read More

Jose Luis Pelaez/Getty Images When my son Tom was in public school, he was placed in a class with eight other children on the "high end" of the autism ... Read More

B. Busco/Getty Images Even in greater Philadelphia there are just a few qualified developmental pediatricians experienced in diagnosing autism. How much tougher is it to find a qualified ... Read More

I am embarrassed to say that I was unaware of Autistic Pride Day (planned for June 18, 2008) until an About.com editor asked me about it. Needless to say, ... Read More

Tracy Morgan/Getty Images What causes autism? There are a few theories. In addition to the more prominent possibilities - genetics, vaccines, and environmental heavy metals - there seem to be an ... Read More

Paul J/Getty Images Dr. Bernadine Healy is an important person. The first woman to head the NIH, her word carries some weight. For the past few days, ... Read More

The diagnostic criteria for autism don't include physical symptoms. Yet in reading through comments and blogs on the web, it seemed to me that an awful lot of parents ... Read More

C Squared Studios/Getty Images Last year, the Vaccine Court (a part of the Federal Court of Appeals specifically set up to manage cases of vaccine damage) began hearing a ... Read More

Garry Wade/Getty Images What's it like to be the mom of a child with autism? It can be more than stressful; beyond frustrating. But there are also ... Read More

As the UK plans to embark on its epic count of adults with autism, bloggers like David Kirby ask "97% of All Autism Cases Went Undected - Until Now?" ... Read More

Stephen Wilkes/Getty Images Do you know a mom who deserves a special tribute for mother's day? Perhaps she's worked tirelessly to ensure that her child with autism gets ... Read More

Medioimages/Photodisc - Getty Images It's a national disaster. Buildings are burning - or an epidemic is raging. Medical and food supplies are dwindling. Patients are lined ... Read More

Jeffrey Coolidge - Getty Images How many adults in the UK are diagnosable on the autism spectrum? A reliable answer to this question would be extraordinarily useful. ... Read More

Howard Grey - Getty Images SeattlePi.Com, a news and information website, have published a headline story today entitled Parents are autism's hidden victims - Baffling disorder hurts more than ... Read More

Yellow Dog Productions - Getty Images Sandy, a regular reader and commenter on this site, sent along a fascinating article about autism in Minnesota (her home state). The ... Read More

No matter how much we love our children, siblings, or spouses with autism, there are moments when we feel that life has treated us unfairly. For some parents, the sense of ... Read More

Last week, I wrote a blog post in which I asked parents whether their children with autism were also physically ill. I expected the vast majority of parents to ... Read More

Stockbyte- Getty Images According to an article in today's Science Daily, there is an association between mental illness in parents and autism in children. An association is NOT ... Read More

In the United States, autism resources vary radically from state to state, county to county, and even town to town. As a result, children (and their parents) may receive ... Read More

Well, April is over - and with it the intensive media focus on autism spectrum disorders. I must say that, between the efforts of Autism Speaks and CNN, we've ... Read More