Insights & The World Around Us

One of the more compelling aspects of surveying news coverage is looking at local news outlets and how they cover autism in their communities. This week we’re looking at one particularly remarkable piece of local news alongside two stories about the roles of photography and video games in capturing and treating autism. First up, in…

As we do every week, in looking back at the past week in autism news, we found one overriding topic connecting the major autism-related news stories: genetics. Both of the stories that we’ll discuss below posits a new theory about how autism interacts with an individual’s genes. Whether it be symptoms that had been previously…

First up this week in our round-up of the top autism-related news stories making the rounds, the autism research community hit upon a dour note recently when a series of promising drugs that have cropped up over the past five years have repeatedly failed. Just five years ago, researchers thought that a treatment for autism…

Music has a way of hitting the heart, touching the soul, and changing a whole person’s life unlike few other forms of art. For Rex Lewis-Clark of Los Angeles, his particular outlet is piano where he belts out the old blues and jazz standards by the likes of Duke Ellington while making the compositional leap…

While animal testing has been used extensively by autism researchers looking to try out new drugs or to better understand the cause of autism, scientists in China have just made a massive breakthrough by researching monkeys. According to the scientists, they have used genetic engineering to create monkeys with a version of autism. While this…

With Autism Awareness Month drawing to a close, this week we take a look at the state of public funding for autism in the U.S. In addition, we look at the largest genetic study of autism that’s about to kick off and the effects of emotions on one man with autism. First up, as we…

This week we look at a combination of science-based and policy-based news stories, ranging from the potential danger of folic acid during pregnancy to a heavy debate in Canadian politics to a group of babies who just might help researchers to better understand autism. First up, folic acid is a vitamin that has been traditionally…

In our weekly autism and culture survey, we look at how schools are using the craft of acting to teach social skills in young people with autism, a Florida theme park that is making major changes for its guests with autism, and a royal ball charity that will be raising money as the heat rises…

This week in our look at how autism is represented in national and local news stories, we look at an article providing guidelines on how to best prepare a child with autism for surgery, a study linking weak immune systems in mothers to increased autism risks, and why children with high-functioning autism possess unusual penmanship…

As we’ve discussed in this space before, actress Holly Robinson Peete, who came to national attention starring in such TV series as Family Matters and 21 Jump Street, isone of the more recognizable public advocates for autism awareness and activism. What we haven’t discussed is her husband, former NFL quarterback Rodney Peete. This week we’re…