Research note: Kanner's original N=11 autistics had extremely heterogeneous later outcomes, as generally did the autistics he reported on, as generally did diagnosed autistics in the literature before the "spectrum" became a thing (just a brief reminder, in case anyone's forgotten)
Combining autism & ADHD to make yet more new subgroups? link.springer.com/article/10.1... "ADHD with reduced social communication and RRBI symptoms" "ASD/ADHD with moderate social communication and RRBI symptoms" "ASD with moderate symptoms in all domains" "ASD with high symptoms in all domains"?
Registered: "Developing and applying new autistic-led standards for social care environments: a participatory action research study of Ethical Quality Autistic Led Support" www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN12256307 "The project will make new tools to help care services provide better care for autistic people"
"autistic youth had weaker grip strength and more difficulty with motor skills compared to non-autistic peers, with the gap in strength widening in adolescence and the gap in overall motor ability remaining the same or narrowing"? onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... data from age 6 to 18, free
Survey results "challenged traditional intrapersonal and pathologising accounts of autistic suicidality... conceptualising this instead in response to systemic injustices, requiring coordinated, preventative and multisector responses to make lives worth living" sciencedirect.com/science/arti... free
Among autistic and/or ADHD and dyslexic adults, "preferences, offensiveness, acceptability, and self-use of six neurodiversity-related terms"?--UK & US survey, free journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/... "neurominority was the least preferred and considered the most offensive of all presented terms"
Autistics (N=17) on ageing journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/... e.g. an autistic aged 46 on Parkinson's: "I have traits in common with Parkinson’s already... But it also might be that they don’t really have Parkinson’s, it’s just what autistic people look like when they get old. I’d like to know"
On data sharing in autism, which may "exacerbate irresponsible or biased interpretation of data" leading to "promotion of interventions damaging to the autistic community" & "greater misunderstanding of autism" & "deterioration in the QoL of autistic people" journals.plos.org/digitalhealt... review
Registered: aiming to "integrate and synthesise the available research evidence on the perspectives, experiences, and priorities of late-diagnosed autistic adults concerning post-diagnostic support" www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/vie... integrative review, in which "late-diagnosed" means after age 25
See behavior analysts being alarmed about ABA "falling prey to uncontrolled mentalism"--"That tendency toward default mentalism also risks minimizing the distinction between ABA and its competition in the marketplace of treatment models" link.springer.com/article/10.1... ABA in 2026, autism-relevant
Interviews with autistics about autistic burnout, free journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/... many participants "shared a sense of self-blame as a result of ability loss & difficulty with functioning at least partially connected to burnout. Some participants seemed to experience very severe distress"
Research on camouflaging in autism, critical review, free journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/... "studies were inconsistent in how they defined camouflaging" "There is currently no consensus on how camouflaging is distinct from social learning, self-presentation, self-monitoring, or social anxiety"
EIBI vs community treatment as usual (CTAU) for autism, 10-year follow-up? link.springer.com/article/10.1... group differences "favored CTAU on... cognitive, adaptive, and language functioning, as well as overall clinical severity" but "were no longer significant when controlling for baseline IQ"?
"females were more likely to be scored as showing hand, finger, or other complex mannerisms, specific interests, and/or repetitive interests/behaviors than males with an equivalent level of autistic latent traits"? link.springer.com/article/10.1... ADOS scores for autistics & non-autistics, free
Oh dear me. Having found nothing, they pin hope on a result that is significant “before adjusting for multiple comparisons”. People: this adjustment is not optional. It’s clear nobody will ever give up on this quest.
"the gut microbiome in the first 7 months after birth and its relation to later development of autism, examined at 36 months of age"?--study finds "no major differences in the gut microbiome of infants who developed autism compared to those who did not" onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... free
Registered: "the experiences, barriers and enablers of autistic peoples' safety across life stages and contexts"--an umbrella review www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/vie... autistics "face serious threats to their safety such as victimisation, discrimination, violence, abuse, neglect, bullying..."
Behavior analysts are alarmed & appalled (at great length) by what they claim is "a notable shift away from the term problem behavior" to characterize autistics link.springer.com/article/10.1... rock-bottom ABA standards, with zero evidence re accuracy & consequences of terms used in autism research
"findings indicate a consistent pattern of sex‐specific differences in early physical health among autistic children, with autistic females bearing a disproportionate burden of several neurological and cardiovascular conditions"? acamh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... population-based study
"10 most important areas that require improvement for autistic people"? European survey, free link.springer.com/article/10.1... only diagnosed autistics put "discrimination" in their top 10 (5th)--vs non-diagnosed autistics 11th, parents-carers 13th, members of autism-related organisations 12th
In conversations, autistic & typical children "produced a similar number of on-topic responses" onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... but autistics "made more topic shifts, and their shifts were more drastic" ("they were perceived as interrupting the flow of the conversation more drastically")?
Trauma & PTSD symptoms in typical vs autistic vs maltreatment-exposed 10-16 year olds, free journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.... "Relative to the TD group, both the autism and maltreatment groups reported higher incidence of physical assaults, traumatic bereavements and stressful medical procedures"
"results suggest that reduced social motivation may be associated with an increased vulnerability to anxiety and depression in autistic individuals"? onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... "important to note that we do not fully understand the directionality of these associations"
Registered: "What does the literature tell us about the factors influencing the decision to disclose an autism diagnosis?" & "What are the experiences of adults disclosing an autism diagnosis?" www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/vie... systematic review of qualitative studies
Autistics, distress & communication journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/... "important to be aware of the communication function of behaviors that challenge... people require support rather than judgment or reductionistic ‘behavior management’"? but review authors ok with ABA--FCT, functional analyses?
On longitudinal autism research journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/... "individuals recruited as non-autistic may move into the autism group over time, & those diagnosed beyond the age span of the study or those stuck on long waitlists for diagnostic evaluations would be ineligible for these designs"
In autistic adults, "camouflaging behaviors... did not independently predict depression, psychological distress, disability, or QoL when controlling for social responsiveness and social anxiety"? onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... note: "the cross-sectional design precludes causal inference"
In ABA programs, "context changes may result in increased rates of challenging behavior"--most (71%-85%) autistics & others "demonstrated at least one renewal incident" onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... in which "challenging behavior" includes "inappropriate vocalizations"--ABA in 2026, free
"clinicians specialized in diagnosing autism often say that they are able to ‘hear’ autistic children from the waiting room, even before starting the first diagnosis appointment"? www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... a test using infant sounds ("the task was challenging for autism professionals")
Registered: "systematically examining how studies investigating autism, the menstrual cycle, and menopause are designed and reported, to identify strategies to inform future research and enhance methodological transparency and rigour" www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/vie... "meta-research review"
