Autism Science Foundation Weekly Science Report

Latest Episodes
Post-Pandemic Problems
A few years after the start of the pandemic, and a couple of years into recovery, scientists are still disentangeling the effects of COVID-19 lockdowns and exposure. For example, is there an uptick
Catching up with CANDID
In part 2 of the GI series in ASD, a new paper in the Journal of Nutrition and Gastroenterology describing the www.candidgi.com meeting is described. While sometimes doctors may be know-it-alls, somet
Mysteries of the Microbiome
In the first of a two-part series on digestive health in ASD, Mia Kotikovski summarizes scientific information about what the complicated microbiome is, how it influences physical and psychiatric heal
More about the environmental influences in autism
New research points to a previously understudied but fascinating mechanism by which environmental factors may lead to autism: its called the GABA/glutamate switch which is a critical period in deve
Dealing with an ER visit
This week, special correspondent Mia Kotikovski discusses challenges in getting emergency care for those with autism, what doctors and hospitals can do to ease the stressors associated with places lik
Profound Autism: The first meaningful autism subgroup
Instead of grouping together people with autism based on traditional severity scores, what if groupings were done based on functional outcome? Would this help better understand the broad spectrum of a
What happens during sleep?
During sleep, your brain is still active. It is turning all those things you learned during the day into long term memories through connections between the thalamus, hippocampus and frontal cortex. Wh
What do Profound Autism Caregivers Need?
In part 1 of a 3 part series on Profound Autism, ASF interviews Emily Ferguson, PhD from @Stanford shares what she learned by asking parents and caregivers of Profound Autism what do you need? The s
Recurrence rates for families with an ASD child
What is the probability of having a future child with autism if you already have one or more? Families want to know. It helps preparation, planning, will hopefully improve early screening and supports
Alison Singer appears on @LifeWithTheSpectrum
In case you missed it, listen to Alison Singer with Gina Kavali on her podcast @LifeWiththeSpectrum. Alison talks about the importance of autism research and science in general, and how families can g