The Transmitter stories

An autistic researcher’s paper called attention to a huge disparity in autism funding research between children and adults. It nearly derailed her life.

Jonathan Green is professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom and an honorary consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist. He is also a long-practicing clinician. In this interview, he discusses the genesis of his recent article, “Debate: Neurodiversity, autism and healthcare,” and how it has been received by colleagues and the neurodiversity...

Cheryl Dissanayake is a professor at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia, and the Olga Tennison Endowed Chair in Autism Research at the Olga Tennison Autism Research Center. She has been researching autism since 1984. Spectrum spoke with her about her path to autism science, the history of the field in Australia, and the importance of Melbourne hosting the 2024 INSAR annual conference, whi...

The two journals, although differing in initial support, both realized the need for a publication focused exclusively on the neurodiverse experience.

Spectrum talks with David Dobbs about researching his latest article, and what he found.

Spectrum spoke to four Black autism researchers about what it’s like to be in a field that’s overwhelmingly white, how police violence against Black people has affected them, and the joy of finding one another in ‘Black In Neuro.’

Host Chelsey B. Coombs talks to clinicians and people with autism about their experience of the pandemic, how their routines have changed and some of the unexpected benefits.

Understanding how touch is altered in autism could yield an early marker of the condition.

Social media is connecting families with researchers who study rare conditions related to autism — to the benefit of both.

Finding a mutation linked to autism traits can have life-changing consequences for autistic individuals and their families.

Scientists are finding new ways to test cognition in autistic individuals who speak little or not at all.

Virtual reality can help typical people experience sensory hypersensitivity and other perceptual differences that autistic individuals describe. Host Ben Kuebrich reports.

Deep brain stimulation is not an approved treatment for autism but has helped some people with extreme obsessions and other severe traits. Host Ben Kuebrich investigates one success story.

Suicidal thoughts appear to be more common in autistic people but they’re also more difficult to detect. Host Ben Kuebrich reports.

Researchers are designing video games to hone visual-attention skills in children with autism. New host Ben Kuebrich explores.

In this episode of “Spectrum Stories,” host Jacob Brogan explains how speech — from its rhythm to its emotional content — can differ in people with autism, making social communication difficult.

Scientists discuss the problems with using mice to study autism, and explain how the field might move forward.

In this episode, host Jacob Brogan explores how and why some women try to hide their autism. There are benefits to keeping the condition concealed, but this camouflaging comes with psychological costs.

In this episode, host Jacob Brogan talks to autism researchers and families with children on the spectrum in France and Ethiopia. However different the two countries may be, advocates in both places are working to overturn outdated beliefs about autism that blame parents and block access to evidence-backed services and treatment.

Scientists are trying to understand why people with autism so often have trouble sleeping, and how to help them.

In this episode of “Spectrum Stories,” host Jacob Brogan talks to clinicians about why anxiety is so common — but can be so hard to spot — in people with autism.

In this episode of “Spectrum Stories,” Jacob Brogan talks to researchers who worry that families are spending large amounts of money on an unproven therapy for autism.

Many parents with children on the spectrum enroll their newborns in research — to advance the field and to bring benefits to families such as theirs.

One day, you have a toddler who’s vocal, who looks you in the eye, who literally reaches out to you. And then everything changes.

We know that genes play a role in the condition; however, finding genes, and then knowing what they do is a challenge.