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Spectrum: Autism Research News

Author

Niko McCarty

Former data reporter

Niko McCarty was Spectrum’s data reporter from 2021 to 2022. He has an M.A. from New York University’s Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program. He also has an M.Res. in systems and synthetic biology from Imperial College London, where he was a Fulbright Scholar, and an M.Sc. in bioengineering from the California Institute of Technology. His prior research focused on engineered microbial communities and building CRISPR-Cas technologies.

Contact Info

[email protected]

January 2022

By the Numbers: Unequal ABA access, autism incidence by insurance type, criminal charges counts

by  /  20 January 2022

In this edition of By the Numbers, we discuss geographic disparities in access to behavior therapy, autism incidence among the privately or publicly insured and the rarity of criminal charges against autistic people in New Zealand.

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Autism Drug Trial Tracker

by  /  12 January 2022

Explore hundreds of clinical trials with our interactive tool.

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Control panel made with pills as buttons and switches.

Introducing Spectrum’s Autism Drug Trial Tracker

by  /  12 January 2022

The tool provides interactive, curated information on more than 200 clinical trials for autism and related conditions.

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Autism Drug Trial Tracker: User Guide

by  /  12 January 2022

Learn how to use the Autism Drug Trial Tracker, with specific examples and detailed explanations for each data column.

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December 2021
Colorful illustration in red and bright aqua blue, of a pizza / pie chart with researcher's hand taking a slice.

By the Numbers: Autism in translation, rising prevalence figures, intelligence quotients

by , ,  /  21 December 2021

In this edition of By the Numbers, we discuss how translation alters a screening tool’s accuracy, the closing racial gap in autism prevalence numbers, and the preponderance of autism without intellectual disability.

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Gloved hands holding bag of placental cord blood containing stem cells.

‘Pay-to-participate’ autism stem-cells paper retracted

by  /  2 December 2021

One family paid more than $7,000 for their child to participate in a small clinical trial in Panama. The trial’s lead author did not disclose that detail.

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November 2021

By the Numbers: Black neuroscience speakers, mildly effective CBT, autism’s diagnostic odyssey

by ,  /  19 November 2021

This edition of By the Numbers logs the continued underrepresentation of Black speakers at neuroscience meetings, mildly-effective cognitive behavioral therapy and early autism diagnoses.

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Clinician sitting with young boy looking at drawings together.

Age at autism diagnosis, first intervention drops to under 3 years

by  /  19 November 2021

Autism diagnoses in the United States now precede developmental services and interventions, according to a new study.

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Cognitive behavioral therapy may be only mildly effective for anxious, autistic children

by  /  16 November 2021

Many autistic children rate the therapy as less effective at treating their anxiety than their parents and clinicians do.

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Week of NovemberNov
1st
2021

Spotted around the web: Heart rate in autism, suicide screening, accelerating gene therapies

by ,  /  5 November 2021

Here is a roundup of news and research for the week of 1 November.

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