Spectrum: Autism Research News

Research roundup

• Autistic people’s motivations for masking their autism traits, as Spectrum has reported, are complicated and understudied; a social-theory framework may help. Autism in Adulthood
• In one clinic, 6 percent of children with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome also had autism and 16 percent had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment
• Fathers talking to their autistic children tend to use more description and ask fewer questions than fathers talking to their non-autistic children. Research in Developmental Disabilities
• Difficulty identifying one’s own or others’ emotions appears to be related to social competence in both autistic and non-autistic children. Autism Research
• A group of autism specialists has assessed the virtual tools that clinicians are using during the COVID-19 pandemic to diagnose autism in toddlers. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
• Network analysis of gray-matter structures reveals hub regions in the brain that are distinctive in many autistic people. NeuroImage: Clinical
• In updating the United Kingdom’s Mental Health Act, stakeholders disagree on where to draw the line with regard to criminal detention of people with autism or intellectual disability. The Lancet Psychiatry
• The Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (Spectrum is an editorially independent publication funded by the initiative) has added 11 new genes to its database of autism-related candidates, and it has bumped 6 others into its ‘high-confidence’ category. SFARI

Science and society

• Lauren Edwards, who rose from volunteer to interim executive director of the group 500 Women Scientists, wants to continue creating new initiatives to make science more equitable and inclusive. STAT
• Nature is polling its readers about virtual conferences to assess the pros and cons as compared with in-person meetings. Nature
• The North Carolina legislature has proposed to license behavioral analysts who work with children on the spectrum; currently the analysts are overseen by a licensed psychologist. Winston-Salem Journal
• Television shows are depicting a broader range of characters with autism. Vulture
• Alternative Baseball, an inclusive youth league that welcomes players with autism and disabilities, has continued to grow across the United States, even during the coronavirus pandemic. The Chronicle
• Companies hiring people on the spectrum should focus on capabilities more than credentials and should have support systems for neurodiverse employees, especially during their first year. Tech Republic