Spectrum Stories: What social touch says about autism

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 self-advocate community. There have been two commentaries published in response to Green’s article, with a third still in production.

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, which Dissanayake will chair. In this conversation, Dissanayake mentions Margot Prior, Bruce Tonge, Lawrence Bartak, Ross Day, Stella Crosley, Marian Sigman, Beryl McKenzie and Olga Tennison — all notable names from Australia’s autism research community.

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.