When reading literature about autism, most characteristics associated with the diagnosis are described from a negative perspective. As a result, many people are unaware that autism can bring many strengths to those of us who live with the diagnosis. Sometimes autism can be a superpower! Below are some examples of such strengths and abilities: 1. […]
Some individuals with autism have something called hyperlexia, which means they have an aptitude for reading words but struggle to comprehend the content of texts. I am autistic and I strongly suspect I have some form of hyperlexia myself. I learned to read and write at the age of three and quickly learned to spell […]
Many neurotypical children acquire language through social interaction, for example, by following their caregiver’s gaze to the same object – a skill known as joint attention. However, it appears autistic children acquire language in a completely different way! Social Training Doesn’t Help A recent meta-analysis from the Université de Montréal has shown that language acquisition […]
Those of us on the spectrum often have additional diagnoses, with ADHD being one of the most common co-occurring conditions. When I underwent a neuropsychiatric assessment in 2003, I initially thought I would only be evaluated for ADHD (or rather ADD, as the diagnosis was called at the time, but which now falls under the […]
Previously, researchers have established a connection between ADHD and Parkinson’s disease, and now, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, have shown that individuals with autism statistically run an increased risk of developing Parkinson’s disease before the age of 50. The study has been published in the scientific journal JAMA Neurology and is based on […]