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Category: Research

Word cloud showing terms such as autism, spectrum, children, genetics, parents, intervention, and functioning
Advocates, Researchers, and Reconciliation

Advocates, Researchers, and Reconciliation

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I’m not writing this post because I particularly want to apportion blame to either researchers or neurodiversity advocates, or to fight over old grievances, as an end in itself.  Mostly, I hope we can move forwards into a future where researchers and autistic advocates see one another as collaborators, as allies who are both fundamentally interested in the same goals – in particular, enhancing quality of life for autistic people across all the whole breadth of the multidimensionally diverse autism…

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3D scatterplot depicting cognitive ability, anxiety, and discomfort to loudness scores of autistic and non-autistic individuals
The autism constellation

The autism constellation

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For a long time, we’ve used the metaphor of a spectrum to describe autism.  This is a metaphor that has worked fairly well for us in many ways.  It alerted us to the fact that instead of being a discrete category, there’s a lot of heterogeneity and variability within autism. Indeed, I would argue that autism lacks biological reality – it’s a social construct, a category that we made up, and its boundaries have shifted over space and time.  I’m…

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Word cloud featuring terms such as evidence-based, outcomes, improve, practice, change, support, etc.
The Shortcomings of Evidence-Based Practice

The Shortcomings of Evidence-Based Practice

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I’m finding myself increasingly annoyed by the emphasis on evidence-based practice in the autism world. This is not because I don’t see the value in responsible intervention practices that are consistent with research and theory.  There are still far too many people who are taken in by alternative pseudoscience, quack treatments, and faith healing in a vain attempt to “cure” autism.  Even if we leave aside the important ethical question of whether a “cure” for autism itself is truly desirable,…

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The head of a microscope is positioned above a sample.
Should autism research be like using a microscope to study cells, where the cells don't get any say in how the research goes, or should autistic people and other stakeholders be represented in the research community in a way that allows them to shape research?
Representation of Autistic People in Research

Representation of Autistic People in Research

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Autistic people aren’t yet well-represented among autism researchers. I’ve been trying to keep track of my fellow autistic autism researchers and, worldwide, I’m currently aware of about four dozen of us, or thereabouts, spread out widely across the sciences, social sciences, and humanities, although from social media groups I think there may be somewhat more. Still, many of us are students, which means that our control over our research is limited. I’m only aware of a tiny handful of research…

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Issues with Diagnostic Assessments

Issues with Diagnostic Assessments

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I think it’s fair to say that there are a lot of problems with the way that we currently do diagnostic assessments for autism and other divergent neurotypes.  This is by no means an exhaustive list of all the issues, but I thought I would make an effort to identify some of the ones that I think are most important. One important problem is that our diagnostic systems are inaccessible.  Parents are likely to notice some evidence of atypical neurodevelopment…

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Autism Research or Neurotypical Research?

Autism Research or Neurotypical Research?

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Here’s an interesting question: what is the proper subject of autism research?  Or, to rephrase things slightly, who should be the subjects of autism research? When I use the word “subject” here, I don’t mean a participant in a research study.  I’m talking about a nonliving thing, living being, or class of things or beings that is dealt with by something else (in this case, that is dealt with by autism research).  I’m asking about the proper subject matter for…

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Animal Models and Cognitive Models

Animal Models and Cognitive Models

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I’ve previously written a post to complain about the behavioural assays that are used in research with mouse models of autism.  I’m seriously concerned that these tests just aren’t tapping into autistic behaviours, and that autistic development might be so complex and social in nature that animals like mice can’t really simulate it.  I therefore suggested that autism research with mouse models might be better limited to the molecular level. I think it’s possible to broaden this criticism a little. …

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Neurodiversity and Genetics Research

Neurodiversity and Genetics Research

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I’ve previously posted a description of how I see the neurodiversity paradigm, as well as a post contrasting the neurodiversity paradigm and the social model of disability.  (We often conflate the neurodiversity paradigm and the social model, but they’re really not the same thing.) Basically, I see the neurodiversity paradigm as a way of shifting our focus.  Instead of looking solely at the neurodivergent person, we can use the neurodiversity paradigm to look at both the individual and society.  We…

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Interoception and Introspection

Interoception and Introspection

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There’s an interesting tension in the autism world between research on interoception and on autistic people’s self-reports, on our introspections. Interoception is our ability to be aware of our own bodies, and some research suggests that interoceptive abilities are reduced in autism (Mul et al., 2018; Palser et al., 2018).  Interoception is believed to be related to alexithymia (Mul et al., 2018; Shah et al., 2016), awareness of one’s own emotional states, which also appears to be reduced in autism…

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On Biomarkers

On Biomarkers

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The research world seems to love “biomarkers.”  Not only does “biomarker” appear to be a very fashionable buzzword in certain circles, but it seems like projects that aim to find biomarkers are very attractive to agencies that fund research.[1]  Among researchers, biomarkers are in the vogue. What is a “biomarker,” exactly? Well, properly speaking, it refers to some kind of biological marker – something like a physiological, functional, chemical, or molecular signal.  This biological marker might tell us that a…

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