What does it mean to have autistic traits, but not be autistic? Aren’t they also just autistic but not severely so, seeing as it’s a spectrum anyway? — Person on Quora Autism vs. Autistic Traits How can someone have autistic traits, but not be autistic? To better understand such a person, we have to…

This morning, 12/5/2022, I was writing a blog post that briefly discussed stimming, which led me to look up “why do autistic people stim” on Google. For those unfamiliar with the term: “stimming,” short for “self stimulatory behavior,” means repetitive movements, such as hand flapping, spinning in one’s chair, or…

Understanding the difference between speech, language, and communication can expand our view of what’s possible for people with speech or language disabilities — During my orientation to a training program in speech/language therapy, the teachers instructed us to play a game. The goal was simple: we had to arrange ourselves in line by age. Most of us were strangers, ranging from fresh out of college to forty-something.

[This post is a slightly edited version of an 11/2014 post from this blog’s Blogspot predecessor]. Most humans have an important skill: the ability to share attention. That is, they can pay attention to the same thing, knowing that the other person is also attending to and thinking about it. …

[Slightly edited version of a 2015 post on this blog’s Blogspot predecessor]. The autism community has become increasingly concerned about understanding people with no spoken language, and often, severe developmental delays. Such people have previously been excluded from many research studies, in favor of more convenient subjects. However, psychology offers…

In a recent webinar, ADHD coach and mother of an ADHD son Laurie Dupar introduced the concept of a “tipping point.” — In her coaching practice, Laurie met many people diagnosed as adults as late as middle age. Often, they had functioned well in school, at work, and in their relationships, until their lives suddenly seemed to fall apart — at which point they were finally diagnosed. Laurie developed the concept of…

[Edited version of a post on the old Blogspot blog from 2015]. Experts have long claimed that autistic people learn and use language differently than other people. What is language in autism like, and is there anything unique about it at all? Morton Ann Gernsbacher, Elizabeth Grace, and I investigated…

[Edited version of a post on the old Blogspot blog from 2015]. When autism first appeared in the “diagnostic Bible,” the 1980 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, one of the few criteria for diagnosis was “gross deficits in language development” (APA, 1980). Autism was once associated with: “marked abnormalities in the…

[Reposted and slightly edited from a 9/22/14 entry in the old Mosaic of Minds blog]. In a post catchily entitled “Warning: This Post Will Change Your Brain,” Neuroskeptic describes media coverage that breathlessly reports that a single dose of an antidepressant changes the brain. As Neuroskeptic points out, evidence from…