Lately, Autism has been getting more and more attention in the news.  This page provides links to some of those news articles, and television shows that have talked about autism.

In all cases, please be aware that the Canadian National Autism Foundation does not endorse or recommend any of the information contained within our pages or the links to other sites. It is your responsibility to use these pages as information to build your knowledge and to ask questions of other professionals with whom you trust.

Articles about Various Issues

     CDC to introduce 'Autism Case Training' curriculum ~ "Autism Case Training

     A Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics Curriculum"will educate future pediatri-

     cians on the fundamental components of identifying,diagnosing,and managing

     autism spectrum disorders through real-life, case-based scenarios.The cirricu- 

     lum is a flexible, interactive learning tool that emphasizes practical skills for

     patient and parent interaction. The curriculum consists of seven case- based

     studies that can be taught individually or as part of a series.~October 2011

     Early, Intensive Therapy Better for Kids With Autism, Study Finds ~ Social,

     communication skills improved more when treatment started at early age~

     October 2011

     Promising Drug Treatment for Improving Language, Social Function in

     People with Autism ~ The beta blocker propranolol, a drug widely used to 

    treat hypertension and anxiety disorders,may also be beneficial for improving

    language and social function in people with autism. ~ October 2011

    The level and nature of autistic intelligence II: What about Asperger

     Syndrome? ~Asperger individuals' scores are much higher when they are

     evaluated by a test called Raven's Progressive Matrices, which encompasses

     reasoning, novel problem-solving abilities, and high-level abstraction. By

     comparison, scores for non-Asperger individuals are much more consistent

     across different tests. Interestingly, Asperger participants' performance on

     Raven's Matrices was associated with their strongest peaks of performance

     on Wechsler. ~ September 2011

     People Affected By Autism Believe Increase Is 'Real,' Not Diagnostic

     ~ Medical News Today, December 11, 2009     

Extreme Preemies Might Have Higher Autism Risk ~ ABC News, January

29, 2009

Three Reasons Not to Believe in an Autism Epidemic ~ Morton Ann

Gernsbacher, Michelle Dawson, and H. Hill Goldsmith

New Clues to Autism's Cause ~ Time, July 2008

A  Link Between Autism and Testosterone? ~ Time, January 15, 2009           

What Happens When They Grow Up? ~ featured in Newsweek Health,

November 27, 2006

Coping with Life as a Grown-Up with Autism ~ Newsweek, December 11,

2006.

When Does Autism Start? ~ featured in Newsweek Magazine, February 28,

2005 series on Autism

'The New Age of Autism' Scientists Hope to Identify Early Markers of

Autism in Babies as Young as Six Months ~ featured in Newsweek

Magazine, February 20, 2005 and in the Schafer Autism Report

How About Not 'Curing' Us, Some Autistics Are Pleading ~ featured in the

New York Times, December 20, 2004

Sheriff: Deadly fight provoked ~ PERRIS: An autistic man's family says

he was not responsible for a tussle that preceded his death ~ The Press Enterprise, July 26, 2006

Experts Question Prevalent Stereotypes about Autism ~ University of

Wisconsin-Madison ~ February 20, 2006

Autistic Kids Benefit from Dads' Involvement ~ University of Florida

Health Science Center ~ April 2005

Inside Autism ~ CNN ~ September 2006

Articles about Education

Pupils 'must look away to think' ~ BBC News ~ January 2006

Photo Essay~ Inside A School for Autistic Children ~ Time Magazine

Articles about the Brain

Robot Playmates Monitor Emotional State of Children with Autism

~  Science Daily

New Test Spots Autism Signs in 9 Month Old Infant ~ CTV.ca ~ May 15, 2008 (Go to the right hand side of the page and click on Mel Rutherford under Your Health)

Mac Test May Catch Autism Earlier ~ Hamilton Spectator ~ May 15, 2008

New Test to Detect Autism at 9 Months ~ The Globe and Mail ~ May 16, 2008

New Test May Unlock Autism Secrets ~ how an MRI can measure how an

individual's brain processes light and motion

Ties That Bind Mother And Child ~ One theory behind autism's symptom of

social indifference is that the brain might be incapable of forming strong 

social bonds without feedback from its opioid reward system -- like the

pleasure a baby should feel from loving parental care.

UCSD Researchers Find Brain Overgrowth During First Year of Life in

Autism ~ University of California, San Diego News Release

What Causes Autism ~ Discovery Health

Scientists Make Gut-Brain Connection to Autism ~ CBC News, September 

2007

Articles about Mercury and Vaccines

    Federal government has paid out vaccine autism compensation awards to

     83 families ~ But enough claims have been awarded to indicate the

    government's secret awareness of the link between a vaccine and autism

    while publicly denying it. ~ September 2011

Autism & Vaccines ~ CDC Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Autism: Unraveling the mystery.  Families Argue Autism Vaccine Link ~

CNN News, June 5, 2008

Study Casts Doubt on Autism-Vaccine Link ~ CTV News, January 7, 2008

Vaccine Links To Autism? ~ Alex Donnelly had abnormal levels of mercury

in his body; his father thinks there's a connection between vaccinations and the autism he developed.

ABC's Primetime Live Report on Autism: Yellow Journalism At It's Worst

~ SafeMinds Calls Upon ABC News to Make On-Air Correction; 'Investigative' Report Appears to Lack Even Most Basic Facts

The vaccine preservative contains mercury ~ During the 1990s, autism 

silently exploded across the United States, affecting up to 15 times as many children as it did in the prior decade.

A Neverending Story ~ Even as researchers report once again that there

is no link between a vaccine preservative and the way kids develop,parents of children with autism continue to press their cases against drugmakers. A coming wave of lawsuits?

Articles about Genetics and Autism

    Autism Research: Breakthrough Discovery on the Causes of Autism  ~    

    researchers from the University of California, Davis called "Mitochondrial  

    Dysfunction in Autism" (i) discovered a profound and serious biological 

    underpinning of autism -- an acquired loss of the ability to produce energy in

    the cells, damage to mitochondria (the energy factories in your cells), and an 

    increase in oxidative stress (the same chemical reaction that causes cars to

    rust, apples to turn brown, fat to become rancid, and skin to wrinkle).These

    disturbances in energy metabolism were not due to genetic mutations,which is

    often seen in mitochondrial problems, but a condition the children studied

    acquired in utero or after birth. ~ December 2010

Autism Linked to Genes that Govern How the Brain is Wired ~ Time, April

28, 2009

Genetic Flaw Appears to Increase the Risk of Autism ~ as featured on 

CTV News, January 9, 2008

Autism Gene ~ a report on a study done by Columbia Univeristy ~ as

featured on News Channel 9

Doctors want to screen out embryos with Autism ~ The Sunday Times

Britain ~ June 18, 2006

Tracing The Origins of Autism: A Spectrum Of New Studies ~ Environmental Health Perspectives, July 2006

Video Clips of Autism in the News

Video CHCH TV News Report ~ Detecting Autism at 9 Months ~ May 2008

A collection of inspiring video clips in the news

Other Interesting Tid Bits

    CTV.ca | Evidence lacking for special diets in autism ~ An expert panel says

    there's no rigorous evidence that digestive problems are more common

    in children with autism compared to other children, or that special diets

    work, contrary to claims by celebrities and vaccine naysayers.

Autism Linked to Parents with High Level of Education ~ UK Telegraph News

Missing Link Between Madness and Genius ~ UK Telegraph News

Alert Card for Autism is Launched (in England) ~ An alert card to help

emergency services identify when they are dealing with someone with an autism-related condition. ~ BBC News