Autism diagnosis: A moving target

Recent articles

Portrait photograph of Donald Triplett against a black background.

Donald Triplett, autism’s ‘Case 1,’ dies at 89

Triplett gained media attention for his autism later in life, and he became the face of the effort to research the lives of older adults with autism.

By Shaena Montanari
20 June 2023 | 3 min read
Photograph of a mother with her child in a hallway waiting for an appointment.

Average autism diagnosis delayed by more than two years

The findings may explain why the average age at diagnosis has plateaued at 4 years old.

By Calli McMurray
16 June 2023 | 4 min read
Collage of multiple figures on a hillside looking at a large blue book in the distance.

Debate remains over changes in DSM-5 a decade on

Changes to the DSM-5’s diagnostic criteria for autism were meant to add clarity, but they also generated new questions.

By Shaena Montanari
31 May 2023 | 12 min read
Portrait of Cathy Lord.

Diagnosing autism with Catherine Lord

In this inaugural episode, Lord discusses her entry into autism research, what the future of the field might look like and how drama club saved her in high school.

By Brady Huggett
1 April 2023 | 63 min listen
Coraline with her family at home in Pennsylvania.

The promise of telehealth in autism diagnoses

The COVID-19 pandemic forced a reckoning, in which autism clinicians had to redefine best practices and expand how children are evaluated. The remote assessments they developed may help solve a persistent problem: the long wait families endure to get a diagnosis in the United States.

By Lydia Denworth
15 February 2023 | 22 min read

Clinicians lack confidence in diagnostic interviews with Black mothers

Implicit biases might be to blame, and the discrepancy persists across clinics, regardless of maternal education, family income and a child’s IQ score.

By Niko McCarty
13 May 2022 | 4 min read

Earlier autism diagnosis associated with greater trait improvement

Children who are diagnosed with autism before age 2 and a half years show more gains in their social skills than children who are diagnosed later.

By Peter Hess
2 December 2021 | 5 min read
Young patient getting diagnosis from doctor.

Diagnosis timeline drags for Black autistic children

High rates of intellectual disability among Black autistic children may reflect diagnostic delays.

By Laura Dattaro
24 August 2020 | 5 min read

Explore more from The Transmitter

Research image showing that activity in single neurons spikes when a person encodes sequential items into working memory.

Null and Noteworthy: Neurons tracking sequences don’t fire in order

Instead, neurons encode the position of sequential items in working memory based on when they fire during ongoing brain wave oscillations—a finding that challenges a long-standing theory.

By Laura Dattaro
30 June 2025 | 4 min read
A hand points to a chalkboard with an astrocyte on it.

How to teach this paper: ‘Neurotoxic reactive astrocytes are induced by activated microglia,’ by Liddelow et al. (2017)

Shane Liddelow and his collaborators identified the factors that transform astrocytes from their helpful to harmful form. Their work is a great choice if you want to teach students about glial cell types, cell culture, gene expression or protein measurement.

By Ashley Juavinett
30 June 2025 | 10 min read
Research image of altered neural connections induced by norepinephrine.

Astrocytes sense neuromodulators to orchestrate neuronal activity and shape behavior

Astrocytes serve as crucial mediators of neuromodulatory processes previously attributed to direct communication between neurons, four new studies show.

By Claudia López Lloreda
27 June 2025 | 9 min listen