Lydia Denworth is a New York-based science writer and author of I Can Hear You Whisper: An Intimate Journey through the Science of Sound and Language.
![Headshot of Lydia Denworth.](https://www.thetransmitter.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Lydia_Denworth-3195_170x170_acf_cropped.jpg)
Lydia Denworth
Contributing writer
The Transmitter
From this contributor
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.
![Coraline with her family at home in Pennsylvania.](https://www.thetransmitter.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/844-Lead-Hannah-autism-telehealth.jpg)
The promise of telehealth in autism diagnoses
The most personalized medicine: Studying your own child’s rare condition
A handful of scientists are committed to advancing research on the autism-related genetic conditions their own children have.
![](https://www.thetransmitter.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Dr.-Michael-Boland-lab-844.jpg)
The most personalized medicine: Studying your own child’s rare condition
Owen’s odyssey: A year and a half after an autism diagnosis
This is part 2 of Owen’s story. It tracks his early progress in treatment for autism. Part 1 described his difficult path to a diagnosis.
![Owen leaving his home for a bike ride, followed by his therapists and teachers.](https://www.thetransmitter.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/OwenDoorbike844.jpg)
Owen’s odyssey: A year and a half after an autism diagnosis
A quest for Quincy: Gene therapies come of age for some forms of autism
A gene therapy for Angelman syndrome stands at the forefront of efforts to treat autism-linked conditions that stem from single genes.
![Ralf Schmid, the research director in Neurodevelopmental diseases at the Gene Therapy Program Orphan Disease Center, loads replicated mouse dna into wells in the gel before applying electric current to test the viability of the dna.](https://www.thetransmitter.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/20201014-GTLablede844-1.jpg)
A quest for Quincy: Gene therapies come of age for some forms of autism
How people with autism forge friendships
Most autistic people want to and can make friends, though their relationships often have a distinctive air.
Explore more from The Transmitter
New connectomes fly beyond the brain
Researchers are mapping the neurons in Drosophila’s ventral nerve cord, where the central nervous system meets the rest of the body.
![Research image of neurons in the fly’s ventral nerve cord.](https://www.thetransmitter.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/lede-motormodules-1200-1024x692.webp)
New connectomes fly beyond the brain
Researchers are mapping the neurons in Drosophila’s ventral nerve cord, where the central nervous system meets the rest of the body.
Building an autism research registry: Q&A with Tony Charman
A purpose-built database of participants who have shared genomic and behavioral data could give clinical trials a boost, Charman says.
![Illustration of researchers talking to laypeople amidst strands of DNA.](https://www.thetransmitter.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/1200_Charman-1024x687.webp)
Building an autism research registry: Q&A with Tony Charman
A purpose-built database of participants who have shared genomic and behavioral data could give clinical trials a boost, Charman says.
Cerebellar circuit may convert expected pain relief into real thing
The newly identified circuit taps into the brain’s opioid system to provide a top-down form of pain relief.
![](https://www.thetransmitter.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/paincircuit-1200-1024x692.webp)
Cerebellar circuit may convert expected pain relief into real thing
The newly identified circuit taps into the brain’s opioid system to provide a top-down form of pain relief.