“[A] sweeping theory of brain development that would change the way mental disorders like autism and schizophrenia are understood”——a “new idea” that “provides psychiatry with perhaps its grandest working theory since Freud, and one that is grounded in work at the forefront of science”: Today’s New York Times uses such grand language to introduce a new theory of psychiatric disorders in which parents’ genes are “in competition.” The theory is the work of Bernard Crespi, a biologist at Simon Fraser University in Canada, and Christopher Badcock, a sociologist at the London School of Economics. Here’s how the New York …read more

The class mom in Charlie’s class has been sending out emails in preparation for their year end party. Charlie’s entire class is moving onto middle school and we’ve been planning a special ceremony and a party, with special (secret) presents for the teachers and therapists: It’s the boys’ last week at their elementary school, as they will be attending Extended School Year at the middle school and with their new teacher. (And here is a recent article about new classrooms for autistic teens opening in nothern New Jersey.)
And—in Jefferson City, Missouri (the state Charlie was born in)—22-year-old Chad Winkler is …read more