• Here's why states want to make it tough to skip childhood vaccines

    Here's why states want to make it tough to skip childhood vaccines

    May 25, 2016 12:39 PM EST

    ... to decide whether their kids can be vaccinated. Many parents worry that vaccines cause illness and permanent disabilities, she said, although links between vaccines and autism have been discredited by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And, Fisher said, eliminating exemptions would mean that unvaccinated children in many states ...

  • One former bank executive's quest to make the workforce more 'neurodiverse'

    One former bank executive's quest to make the workforce more 'neurodiverse'

    May 19, 2016 09:05 PM EST

    ... to Harvard looking to scale and fine-tune a program to get businesses to hire more more "neurodiverse" employees -- that is, people with Asperger's, autism, dyslexia, post-traumatic stress disorder, Tourette's -- people whose brains are "wired differently," she says. The following conversation has been edited for clarity and ...

  • A dad learns to 'Love That Boy' when son diagnosed with Asperger's

    A dad learns to 'Love That Boy' when son diagnosed with Asperger's

    May 12, 2016 11:52 PM EST

    ... we thought up until then -- he was 12 at the time -- that we thought were uncomfortable to him, but we just learned, because of the autism, was actually unnatural to him. And I had to step up and spend more time with him. I had spent a lot of time ...

  • The shocking experience of finally seeing the full spectrum of emotion

    The shocking experience of finally seeing the full spectrum of emotion

    Apr 27, 2016 11:33 PM EST

    ... had, that even other people that participated in the research had very different experiences. You're not advocating automatically that this is a cure for autism or anything like that. JOHN ELDER ROBISON: Oh, absolutely not. This is -- this is not a cure for autism. But what it is, is ...

  • To improve lifelong health, Memphis tries rooting out childhood trauma

    To improve lifelong health, Memphis tries rooting out childhood trauma

    Apr 20, 2016 11:37 PM EST

    ... difficult to learn. They're asking the federal court to force the district to provide additional support, in the same way schools accommodate students with autism, dyslexia and other learning differences under the Americans With Disabilities Act. At home in Compton, Arthur, whose identity has to be protected because of ...

  • How poetry helped a Compton student survive trauma

    How poetry helped a Compton student survive trauma

    Apr 20, 2016 06:25 PM EST

    ... faced makes it difficult to learn and demanding that the district offer them additional support, in much the same way schools must accommodate students with autism, dyslexia and other disabilities. Cervantes said that poetry helped her deal with trauma from these events and the derision she faced at school for ...

  • Los Angeles’ bold move to reform special education

    Los Angeles’ bold move to reform special education

    Feb 24, 2016 12:46 AM EST

    Public schools in Los Angeles have experienced rapid change in the last decade, and graduation rates for the city’s 80,000 special needs students have nearly doubled since 2003. But greater transitions lie ahead: the district plans to transfer these students from special education centers to neighborhood schools. Special correspondent John Tulenko of Education Week reports.

  • Narrow marketplace plans in Texas are a problem for some autistic children

    Narrow marketplace plans in Texas are a problem for some autistic children

    Feb 09, 2016 09:53 PM EST

    New, narrower networks often mean families are losing access to therapists and providers they have used for their autistic children.

  • News Wrap: Militants make deadly attack on Pakistan university

    News Wrap: Militants make deadly attack on Pakistan university

    Jan 21, 2016 12:54 AM EST

    In our news wrap Wednesday, four Islamist militants snuck into Bacha Khan University in northwestern Pakistan and started shooting, killing at least 18 students and two teachers before being cornered and killed by soldiers. Also, scientists at NASA and NOAA reported that 2015 was Earth's hottest year on record.

  • News Wrap: Iraqis killed at 'staggering' rate since rise of ISIS, says UN

    News Wrap: Iraqis killed at 'staggering' rate since rise of ISIS, says UN

    Jan 20, 2016 12:33 AM EST

    In our news wrap Tuesday, 18,000 Iraqis have died from violence between the start of 2014 and last October, according to a U.N. report. Also, Reuters reported that three Americans who disappeared in Baghdad were kidnapped by a Shiite militia.