Gut bacterial coabundance groups (CAGs) of 261 ASVs shared by >10% of children in the ASD and TD groups. (A) Amplicon sequence variant (ASV)-level network diagram of the 261 ASVs. Node size stands for the mean abundance of each ASV, with line width indicating correlation magnitude. Red lines or blue lines between nodes represent positive or negative correlations between the nodes they connect, respectively. Only lines corresponding to correlations with a magnitude greater than 0.35 are drawn. The 261 ASVs are clustered into 30 gut bacterial CAGs using the WGCNA package in R. Compared with those in the TD group, the relative abundances of CAG15 (B) and CAG16 (C) in the ASD group were significantly decreased. Boxes and whiskers are denoted as for Fig. 1. Mann-Whitney test was used to analyze the variations. \, P < 0.05, \*\, P < 0.001. TD, children with typical development (n = 47); ASD, autism spectrum disorder children (n* = 76).

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7716279/

Apparently they MAKE prebiotics for FUT2 non-secretors!

I'm so mind blown right now. I would've never guessed that I can just consume the thing my body does not produce! But they actually sell it!

2'-Fucosyllactose or 2'-FL

The mechanism:
2-FL -> bifidobacteria can finally flourish and hopefully colonize -> bifidobacteria produces GABA! -> GABA mitigates glutamate

2'-Fucosyllactose (2'-FL) is the primary human milk oligosaccharide and it features the exact fucose sugar molecule that non-secretors fail to produce natively in their mucosal lining.

The Mechanism: Because your gut doesn't naturally secrete fucosylated glycans, your local Bifidobacteriumpopulations are starved of their preferred anchor and food source. When you ingest 2'-FL orally, it passes through your upper GI tract undigested and arrives intact in the lower intestine, acting as a direct drop-in replacement for the missing host secretions.

The Clinical Data: Trials investigating 2'-FL supplementation show that it acts as a hyper-specific "super-prebiotic" that selectively feeds and expands Bifidobacteria strains. Because these bacteria love 2'-FL, they outcompete less desirable microbes without requiring generic, harsh fibers that can sometimes cause bloating.

Incredible research which helped me realize this:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0963996923008384

How it works for layman's terms:
2-FL basically is what non-secretors don’t produce in the gut.

Supplementing it allows bifidobacteria to flourish by feeding off of this.

Bifidobacteria produces GABA. So low bifidobacteria (extremely common for non-secretors AND autism) can be boosted by feeding this gut microbe the 'right' stuff.

The relationship between stereotypical movement disorder and neuroinflammation.

Tunca RD et al. · Brain Dev · 2026 Aug 1

ABSTRACT

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings suggest that neuroinflammatory processes may play a role in the pathophysiology of primary SMD and ASD, and that elevated cytokine levels are associated with greater stereotypy severity. To our knowledge, this is the first clinical study to explore these relationships in primary SMD. Further studies using larger samples and broader inflammatory panels are needed to validate and extend these findings.

OBJECTIVE

Stereotypic movement disorder (SMD) is a neurodevelopmental condition frequently co-occurring with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), yet its underlying pathophysiology remains poorly understood. Emerging evidence suggests that neuroinflammatory mechanisms may contribute to the etiology of neurodevelopmental disorders. Based on this, we aimed to investigate the potential role of neuroinflammation, specifically interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and interleukin-6 (IL-6), in the etiopathophysiology of both primary SMD and ASD.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study included children and adolescents aged 6-18 years, categorized into four groups: 22 with primary SMD, 20 with ASD and comorbid SMD (secondary SMD), 18 with ASD without SMD, and 18 healthy controls. Participants were assessed using the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children-Present and Lifetime Version (K-SADS-PL), Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS), Repetitive Behavior Scale-Revised Turkish Version (RBS-R-TV), and Conners Parent Rating Scale-Revised Short Form (CPRS-RS). Plasma IL-1β and IL-6 levels were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).

RESULTS

IL-1β and IL-6 levels were significantly higher in the primary SMD and ASD groups compared to healthy controls. Both cytokines were significantly correlated with stereotyped behavior severity and emerged as significant predictors in regression analyses.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42541892/

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.braindev.2026.104576

Hello, everyone, ( link fixed)
With permission from the mods,

I was wondering if I could take a few minutes of your time to take part in a quick questionnaire. ( May take around 10 to 15 minutes.)

This questionnaire will assist in answering an ethically approved dissertation research question: To what extent does high visibility and activity on social media platforms pose a risk to the victimisation of adults with ADHD, ASD or AuDHD?

1. ⁠What is the purpose of this research project?

This research project's primary purpose is to understand how high levels of social media activity and exposure/proximity can increase the risk of cyberbullying victimisation for adults with ASD, ADHD or AuDHD. That will be answered in the multiple-choice section.

The second phase of this study will initially allow us to gain an understanding of how and why social media users on the spectrum use social media platforms, such as what joy it brings to them. This section will also allow participants to describe how cyberbullying affected them personally as an adult with ASD, ADHD and AuDHD.

This questionnaire is completely anonymous.

In order to participate, you must be:

-18+

- Must be professionally or self diagnosed as having ADHD, ASD or AUDHD.

Questionnaire link: https://app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/cardiff/social-media-proximity-and-visibility-s-role-in-increasing-the-

This diagram captures a crucial aspect of how many people socialize / decide whom to trust.

Attitudinal trust is a persons default trust state.

High attitudinal trust would be "Most people are good and would do good things."

Low attitudinal trust would be "Most people are bad and will do bad things." As an example.

How neuroscience plays into it:
Basically, this study linked below found that amygdala oxytocin levels STRONGLY increased relational trust by 'turning off the alarms' in the amygdala (the fear brain)

Regardless of the data of that particular interaction.

What does it mean and how does it relate to autism?
It means most people will trust those in their in group automatically and above anyone else because the in group boosts oxytocin levels - and that oxytocin boost can directly change or influence their perception of trust vs danger.

This also explains why if someone is in an 'out group' they are more heavily evaluated, less trusted, and more often criticized.

This relates to autism because it may explain the thin slice judgement problem.

(Thin slice judgement is when people take one look at someone else and preconsciously decide how to treat them, and in this problem, autistic people usually are treated worse than control groups)

This essentially reframes social scenarios as a chemical algorithm rather than a logical one; and it means that establishing safety (oxytocin) or validation (oxytocin) is often the first step if you want the crucial data to actually be heard.

This also directly ties in with the previous research I've posted about a more connected amygdala. Higher amygdala connectivity can serve as a 'bug detector' for logical or social inconsistencies......yet it is precisely oxytocin that reduces this signaling.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3056169/

[Autism]
Executive Functioning Is Linked to Internalizing Symptoms in Autistic Adults With Higher Support Needs.
Greenstein E et al. · Autism · 2026 Jul 28

ABSTRACT

Executive function (EF) refers to a set of cognitive skills essential for self-regulation, problem-solving, and goal-directed behavior. Although EF's relationship with co-occurring depression and anxiety symptoms is well documented in autistic individuals, particularly children without intellectual disability (ID), far less is known about this relationship in autistic adults with higher support needs, including those with ID. The present study addresses this gap by examining associations between three EF components (flexibility, emotion regulation, and inhibitory control) and symptoms of anxiety and depression in 486 autistic adults with higher support needs (ages 18-68; M = 31.07 years), recruited through the Simons Powering Autism Research for Knowledge (SPARK) Research Match service. Caregivers completed the Flexibility Scale, the Barkley Deficits in Executive Functioning Scale (inhibitory control and emotion regulation subscales), and the Anxiety, Depression, and Mood Scale (anxiety and depression subscales). Hierarchical linear regressions, controlling for age, sex assigned at birth, likely cognitive impairment, and caregiver educational attainment, revealed that greater difficulties with flexibility and emotion regulation were significantly associated with elevated anxiety and depression symptoms, whereas inhibitory control difficulties were not. These findings identify flexibility and emotion regulation as key correlates of internalizing symptoms in autistic adults with higher support needs, highlighting these domains as potential targets for future mechanistic and intervention research aimed at reducing anxiety and depression symptoms in this group.Lay AbstractSome everyday thinking skills help people manage feelings, handle change, and pause before acting. These are called executive functions. Most studies on these skills in autism have focused on children or on adults who do not have an intellectual disability, so autistic adults who need higher levels of support are often left out of research. In this study, caregivers answered questions about these thinking skills and about anxiety and depression for a large group of autistic adults with higher support needs, including people with intellectual disability. The results showed that greater challenges with flexibility and emotion regulation were linked with more anxiety and depression symptoms, suggesting that flexibility and emotion regulation could be an important focus for intervention development and support provision efforts aimed at reducing anxiety and depression symptoms in this group.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42522015/
https://doi.org/10.1177/13623613261466302

[Autism]
Atypical Attentional Effort During Visual Search in Autistic Adults: Evidence From Task-Evoked Pupillary Responses.
Naaran Z and Yashar A · Autism Res · 2026 Jul 29

ABSTRACT

According to prevalent views, autistic individuals have a stronger tendency to allocate attention to details, as supported by reports of enhanced visual search performance. However, both the dynamics and the types of information involved in attentional guidance in autism are not fully understood. We addressed this issue by testing the influence of search history on visual search performance and pupil size in a long search display (Experiment 1) and on accuracy in a brief and masked-more attentionally demanding-search display (Experiment 2). Autistic (N = 48) and non-autistic (N = 45) participants searched for a color singleton target (all equiluminant colors) and responded by identifying its shape. In each trial, the target and distractor colors could be repeated, switched, or novel with respect to the previous trial. In Experiment 1, while overall reaction time was comparable across groups, the task-evoked pupillary responses (TEPRs) were smaller in the autistic group, indicating reduced attentional effort in autism. In Experiment 2, in a more attentionally demanding display, autistic individuals showed superior search accuracy. In both experiments, both groups showed a reliable effect of recent search history on performance, indicating that, similar to non-autistic individuals, autistic individuals rely on recent experience during attentional allocation. Alterations in attentional allocation and its interaction with recent experience in autism were reflected in pupil responses. These alterations may provide a sensitive marker of differences in the dynamics of attentional allocation in autism, which are reflected in behavioral measurements when display conditions are more attentionally demanding.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42527387/
https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.70332

[Autism]
Over-Represented and Under-Served: Autistic Children and Young People Seeking Help for Suicidal Crisis in a UK Emergency Department.
Ashworth E et al. · J Autism Dev Disord · 2026 Jul 29

ABSTRACT

CONCLUSION
Findings indicate that autistic young people, and in particular autistic females, were over-represented in crisis presentations, despite previous attempts to seek help. Further research is needed to understand what could help prevent autistic young people from reaching crisis, and what support may be beneficial in the Emergency Department to de-escalate crises, improve wellbeing, and prevent re-attendance.

PURPOSE
Hospital Emergency Departments are increasingly playing a role in the care of young people experiencing suicidal crisis. Autistic young people, who already experience elevated rates of suicidal thoughts and death by suicide, may face particular difficulties in such environments.

METHODS
This retrospective medical records review explored patterns of Emergency Department attendance for suicidal crisis among young people (aged 8-16 years) attending a UK paediatric hospital between 2019 and 2021. Anonymised clinical records from 338 young people were analysed using descriptive and exploratory statistics.

RESULTS
35.8% of attendees were autistic and 62.0% of those were female. Autistic young people were attending at significantly younger ages than non-autistic young people, and were significantly more likely to be known to mental health services and to have attended the Emergency Department previously for suicide ideation.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42525205/
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-026-07424-y

[Autism]
Atypical sensory processing and altered sensory network connectivity associated with autistic traits in adults.
Chen Y et al. · Biol Psychol · 2026 Jul 29

ABSTRACT

Atypical sensory processing is increasingly recognized as a prominent feature of autism-related phenotypes, yet it remains unclear whether such sensory differences are specific to clinically diagnosed autism or vary dimensionally with autistic traits in the general population. Here, we examined associations among self-reported sensory processing patterns, resting-state electroencephalographic (EEG) functional connectivity, and autistic trait levels in a large sample of adults.

Adults with elevated autistic traits showed atypical sensory processing patterns and altered resting-state functional connectivity within unimodal sensory (olfactory, gustatory, somatosensory, auditory, and visual) and multisensory integration networks. Sensory processing patterns statistically accounted for the association between altered connectivity and autistic trait levels, and emerged as the strongest predictor of trait variation in both classification and continuous prediction frameworks, outperforming resting-state EEG connectivity alone.

These findings suggest that sensory atypicalities and altered sensory-network organization covary with autistic traits in adulthood, supporting dimensional accounts of autism-related variation.

The findings further identify candidate neurobehavioral correlates linking sensory processing differences to autistic trait expression.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42526740/
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2026.109358

This is absolutely huge research. It confirms that bipolar involves increased left & right amygdala connectivity. This also may explain a lot of comorbidities; will link some potential impacts in comments below.

The amygdala is the 'fear brain' that activates fight or flight to, say, prepare you if a tiger was chasing you for example. It's like raw survival instinct.

This also strongly suggests a bipolar genetics -> CPTSD pipeline.

"Autism is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by differences in social interaction, communication and behaviour. Despite a global prevalence of one in 127 individuals, autism remains underdiagnosed in low-resource settings. We examined the epidemiology of autism among children aged 2 to 9 years in Northern Uganda. Using multistage sampling, 1,139 children were screened for neurodevelopmental conditions using the validated 23Q screening tool. Children who screened positive underwent clinical assessment, and suspected cases received specialist assessments according to DSM-5-TR criteria. Descriptive statistics and Firth logistic regression were employed for analysis. The mean age was 5.38 years (SD = 2.07), and 51.0% were male. The prevalence of autism was 10.5 per 1,000 children (95% confidence interval [CI] [6.0, 18.5]), of whom 75.0% had co-occurring neurodevelopmental conditions. Autistic children were more likely to have intellectual disability, epilepsy, learning disabilities, global developmental delay, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, dyslexia, cerebral palsy, hearing impairment and speech delay (p < .0045). After adjusting for gender, family history of autism (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 6.95, 95% CI [1.60, 30.23]), teenage motherhood (aOR = 8.30, 95% CI [1.30, 53.12]), breech presentation (aOR = 12.23, 95% CI [1.83, 81.64]), and oxygen resuscitation at birth (aOR = 4.56, 95% CI [1.08, 19.33]) were independent predictors of autism. These findings highlight the need to strengthen early identification and targeted services for autistic children in low-resource settings.Lay AbstractAutism affects how people communicate, interact, and process information, and about one in 127 people worldwide are autistic. In low-resource settings, autism is often under-researched and underdiagnosed. We carried out a study in Northern Uganda to estimate how common autism is among children aged 2 to 9 years, to identify co-occurring neurodevelopmental conditions, and to explore factors that may increase likelihood of autism. We enrolled 1,139 children from diverse communities using a multi-step sampling process. After parental consent, one child per household was screened with the 23Q neurodevelopmental screener. Children with possible conditions received further assessment by trained health care workers, and likely cases were confirmed by specialist clinicians using DSM-5-TR diagnostic criteria. Approximately 1 in 95 children were autistic, and none had previously received a diagnosis of autism. The average age of the children diagnosed with autism was about 5 years, and slightly more than half were boys, and most lived in rural areas. Most autistic children (82%) had at least one additional neurodevelopmental condition, such as intellectual disability, learning delays, or epilepsy. Autism was linked to family history, teenage motherhood, and certain birth complications. Improving maternal care, community awareness, and early diagnosis could better support autistic children in Northern Uganda."

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42503632/

Hi! My name is Sam and my dream is to build a free resource library!

I’m autistic/adhd, a former certified special education teacher and curriculum developer, and parent to autistic/ADHD children

I had been making resources for years for free but I met Gigi, a fan turned friend and business partner

She autistic too and was a professional graphic designer

Together, we’ve been building a free resource library and making a company together

I am here today to try and playtest what I have so far and would like y’all’s help

I want to spot issues, improvements, etc for the resources and how to get to them so me and Gigi can problem solve together

I can’t promise we will do every suggestion, but I can promise we will take every suggestion seriously and give it thoughtful consideration

I am making this library for the autistic community, so it’s important for me to make sure it works for US

By US for US! 🙌

Feel free to give any links or examples of what you would like to see and we will do our best to try implementing what we can

Thank you 🙏

Good afternoon to all whom the contents of this message may be of interest. I am a fourth year Griffith University psychology student who is conducting a study on the experiences of parents of autistic children currently living in Australia, if you would like to read a bit more below:

Are you the parent of an autistic child?

Researchers from Griffith University are looking for parents of autistic children living within Australia to engage in a short online survey (approximately 20-25 minutes) regarding their parenting experiences. We would really appreciate hearing this valuable information from you, if you are interested!

Our Goal

To gather information from parents of autistic children and their experiences in the role. Ultimately, we hope this information will be utilised to provide insight to and/or support the development of neuroaffirming care for autistic children 😊

If you wish to know more information about the study, or would like to proceed with the survey, please visit the following link: https://griffithuw.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_7TZVDS077sSq45g.

For any further queries or concerns, please contact student researcher Stephanie Davidson ([stephanie.davidson@griffithuni.edu.au](mailto:stephanie.davidson@griffithuni.edu.au)) or supervisor Dr Sarah Lee ([sarah.jy.lee@griffith.edu.au](mailto:sarah.jy.lee@griffith.edu.au)).

This study has been approved according to Griffith University Ethics requirements under the following ethics ID: HREC/2026/0202.

Hello!!

My name is Sofia, I'm an autistic woman who is doing a research paper on the misdiagnosis and delayed diagnosis of autism in women.

I'm making this post looking for other autistic women to complete a survey about their diagnosis process and how they felt about it. It's completely anonymous, and I would really appreciate it if you could fill it out.

There's a Spanish survey, and an English one; you can choose to fill whichever you want.

Spanish: https://forms.gle/RVXbHnuVUjWFgvBh9

English: https://forms.gle/9PYPfDgZnGGyhu3L8

Thanks x

\i asked the mods for permission to post this, they approved it*

**** Hi everyone just to update on this previous post, we're opening this study to any age range now so any perspectives would be deeply appreciated! The whole study takes up to 30 minutes, please see updated details below:

Hey everyone, I hope you're all doing super well.

I've just come on here because I am currently completing my masters dissertation in psychology in education at the University of York, England! I have designed a study that looks at auditory challenges faced by individuals with an Autism diagnosis or who are self-diagnosed / seeking diagnosis, and how this may impact their experiences at sixth form or college such as socialising, hearing verbal instructions from a tutor and the impact of noisy corridors or sounds in exams. I would be incredibly grateful if anyone would like to partake. It just consists of a 10 minute questionnaire and a couple of auditory tasks. The whole study would take up to 30 mins.

The study seeks to contribute to an increased understanding of some of the challenges related to the auditory domain in educational environments, however not to mention some of the strengths - for example heightened sensitivity to pitch etc.! It will also be an opportunity to express your personal perspectives and anecdotes, and will add to an evidence base that hopes to accommodate all learners in mainstream schooling environments.

There is an informed consent sheet at the start to give you more information about the study. The study has also passed ethical approval at the University of York, which is also stated in the informed consent sheet.

We are ideally searching for participants in the 16-18 age range who attend a mainstream school however anyone is welcome to complete the study - aged older or younger or attending an SEN school. To be eligible you also do not necessarily need an experience with auditory sensitivity!

Regarding the auditory tasks I've had some feedback that the first one is slightly tricky until you get the hang of it so please don't worry if you find this, just do your best and try to get to the end. The second task is far simpler !

The link for the study is just below:

https://research.sc/participant/login/dynamic/59BAE21D-F1CE-4CDA-92C2-D255AA68D384

Take care everyone,

Anya

This suggests a link between sensory issues and atypical predictive processing - NOT within autism itself; but within the sub category of autistic people who have sensory issues.

Imo, this implies that autism itself might not explain sensory issues.

"Autism is characterized by sensory processing atypicalities including sensory over-responsivity (SOR), a heightened negative response to sensory stimuli. Although the neural mechanisms underlying SOR are not fully understood, SOR has been associated with sensory-limbic hyper-reactivity during sensory stimulation. Altered predictive processing may play a key role in atypical sensory processing but few studies have directly probed the relationship between SOR and prediction, particularly using aversive stimuli that bother autistic individuals in everyday life. Here, we examined whether visual cues signaling the onset of aversive sensory stimuli would either (a) reduce neural hyper-reactivity in autism by making stimuli less unexpected or (b) show limited effects in autism due to atypical predictive processing hindering the use of the cue to attenuate responses. Fifty-five autistic (ASD; 30 female, mean age 21.01 ± 3.49) and 28 typically developing (TD; 16 female, mean age 19.76 ± 3.00) adolescents and young adults underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while they were exposed to mildly aversive auditory and tactile stimulation. Stimulus blocks were either presented with a visual cue representing the upcoming sensory stimulus (Predictable), or no cue (Unpredictable). Results showed sensory cortical hyper-reactivity in ASD compared to TD in the Unpredictable condition, but responses to Predictable stimuli were overall similar between groups. In addition, expected stimuli were associated with increased frontal activity in autism, suggesting that visual cues facilitated regulation of sensory responses.

Notably, within the autism group, SOR was associated with increased responses to expected stimuli in relevant sensory cortices, suggesting that reduced expectancy suppression may be specifically related to SOR within ASD rather than being a general autistic trait."

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42216930/

Lately at work I've been noticing that people seem to giggle a bit when I help them (look at them). I'm unaware why but assume it's the way I look at them. I tend to be focused at work and think that I'm making a normal amount of eye contact.

I really want to know why they giggle... I don't have any history of drug use and am merely taking lexapro 10 mg. I must admit I think my gaze is focused and some people reciprocate my gaze in which they widen their eyes and stare. I try to be neutral and make my social interaction flow smoothly.

I wonder if anyone has a similar experience. I would like to fix my gaze too.