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SPARK for Autism

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Get the latest autism updates from SPARK, including information about genes and ASD research, webinars, and personal stories from our community.

Our ‘genes’ page provides short, easy-to-understand descriptions of genes linked to autism. Under ‘research’, you’ll find the latest updates from SPARK and other autism studies. In our ‘stories’ section, families, scientists and others share their journeys. In our monthly webinars, speakers from the autism community provide useful information for families and people with autism. All are welcome–invitation links are issued in our monthly newsletter. If you have suggestions for webinar topics, please email us at webinars@sparkforautism.org.

Answers for Autism

We asked you what you wanted to know about autism, and you responded with thought-provoking and important questions.

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Autism Treatments: What We Know and Don’t Know

The speaker for our ninth webinar is Jeremy Veenstra-VanderWeele, M.D., a child psychiatrist and neuroscientist who works at both Columbia University and the Center for Autism and the Developing Brain, in White Plains, New York. In this webinar, Dr. Veenstra-VanderWeele discusses what kinds of medicines and treatments for autism are out there and how researchers identify what works. He also offers practical advice about different medications and their side effects to parents of children with autism and adults with autism. This webinar is 60 minutes long.

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Feeding Problems in Children with Autism

Research differs on how prevalent picky eating is in children with autism, but it does make clear that children with autism are much more likely than typically developing children to be selective about food.

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