** Editor's note: this email includes an update to the first article to clarify person-first and identity-first language.**

Words Matter: Readers vote on "autistic person" or "person with autism"

In this blog post we reported on the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry's editorial decision to publish a CAR paper that used person-first language rather than identity-first language, inviting a dialogue for the Journal and it's readers. We examined the person-first vs identity-first preferences among our own CAR community and asked readers to weigh in.

Survey says: At the end of the year, we tallied the results of our reader survey and found that individuals on the autism spectrum and their family members showed a stronger preference for  identity-first language ("autistic men", "I'm autistic", or "s/he's autistic) while professionals tended to prefer person-first language ("child with autism" or "women with autism"). Overall, readers were *most* comfortable with "on the autism spectrum" as an acceptable choice.

Re-assessing Universal Screening Using the M-CHAT

Also listed as one of the year's top journal articles by the American Academy of Pediatrics , this CHOP study was the first large-scale study to assess universal screening for autism among toddlers in primary care. The r esearchers urge pediatricians to continue using the M-CHAT/F to screen all toddlers, while identifying improvements to improve accuracy and socioeconomic and cultural disparities revealed by the study. Read the original blog post and check out the authors' commentary in MedPage Today .

New Intervention Addresses "Picky Eating" for Autistic Children and Adults

As many as 70% of people with autism experience food selectivity. This can become a major obstacle as they grow older, and is closely linked with anxiety. In this blog post, we discuss a new, evidence-based intervention to assist autistic patients expand their palates and become more flexible eaters.

Doctors' Orders: "Play Your Medicine?"

Earlier this year, we completed a promising pilot study in collaboration with Boston tech company  Akili Interactive  and colleagues at Children’s National Health System/Georgetown University and UC-San Francisco/Cortica, testing a “digital treatment” for ADHD in children with ASD . Akili’s “Project: EVO can be accessed on an iPad or other mobile device and targets players’ “cognitive control” abilities- or the way the mind is able to override impulses in order to make decisions based on an end-goal, rather than on habits or momentary reactions. 

Girls, Boys and the language of autism

CAR's Quantitative Linguistics lab is delving into speech patterns and language usage that may hold clues as to why girls are diagnosed with ASD less frequently than boys. Learn more in the original blog post and in this accompanying ABC News piece.

www.CenterForAutismResearch.org

www.CARautismRoadmap.org