Autism and the coronavirus pandemic

Recent articles

two people social distancing

Spectrum stories: Life in lockdown with autism

Host Chelsey B. Coombs talks to clinicians and people with autism about their experience of the pandemic, how their routines have changed and some of the unexpected benefits.

By Chelsey B. Coombs
17 June 2020 | 11 min listen

Amidst the pandemic, autism’s largest conference moves online

Organizers of the International Society for Autism Research's annual meeting will host digital offerings on 3 June.

By Laura Dattaro
1 June 2020 | 6 min read

Coronavirus threatens autistic people living in group homes

Living in close quarters, with rotating staff and sometimes inadequate protective equipment, group-home residents are especially vulnerable to COVID-19.

By Marcus A. Banks, Jaclyn Jeffrey-Wilensky
21 May 2020 | 5 min read
Mom at home with two kids trying to help them with online work.

Quarantine may hit autistic women and children hardest

The coronavirus lockdown has radically disrupted autistic people’s schedules and access to services, according to a new survey.

By Jaclyn Jeffrey-Wilensky
6 May 2020 | 3 min read
patient in hospital on ventilator, seen through a window.

Autistic people must not be denied access to ventilators

With life-saving gear in short supply during the pandemic, health authorities must ensure that disabled people are not pushed to the back of the line.

By Sara Luterman
5 May 2020 | 4 min read
Researcher talking on phone and working on computer at home.

Autism researchers adapt studies for a socially distant world

Locked out of labs during the coronavirus pandemic, scientists are moving their investigations to virtual and online formats, a shift that may bring lasting changes to autism research.

By Laura Dattaro
30 April 2020 | 6 min read

How to help autistic children cope with pandemic lockdowns

Sheltering in place is especially hard for autistic children who dread changes in routine and who may have learned to repress their ways of managing stress. Here are tips to help them cope.

By Shannon Des Roches Rosa
28 April 2020 | 4 min read
anti vaccine protesters

How anti-vaccine activists are using COVID-19 to boost their movement

While most of the world hungers for a vaccine to put an end to the death and economic destruction wrought by COVID-19, some anti-vaccine groups are joining anti-lockdown protesters to challenge restrictions aimed at protecting public health.

By Liz Szabo, Kaiser Health News
28 April 2020 | 7 min read
doctor with remote patients on screen in his office

Remote diagnosis, support could aid families during lockdown

Cut off from clients by the pandemic, clinicians are turning to video conferencing and other technologies to diagnose children with autism.

By Michael Marshall
27 April 2020 | 4 min read
Family inside house--boy is having a meltdown--parents are watching and mom is making a call for advice or support.

Coronavirus tool kit may aid families with autistic children during lockdown

To help families cope with the sudden loss of professional support during the pandemic, one team in France has created a set of resources and information.

By Richard Delorme, Benjamin Landman
21 April 2020 | 4 min read

Explore more from The Transmitter

Clockwise: lab mouse, zebrafish, octopus, rat pushing a cube, nematodes, fruit fly.

The term ‘model organism’ should be reserved for biological systems

By referring to artificial neural networks as model organisms, we run the risk of distorting funding priorities and disregard the explanatory power of a shared evolutionary history across biological organisms.

By Marc Coutanche
13 November 2026 | 6 min read

New phase of BRAIN Initiative spawns basal ganglia ‘parts list’

With a standardized cell naming system and infrastructure for data collection and analysis, the basal ganglia project sets the stage for a whole-brain primate atlas.

By Claudia López Lloreda
12 November 2026 | 1 min watch
Research image showing genes containing microexons in mice.

Machine-learning model spots autism-linked variants that scramble splicing

The model provides a way to investigate genetic variation in regions of the genome whose functions have been difficult to interpret.

By Giorgia Guglielmi
12 November 2026 | 4 min read