Autism, ADHD and Gendered Experiences Research—What’s New in July
In this month’s research roundup, Ann Memmott explores a wide range of new studies on Autism and ADHD, highlighting research on parenting, menstruation, menopause, friendships, employment inclusion, and critical reflections on diagnostic and treatment approaches.
The joys of parenting Autistic children
Heyworth and team asked a lot of parents what is good about being a parent of an Autistic child. Lovely to see some more positive research happening, especially in a world which often expects it to be a horrifying experience, thanks to some media reports.
Parenting is both challenging and enjoyable (arguably the case with all children!).
Parents value time with their Autistic children.
Parents value their Autistic child's personality.
Parenting Autistic children is fulfilling.
Collaboration, learning, and acceptance are key to parenting fulfilment.
Parents often really liked their Autistic child, who they thought was caring, funny, and interesting, and they described enjoying their child's company, speaking about the qualities and characteristics they valued in their Autistic child. Some parents felt happy when their child needed them. They liked it when they could help their child and make their child feel safe. This made them feel like they were doing a good job as parent. Parents discussed the personal positive impact of experiencing feelings of self-efficacy and the role of Autistic children in their personal growth. Finally, parents thought that it was important to accept their child and that their life would be different than what they imagined. They reflected on the role of acceptance and flexibility in their experiences of joy and fulfilment
Heyworth, M., McMahon, C., Tan, D. W., & Pellicano, E. (2025). “There is Nowhere Else That I’d Rather be Than with Them”: Parents’ Positive Experiences Parenting Autistic Children. Autism & Developmental Language Impairments, 10. https://doi.org/10.1177/23969415251357222 (Original work published 2025)
ADHD, Autism, OCD and ‘typical’ Theory of Mind
A large study, in which they find that the old myths about Autistic people not having theory of mind are incorrect. Theory of mind is understanding that other people have minds and can have different opinions and choices, compared to the person’s own views. The team make some arguably unusual judgements about what is, or is not, a good description of a video of shapes moving on a screen. Participants must be imaginative, but only in the right ways: They are marked down for being too imaginative, or indeed too factual about e.g. the directions the shapes are moving in. Giving too much information was also deemed to be a problem, for some reason. Overall, the team found that general intelligence and communication abilities explained most differences in performance. The actual Neurodivergent diagnoses didn’t.
Amorim, K., Vandewouw, M., Huynh, N. et al. A transdiagnostic study of theory of mind in children and youth with neurodevelopmental conditions. Molecular Autism 16, 37 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13229-025-00671-3
Autistic Menopause - creative expressions of experiences.
Matthews, Jenkins & team take a pioneering look at this topic, focusing on creative expressions of the experiences around the menopause. In world that concentrates on science, in my view it is vital that we consider this wider holistic set of experiences, and listen deeply to what they tell us.
…our neurodiverse research team invited creative submissions themed around Autistic experiences of menopause…including paintings, poetry, and graphic works... Creative exploration of Autistic menopause encouraged emotional catharsis, self-understanding, and activism/artivism. Autistic Community Researchers noted transcendent, almost “magical” dimensions of connecting with other Autistic people’s lived experiences. Our creative emancipatory approach enabled Autistic, multimedia responses which traditional research methods would not have elicited. To our knowledge, no other studies to date have used arts-based research to explore Autistic people’s experiences of menopause and inclusive research practices.
Mx Rose Matthews, Christine A. Jenkins and Margaret Janse van Rensburg et al. Stepping into Who I Fully Am: A Creative Exploration of Autistic Menopause. International Journal of Disability and Social Justice. 2025. Vol. 5(1):76-105. DOI: 10.13169/intljofdissocjus.5.1.0004 https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.13169/intljofdissocjus.5.1.0004
What is the effect of menstruation, for Autistic individuals?
We know very little about this topic, despite it affecting half the Autistic population. Health and wellbeing factors around menstruation can have a major impact on Autistic lives, especially when any change of mood or response is automatically deemed to be an ‘Autism thing’ rather than considering e.g. hormone variations.
Very good to see Skommer and team taking a look at the existing research, and setting out some clear directions on what’s needed.
Skommer J, Gunesh K. Autism, menstruation and mental health- a scoping review and a call to action. Front Glob Womens Health. 2025 Jun 25;6:1531934. doi: 10.3389/fgwh.2025.1531934. PMID: 40635787; PMCID: PMC12237902. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/global-womens-health/articles/10.3389/fgwh.2025.1531934/full
Can we divide Autistic people into four neat genetic subgroups?
Litman and team attempt to put Autistic people into four groups, using what appears to be some mathematical guesswork. They appear to decide, unusually, that e.g. ADHD and challenging behaviour are core features of some sorts of Autistic people. The team aim to be able to identify which of the four groups a baby will fall into, so that intervention teams can stop them developing those alleged core symptoms. There is no particular Limitations section, no proper reflection on ethical factors (e.g. the potential for eugenics based on such studies), no mention of sensory factors or trauma as reasons for distress, no measures of quality of life, no assessment of potential harms, and no inclusion of Autistic communities and researchers in the creation and production of the work, as far as I can tell. I’m not a fan of this approach, and I note that it’s key findings are being challenged by quite a range of specialists in this subject area. The Autistic communities have been clear for decades that they are not keen on work that aims to divide people into groups for interventions, without reference to Autistic people, and yet teams keep doing it. It would, in my view, be more productive to listen to Autistic people of all kinds rather than assuming what they need.
Litman, A., Sauerwald, N., Green Snyder, L., Foss-Feig, J., Park, C. Y., Hao, Y., ... & Troyanskaya, O. G. (2025). Decomposition of phenotypic heterogeneity in autism reveals underlying genetic programs. Nature Genetics, 1-9. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-025-02224-z
Autism: Mostly boys? No.
Burrow and team take a look at whether Autism is mostly a ‘boy thing’. Their findings show that it’s not. We still have a huge amount of research which puts in only a handful of girls amongst endless boys, and claims there is a science-based justification for this. Some studies have no girls at all, or just one token girl, but the findings are then written up as if they apply to 100% of Autistic people of all ages, backgrounds, ethnicities, and genders. This is another powerful reminder that most of what we think we ‘know’ about Autism is based on very unstable foundations and grave misunderstandings. Always check the demographics in studies before relying on their findings.
Burrows, C. A., Elison, J. T., & Piven, J. (2025). Mitigating sex-related biases to elucidate the autism phenotype. Biological Psychiatry. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0006322325013125
How do employers signal that they are Neurodivergent-friendly to prospective employees?
Miller & Doyle interview twelve Neurodivergent people (Autism, ADHD, dyspraxia, dyscalculia, dyslexia). The resulting answers are well worth reading, exploring the perils of trying to find employers that are truly inclusive of Neurodivergent people rather than using it as a PR gesture for the outside world. Most have to settle for employers that make their lives very difficult, because otherwise they can’t afford to live. Yet, of course, exhausting employees isn’t productive for the company or the person. There is clearly a very great deal to do to re-explain to firms that proper inclusion brings rewards for all.
To date, research on Neurodivergent experiences of selection and assessment (S&A) has been limited, focusing on barriers and employer perspectives, rather than the perceptions and experiences of Neurodivergent individuals. …. prioritising an inclusive organisational climate becomes a privilege afforded to those with more employment options, highlighting the systemic exclusion that still faces Neurodivergent candidates in organisations today.
Miller, H., & Doyle, N. (2025). Signalling a diversity climate: Neurodivergent experiences and perceptions during selection and assessment. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 98(3), e70040. https://bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/joop.70040
New screening tool for Autistic people, designed by and with Autistic people. CATI.
The Comprehensive Autistic Trait Inventory (CATI) is a free questionnaire designed to measure Autistic traits in both Autistic and non-Autistic adults. https://www.cati-autism.com/ …Notably, we found that people who self-identify as Autistic have similar trait scores to those with a clinical diagnosis of Autism and that gender-diverse people scored higher on Autistic traits compared to cisgender people. Our data suggest that the CATI is a useful tool for measuring Autistic traits in Autistic and non-Autistic people and for understanding the way that Autistic people vary from one another. It should be helpful for researchers and clinicians, and support a public understanding of Autism.
English MC, Poulsen RE, Maybery MT, McAlpine D, Sowman PF, Pellicano E. Psychometric evaluation of the Comprehensive Autistic Trait Inventory in autistic and non-autistic adults. Autism. 2025 Jul 16:13623613251347740. doi: 10.1177/13623613251347740. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 40671261. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40671261/
How many Autistic people in the Middle East and North Africa?
Akomolafe and team take a look at research over the last decades to find out what percentage of children are diagnosed/identified as Autistic in the Middle East and North Africa. Their studies show that the M-Chat tests seem to be picking up far more cases than some of the big diagnostic tests, and modern research papers are reporting far greater percentages. A useful discussion on the variation between countries at present, with discussions on why this might be, e.g. stigma against declaring anything different about a child, in some areas.
Akomolafe, A.F., Abdallah, B.M., Mahmood, F.R. et al. Estimates of the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder in the Middle East and North Africa region: A systematic review and Meta-Analysis. BMC Public Health 25, 2519 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-23651-x
Is an Autism ‘treatment’ working, or is it the placebo effect?
Parents were given the opportunity for their Autistic children to have a drug that allegedly may stop their ‘challenging behaviour’.
The parents reported a significant early effect from the tablets the children were given. Except, they weren’t the actual drug. They were ‘sugar pills’ – a placebo that won’t do anything medical at all.
The study shows the problem in only asking parents if a treatment ‘worked’. If they are already invested in it working, many claim it’s working.
I’d add that the team are using one of the ancient measures of ‘behaviour’ that assumes that all distress, exhaustion, pain, trauma, sensory reasons etc are a sign of Autism and are to be stopped. I’m really not a fan of the continued use of potentially damaging checklists. Always, always ask Autistic people what works to improve their life quality, and what does not.
McGrath, J.C., Gong, J., Hegarty, J.P. et al. Placebo Effect in Clinical Trials in Autism: Experience from a Pregnenolone Treatment Study. J Autism Dev Disord (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-025-06951-4 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10803-025-06951-4
Neurodivergent People and Friendships
There’s quite a bit of debate in Autistic and other Neurodivergent communities about friendships between neurotypes. Good to see this new research asking people about their friends.
Many people believe that Neurodivergent (ND) people prefer being friends with other ND people, however, it is not clear whether this is actually the case. In this article, we look at whether a person's brain type affects the proportion of friends they have from different groups and ask people about their experiences of being friends with ND people. Our results show that ND people have mostly ND friends, and neurotypical (NT) people have mostly NT friends. We also found that people have more friends with the same type of brain as their own, for example, Autistic people have more Autistic friends. When we asked people about their friendships with ND people, we found five main topics of discussion (1) difficulties in communication with people with a different type of brain, (2) joy at being friends with people who like to communicate in the same way as you, (3) a sense of connectedness and belonging between ND friends (4) issues when friends needs conflict with each other, for example, if one person needs quiet and the other needs to make a noise, (5) how complicated it can be to give and receive support, particularly when you may have challenges of your own. We talk about the idea of ND people having their own culture, with friendships that work a bit differently to their NT counterparts.
Sharman, R. J., & Seedorf, T. (2025). Neurodivergent Friendships. Neurodiversity, 3, 27546330251359958. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/27546330251359958
