Posted by Mark Liberman
https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=71400&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=long-held-assumptions
https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=71400
"New Autism Data Challenge Long-Held Assumptions", MedPage Today 10/3/2025:
Autism diagnosed during early childhood had a distinct genetic and developmental profile compared with autism diagnosed later, a large analysis of multiple cohorts showed.
[…]
The results challenge a long-held assumption that autism has a unified underlying cause.
The cited research paper is Xinhe Zhang et al., "Polygenic and developmental profiles of autism differ by age at diagnosis", Nature 10/1/2025. The abstract ends
These findings indicate that earlier- and later-diagnosed autism have different developmental trajectories and genetic profiles. Our findings have important implications for how we conceptualize autism and provide a model to explain some of the diversity found in autism.
The paper's evidence and its conclusions seem solid. But the MedPage article's reference to "a long-held assumption that autism has a unified underlying cause" is misleading, starting with the implication that "autism" is a category with well-defined, stable, and generally-accepted boundaries.
Several years ago, I quoted from a paper by Laurent Mottron, "A radical change in our autism research strategy is needed: Back to prototypes", Autism Research 6/2/2021, whose abstract starts this way:
The evolution of autism diagnosis, from its discovery to its current delineation using standardized instruments, has been paralleled by a steady increase in its prevalence and heterogeneity. In clinical settings, the diagnosis of autism is now too vague to specify the type of support required by the concerned individuals. In research, the inclusion of individuals categorically defined by over-inclusive, polythetic criteria in autism cohorts results in a population whose heterogeneity runs contrary to the advancement of scientific progress. Investigating individuals sharing only a trivial resemblance produces a large-scale type-2 error (not finding differences between autistic and dominant population) rather than detecting mechanistic differences to explain their phenotypic divergences.
And it's easy to find similar concerns expressed across previous decades.
A few relevant past posts:
"Translating 'phenotypically diverse'", 5/12/2020
"'Reliability is confused with truth'", 6/26/2021
"Intonation in 'human emulation mode'", 5/9/2021
"Grouping-think", 6/9/2022
"RFK Jr on Autism", 4/18/2025
A relevant recent skeet:
The mystery of medical diagnosis!
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— Richard Kadrey (@richardkadrey.bsky.social) October 3, 2025 at 2:25 PM
https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=71400&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=long-held-assumptions
https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=71400
Free for All Saturday, Week 40 [DW Edition]
Oct. 4th, 2025 08:28 am↑↑↑ Available dates:
October 14 & 16
October 28 & 30
November 4 & 6
Well, hi there. ^_^ It's Saturday once again, which means it's time for a Free for All. There are no themes to follow for prompts or fills. If you've had any ideas this week that didn't really work with Tuesday's or Thursday's posts, today's your chance to prompt 'em. Be free, and have fun! ✎
Just a few rules:
1. No more than five prompts in a row.
2. No more than three prompts in the same fandom.
3. Use the character's full name and the fandom's full name for ease in adding to the Lonely Prompts spreadsheet.
4. No spoilers in prompts for a month after airing, or use the spoiler cut option found here. Unfortunately, DW doesn’t have a cut tag, so use your best judgment when it comes to spoilers.
5. If your fill contains spoilers, warn and leave plenty of space, or use the spoiler cut.
6. If your story has possible triggers, please warn for them in the subject line!
Prompts should be formatted as follows: [Use the character's full names and fandom's full name]
Fandom, Character +/ Character, Prompt
Are today's prompts not catching your eye? No worries, because we have plenty of older prompts that just might do the trick! You can browse through the comm's calendar archive (here on LJ or here on DW) for themed and Free For All posts, or perhaps check out Sunday posts for Lonely Prompt requests. (Or, you can be like me, and try to save interesting prompts as you see 'em... and then end up with multiple text doc files full of [themes + links + prompts] that you can easily look through and search for keywords.) Multiple fills for one prompt are welcome, by the way! Oh, and you are very likely to find some awesome fills to read as well, and wouldn't it be nice to leave a comment on those lovely little writing distractions? ~_^
We are on AO3! If you fill a prompt and post it to AO3, please add it to the Bite Sized Bits of Fic from 2025 collection.
If you are viewing this post on our Dreamwidth site: please know that fills posted here will not show up as comments on our LiveJournal site, but you are still more than welcome to participate. =)
If you have a Dreamwidth account and would feel more comfortable participating there, please feel free to do so… and spread the word!
A friendly reminder about our posting schedule: Themed posts for new prompts go up on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Saturdays are a Free for All day for new prompts of any flavor. Sundays are for showing Lonely Prompts some love, whether by requesting for someone to adopt them or by sharing any fills that you've recently completed.