2025

October
- Autism Researchers Explore Role of Environmental Influences on Autism as Part of Multi-Million Dollar NIH Effort
  
  Oct 17, 2025
  As screening and understanding of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) grows, a new national initiative tapping Drexel expertise aims to yield new insights for many of the 1 in 45 adults and 1 in 35 children in the United States living with autism. The role that both genetic factors, as well as environmental influences, play in development of autism are the focus of a new $50 million Autism Data Science Initiative (ADSI) from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Drexel researchers with expertise studying the intersection of these exposures will be among those leading the new effort.
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August
- New Research Recommendations for Supporting Autistic Adults to Ensure Their Communication Success
  
  Aug 14, 2025
  To better understand the communication difficulties experienced by autistic adults and help the clinicians and researchers who have autistic people in their lives, researchers from Drexel University’s A.J. Drexel Autism Institute reviewed recent research on the subject and crafted a set of recommendations.
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July
- New Research Reveals How Autistic Teens’ Brains Respond in Some Social Settings, Helping Them ‘Pass’ as Non-Autistic
  
  Jul 21, 2025
  Some autistic teens often adopt behaviors to mask their diagnosis in social settings helping them be perceived — or “pass” — as non-autistic. For the first time, researchers from Drexel University's A.J. Drexel Autism Institute are able to observe brain functions that differ in those who “pass as non-autistic,” which could lead to a better understanding of the cognitive toll of this kind of masking, and of how these individuals could be more effectively supported.
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- Autistic Adults Nearly 1.5 Times More Likely to Need Return Visits to Hospital for Mental Health Conditions
  
  Jul 17, 2025
  Researchers from Drexel University’s A.J. Drexel Autism Institute examined hospitalizations for mental health conditions in autistic adults to understand what features are associated with an increased risk for readmission to the hospital within a month of the initial discharge.
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- ‘Too Much Going On’: Autistic Adults Overwhelmed by Nonverbal Social Cues
  
  Jul 11, 2025
  In a new study, published in PLOS One, autistic adults describe the intense mental effort it takes to navigate nonverbal communication. Researchers from the University of Portsmouth in the United Kingdom, Drexel University’s A.J. Drexel Autism Institute and Rowan University, reviewed 362 firsthand accounts on the online forum WrongPlanet.net, where autistic adults openly talk about communication challenges.
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April
- Drexel University Awarded Significant Funding to Examine Methods for Bringing Together the Autism Community to Set Shared Priorities for Behavioral Intervention Research
  
  April 08, 2025
  
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February
- Rates of ADHD Remain High into Adulthood Among Patients with Autism
  
  Feb 12, 2025
  In a study of more than 3.5 million adults, researchers from Drexel University’s A.J. Drexel Autism Institute, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and George Washington University (GWU) found that attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) was highly elevated among adults diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.
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January
- Number of Autistic Individuals Enrolled in Medicaid and Receiving Federal Housing Support Increased by 70% From 2008-16
  
  Jan 08, 2025
  Researchers from Drexel University’s A.J. Drexel Autism Institute examined how many autistic people in the United States received housing support from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to explore their experiences and health outcomes.
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