Flutterby™! : Autism links of the morning

WSJ: Rhodes Scholar’s Mother Helped Him With Autism Breakthrough: Jory Fleming is headed to Oxford, thanks to home schooling that tapped into his sense of curiosity. Same guy, different story: Meet an Amazing American Rhodes Scholar with Autism:

"My goal was not to change him, it was really to bring out the best in him," said Kelly Fleming. "I can't change his brain and the way he's thinking but I can change how it's used."

Increased reaction to stress linked to gastrointestinal issues in children with autism. The study is paywalled, it's Associations between Cytokines, Endocrine Stress Response, and Gastrointestinal Symptoms in Autism Spectrum Disorder in Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, the journal of the Psychoneuroimmunology Research Society, but the article suggests that the researchers are claiming the stress causes the gastrointestinal issues:

Cortisol is a hormone released by the body in times of stress, and one of its functions is to prevent the release of substances in the body that cause inflammation. These inflammatory substances — known as cytokines — have been associated with autism, gastrointestinal issues and stress. The researchers studied 120 individuals with autism who were treated at MU and Vanderbilt University. The individuals’ parents completed a questionnaire to assess their children’s gastrointestinal symptoms, resulting in 51 patients with symptoms and 69 without gastrointestinal symptoms.