Autism spectrum disorder (Nature Reviews Disease Primers)
by Catherine Lord, Traolach S. Brugha, Tony Charman, James Cusack, Guillaume Dumas, Thomas Frazier, Emily J. H. Jones, Rebecca M. Jones, Andrew Pickles, Matthew W. State, Julie Lounds Taylor, Jeremy Veenstra-VanderWeele · Nature Reviews Disease Primers / PubMed Central
A peer-reviewed Nature Reviews Disease Primers overview of autism covering epidemiology, genetics, neurobiology, diagnosis in children and adults, management and quality of life. After reading it you can situate any claim about autism against the current evidence base. Nothing else free and peer-reviewed covers the whole territory - genetics, brain, prevalence, diagnosis across the lifespan, management, quality of life - at this authority level. It deliberately includes self-advocate and family perspectives on quality of life, so it does not read as a pure deficit-model document.
More resources on Autism & Neurodiversity
NICE CG142: Autism Spectrum Disorder in Adults - Diagnosis and Management
The UK national clinical guideline for autism in adults, free in full, covering identification, the AQ-10 screening tool, diagnostic assessment, reasonable adjustments and which interventions the evidence supports. Shows what a proper adult assessment should involve. The free, authoritative counterpart to the paid diagnosis book, and the only resource here that tells an adult what an evidence-based assessment and support pathway actually looks like. Also the cleanest place to see which adult interventions the evidence does and does not support, adjudicated by a body with no commercial stake.
Autism Intervention Meta-Analysis of Early Childhood Studies (Project AIM)
A BMJ meta-analysis of early childhood autism interventions that grades the evidence behind behavioural, developmental and naturalistic approaches, and shows how much apparent benefit rests on unmasked caregiver-report measures rather than blinded outcomes. The honest-evidence resource on the contested-intervention question. It does not campaign for or against ABA: it reports that behavioural interventions show a significant effect on social-emotional and challenging-behaviour outcomes in RCTs, then shows that effect is driven by unmasked caregiver and teacher report and does not survive when those measures are removed.
Neurodiversity: Some Basic Terms & Definitions
The most-cited source for neurodiversity terminology, by the scholar who coined "neuroqueer". It separates neurodiversity, neurodivergent, neurotypical and the neurodiversity paradigm precisely, so you stop repeating the errors common in press coverage and advocacy writing.
Welcome to the Autistic Community (ASAN)
A plain-language book written by autistic people and free to read in full online, covering what autism is, sensory and communication differences, autistic history, community and disability rights. Aimed at newly identified autistic readers and their families.
Uniquely Human: A Different Way of Seeing Autism (Updated and Expanded)
A speech-language pathologist with forty years of clinical practice reframes autistic behaviours as coping strategies rather than symptoms to be eliminated. The 2022 edition adds material on identity-first language and autistic self-advocacy. Written for parents and teachers.
Is This Autism? A Guide for Clinicians and Everyone Else
Three clinicians walk through the DSM-5 autism criteria trait by trait, showing how autism presents in people who camouflage - often women, adults and late-identified individuals - using current research plus quotes from over 100 autistic contributors.