Every parent wants their child to be happy, healthy, and thriving. But many whose children are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder worry that it will make their lives more difficult.
Locally, 16% of CCSD’s student body, or about 51,000 children, had an autism spectrum diagnosis in 2020. That’s 6 points higher than the national average, and 4 points higher than the state average.
And, it’s become a hot topic. In April of this year, 2025, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pledged to have the cause of autism identified by September. He said that would be accomplished through a “massive testing and research effort.”
The same month RJK Jr. Made that promise, Łukasz Sznajder, a molecular geneticist and assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry at UNLV, had a study published in the journal Nature Neuroscience.
He and his colleagues found that a genetic mutation in a certain gene can disrupt the expression of multiple autism-related genes during brain development, causing autism.
Guest: Łukasz Sznajder, molecular geneticist and professor of chemistry and biochemistry, UNLV
