Developmental Disability News and Research

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The healthiest super-agers may have one thing in common: stable cognition

A 10-year study of 1,003 older adults linked cognitive super-aging to fewer emergency visits, unplanned hospital admissions, delirium episodes, dementia diagnoses, and residential aged care placements. Maintaining cognitive performance over time showed the strongest overall association with favorable health outcomes and was linked to a 46% lower mortality risk.

5 Aug 2026

Adults with developmental disabilities or cerebral palsy face earlier fall injury risks

Falls are a common cause of injury, especially for adults over age 65. But adults with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities or cerebral palsy may also be at higher risk.

26 May 2026

Air pollution may be lowering global IQ and widening inequality, researchers warn

Researchers argue that exposure to fine particulate air pollution (PM2.5) may affect cognitive function and intelligence, potentially causing large population-level losses in global IQ. Using modelling based on published exposure–response data, the authors estimate that pollution could be associated with tens of billions of IQ points lost worldwide, with the largest impacts in lower-income regions.

10 Mar 2026

What to know about the CDC’s baseless new guidance on autism

The rewriting of a page on the CDC's website to assert the false claim that vaccines may cause autism sparked a torrent of anger and anguish from doctors, scientists, and parents who say Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is wrecking the credibility of an agency they've long relied on for unbiased scientific evidence.

22 Nov 2025

Autistic adults face high rates of mental health hospitalizations and readmissions

Mental health conditions are common among autistic adults, with 50% of autistic adults having a co-occurring condition, like attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety or depression.

17 Jul 2025

New CDC report highlights changing autism trends across the U.S.

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health contributed to a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report examining autism among children who turned 4 and 8 years old in 2022.

17 Apr 2025

Iowa Medicaid sends $4M bills to two families grieving deaths of loved ones with disabilities

Collection agents for the state of Iowa have sent letters seeking millions of dollars from the estates of at least two people with disabilities who died after spending most of their lives in a state institution.

18 Feb 2025

Montana eyes $30M revamp of mental health, developmental disability facilities

As part of a proposed revamping of the state's behavioral health system, Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte's administration is looking into moving a facility for people with developmental disabilities, beefing up renovations at the Montana State Hospital, and creating a Helena unit of that psychiatric hospital.

27 Jan 2025

Georgians with disabilities are still being institutionalized, despite federal oversight

Lloyd Mills was tired of being stuck in a small, drab hospital room. On a rainy mid-September morning, a small TV attached to a mostly blank white wall played silently. There was nothing in the space to cheer it up — no cards, no flowers.

22 Nov 2024

University of Michigan National Poll reveals 30% of adults in 50s and 60s are caregivers

More than 1 in 4 people age 50 and older help take care of at least one family member or friend who has a health issue or disability, according to new results from the University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging.

9 Aug 2024

Survey: 30% of people in their 50s and 60s provide care to loved ones with health problems

More than 1 in 4 people age 50 and older helps take care of at least one family member or friend who has a health problem or disability, a new poll finds.

6 Aug 2024

Study reveals accelerated progression of Alzheimer's in people with Down syndrome

Nearly all adults with Down syndrome will develop evidence of Alzheimer's disease by late middle age.

16 Apr 2024

Family dog interaction boosts physical activity in children with developmental disabilities

By engaging regularly with their family dog and teaching it a series of tricks and commands, children with developmental disabilities experienced a significant increase in their daily physical activity, a new study from Oregon State University researchers found.

27 Mar 2024

Study identifies brain energy metabolism dysfunction in neuropsychiatric disorders

A global collaborative research group comprising 131 researchers from 105 laboratories across seven countries announces a groundbreaking research paper submitted to eLife.

26 Mar 2024

New study examines trends in liquid laundry detergent packet exposures among young children

A new study conducted by researchers at the Center for Injury Research and Policy of the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital and the Central Ohio Poison Center investigated trends in calls to poison centers across the country for exposures to liquid laundry detergent packets.

22 Jan 2024

Texas A&M researchers win NIH grant to study metabolism in people with Down syndrome

A team of researchers at the Texas A&M University School of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (VMBS) has received a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to research metabolism in people with Down syndrome.

17 Oct 2023

Study reveals rising autism rates in English coastal town, challenges gender stereotypes

Research examines the rise in ASD diagnoses over the past two decades in a deprived coastal community. It highlights the impact of time trends on gender differences in diagnoses and the need for further investigation to understand the underlying factors.

4 Jul 2023