I caught a pleasant surprise this morning as I quietly worked from my home office while the rest of the family, all on vacation, slept in. I happened to tune into Good Morning America and caught a heartwarming holiday story about Ralph Hanahan and his kindness to a friend and his family in need.

Read the story, and check out the video

An appalling story appearing on the front page of CNN.com today noting that many schools are still using or have recently used "seclusion" rooms as a means to isolate students with disabilities, inluding autism, when the need to calm them arises.

Annemie Ploeger, developmental psychologist, hypothesizes that Autism and Schizophrenia may both develop during the first month of pregnancy. There are physical traits that both may share at times, such as protruding ears or peculiar toes. She believes that her research reveals that the embryo is susceptible to disruptions between 20-40 days after fertilization.

Researchers hope that medicines may soon be able to reduce activity in the gene known as FKBP12. When they reduced the activity in this gene in mice, they noted that there was an increase in neuron to neuron activity and an increase in fearful memory and obsessive behavior. This lends to the theory that this gene may be controlled by medicine.

New research seems to back up previous research studies where advanced paternal age increases the risk of having a child with autism.

The Supreme Court of Canada declined an invitation Thursday to get involved in a plea from parents of children with autism who are seeking damages in a class-action lawsuit against the Ontario government and several school boards for failing to offer intensive therapy in public schools.

Prelimary findings are showing that children born to women that took a drug called Epilim during pregnancy are seven times more likely to develop autism. Epilim is a Sanofi-Aventis drug to treat epilepsy, and it's generic counterpart is known as Valporate.