From the Spectrum: Finding Superpowers with Autism
Oct 8, 2026 · 52 min · 10 segments
In this episode, we discuss Autism with Dr. Catherine Lord. Dr. Lord is a Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Education at UCLA and one of the foremost researchers in Autism. Dr. Lord provides…
Catherine LordGuestRyanHostYeah.
I wanna highlight a couple of things after that.
Um, one, I don't remember if it was in Nature Reviews, uh, Disease Primers or that Lancet Commission.
I believe it was the Lancet Commission that, uh, it was, it's mentioned that it's easier to get approval for, uh, like medical specialists than it is these lower level like treatment-
... plan options-
... which is a concern.
That's a-

I mean, I remember having a meeting at, at one of the finance companies in New York.

And the physician in charge said, "Yeah, we'll pay, you know, any kind of medical specialist, you know, but we, you know, but we won't pay like a education person-"
Mm-hmm

... "you know, to work with the child." And they're like, "'Cause we think we have the cream of the crop, you know, um, reimbursement." But it's like at some point somebody needs to sit down with the kid and work with them, [chuckles] you know? So you could have an, you know, 20 medical specialists, but nobody's going to help toilet train that child-
Yeah

... or, you know, help him learn to say, you know, um, "cup," [chuckles] you know?
Yeah.

So I think that's, again, that's part of our s- crazy system in terms of medicine, and it's just...

I, I mean, it-- they've worked it out, like, I mean, just as a person getting older, I've had many more medical procedures in the last few years than ever before, and you realize that there are tech- you know, technicians.

You know, if you go to have some kind of cardiology exam, you know, somebody prepares you, there's a nurse.

Whereas I think in autism, we just need people who are gonna work, [chuckles] you know, work with people.
Yeah.
I wanna highlight a couple of things after that.
Um, one, I don't remember if it was in Nature Reviews, uh, Disease Primers or that Lancet Commission.
I believe it was the Lancet Commission that, uh, it was, it's mentioned that it's easier to get approval for, uh, like medical specialists than it is these lower level like treatment-
... plan options-
... which is a concern.
That's a-

I mean, I remember having a meeting at, at one of the finance companies in New York.

And the physician in charge said, "Yeah, we'll pay, you know, any kind of medical specialist, you know, but we, you know, but we won't pay like a education person-"
Mm-hmm

... "you know, to work with the child." And they're like, "'Cause we think we have the cream of the crop, you know, um, reimbursement." But it's like at some point somebody needs to sit down with the kid and work with them, [chuckles] you know? So you could have an, you know, 20 medical specialists, but nobody's going to help toilet train that child-
Yeah

... or, you know, help him learn to say, you know, um, "cup," [chuckles] you know?
Yeah.

So I think that's, again, that's part of our s- crazy system in terms of medicine, and it's just...

I, I mean, it-- they've worked it out, like, I mean, just as a person getting older, I've had many more medical procedures in the last few years than ever before, and you realize that there are tech- you know, technicians.

You know, if you go to have some kind of cardiology exam, you know, somebody prepares you, there's a nurse.

Whereas I think in autism, we just need people who are gonna work, [chuckles] you know, work with people.
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