Advances in autism research usually take center stage on Spectrum, but we don’t often talk about what it takes to get there: years training for a faculty job, long hours at the bench, deferred marriage or children, missed vacations, long-distance relationships and, perhaps, complex childcare arrangements.

A group of savvy parents jump-started autism research in California, but they also set the research agenda.

A new service provides personalized voices for people who use speech-generating devices. The service, called VocaliD, could help the nearly 25 percent of children with autism who speak few to no words.