When 7-year-old Max Cutler uttered his first word a few months ago, it touched his mother deeply.

The word “Ho Ho” may sound meaningless to some but to her it was a break through for her son who suffers from severe autism.

For the first time, he said aloud what he wanted, a packaged cupcake.

Max attends Veva Blunt Elementary School in Visalia where a campus within a campus exists for students such as Max who have trouble communicating with the outside world.

Read more.

U.S. dietary guidelines, the government’s benchmark for balanced nutrition, have long advised Americans to eat dark, leafy greens. Now, there is another way the standards could be going green.

A panel of nutrition experts recruited by the Obama administration to help craft the next set of guidelines, to be issued this year, said in long-awaited recommendations Thursday that the government should consider the environment when deciding what people should eat.

Read more.

Genetic influences on autism are estimated to be between 74% and 98% a medical research council study of 258 twins suggests. Read more.

It started with an act of kindness.

In 1964, Jean Vanier invited two men with developmental disabilities to share a house with him in Trosly-Breuil, near Paris. It was a life-changing move for the Canadian philosopher that would, over time, radically improve the lives of many others. Read more:Jean Vanier Wins Templeton Prize

The boy you are about to meet is evidence that dreams do come true. Christopher Warner is 10 years old and he has Down syndrome. In many ways, he is just like every other kid — right down to his taste in music.

Warner has some dance moves. From the time he and his brothers were little, they loved listening to mother’s music. “I have everything from oldies, Motown, newer music,” said Christopher’s mother. It is the band Maroon 5 that has truly captured Christopher’s heart. “He would sing it and sing it and sing it,” she said. Read more: Boy with Down Syndrome Meets Maroon 5