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How autism can look very different, even in identical twins

By Regina G. Barber,
Jon Hamilton, Rachel Carlson, Rebecca Ramirez
Published May 10, 2024 at 3:36 PM EDT
When the boys spent a year in the same school, Sam did fine, but John struggled and had some noisy meltdowns.
Jodi Hilton for NPR
When the boys spent a year in the same school, Sam did fine, but John struggled and had some noisy meltdowns.

Sam and John Fetters, 19, are identical twins in very different places on the autism spectrum. Sam is a sophomore at Amherst College and runs marathons in his free time. John attends a school for people with special needs and loves to watch Sesame Street in his free time.

Identical twins like Sam and John pose an important question for scientists: How can a disorder that is known to be highly genetic look so different in siblings who share the same genome?

Check out more of NPR's series on the Science of Siblings.
Listen to Short Wave on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts.

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Today's episode was produced by Rachel Carlson. It was edited by Rebecca Ramirez. Jon Hamilton checked the facts. Phil Elfors and Gilly Moon were the audio engineers.
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Health
Regina G. Barber
Regina G. Barber is Short Wave's Scientist in Residence. She contributes original reporting on STEM and guest hosts the show.
Jon Hamilton
Jon Hamilton is a correspondent for NPR's Science Desk. Currently he focuses on neuroscience and health risks.
See stories by Jon Hamilton
Rachel Carlson
Rachel Carlson (she/her) is a production assistant at Short Wave, NPR's science podcast. She gets to do a bit of everything: researching, sourcing, writing, fact-checking and cutting episodes.
Rebecca Ramirez
Rebecca Ramirez (she/her) is the founding producer of NPR's daily science podcast, Short Wave. It's a meditation in how to be a Swiss Army Knife, in that it involves a little of everything — background research, finding and booking sources, interviewing guests, writing, cutting the tape, editing, scoring ... you get the idea.