Autism Resources - mod can you sticky this? (Asperger, treatment, mental)

[nana053]

For those who are getting a new diagnosis, the autism board at babycenter.com is an excellent resource. The first post on that board has lots of information. There are 6 pages packed with information for anyone who needs it. It includes common abbreviations used in discussing autism. I would love to see more information posted here for parents and caregivers.

Introduction to Autism. (Information Packed) - Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder - BabyCenter

Good books for anyone who wants to learn about autism and the most common therapies:

The Child with Special Needs by Stanley Greenspan and Serena Weider
Engaging Autism by Stanley I. Greenspan and Serena Weider
The Autism Sourcebook: Diagnosis, Treatment, Coping and Healing by Karen Siff Exkorn
Overcoming Autism by Lynn Kern Koegel and Claire LaZebnik
No More Meltdowns by Jed Baker
Teaching Children with Autism by Robert L. Koegel and Lynn Koegel

Therapies:
ABA (Applied Behavioral Analysis)
Behavioral Intervention for Young Children With Autism: A Manual for Parents and Professionals edited by Catherine Maurice, et.al.
A Work in Progress: Behavior Management Strategies and a Curriculum for Intensive Behavioral Treatment of Autism by Ron Leaf and John McEachin
The Verbal Behavior Approach: How to Teach Children with Autism and Related Disorders by Mary Barbera and Tracy Rasmussen
Educate Toward Recovery: Turning the Tables on Autism by Robert Schramm

RDI (Relationship Developmental Intervention)
The RDI Book: Forging New Pathways for Autism, Asperger's and PDD with the Relationship Development Intervention Program by Steven E. Gutstein, Carlotta Baird and Hannah Gutstein
Relationship Development Intervention with Young Children: Social and Emotional Development Activities for Asperger Syndrome, Autism, PDD and NLD by Steven E. Gutstein and Rachelle K. Sheeley

DIR (Floortime)
Engaging Autism: Using the Floortime Approach to Help Children Relate, Communicate, and Think by Stanley I. Greenspan and Serena Weider
Floortime DVD Training Series by Stanley I. Greenspan and Serena Weider
Raising a Sensory Smart Child: The Definitive Handbook for Helping Your Child with SensoryProcessing Issues

Sensory Processing Disorder (most often comorbid with autism)
The Out-of-Sync Child: Recognizing and Coping with Sensory Processing Disorder, Revised Edition by Carol Stock Kranowitz
The Out-of-Sync Child Has Fun, Revised Edition: Activities for Kids with Sensory Processing Disorder by Carol Stock Kranowitz
Raising a Sensory Smart Child: The Definitive Handbook for Helping Your Child with SensoryProcessing Issues by Lindsey Biel and Nancy Peske
Too Loud, Too Bright, Too Fast, Too Tight: What to Do If You Are Sensory Defensive in an Overstimulating World by Sharon Heller

Speech:
More Than Words: Helping Parents Promote Communication and Social Skills in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder by Fern Sussman
Website explaining PECS (picture exchange communication system)
Pyramid Educational Consultants - What is PECS? - PECS & Autism

Best Ipad apps for children with autism (this is by no means a comprehensive list, but it is a start - some apps are expensive, but many are free or quite inexpensive)
Best iPad apps for children with autism
App Store - Autism Apps
Finding Good Apps for Children With Autism - NYTimes.com

Welcome to Holland (used with the permission of the author)

WELCOME TO HOLLAND

by
Emily Perl Kingsley.

c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.