Parenting, in general, is a situation that involves asking a lot of questions. What’s the right thing to do in this situation? What milestones should my child have made by now? Is that “normal”? Parents of children who have autism can consult some of the following resources. The answer to your question may be hiding in there, somewhere.
It is fairly easy to go online and find general parenting advice for children who do not have any types of special needs. It’s not as simple to locate online resources that can advise parents of children who have autism, or that can answer a parent’s questions about their child’s autism. Here are some online resources that might help you. Take the ones that you find useful, and discard the rest.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has a page called “Autism Information”. This resource contains a brief definition of what autism, or an autism spectrum disorder, is. You can also find links to more resources that have general information about autism, that tell you more about signs and symptoms of autism, that describe treatments, and more. There is a section that provides several links that discuss the relationship of vaccines and autism.
Autism Today is offering a free download of their book. It is titled “Official Autism 101 Manual” It is an International Ippy Award winner. The description points out that the book has information from “44 caring experts bringing you the best the autism community has to offer”.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have a page about Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs). There are sections about “Basics”, “Treatments” “Research and Tracking”, “Screening and Diagnosis”, “Data and Statistics”, and more. There is also a section called “Free Materials”.
Left Brain Right Brain has a list of books and movies that are about autism. Each has a very brief description and a link to the website for the book or movie, a link to the discussion about it on Left Brain Right Brain, and a link to it on Amazon.com. The books and movies are non-fiction.
Autism Speaks has an easy to use state specific resource guide. Find your state on the interactive map, click on it, and you will be brought to a page that has all the listings for autism resources in your state.
Parenting Magazine has a Family Health Guide that is about Autism Spectrum Disorders. It goes over symptoms, causes, treatments, medications, the child’s experience, parent’s experiences, and has an age-by-age guide.
Image by Beverly & Pack on Flickr