Spirit Lake Consulting, Inc. 's Virtual Library

Information on Specific Disabilities ....

AUTISM, ASPERGER'S & PDD: RESOURCES TO LEARN MORE

WHAT IS AUTISM? If you are asking this question, you have not gone to the Virtual Library Bookshelf on Autism . All the resources below are also found on that page, as well as information on other disorders.
Aspergers: A mother's perspective is an original article written for Spirit Lake Consulting by a North Dakota mother who shares her experience with the school system and advice for others.
Fact sheet on Autism, what it is, what to expect, what to do, from the National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities.
Pervasive Developmental Disorders is a much longer article from the same source which discusses Autism, Asperger's and related behavioral and emotional disorders.

For more information ....

Commons area virtual field trip on autism

Internet resources on autism and other Pervasive Developmental Disorders

A parent's story of early diagnosis and early intervention for her child with autism.

Newsletters from the Asperger's Publishing Company are available free and contain a lot of practical information on everything from summer vacation to visits to relatives over the holidays to embarrassment. Often, the articles assume that the reader knows a fair amount about Asperger's or other developmental disorders, but, if you are a parent, other relative or person with Asperger's, that assumption is probably true. The articles and advice in here should be of interest to many people concerned with any Pervasive Developmental Disorder, not just Asperger's.

The recent Center for Disease Control study found that Autism is much more common than previously believed. According to their press release:
The 2002 study found ASD rates ranging from one in 303 to one in 94 among eight-year old children. The average finding of 6.6 and 6.7 per 1,000 eight-year-olds translates to approximately one in 150 children in these communities. This is consistent with the upper end of prevalence estimates from previously published studies, with some of the communities having an estimate higher than those previously reported in U.S. studies.

ASDs are developmental disabilities and are defined by considerable impairments in social interaction and communication and the presence of unusual behaviors and interests. They can be diagnosed as early as 18 months and last throughout a person's life. ASDs include autistic disorder, pervasive developmental disorder - not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS, including atypical autism), and Asperger syndrome.

On www.wrongplanet.net , the on-line community for people with Asperger’s and other Autism disorders, there is a lot of discussion about living with Autism from a personal perspective. If you have Asperger's or other Autism Spectrum Disorders, it is very likely you are the only one on your reservation. If you want to communicate with a person who 'gets it', this website might be the place. Check it out.