The Joint Libraries
Scotch Plains Public Library
Fanwood Memorial Library
Autism Resources in the Joint Collection of the Scotch Plains Public Library and the Fanwood Memorial Library
Our Partners
Community Partnership for People with Autism
Dedicated to providing information to parents and children who live with the challenges of autism. The goal is to help guide and support the educational, emotional, spiritual, and social welfare of children with autism and their families in all aspects of our community.
COSAC: The New Jersey Center for Outreach and Services for the Autism Community
COSAC is a nonprofit agency providing information and advocacy, services, family and professional education, and consultation. COSAC is dedicated to ensuring that all people with autism receive appropriate, effective services to maximize their growth potential and to enhancing the general public's overall awareness of autism.
Children's Specialized Hospital
The Autism Center of Excellence at Children's Specialized Hospital works with children from birth through 21 years of age, who have an autism spectrum disorder (Autism, Asperger's Syndrome, Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Childhood Disintegrative Disorder or Rett's Syndrome).
The Center is dedicated to improving the lives of children, adolescents and families with autism spectrum disorders by providing comprehensive evaluations, treatment, community education and research.
Scotch Plains-Fanwood School District
Engel Entertainment
Other INFOLINK Autism Projects - NJ Welcoming Library Spaces for the Autism Community & Their Families
INFOLINK: The Eastern New Jersey Regional Library Cooperative
New Jersey State Library
Additional Autism Resources
Autism Speaks
Autism Speaks. It's time to listen. Autism Speaks, the world's largest autism advocacy organization, aims to bring the autism community together as one strong voice to urge the government and private sector to listen to our concerns and take action to address this urgent global health crisis. It is our firm belief that, working together, we will find the missing pieces of the puzzle.
Check out their rich Resources Guide.
National Autism Association
The mission of the National Autism Association is to educate and empower families affected by autism and other neurological disorders, while advocating on behalf of those who cannot fight for their own rights. We will educate society that autism is not a lifelong incurable genetic disorder but one that is biomedically definable and treatable. We will raise public and professional awareness of environmental toxins as causative factors in neurological damage that often results in an autism or related diagnosis. We will encourage those in the autism community to never give up in their search to help their loved ones reach their full potential, funding efforts toward this end through appropriate research for finding a cure for the neurological damage from which so many affected by autism suffer.
Two important resources for library staff to have access to when a parent with a newly diagnosed child asks for information:
First 100 Days Kit: Critical information for families in the first 100 days after an autism diagnosis
Could it be Austism? A parent's guide to the first signs and next steps
Connecting via the Autism Spectrum - with 1 in 150 individuals falling somewhere along the autism specturm,
children are sure to have questions. Here are some good websites for them.
(from School Library Journal, Curriculum Connections, Spring 2008):
"Accepting Asperger's Syndrome" a personal blog by psychology major Kate Goldfield who lives with the condition. (Grades 6 an up)
"Kids' Quest on Disability and Health" This site from the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities helps students explore what autism is and their own attitudes about it. (Grades 3 - 6)
KidsHealth for Kids: Autism The Nemours Foundation offers a short vignette about an unresponsive preschooler and goes on to define the disorder and provide information on treatments. (Grades 3 - 6)
Reactive Colors Gallery Centre for Research in Art & Design's interactive art site meant to engage individuals with learning differences to acquire computer skills. (Grades 2 and up)
Resources for librarians and families about Assistive Technology:
Assistive Technology Resource Pack for Early Intervention Families and Professionals: Frequently Asked Questions about Assistive Technology
"Assistive Technology for Children with Autism" by Susan Stokes, Autism Consultant
assistivetech.net: National Public Website on Assistive Technology
ABLEDATA
Some basic brochures and useful informative resources for your children's section:
Learn the Signs. Act Early (CDC)
Learn the Signs. Act Early - the .pdf display card (CDC)
Is Your One Year Old Communicating with You? (AAP Bookstore)
