Autism Society of America and Foothill Autism Alliance Join Forces to Provide Needed Resources to the Autism Community

(PRWEB) April 18, 2008 -- The Autism Society of America (ASA) and Foothill Autism Alliance, Inc. (FAA) have formed a collaborative relationship to provide the very best autism-related resources to help parents, professionals, and individuals on the autism spectrum. Our goal is to help people get connected to available services in their communities, and we're pooling our resources to ensure that the resources provided are reliable and contain the most accurate and up-to-date information.

FAA has granted ASA an exclusive license to use and distribute resource listings from the Autism Power Pak in electronic form as part of Autism Source?, ASA's nationwide online referral database. Autism Source can be found at www.autismsource.org. It's free, searchable by location or service type, and provides more than 25,000 resource listings throughout the United States. Listings include: ASA Chapters, government agencies, physicians, medical and diagnostic centers, day schools, information and support groups, service providers, legal and advocacy services, consultants, camps, research centers, and more.

Each month, an average of 134,000 people visit the Autism Society of America's website looking for information about autism. Often, they're also looking for service providers to help them and their family. Parents are faced with an overwhelming sense of urgency to locate appropriate local providers of services and supports for their child. To help serve this immense need, Autism Source was created by ASA in 2004. The Autism Power Pak was created in 2001 by the Board of Directors of FAA for the same purpose. A second edition of the Autism Power Pak was released in 2004, and in 2007 ASA and FAA decided to combine these two valuable resources. Both have proven to be a very effective way to connect those providing services to those in the autism community who are looking for services.

Yudi Bennett, is a founding member and president of FAA for 4 years, and was the editor of the second edition of the Power Pak. Ms. Bennett stated, "Foothill Autism Alliance created the Autism Power Pak so that parents and care-givers in southern California would no longer have to search and struggle to locate services and information. In five years, FAA distributed over 4,500 copies of this remarkable resource guide. Now, we want to put it on line with ASA's Autism Source to help even more families."

Lee Grossman, ASA's President and CEO added, "Those who live in work in local communities can contribute the greatest resources for others looking for services and supports, therefore we are pleased to work with the Foothill Autism Alliance and to have their valuable recourses added to the AutismSource. This collaboration will benefit the Autism Community by having more resources even more accessible to more people that are in need of this information." ASA is excited to collaborate with FAA and others familiar with beneficial resources in their communities. Many organizations have service directories similar to the Autism Power Pak; by collaboratively working to enter resources into Autism Source we are working to ensure that resources are comprehensive, reliable and accurate. Collaboration on this type of large database means that individuals on the autism spectrum, their families and professionals will be better able to find the services and supports they need from a variety of organizations with whom they interact.

ASA is the leading voice and nationwide resource of the entire autism community in education, advocacy, services, research and support. The ASA is committed to meaningful participation and self-determination in all aspects of life for individuals on the autism spectrum and their families. The Autism Society of America was founded in 1965 by Bernard Rimland, Ph.D.; over the last 40 years, ASA has grown from a handful of parents, into the leading source of information, research, and reference on autism. ASA is the oldest and largest grassroots organization within the autism community, with more than 100,000 members, supporters, and donors connected through a national network of local chapters. Recent studies have said that as many as 1 in 166 children born will be diagnosed with ASD and that the number of newly diagnosed children is rising each year at the rate of 10-17%. ASA estimates that the annual cost of services and treatment for individuals with ASD in our nation approximates $90 billion. For more information about autism or ASA, visit the ASA web site, www.autism-society.org, or call toll-free, 1.800.3AUTISM (1.800.328.8476).

FAA is a non-profit, all-volunteer organization of parents, professionals, and care-givers, dedicated to providing education, resources, and support to the autism community, specifically in the Glendale, Burbank, Pasadena, and La Canada, California areas. FAA was founded in 1998 by a group of parents who wanted to share resources and provide information and support for the ever-increasing number of families in the area whose children were being diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders. For more information visit the FAA web site, www.foothillautism.org, or call (818) 66AUTISM (818.662.8847).

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