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The Autism Research Institute (ARI) is the hub of a worldwide
network of parents and professionals concerned with autism.
ARI was founded in 1967 to conduct and foster scientific
research designed to improve the methods of diagnosing,
treating, and preventing autism. ARI also disseminates
research findings to parents and others worldwide seeking
help. The ARI data bank, the world's largest, contains over
40,000 detailed case histories of autistic children from over 60
countries.
ARI publishes the Autism Research Review International, a
quarterly newsletter covering biomedical and educational
advances in autism research. ARI is a non-profit organization
which depends upon charitable contributions from concerned
individuals and organizations for its support.
The founder of ARI, Bernard Rimland, Ph.D., was an
internationally recognized authority on autism and the father of
an autistic son. Dr. Rimland wrote the prize-winning book
Infantile Autism, and was the founder of the Autism Society of
America. He served as chief technical advisor on the film Rain
Man and earned many awards for his work during his lifetime.
Autism is a severe developmental disorder that begins at birth
or within the first two-and-a-half years of life. Most autistic
children are perfectly normal in appearance, but spend their
time engaged in puzzling and disturbing behaviors which are
markedly different from those of typical children. Less severe
cases may be diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental
Disorder (PDD) or with Asperger's Syndrome (these children
typically have normal speech, but they have many "autistic"
social and behavioral problems).
It used to be thought that autism is just a fate that you accept.
The good news is that there are now a wide variety of treatment
options which can be very helpful. Some treatments may lead to
great improvement, and others may have little or no effect, but
a good starting point would be the parent ratings of biomedical
interventions, which presents the responses of over 25,000
parents in showing the effectiveness of various interventions on
their own child.
How Common is it? For many years autism was rare - occurring
in just five children per 10,000 live births. However, since the
early 1990's, the rate of autism has increased exponentially
around the world with figures as high as 60 per 10,000. Boys
outnumber girls four to one. In 2007, the Centers for Disease
Control reported that 1 in 150 children is diagnosed with autism.
What is the Outlook? Age at intervention has a direct impact on
outcome--typically, the earlier a child is treated, the better the
prognosis will be. In recent years there has been a marked
increase in the percentage of children who can attend school in
a typical classroom and live semi-independently in community
settings. However, the majority of autistic persons remain
impaired in their ability to communicate and socialize.
For more information on ARI and autism visit the ARI website at
www.autism.com.
network of parents and professionals concerned with autism.
ARI was founded in 1967 to conduct and foster scientific
research designed to improve the methods of diagnosing,
treating, and preventing autism. ARI also disseminates
research findings to parents and others worldwide seeking
help. The ARI data bank, the world's largest, contains over
40,000 detailed case histories of autistic children from over 60
countries.
ARI publishes the Autism Research Review International, a
quarterly newsletter covering biomedical and educational
advances in autism research. ARI is a non-profit organization
which depends upon charitable contributions from concerned
individuals and organizations for its support.
The founder of ARI, Bernard Rimland, Ph.D., was an
internationally recognized authority on autism and the father of
an autistic son. Dr. Rimland wrote the prize-winning book
Infantile Autism, and was the founder of the Autism Society of
America. He served as chief technical advisor on the film Rain
Man and earned many awards for his work during his lifetime.
Autism is a severe developmental disorder that begins at birth
or within the first two-and-a-half years of life. Most autistic
children are perfectly normal in appearance, but spend their
time engaged in puzzling and disturbing behaviors which are
markedly different from those of typical children. Less severe
cases may be diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental
Disorder (PDD) or with Asperger's Syndrome (these children
typically have normal speech, but they have many "autistic"
social and behavioral problems).
It used to be thought that autism is just a fate that you accept.
The good news is that there are now a wide variety of treatment
options which can be very helpful. Some treatments may lead to
great improvement, and others may have little or no effect, but
a good starting point would be the parent ratings of biomedical
interventions, which presents the responses of over 25,000
parents in showing the effectiveness of various interventions on
their own child.
How Common is it? For many years autism was rare - occurring
in just five children per 10,000 live births. However, since the
early 1990's, the rate of autism has increased exponentially
around the world with figures as high as 60 per 10,000. Boys
outnumber girls four to one. In 2007, the Centers for Disease
Control reported that 1 in 150 children is diagnosed with autism.
What is the Outlook? Age at intervention has a direct impact on
outcome--typically, the earlier a child is treated, the better the
prognosis will be. In recent years there has been a marked
increase in the percentage of children who can attend school in
a typical classroom and live semi-independently in community
settings. However, the majority of autistic persons remain
impaired in their ability to communicate and socialize.
For more information on ARI and autism visit the ARI website at
www.autism.com.
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