Research is creating new knowledge.
Neil Armstrong
I don't know about you, but I'm a very busy person!
I don't think I'm alone. Speaking as a United States citizen, I can honestly say that most of the people I know are running from activity to activity, with hardly enough time to breathe.
So it becomes all the more important to find evidence based practices to help individuals on the autism spectrum learn the skills to help them at home, at school, at work, and in the community.
What Are Evidence Based Practices?
I want you to picture a Venn Diagram.
I wasn't able to draw it for you, so you'll have to follow my writing. (For a more specific picture, you can visit the site on which I found this example)
Think about the following domains:
A) Best available research evidence
B) Client/Population Characteristics, State, Needs, Preferences
C) Resources, including practitioner expertise
D) Environmental and Organizational Context
Decision-Making (about what intervention/learning/teaching) takes place at the intersection of Domains A, B, and C, and within the context of D.
So, to summarize, we want to use the best available research of "what works" and combine it with our knowledge of who the individual is, what her learning style is, and what her needs are.
Autism Internet Modules
Thank you to Gregory Lyons from the University of Wisconsin-Madison for sharing this excellent autism research based site.
Autism Internet Modules is a site organized through the Ohio Department of Education and various other noteable autism non-profit organizations.
Academic experts from around the United States contribute to write these modules.
All module content has been written by ASD experts from across the U.S., including the Arizona Department of Education, the Indiana Resource Center for Autism, and the University of Miami Center for Autism and Related Disorders.
How To Utilize This Site
Watch the Introduction Video
This is the best way to learn about how this site can help you. Watch the video, and I know you'll be sold! It will show you how to get the most out of the site.
Sign Up!
Don't worry: it's free! You will need to enter your email address and create a password. Once you've done that, you'll have full access to all the modules.
Survey All The Modules
There are 37 modules of evidence based interventions organized around the following major headings:
- Recognizing Autism
- Autism At Home
- Autism In The Classroom
- Autism In The Workplace
- Autism In The Community
Use the Study and the Cookbook Approach
If you are a parent, therapist, partner, or coach to someone on the autism spectrum, the greatest gift you can give to your client or friend on the autism spectrum is the gift of Understanding.
Ideally, you will take the time to go through every single module on a systematic basis, knowing that you will be gaining top notch information based on research to help you with your relationships with people on the autism spectrum.
However, I did mention that we are very busy people at different times in our lives. There is no need to feel guilty or overwhelmed! Just go to the site, look up the topic you are needing help with, and even select the subtopics within the module to get evidenced based interventions specific to your situation.
Summary: Just A Beginning
Thank you, very much, to the group of autism research professionals who have contributed to helping me learn more about the best autism research sites across the web.
I asked for help, and got such a long list of resources, that I was forced to start with the first one.
I hope to share more exemplary autism research sites with you, my readers.
But for now, this is a great place to start: Autism Internet Modules: Linking Research To Real Life.
How will you use this infomation? What are some of the best autism research sites you have found?
