National Autism Awareness Month

My Brother Charlie, by Holly Robinson Peete

For all ages, My Brother Charlie is a beautifully written, heart packed, brightly illustrated, clear and simple introduction to autism.

National Autism Awareness Month (A few facts)

• Autism is a developmental disorder, occurring in children before the age of 3. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002494/

• "Autism affects the brain's normal development of social and communication skills. A baby with autism spectrum disorder may be unresponsive to people, or focus intently on one item to the exclusion of others for long periods of time.  A child with ASD may appear to develop normally and then withdraw and become indifferent to social engagement." http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/autism/detail_autism.htm

• About 1 in 88 children have been found to have an autism spectrum disorder (ASD.)  Rates appear to be increasing, but this may be due to the increased awareness and diagnostic procedures currently in place. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtm/ss6103a1.htm?s_cid=ss6103a1_w

• Autism is three to four times more common among boys than girls. http://www.autismspeaks.org/what-autism

San José Public Library Resources on Autism:

Materials

• General: http://catalog.sjlibrary.org/search~/a?searchtype=X&searcharg=autism&SORT=D&searchscope=1
• Fiction: http://catalog.sjlibrary.org/search~S1?/X(Autism)+and+(Fiction)&SORT=D/X(Autism)+and+(Fiction)&SORT=D&SUBKEY=(Autism)+and+(Fiction)/1%2C53%2C53%2CB/browse#anchor_25
• Nonfiction: http://catalog.sjlibrary.org/search~S1/X?SEARCH=((Autism)%20and%20(nonfiction))&SORT=D

Social Workers in the Library

• http://sjpl.org/blog/social-workers-library-1

Story time

• Inclusive Storytime at the Library: http://sjpl.org/tags/inclusive-story-time

Additional Resources:

• Autism Society: http://www.autism-society.org/about-us/national-autism-awareness-month/
• First 5 of California:  www.f5ac.org/files/AutismScreeningppt.ppt

• Parents Helping Parents:http://www.php.com/
• Plane Tree Medical Library http://www.planetree-sccl.org/
• PubMed: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002831/