Autism America

We developed this site for parents of children who are autistic. We, as parents who live with autism, experience many things over the years. We wish we had had a "blueprint" to follow along the way, so as parents, sisters, brothers, grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and those on down the line who are living with autism 24/7/365 can tell you, we know you need help - “honest help”. We can provide you answers from credible sources that have a practical use, from people who understand autism related challenges in more than just an academic context.

- Parents of Aaron, our autistic son, providing a community of support for parents.

 

What we Offer

Our goal is to encourage healthy lifestyles, promote independence and inclusion, and expand personal growth to improve the quality of life for all individuals impacted by autism.

We empower parents by providing them with access to autism related resources and relevant information from credible sources that have a practical use, from people who understand autism related challenges in more than just an academic context. We believe that every person affected by autism has the right to have access to quality resources and a “blueprint” of guidance needed to develop and build life skills in order to achieve an abundance of independence.

Advocacy and Independence

• Education and Information regarding Autism, its symptom(s), and treatments.
• Unique lessons learned advice to help you respond appropriately to a specific or exclusive situation.
• Advocacy to support you with learned procedures that ensure your insurance claims get covered and paid
• Volunteer help or professional information regarding the person with Autism.
• Products we’ve used that help mitigate and better manage the numerous symptoms of the disorder.

Service Dogs

Autism Service Dog Friend

Service Dogs are trained to work for a variety of special disabilities and provide physical assistance or control for some autism behaviors.

The Human-animal interaction alleviates stress in children, reduces disruptive characteristics and abnormal behaviors. 

Service Dogs are an essential part of managing extreme cases of Autism. 

Read more: Service Dogs

Therapy Dogs

Autism Therapy Dogs

Therapy dogs can assist autistic children by making them feel socially and emotionally secure.

We are now personally working with Angel and Benji, Havanese breed dogs, to reduce the severity or totally circumvent the onset of a meltdown.

Read more: Therapy Dogs

Early Intervention

We know that early diagnosis is invaluable, and early intervention is very effective.

The earlier a child receives treatment and parents receive training the easier it is on everyone, especially the child.

Read more: Early Intervention

Autism Management

Autism Management

Useful and practical products that parents and families can use to help manage Life with Autism.

Read more: Autism Management

Facebook Feed

Here is a quick overview of articles on our Facebook page. Click the 'f' top right in each tile to see the whole article, or visit our Facebook page.

Autism News

Autism News -- ScienceDaily

Contemporaneous notes from the site build process, pre-release.

18 August, 2017

  • Install components
    • Regular Labs' Advanced Module Manager
  • Adjust toolbar display:
    • Relocate login to Information Menu and hide top toolbar if Guest;
    • display logged in user in toolbar

17 August, 2017

  • Take backup
  • Updated components
    • Akeeba Backup Core 5.4.0 to 5.5.1
    • CoalaWeb Contact Core 1.1.2 to 1.1.3
  • Updated Jooomla Core
    • 3.7.4 to 3.7.5
  • Take backup
  • Clean up for release-ready
    • remove dummy Facebook module pending access to Facebook and inclusion of real feed
    • hide documentation links except for registered users
    • adjust dates on articles to better list "recent"
    • Add new articles moduel as well as updated articles
  • Install:
    • Regular Labs' Extension manager
    • Regular Labs' Cache Cleaner
    • Regular Labs' Articles Anywhere

3 August, 2017

  • Updated components
    • Sourcerer 7.1.7 to 7.1.8FREE
  • Updated Jooomla Core
    • 3.7.3 to 3.7.4

21 July, 2017

  • Reworked front page, including:
    • Repositioning search bar, social media button
    • moved login to a menu item
    • now using top bar menu for registered user functions
    • standardized size and positioning of images/text for bottom grid selections
    • Replaced the wounded eagle
  • Added a Mission statement to the logo bar
  • Added Disclaimer to relevant pages
  • Added Amazon Smile description to relevant pages
  • Changed all Amazon product links to smile.amazon links
  • Added 2 RSS feeds from reputable sourcess
  • Added placeholder for Facebook wall feed with iframe module
  • Added Coala Contacts package (free)
  • Added Contacts Form on most pages
  • Changed Latest Article to Recent Updates
  • Backed up; copied offsite

19 July, 2017

  • Updated components:
    • Sourcerer 7.1.6 to 7.1.7FREE
  • Logo:
    • Photoshopped logo png to remove the glow
    • Replace logo background with plain Red

17 July, 2017

  • Call with Gordon to review site progress and action items.

11 July, 2017

  • Final editorial review and cleanup:
    • fixed a few typos and grammar
    • removed Pawsitive Service Dogs .. URL does not respond and company appears to have legal issues.
    • Standardized article preambles to show usually show author/publish/modifydates; and removed navigation buttons
  • Released for client approval.

10 July, 2017

  • Review, cleanup and presentation adjustments
    • Move Sitemap from left sidebar to bottom menu item
    • Move Social Links module to left sidebar
    • Remove Login Form, Social Media and Donations modules from all pages except the home page
    • Add Documentation item to bottom menu bar;
      • Change Documentation elements to display using the default Joomla 3, ProtoStar, template 
      • prior to release, Site Documentation will be made visible only to certain registered users and Site Build Notes will be removed from the menu but be available in the Site Documentation section
    • Adjust Latest articles to only include certain categories and only 6 latest articles.
    • Enabled User self-registration; established password criteria: min 8, [sym, num, lc, uc]?
    • Made Service Dogs its own main menu item; relocated Service Dogs entry from Products
    • Resized images for home page grid-bottom and linked to menu items for same. Carried pictures forward to target pages.

7 July, 2017

  • Updated components:
    • JSiteMapPro 4.3.4 to 4.3.5
  • Added remaining pics and links to products section

6 July, 2017

  • Added most of the Amazon links attributing to Amazon Associate autismamerica-20

5 July, 2017

  • Added favicon
  • Upgraded Joomla version from 3.7.2 to 3.7.3
  • Added remainder of the state mandate text
  • Added mandate index in sidebar; changed main display to have all text rather than just an index.

3 July, 2017

  • Created menus, categories and articles to include most of the original site's content framework. Some articles and links remain to be completed, specifically most of the states' insurance mandates and the Amazon product links.

2 July, 2017

  • Cleaning up the Home Page:
    • Added front page blog with RSS feed capability
    • Added information/link blocks at bottom
    • Removed scaffolding 
  • Added Sitemap; currently displayed on home page sidebar
  • Added copyright/footer

1 July, 2017

  • Updated components for the JoomlaShack framework.
  • Added PayPal donate button using the "well"presentation format
  • Added Site Information Menu to hold various administrative bits of information
  • Added Dummy Modules to flesh out the grid_bottom2 grid to 6 modules
  • Added draft Privacy Policy and these Site Build Notes to the Site Information Menu

30 Jun, 2017

  • Used BlueHost/Mojo One-click interface to install Joomla! 3.7.2 on new subdomain: autism-america-2017.autismingeorgia.com in ~/public_htlm/autism-america-2017
Database Host: localhost
Database Name: autismi8_ss_dbnamed0f
Database User Name: autismi8_ss_dd0f
  • Added Gordon and Lowly Scribe users
  • Installed tool components:
    • J!Extensions Store - JSiteMapPro; sitemap generator and SEO meta data tool
    • Regular Labs - Sourcerer; tool for embedding source code in article editor
    • Akeeba - Backup core; site backup tool
    • Akeeba - Admin Tools; site management tools
  • Installed presentation components
    • JoomlaShack - Novitas template
    • JoomlaShack - jShackSlides; photo carousel plugin
  • mv htaccess.txt => .htaccess ; added php56 handler
  • Created base directory structure for images; populated with a few selected graphics from old sites
  • Set Global config parameters
  • Crafted example pages using the Novitas template.

Sponsors

As a family that is personally touched by Autism, Draut and Sons sponsors and supports this website.

Draut and Sons is a Demolition, Grading and Hauling contractor serving metro Atlanta and surrounding areas in Georgia.

Donate Now

Your donation will help us provide grants to others and maintain this forum of information.

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