Autism Research Institute

Autism Society of America

A worldwide network of parents and professionals who share their concerns can be found within The Autism Research Institute, or ARI, which was founded in the year 1967 and works to conduct research about autistic disorders and to find new ways to improve treatment and prevention. The ARI is a wealth of information. There are over 40,000 case histories that have been collected over the years about autistic children from 60 different countries. Information such as this is extremely important in the growing search for more details about symptoms of autism and the disorder itself.

The Autism Research Institute was founded by Dr. Bernard Rimland, Ph.D. and has long been considered an international authority on the disorder. He also founded the Autism Society of America. Dr. Rimland’s passion for research on autistic disorders came from the fact that he himself had an autistic child. This fact alone gave him the information and experiences that he felt were important for all parents with autistic children to understand. Dr. Rimland is also a prize winning author and was the chief technical advisor for the major motion picture, Rain Man.

The Institute publishes a quarterly newsletter that covers the different advances in the world of autistic disorders. These advances include those of a biomedical nature and those that refer to education. This Institute is a non-profit organization which relies on chartable contributions from those who understand and are concerned with the needs of individuals who have autism spectrum disorders. The ARI believes that its purpose is to help parents of autistic children who are overwhelmed by fear and grief and to motivate them to find help to cope with the situation.

The goal of the Autism Research Institute is to help those who are dealing with an individual with an autistic disorder and to allow them access to methods of helping their loved one. Dr. Rimland, whose own child was autistic, saw the need for families to be given quality information that could help both them and their afflicted child. While not everything is known about this disorder, research is working to improve upon what is known and to help improve the lifestyles of those who have these disorders. The ultimate goal is to find a cure, but for now increased awareness will help autistic individuals to grow to their full potential.