Autism / Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
A neurodevelopmental disorder that affects social interaction, learning, communication, and behavior.
Autism is known as a “spectrum” disorder because there is wide variation in the type and severity of symptoms people experience.
Resources
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is the lead federal agency for research on mental disorders. NIMH is one of the 27 Institutes and Centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the largest biomedical research agency in the world.
Vision: NIMH envisions a world in which mental illnesses are prevented and cured.
For a full definition of Autism Spectrum Disorder and information related to signs, diagnoses, interventions, research, statistics, and more, visit NIMH.gov.
Simons Powering Autism Research for Knowledge is an autism research study supported by the Simons Foundation. With a growing community of autistic individuals, their families, and researchers, SPARK is on a mission to advance the understanding of autism and to improve the lives of people with autism by identifying the causes of autism and informing more effective therapies, treatments, services, and supports.
SPARK is open to all individuals living in the U.S. with a professional diagnosis of autism and their family members and has over 100,000 people with autism and 175,000 of their family members participating.
Learn more about ASD and how you can get involved by visiting SPARKforAutism.org.
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