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PARC to Launch Region's First, Comprehensive Autism Website
Site designed for parents, providers and people living with autism
With a legacy of 54 years providing exceptional services and extensive programs which offer new and exciting initiatives to participants and family members, PARC is pleased to announce to development and launch of the region's first, comprehensive website dedicated to Autism.
The website, www.AutismResourceCenter.info, is a one-stop clearinghouse of information related to Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs), including autism, pervasive developmental disabilities (PDD), and Asperger's Syndrome. The autism spectrum disorders are developmental disabilities that cause significant impairments in social interaction and communication. The ability of individuals with ASDs to think and learn ranges from gifted to severely challenged. And rates for those affected by autism are changing rapidly. Autism now affects 1 in 150 children, and 1 in 100 male children.
"PARC has always been at the forefront of advocacy and services for people with all developmental disabilities," said Susan Limongello, PARC's Executive Director. "With the numbers of children being diagnosed with autism and thousands of people living with autism in New York state alone, we knew it was time to have a centralized place for information, assistance and hope for families and people with Autism."
AutismResourceCenter.info will go live on March 1, 2008 and offers more than 80 pages of information about diagnosing autism, warning signs, information for parents and educators, where to find help, treatments and intervention, regional and national resources, and much more.
Recognized as a 501 c (3) in 1954, PARC provides programming and advocacy for over 650 children and adults with developmental disabilities within Putnam County and in southern Dutchess and northern Westchester counties. PARC's extensive autism services include an autism-focused preschool in Mahopac, teenage educational services and support, workplace training and employment services, vocational training, and supported apartments and community residences.
The website is just the first component of the PARC-sponsored Regional Autism Resource Center. The center, which received start-up funding from Provident Bank, The Thomas & Agnes Carvel Foundation, and the Gannett Foundation, has also partnered with Mahopac Public Library, Mahopac, NY, to be the "bricks & mortar" home of the Center. The library, which is easily accessible to residents of Westchester, Putnam and Dutchess counties and has an extensive inter-library loan system, will be working with PARC to increase the size of its autism collection, including materials and books for parents, as well as children and people living with autism. In the coming months, center staff will work to create support groups for parents and caregivers, and an annual, regional conference related to Autism care, advancements, research, information, and more.
March 1, 2008 also marks the start of National Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), autism, which is classified as a developmental disability, is growing at a startling rate of 10-17% a year, with the prevalence level potentially reaching four million Americans in the next decade. National Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month is when agencies, like PARC, take the extra effort to alert the public to people living with disabilities, especially at such alarming rates and increases, like what we are now seeing with autism.
For more information about the Autism Resource Center and the center's website, www.AutismResourceCenter.info, please call 845-278-PARC or log onto our website, www.PutnamARC.org.
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