Linking you with information and support.
AMASE Northwestern
AMASE Northwestern works to enrich the lives of students with special needs through weekly music and art lessons, and to promote greater awareness about neurodiversity and language inclusivity.
Asperger/Autism Network
The Asperger/Autism Network (AANE) works with individuals, families, and professionals to help people with Asperger Syndrome and similar autism-spectrum profiles build meaningful, connected lives.
Aspiritech
Aspiritech’s goal is offer a path for high-functioning individuals on the autism spectrum to realize their potential through gainful employment, leveraging their exceptional talents and aligning those skills to the needs of the business community. The areas of software testing and QA services have proven to be a particularly good fit.
Association for Science in Autism Treatment
The Association for Science in Autism Treatment promotes safe, effective, science-based treatments for people with autism by disseminating accurate, timely, and scientifically sound information, advocating for the use of scientific methods to guide treatment, and combating unsubstantiated, inaccurate, and false information about autism and its treatment.
Autisable
Autisable is a community-based website that connects anyone who wants to discuss any topic associated with autism.
Autism Atlas
Autism Atlas works to increase understanding and acceptance for children with autism through education, advocacy, and the development of community programs.
Autism Empowerment
Autism Empowerment is a nonprofit organization devoted to enriching and empowering the lives of children, teens, adults, and families in the Autism and Asperger community. They serve all ages and abilities and promote four foundational pillars of positivity: accept; enrich; inspire; and empower.
Autism Internet Modules
Autism Internet Modules is designed to provide high-quality information and professional development for anyone who supports, instructs, works with, or lives with someone with autism.
Autism NOW Center
The Autism NOW Center is a national initiative of The ARC, and America’s source for resources and information on community-based solutions for individuals with autism, other developmental disabilities, and their families.
Autism Research Institute
The Autism Research Institute works to improve the health and well-being of people on the autism spectrum through research and the education of professionals, those who are affected, and their families.
Autism Resource Directory, Rush University
The Autism Resource Directory is an online resource guide developed by Rush University to help Illinois families find service and support referrals in the following counties: Lake, McHenry, Kane, DuPage, Cook, Kendall, Will, Grundy and Kankakee.
Autism Society
The Autism Society of America works to improve the lives of all affected by autism, through advocacy, education, information and referral, support, and community.
Autism Speaks
Autism Speaks is dedicated to promoting solutions, across the spectrum and throughout the life span, for the needs of individuals with autism and their families through advocacy and support; increasing understanding and acceptance of people with autism spectrum disorder; and advancing research into causes and better interventions for autism spectrum disorder and related conditions.
Autism Women & Nonbinary Network
The Autism Women & Nonbinary Network works to provide community, support and resources for Autistic women, girls, nonbinary people, and all others of marginalized genders.
Centers for Disease Control [CDC]
CDC is committed to continuing to provide essential data on autism spectrum disorder, search for factors that put children at risk for autism and possible causes, and develop resources that help identify children with autism as early as possible.
The Center for Information and Study on Clinical Research Participation
The Center for Information and Study on Clinical Research Participation (CISCRP) is a non-profit organization dedicated to educating the public and patients, and to engaging these critical stakeholders as partners in the clinical research process.
Circle of Moms
A community of many mothers coming together as one, discussing many aspects of their lives, drawing from their common experience as parents, family members, and those caring for children on the autism spectrum.
Dads 4 Special Kids
Dads 4 Special Kids is an organization dedicated to helping men that have a child with special needs in their lives. It offers invaluable information, encouragement and support to men who are striving to improve, enrich, and heal their own lives, and who are determined to provide their best to a child with special needs.
Disability Scoop
Founded in 2008, Disability Scoop is the nation’s largest news organization devoted to covering developmental disabilities.
Easter Seals
Easter Seals provides individuals and families affected by autism with updated information and helpful tools.
Have Dreams
Have Dreams is a Chicago-area nonprofit serving children, teens, and adults affected by autism. Serving ages 16 months to adulthood, Have Dreams offers a wide variety of programs to serve the full range of the autism spectrum.
HealthCare.gov Plan Finder
This tool can help you find the health insurance best suited to your needs, whether it’s private insurance for individuals, families, and small businesses, or public programs that may work for you. It was created to help consumers under the health insurance reform law, the Affordable Care Act.
Iowa Autism Council
The Iowa Autism Council works to determine the needs of, and recommend improvements to the lives of individuals and families affected by autism.
Iowa City Autism Community
The Iowa City Autism Community is a group of adults with autism and parents of children with autism, working together to create connections, meaningful dialogue, and autism advocacy in their community.
Iowa Regional Autism Assistance Program
The Iowa Regional Autism Assistance Program provides community-based clinical consultation, multidisciplinary-care planning recommendations, and family-to-family support for children with autism and their families.
Keshet
Chicago-based Keshet serves over a thousand individuals with disabilities, from its core programs for children and adults with intellectual challenges, to its international consulting work.
KGH Autism Services
KGH is an innovative, multidisciplinary therapy center located in Illinois and Wisconsin, providing individualized and evidence-based treatment, consultation, education, support, and empowerment for individuals with autism – from infancy through young adulthood – and their families.
Kids Can Do Children’s Therapy Center
Kids Can Do is an outpatient center specializing in pediatric occupational, physical, and speech/language therapy. Kids Can Do treats Greater Chicago-area children of all ages, from infants to adolescents transitioning into adulthood.
Little Friends
Founded in 1965, Little Friends has grown to a multi-faceted human services agency operating three schools, vocational training programs, community-based residential opportunities, and the Little Friends Center for Autism, a valued resource for diagnosis, comprehensive evaluations, therapies, and trainings for parents and professionals. Little Friends serves more than 800 people each year throughout 9 counties and 45 school districts across northern Illinois and Indiana.
Misericordia
Misericordia is a nonprofit currently serving more than 600 children and adults through a spectrum of residential options on its 31-acre Chicago campus and in the community, with a wide variety of programs.
National Autism Association
The National Autism Association is working to respond to the most urgent needs of the autism community, providing help and hope so that all affected can reach their full potential.
National Autism Speaks
Autism Speaks works to promote solutions to meet the needs of individuals with autism and their families, through: advocacy and support; promoting understanding and acceptance of people with autism; and advancing research into the causes of and improved interventions for autism and related conditions.
National Center for Learning Disabilities
The National Center for Learning Disabilities is working to improve the lives of the 1 in 5 children and adults nationwide with learning and attention issues – by empowering parents and young adults, transforming schools and advocating for equal rights and opportunities. They work to create a society in which every individual possesses the academic, social, and emotional skills needed to succeed in school, at work, and in life.
National Institute of Mental Health [Autism Spectrum Disorders]
The National Institute of Mental Health works to transform the understanding and treatment of mental illnesses, through basic and clinical research, paving the way for prevention, recovery, and cure.
NSSRA
The Northern Suburban Special Recreation Association [NSSRA] provides and facilitates year-round recreation programs and services for children, teens, and adults with disabilities who live in partner communities; NSSRA is an extension of ten park districts, two cities, and one village in Chicago’s northern suburbs.
Options for College Success
The Options for College Success program focuses on six areas of a student’s life – academics, career, finance, independent living skills, social activities, and social skills – and with an individualized approach, works to ensure every student can realize their full potential.
Organization for Autism Research
The Organization for Autism Research is working to apply research to the challenges of autism. They strive to use science to address the social, educational, and treatment concerns of self-advocates, parents, autism professionals, and caregivers.
RUBI Autism Network
The Research Units in Behavioral Intervention [RUBI] Autism Network consists of a team of autism experts, located at five university-based medical centers. For over a decade, this network has been dedicated to discovering evidence-based behavioral interventions and measurement tools designed to improve care for families and children affected by autism.
Sesame Street and Autism: See Amazing in All Children
Sesame Workshop created Sesame Street and Autism: See Amazing in All Children, a nationwide initiative offering families ways to manage common challenges, to simplify everyday activities, and to grow connections and support from family, friends, and community.
Second City Improv for Autism
Chicago’s renowned Second City improvisational comedy troupe offers a class in improv for adults with autism. Classes emphasize team building to help students with relationships and social cues, and games designed to teach skills like accessing emotions and storytelling.
Seesaw
Seesaw is an educational organization run wholly by Northwestern University undergraduates, working to enrich the lives of individuals with autism and other developmental differences, by opening up their access to theatre and fostering performance as a channel for expression.
SFARI
The Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative [SFARI] is working to improve the understanding, diagnosis, and treatment of autism by funding innovative research of the highest quality and relevance. With an annual budget of about $78 million, SFARI currently supports over 250 investigators in the U.S. and abroad.
Sibling Support Project
Founded in 1990, the Sibling Support Project is the first national program dedicated to the life-long and ever-changing concerns of millions of brothers and sisters of people with special health, developmental, and mental health concerns.
Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative
The Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative is working to improve the understanding, diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorders by funding innovative research of the highest quality and relevance.
Social Security Disability Resource Center
The Social Security Disability Resource Center works to provide information about how the Social Security Disability and SSI Disability process works from start to finish – including what to expect before, during, and after a disability application has been processed, common mistakes that need to be avoided, and what to do and how to react in specific situations.
University of Iowa Center for Disabilities and Development
The Center for Disabilities and Development at the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital works to improve the health and independence of people with disabilities, and to help create a life with opportunities for everyone.