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Librarians Plan Ahead for April: Autism Awareness

Happy New Year! Here is the third installment of ideas for incorporating health programming into your overall library programming strategy. Keep looking  for us on the first of each month to find programming ideas for three months out.

April is National Autism Awareness Month.  A growing concern, autism now affects one in every 110 American children. In the 1970s, the Autism Society named April National Autism Awareness Month, and in 2007, the United Nations General Assembly declared April 2nd  World Autism Awareness Day (WAAD).

Bring Autism Awareness to your library community this April with these free and easy resources:

Quick and Easy

Printable Crafts, Bookmarks,  Coloring Pages, and Activities for Children:

Featured Resources

Autism Books, Ready Reference Web Sites, and Interactive Websites:

Books and Movies

Resources Explaining Autism

Websites for Children with Autism

Organizations to Contact

Resources for Libraries and Librarians

Book Club

Observe National Autism Month this April by choosing one of these autism related books or movies for your teen or adult discussion group:

Tie Ins

  • April is National Poetry Month!  You can bring Autism Awareness and National Poetry Month together with these two resources:
    • First, bring autism awareness to your library with these hands on Autism Awareness Activities from the Anne Arundel County (Maryland) Chapter of the Autism Society.  These activities focus on the senses and how autistic people are affected by sensory overload.
    • Next, continue the focus on the five senses by following this Five Senses Approach to Writing Poetry lesson plan. Participants can write about the library, use their imaginations to write about their favorite places, or imagine what it might be like to suffer with autism.
  • Give the kids something to do during Spring Break, and raise awareness and funds for autism at the same time by participating in Bounce for Autism.

Community Resources

  • At the Autism Speaks website, search by state or zip code for autism resources and presenters near you.
  • At the Autism Society of America website, click on a state to find state resources.
  • At the Autism Society of America website, click on a state to find local chapters.
  • Use the Autism Source, on an online resource database, to find local resources for families with autistic members — everything from dentists to educational support.

Publicity Resources

Free Graphics

Free Publicity Materials

Fun Stuff

Stress relieving resources:

Do you have additional autism awareness programming ideas that you want to share? Feel free to leave a comment.

Posted on: December 30, 2010, 4:16 pm Category: Health Information Resources, Library Programming Tagged with: ,

By: hwatkins

1 comment

One Response

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  1. expressivebf said
    on March 12, 2011 7:55 am

    Thanks, you have a great blog here! I’m definitely going to bookmark you!

    I have a Autism App site. It pretty much covers tech. related topic.

    Come and check it out if you get time.

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