Inside Behavior Analysis
Volume 1 | 2009 | Number 1
Autism
By Ruth Donlin
This was my first year as President of the Autism SIG and my 5th year working with these esteemed colleagues. Great support and guidance has been shared with me from previous Autism SIG presidents David Celiberti and Mary Jane Weiss, and I'm grateful for their continued input. I also want to thank the other volunteer members who donate their time and energy to the Autism SIG. Lori Bechner is the President-Elect and our additional core committee members include: Newsletter editor, David Fischer; Web site Master, Josh Milstein; Secretary/Treasurer, Suzannah Ferraioli; Membership Drive, Chigusa Haldeman; as well as Barbara Wells; Marianne Butler; Jenna Miller; and Bob Ross.
Membership
We have completed another successful membership drive, continuing to expand beyond our previous 750 members. The Autism SIG has been the largest special interest group within ABAI. The Autism SIG is a diverse group of individuals interested in autism and empirically-based research. All individuals are welcome to join the Autism SIG or one of its sub-committees. There are no fees required and membership information is kept confidential. For more information, e-mail sferraioli@gmail.com
Accomplishments
The SIG published and electronically disseminated a quarterly newsletter with the following themes this year: Inclusion and Community Integration, International Efforts, The Adult Issue, Life after High School, and Alternative Treatments. We appreciate everyone's time and contributions to making the newsletter a helpful resource to parents, educators, and clinicians.
We are proud to sponsor an annual student research award. Our last student research winner was Sara Gershfeld. We greatly appreciate all research poster submissions, as well as our volunteer judges. We welcome all student poster research submissions. Guidelines are provided on our Web site, www.autismsig.org
A new handbook of our policies and procedures was developed to streamline and make clear the Autism SIG election procedures, membership roles and positions, privacy disclaimer guidelines, guidelines for submitting research, and all related activities for the Autism SIG. This document serves as a type of by-laws where policies employed to facilitate and operate the SIG, such as the annual business meeting, are recorded for continuity and consistency.
An annual Autism SIG calendar was also established to assist current and future members as to which materials are needed for certain events and how and when to prepare for these events. The calendar includes information such as steps in planning and organization for conferences, business meetings, voting timelines, newsletter timelines, and related events.
In response to numerous requests for us to distribute information to our membership, a privacy policy disclaimer was developed and can be found on the Autism SIG Web site. Although we recognize that we could be a vehicle for distributing information to our extensive membership, we have a promise and a commitment to the Autism SIG members to protect their confidentiality and maintain minimal level e-mailing. The membership will be given the opportunity to vote on the future of the privacy policy and to determine if there is information our membership would choose to receive.
Our Web site now includes a list of Autism related websites and previous student research award winners. Lists of recent book reviews and recent article summaries were provided to make it easier for readers to find information more quickly rather than go through each online newsletter to find a particular article or review.
A brief survey was sent out to the membership to gain feedback about how helpful members find the newsletter and Web site to be and how to improve its effectiveness or usability. This information will be reviewed by the core members of the committee to help shape the direction of new developments for both these endeavors.
Goals for Next Year
We plan to continue to expand our membership to help publicize important information related to the field of working with individuals and families with children with an ASD. Ongoing development of the Web site and newsletters will be a focal point of the committee. We plan to work collaboratively with other organizations to address practitioner issues and provide our membership with current information and supports available.