OAR is accepting applications for the 2020 OAR Scholarship Program through Monday, May 4, 2020 at 11:59 p.m. ET. Applicants can apply to either the Schwallie Family Scholarship or the Lisa Hussman Scholarship. Each offers $3,000 scholarships to students diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (DSM-IV or V criteria) pursuing full-time, post-secondary, undergraduate education in the United States.…
OAR created Hire Autism with the goal of helping individuals with autism find meaningful employment opportunities. Following the completion of its two-year pilot test in Northern Virginia, OAR is ready to expand Hire Autism to all 50 states. Hire Autism supports job seekers through various aspects of the job search process, from career exploration to…
The new year is a great time to update your family, school, and crisis safety plans. Don’t have them? OAR will help you build them from scratch by providing Life Journey Through Autism: A Guide to Safety. Autism presents a range of safety challenges across the lifespan, whether it’s wandering incidents in childhood, cyberbullying during…
OAR will release an updated Life Journey Through Autism: A Parent’s Guide to Research with the generous support of the American Legion Child Welfare Foundation on December 13. A Parent’s Guide to Research holds a special place in OAR history as the first of nine installments in the Life Journey through Autism series. Released back in 2003, the guide aims to help families…
This blog post has been adapted from “Chapter 2: Childhood” of OAR’s resource “Life Journey Through Autism: A Guide to Safety”. While your neighborhood can (and should) feel like a safe and familiar space, consider the potential threats posed by physical elements outside your home: roads, parking lots, traffic, etc. Bodies of water (e.g., pools,…
Sports arenas have well-deserved reputations for being extremely loud, crowded, and over-stimulating, as anyone who has ever been to a game knows. Now NFL franchises are finding ways to accommodate individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or other developmental disabilities. The Philadelphia Eagles, for example, recently opened the first NFL sensory-inclusive room at Lincoln Financial Field,…
Are you looking to purchase a technology product as a gift for someone with autism? If so, please do not go out and buy the latest hyped technology gizmo you just saw on a home shopping channel or read about online. Rather, spend some time first to consider what your family member with autism spectrum…
Our son, William, who is in the 8th grade, plans his Halloween costume a year in advance. Yes, officially our holiday season begins long before the fall. William is not concerned with what others think. He chooses his costume and takes to the festivities of the day. Maybe it is just the simple pleasure of…
It’s holiday season, a time of thanks, joy, and quality time spent with loved ones. Whether you’re hosting a holiday gathering or attending one as a guest, there is a lot of preparation involved, from picking out which outfit to wear to deciding what dish to make. For your loved one with autism, there are…
How is it that my autistic son will be nineteen years old next month? How is he not still the cute little dude who used to fit on my lap; how is it that he is now so much bigger than me that I am now wearing his hand-me-downs? Time flies just as fast when…
