This fall, OAR set out to provide free informational resources about autism to families, individuals, and communities across the country. With your help, we surpassed many of our goals for distributing paperback resources and increasing engagement with our Libby library. Goal 1: Provide Informational Resources to Support Families By the end of the fall outreach…
Arlington, VA, January 5, 2026 – The Organization for Autism Research (OAR) is publishing the Korean translation of the Kit for Kids program, which aims to promote autism awareness and acceptance among elementary and middle school students. The following Korean-translated PDFs are available to download now: Kit for Kids Classroom Set What’s Up with Nick? Booklet Classroom Poster Lesson Plan How to Use Sheet Kit for Kids Activity Workbooks Classroom…
The 2026 OAR Scholarship Program opens for applications on Friday, December 5, 2025, and remains open until Monday, April 20, 2026. Applicants may apply to only one of OAR’s postsecondary scholarships, which include the Schwallie Family Scholarship, the Lisa Higgins Hussman Scholarship, and the Synchrony Scholarship for Autistic Students of Color. Each program offers $3,000 scholarships to students diagnosed with autism spectrum…
The Wrong Kind of Praise “You don’t look autistic.” I was in middle school when those words were first spoken to me, delivered with a smile as if they were the highest form of praise. I had just finished presenting on ableism for an “isms” project in my class, sharing my personal connection to the…
Arlington, VA, October 3, 2025 – The Organization for Autism Research (OAR) is proud to share the winners of the Fall 2025 Peer Education Grant Competition. This cycle, OAR awarded $36,687 to 10 programs that support autism education for over 7,000 students in grades K-8. Since 2012, OAR has helped educate more than 257,000 students…
There is no standard autistic child. Some feel loud noises to be painful, while others find eye contact unbearable. Diverse symptoms indicate diverse perspectives on processing the world and its information. Because of this, a standard education system does not always serve them effectively. Especially reading – the cornerstone of traditional academic instruction – which…
For many children, the start of a new school year is filled with excitement—fresh notebooks, new classmates, and the excitement of seeing their friends after a summer apart. For children with disabilities, this time can also bring anxiety, uncertainty, and worry about not having friends at school. Students with disabilities often face emotional and physical…
OAR is proud to offer free informational resources for the autism community, which include our collection of autism resources on our website and our curated library of autism-related e-books and audiobooks in Libby. To widen access to these resources to families, individuals, and communities we have set two goals for distributing resources across the country…
When families think about college preparation, it’s easy to focus on grades, test scores, and applications. But for autistic students, success in college has just as much to do with what happens outside the classroom—things like managing a schedule, asking for help, or figuring out what to eat for dinner. Many autistic students arrive academically…
