Posted by Joseph Horrigan, MD, Autism Speaks assistant vice president of medical research.

Tune-in to ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” (EMHE) Friday, October 28, at 8:00 p.m., ET, for an episode featuring the McPhails, an Oregon family with two sons affected by autism. In addition to tackling home improvements, the EMHE team worked with Autism Speaks to rally the local community to raise autism awareness in honor of the family.

On Thursday, October 27 our first “Office Hours” webchat was held with Autism Speaks Chief Science Officer Geri Dawson, PhD, and her guest host: University of Toronto’s Steve Scherer, PhD, a world pioneer in the discovery and understanding of the genes and genetic changes that predispose to autism. Drs.

By Daniela Foley

Office Hours easily connects families to a wide variety of autism-related resources, including Family Services Tool Kits, and the Autism Speaks Resource Guide, an online national database of autism providers and resources searchable by state and zip code.
Family Services Office Hours is designed to quickly provide access to resources that are available and free to the entire autism community.

By Janet Amorello

It was a random phone conversation of no significance. She mentioned the big dance at a local boy’s school: the first big dance of the year.
I didn’t know about the dance. I listened to who was going, names of kids I knew and some, some only vaguely. “It’s a pretty big deal, it kicks off the social for the whole school year. You remember how it was about the first dance.”I smile to myself. Yes, I remember.

Hope and ideas are two things that always matter.
~ H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
by  Judith Ursitti, Director, State Government Affairs

On Monday, October 24th, Autism Speaks hosted its Third Annual Dennis Weatherstone Fellowship Luncheon at the Princeton Club of New York.  The 2011 & 2010 Fellows were joined by representatives of the Niarchos Foundation, and Lady Marion Weatherstone who welcomed the incoming class and congratulated their predecessors on their contributions in autism research.

Autism Speaks hosted its 6th Annual Autism Law Summit on October 20-21 in Salt Lake City, Utah attracting 100 parents, advocates, lawyers, legislators and lobbyists to discuss autism insurance reform through legislation and litigation.  This year’s summit was co-sponsored by the Utah Autism Coalition and the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law.

Team Up! with Autism Speaks is dedicated to raising funds to support the mission of Autism Speaks through endurance events that we partner with.  Our goal with each race is to raise awareness and funds through races. We are dedicated to funding global biomedical research into the causes, prevention, treatments, and cure for autism; to raising public awareness about autism and its effects on individuals, families, and society; and to bringing hope to all who deal with the hardships of this disorder.