Once I became involved in ABA and autism, I immediately got online to research both. Little did I know at the time how instrumental the Internet would become in parents' finding out information that would help them to help their children.

There are currently thousands upon thousands of websites, newsgroups, listservs, and other resources online involving autism, ABA, and other related issues. It is faster, easier, and more informative to log on to the Net and contact thousands of parents and professionals who have "been there, done that" and can share their information, experiences, and insight.

In addition to this and the playB.A. website, I currently moderate two lists devoted to autism and ABA. The first, Autism & ABA is an open forum for discussing anything related to autism. Much of our discussion centers around ABA, including special interests within ABA, such as teaching verbal behavior (VB) and Natural Environment Teaching (NET). However, any and every topic related to autism is welcome. It's a quiet list, but we have a healthy mix of parents, professionals, and others involved with autism in some way.

The other list I moderate, Verbal Behavior is, as the name implies, devoted to discussions of AVB. Members of this list post and answer questions pertaining to teaching with VB. I check all the responses before approving them to the list to ensure a high quality of information. Again, it's a fairly quiet list, but there's a lot of good information available there from parents and professionals.

There are Links and Lists pages elsewhere on this site that can serve as a starting point for anyone looking for more information and contacts on autism. The Links page, obviously, is a list of links that I think are useful in researching autism and ABA. The Lists page is a collection of the myriad groups devoted to these topics. I strongly urge you to go through them, since there's no such thing as too much help. You can find out about new ideas, locate and hire professionals, and exchange stories with others online. It is an incredible resource for those of us looking to help each other, no matter where we are in the world.



Autism and ABA Related Email Lists

• St. John's Autism list
  The St. John's list is an email list for asking questions about autism and related topics. Members include parents, professionals, people on the spectrum, and others interested in autism.
  Subscription info:
  Email listserv@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU and don't type anything in the subject line. In the body of the email, write SUBSCRIBE AUTISM (yourfirstname yourlastname). You can also use this link.
  Here's the list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ): St. John's FAQ.
  
  
  
• Asperger's Syndrome List
  This list is for individuals with, and families of individuals with, Asperger's Syndrome, PDD(-NOS), and High Functioning autism.
  Subscription info:
  Email listserv@maelstrom.stjohns.edu and in the body of the email, write: subscribe asperger
  
  
  
• The me-list
  This private list is devoted entirely to ABA discussions.
  Subscription info:
  To subscribe, send a short note to Ruth Allen at rallen@iupui.edu giving your specific reason for interest in this topic.
  
  
  
• ABA-PRO list
  The list is mainly dedicated to the discussion of ABA as a technology and science. It is the intent of the List owner that the list be used to discuss new paradigms in ABA as well as new developments in its use. Although, the list will be of particular interest to professionals in the field of ABA, it can also be very useful to parents who want more information about ABA. The list will also be of particular use to parents of children with autism, PDD, PDD-NOS, and severe behavioral disorders who need assistance.
  Although some discussion will be entertained outside of the main topic these sidebars will be extremely limited as the focus of the list is applications, theories, and new developments in ABA.
  Subscription info:
  To subscribe, email Listserv@maelstrom.stjohns.edu with the message in the body: subscribe ABA-PRO (your first name, your last name)
  
  
  
• Yahoo! Groups has hundreds of terrific lists for autism and ABA.
  
  

For a complete list of autism lists, chats, newsgroups, etc., go to Jypsy's list of lists.