Owensboro families with autistic children now have a local Web site where they can get information about the disorder.
The Autism Support Network of Owensboro created the site a couple of months ago to help people navigate through the mountain of information on the Internet.
Some areas of the site are still under construction, according to Ann Pierce, the president of the local volunteer group, but it's a big undertaking for people whose days are already taken up with work and caring for autistic family members. Linda Epling helped start the Web site.
"I had to learn the hard way," Epling said of her information-gathering experience for her autistic daughter Samantha. "Your goal is to help your child.
"Parents with an autistic child are so overworked that (surfing for news) is a luxury, so we're trying to put information together on one site."
For example, one link gives families information about upcoming seminars at the University of Louisville.
Another announced that the Kelly Autism Program is available in Owensboro through Wendell Foster's Campus for Developmental Disabilities. Program organizers strive to help people diagnosed on the autism spectrum achieve their potential as independent, productive and active community citizens.
Ultimately, Pierce wants the site to have a full range of information, such as autism symptoms, where to go for help, how to adapt a house to live with an autistic person, how to work with school districts on getting an appropriate education for an autistic child and dealing with legal issues for when families can no longer care for a person with autism.
"We also want to have a section on treatments for autism and personal stories about what treatments work and what doesn't," Pierce said.
Pierce said the group is also open to suggestions for the Web site, www.owensboroautism.org.
The local support group meets at 6 p.m. on the third Thursday of every month at the Wendell Foster Campus.
Rich Suwanski, 691-7315, rsuwanski@messenger-inquirer.com To see more of the Messenger-Inquirer, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.messenger-inquirer.com. Copyright (c) 2009, Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
Copyright (C) 2009, Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky.