Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders

Abstract

Eight years have now passed since the first edition of this Encyclopedia.During that time the field has continued to growalmost exponentially in some areas!In doing this second edition of the Encyclopedia, we are mindful of the growth as well as some of the advantages for updating entries and including new ones in this much used reference work.It has been gratifying to see this resource being heavily used with around 400,000 downloads since it first appeared!In this second edition we have added nearly 400 new entries and updates on over 450 previous entries reflecting activity in the field since the first edition.As with the first edition we have attempted to be comprehensive in scope with entries on a range of topics including not only research issues but biographies of important contributors to the field, legal and social policy issues, educational, behavioral, and medical interventions, treatments, and advances in basic sciences of behavior, communication, neurobiology, genetics, epidemiology, and so forth.For this edition, we have also included a new set of entries on countries giving brief overviews of the history of autism work and the current state of the field in both developed and developing countries.This latter group of entries also reflects the growing interest in autism around the world specifically in developing countries where infrastructure for both service, teaching, and research has become increasingly important.With the addition of our new entries, we have reached nearly 1800 entries in total.As with the first edition we hope that this work provides an invaluable resource for parents, students, educators, researchers, and professionals alike.Even though these volumes appear in hard copy, in this new second edition we continually update entries and add new ones as these are needed.