In 1996 Karen Simmons (author, keynote speaker, and businesswoman in autism-related endeavors) had a vision to simplify the information gathering and evaluating process for families dealing with Autism Spectrum Disorders… and Autism Today was the outcome. Autism Today receives over 2 million hits a month which consists of 55,000 unique visitors and 25,000 members.  They are from all walks of life, both urban and rural virtually from around the entire planet! These numbers confirm not only that the need for information is vast but also that the information we provide is relevant to the worldwide community!  With our broad database of highly interactive members, we are an excellent established vehicle to conduct surveys and find interested participants for research projects and educational training.  We would certainly entertain partnering in this area.

With over 2,500 pages of content which is growing daily, Autism Today is the largest autism resource online and one of the leading autism and Aspergers resource distributor in the world.  With over fifty world-renowned speakers, authors and presenters, and more to come, we bring the best of the best to everyone seeking information. Since our company’s inception, we have secured exclusive distributorships for several autism-related publishing houses and product manufacturers.  At the beginning of 2004, our product list more than doubled to include almost 250 items— educational toys, CDs presenting music, guided visualizations, and interactive software, autobiographies and anthologies of humorous anecdotes, reference texts and “quick tip guides.”  We will continue to expand our offerings so that we can provide the most comprehensive autism-related resources available to the ASD community.

Autism Today is a leading autism workshop and conference provider in Canada and we had our first autism conference in Honolulu Hawaii this January.  We host the well-recognized and well-received Keys to the Treasure Chest conferences across the country, inviting Dr. Tony Attwood, Maria Bird-West Wheeler, Carol Gray, Nathan Ory, Catherine Faherty, Dr. Temple Grandin, Dr. Barry Prizant,Stephen Shore, Dr. Jed Baker and other greats to share their wisdom with our audiences. These passionate world-class experts provide skill-building opportunities for educators, professionals, parents and people with autism in all areas of the understanding, treatment, and management of autism related disorders.

Autism Today also promotes awareness of autism and Aspergers syndrome issues through its bookstore presence at other workshops and seminars across Canada.  We enjoy working with other groups to help solve the common problems and misconceptions surrounding Autism Spectrum Disorders while empowering others through our non-profit Canadian based organization called the KEEN Education Foundation..

The Autism Today website aims to be the premier information dispenser to the autism community worldwide.  Autism Today.com was the first to provide a cutting edge tool for people within the autism community to list and locate events and conferences as well as other services like professionals, camps, employment and much more.  These regional listings can help you connect with families and specialists within your area and, as we all know, that kind of personal and professional support can make a world of difference on a challenging day!

The Autism Today website www.autismtoday.com  is a creative, interactive, one-stop shop where you can find everything you need to navigate the maze of ASD-related information…  Karen’s ambition is to eliminate obstacles that can be present when dealing with special needs issues by providing the most efficient and effective information access tool available today.  Her vision is to shine light on special needs by empowering individuals on the spectrum to become their personal best.

The website offers an extensive archive of articles and research summaries, a resource store, advice from a wide array of Autism Experts, an Online Gallery of creative works from the international autism community, Autism Education Online™, live Tele-Classes, and much MORE!

This is a brief summary, which is just the tip of the iceberg about our hopes, dreams and our goals.  We would love to work with your organization to help bring autism to the minds and hearts of every person in the world while empowering individuals with autism to become their personal best.