What is the AID Search?
Autism & Intellectual Disability (AID) Search is a unique online portal that allows users to keyword search nearly 1,400 records containing evidence-based, practical information resources in 36 languages, and 1,100 community resources in British Columbia, Canada. The purpose of the AID Search is to provide families and the professionals who support them with practical, evidence-informed resources, in multiple languages, including research targeted at community-level users.
Why has the AID Search been developed?
The AID Search Tool offers an alternative to the 60 million hits families receive from a Google Search for ‘Autism Treatment’. Users can do a keyword search of evidence-informed information resources, sourced primarily from websites internationally, providing the autism community with a curated source of high-quality information resources. The over 1,400 information records in the AID Search have been carefully screened to provide families with links useful to parenting a child with ASD, saving stressed families valuable time and money, protecting novice families from inflated and sometimes dangerous treatments, while building their confidence in how to assess efficacy claims.
What Types of Topics are Covered by the AID?
AID Search links to multiple resources on: diagnosis, treatment, toilet training, sleep, ABA, Positive Behaviour Supports, social skills, mental health, employment, including websites and online videos. In recognition that many families need resources in languages other than English, ACT includes resources in multiple languages, increasing international relevance.
Are There Other Portals like the AID Search?
ACT has several features which, taken together, are not replicated elsewhere including:
- A keyword-searchable database
- A focus on the information needs of families and adults with ASD
- Resources in multiple languages were available
- Linked to the original publicly accessible resource – ACT has no ownership of these resources except for those developed by ACT
- Sites are assessed for their information value; those that are primarily commercial will not normally be included unless they contain high-quality free resources
Who Can Suggest Resources to be Linked to the AID?
Individuals, community organizations, researchers and service providers are welcome to share their favourite resources with users across Canada and around the world by using the AID Search submission tools:
How Are Potential AIDS Search Resources Assessed?
There are many factors considered when assessing an information resource for inclusion:
- Is it primarily aimed at community-level users as opposed to clinicians and researchers?
- Is it evidence-informed or, at a minimum, not harmful?
- Is it of practical use in building family awareness, knowledge and skills?
- Is it a positive resource for adults with autism or those who support them?
- Is there a better resource already in the AID Search?
Who Manages the AID Search
ACT – Autism Community Training, a Canadian registered charity, has been developing the AID Search tool since 2012. The latest version of the AID Search focuses on information resources, sourced internationally, as well as community resources in British Columbia, Canada. The AID Search is informed by ACT’s experience of the diverse information needs of families and adults with ASD, which are remarkably similar internationally, thus supporting a portal from which international resources can be searched.
How will this project build capacity and inform evidence-based service delivery?
The AID Search’s focus on quality information resources recognizes that families are the key decision-makers in autism treatment, but to take on this role properly, they require access to comprehensive sources of evidence-based information that recognize the complexity of life for families of children with ASD. In many countries, including Canada, the provincial silos of education, health and social services do not support integrated information resources that meet family needs. By developing and promoting the AID Search platform, ACT intends to support the building of the capacity of families, by encouraging “connoisseurship” of good practice as families learn to critically assess efficacy claims and ignore those that are both costly and/or ineffective. The AID also includes resources for adults with autism.
For More Information
If you have questions about the AID Search, contact Michelle Schmidt, ACT’s Executive Director, [email protected].