Asperger's Study Group

The Asperger's Study Group (ASG) was started by Drs. Larry Welkowitz and Linda Baker in 1996 as a means for reading about and discussing the problem of Asperger's Syndrome. In the years that followed the ASG produced a videotape entitled "Understanding Asperger's" that includes interviews with children and young adults with AS as well as their families. The video features commentary by Dr. Tony Attwood and has been distributed worldwide.

In 2002, the ASG received funding from the Doug Flutie, Jr. Foundation to support several research projects as well as a college-based peer mentoring program. This program has been described in detail in the recently published, "Asperger's Syndrome: Intervening in Schools, Clinics, and Communities" (Baker, L. & Welkowitz, L., 2005), Lawrence Erlbaum Press.

Currently, the ASG is carrying out several projects, including community and college-based mentoring of individuals with AS and HFA, studies of emotion recognition in faces and voice, and the effects of parent support.

The ASG is also developing a website link to an Asperger's weblog that is video and audio based and which hopes to promote pod-casting (through MP3 uploads) of information based on interviews with individuals with AS and HFA.