Our mission is to increase awareness of the many and varied difficulties individuals with Autism Spectrum diagnoses face as children and adults. We have devoted our energies to educating staff and supporting families and school districts in their expansion of services for children. Our newer focus has been for the adult population where there has been little or no support.

Asperger Syndrome and High Functioning Autism Association was the first organization on Long Island to bring speakers knowledgeable about this condition to the educators and administrators teaching in this area in the early 1990's. We continue to be innovative and have expanded our conference offerings to an additional conference in the spring that focuses on independence for our adults and older teens.

Asperger Syndrome and High Functioning Autism Association (AHA), Inc.began in the spring of 1988 under the auspices of the Department of Child Psychiatry at Stony Brook University. We have changed names multiple times as the classifications and diagnoses of higher functioning autism have evolved. After years of volunteers working in bedrooms and basements, AHA set up their first offices at The Fay J. Lindner Center for Autism in Bethpage in 2006, where all our volunteers and small part-time staff began to work together on  many projects. In the spring of 2009 we moved with the Center staff to their new home with AHRC in Brookville, NY. But these small offices are only action central for AHA. Our support groups number over 10 stretching from the East End of Long Island to Manhattan; servicing the needs of parents with school-age children, parents with older teens and adults, two groups for individuals on the autism spectrum which are partnered with GRASP, a peer run Asperger syndrome group and a group for Grandparents partnered with GASAK.    

Our fall conference is held at Eastern Suffolk BOCES in Holbrook, Long Island. October 2010 will be its 20th and it was among the first conferences anywhere designed to educate educators about high functioning autism, pervasive developmental disorder (PDD), Asperger Syndrome and related conditions.

Our annual spring conference is held at Adelphi University in Garden City, NY. Spring 2010 we celebrate our 10th spring conference focusing on assisting older teens and adults on the autism spectrum become more independent. Considered unique among conferences, it is attended by families, individuals on the spectrum and professionals, and features a keynote, panels, and workshops with lectures on varied topics such as “coping with anxiety,” “understanding sensory issues,” “communication strategies,” and many more. In the words of one of the people attending our last spring conference . . . “So many conferences I go to are characterized by people wandering around in isolation between presentations . . . failing to make those connections with other attendees that seem to characterize this type of event. You have found the formula -- you should bottle it and sell it!”

• Private contributions and foundations - $50,942
• Membership - $26,253
• Other - $3,935