Introduction STUDENTS WITH ASD ARE ­HERE If you have not yet worked with students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in your academic library, you ­ will be soon. The prevalence rate of ASD has risen dramatically from 1 to 150 in 2000, to 1 in 88 in 2008, and most recently to 1 in 59 in 2018 (Centers for Disease Control and Preven- tion, n.d.). The statistics for 2008 (1 in 88) ­ were based on ­ children born in 2000, a group that is now college aged. Many of ­ these individuals are of average or above average intelligence, and with support have been very suc- cessful in their primary and secondary education. The next logical step for them, as with any successful graduating se­nior, is to attend college. In fact, many are already attending college, as shown in a 2011 study of current college students at a large public university. The study found the rate of ASD among students ranging from .7 to 1.9 ­ percent (from 1 in 130 to 1 in 53) students (White, Ollendick, and Bray 2011). That is very much in line with the figures for the general population. Elementary, ­ middle, and high school education practices have all changed and adapted to meet the needs of this population, and now colleges and universities need to do the same. WHY THIS BOOK? Making libraries accessible and meeting the needs of diverse populations are topics of importance to all librarians, including academic librarians. This is reflected in several policies published by the American Library Association and its divisions (ACRL 2012 ALA 2009 ASCLA 2006) and in the body of recent library science research (Cooke 2016 Hernon and Calvert 2006 Small, Myhill, and Herring-­Harrington 2015). However,
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