Our next online Q & A: Kristine Barnett, author of The Spark, on 20 June

Kristine Barnett, author of The Spark: A Mother’s Story of Nurturing Genius, will be taking part in a live online Q & A with us on Thursday 20 June 2013, 8-9pm BST. The Spark follows Kristine's experiences raising her son Jacob, who is a child prodigy with autism, recently tipped to be a Nobel prize winner. This is your chance to ask your questions about the book and her experiences raising Jacob.

Results from our Talk about Autism community satisfaction survey

Thank you to everyone who filled in our Talk about Autism community satisfaction survey. We've collected the results and written some responses.

Take our new community survey and tell us what you think

We've created a new Talk about Autism community satisfaction survey to get your thoughts on the forums. Since we launched the redesigned Talk about Autism website in April 2012 we have seen a lot of new members joining so we thought it was time to get your feedback again.

Welcome to our two new Community Champions - Kim and Sharon

We've appointed to new Community Champions on Talk about Autism, Kim and Sharon. They will be offering advice and support to members to the site and ensure the community remains the safe and welcoming place it is today.

Family Support Season Q & A survey results

During January and April we ran a series of online Q & As called our Family Support Season which were designed to offer parents and carers of a child with autism support and advice from some of the leading experts in the autism sector. We wanted to make sure we got your feedback on the season too so we put out a quick survey. Here are the results.

Our next online Q & A: Dr Wendy Lawson on 14 March 2013

Dr Wendy Lawson, psychologist, counsellor, lecturer and author on the autism spectrum, will take part in a live online Q & A with us on Thursday 14 March 2013 at 8-9pm GMT. She will be answering your questions about her life and perspectives on autism.

Watch our new Talk about Autism video featuring Tracy (Snowdrop)!

Tracy, known to all of us as hard-working Community Champion Snowdrop, stars in the new Talk about Autism video. In the video, Tracy talks about her experiences with her sons' diagnoses, joining the site for the first time and how meeting other parents on the site has helped her in her journey as a parent.

We're looking for a new Community Champion

We're looking for a new Community Champion to join the Talk about Autism team. The Community Champions role is a voluntary role to help and guide our members as they make their way around the community forums. As a Champion you will help to build a supportive, lively and friendly environment in which to discuss autism and related topics.

Family Support Season Q & As launched

We'll be hosting a series of online Q & A sessions to support parents and carers of a child with autism on the issues they care the most about.

Our next online Q & A: Speaker John Bercow MP on 9 January 2013

Rt Hon John Bercow MP, Speaker of the House of Commons and Parent Patron of Ambitious about Autism, will be joining us for a live online Q & A on Wednesday 9 January 2013 between 8-9pm GMT.

Our next online Q & A: Draft Children and Families Bill - What Needs to Change? with Graham Stuart MP - 20 December 2012

The Education Select Committee is a group of MPs who scrutinise education policy and make recommendations to the Government. Graham Stuart MP, Chair of the Education Select Committee, will be joining us for an online Q & A on the Children and Families Bill on 20 December 2012.

Tips for having an autism-friendly Christmas

Christmas is just around a corner so we’ve put together a list of tips for having an autism-friendly Christmas. Please let us know if it is helpful for you. Thanks to everyone on the forums, Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit who shared their thoughts, experiences and suggestions – we really appreciate it. We hope you have a merry Christmas!

Our next online Q & A: Girls on the spectrum on 12 December 2012

According to the statistics, autism affects more men than women, but is this down to a biological difference or is there an issue with diagnosis? In our next online Q & A, Robyn Steward and Dr William Mandy will be joining us to answer your questions about women and girls on the spectrum.

Tell us which subjects you'd like to see covered in future Q & As

Early next year Talk about Autism is planning on doing some online Q & As which have a practical focus and feature experts on particular subjects. Please take our survey and let us know which subjects you'd most like to see covered.

Our next online Q & A: Daniel Tammet on 20 September 2012

Daniel Tammet, bestselling author and autistic savant, will be doing a live online Q & A with Talk about Autism on Thursday 20 September 2012 at 8pm BST. He will be answering your questions about his life as an autistic savant and his books.

Our next online Q & A: Seth Mnookin on 15 August 2012

Seth Mnookin, author of The Panic Virus: The True Story Behind the Vaccine-Autism Controversy, will be doing a live online Q & A with Talk about Autism on Wednesday 15 August 2012 at 7pm BST.

Our next online Q & A: Professor Patricia Howlin on 18 July 2012

Patricia Howlin, Professor of Clinical Child Psychology at the Institute of Psychiatry in London, will be doing a live online Q & A with Talk about Autism on 18 July at 12pm BST.

Our next online Q & A: Arthur and Carly Fleischmann on 7 June 2012

We are very excited to announce that we will be doing a live online Q & A with Arthur Fleischmann, father of Carly of Carly's Voice, on Thursday 7 June 2012 at 7pm BST.

New notification emails

After receiving some feedback from members about the notification emails on the site we decided to update them so now you can choose to receive them hourly, daily or weekly.

Take part in a live online Q & A with Dr. Alexa Posny on 15 May

Dr. Alexa Posny, Assistant Secretary for Special Education in the United States Department of Education, is to do a live online Q & A on Talk about Autism on 15 May, between 8-9PM British Standard Time (BST).

New section on online safety on Talk about Autism

We've just added a new section on online safety to the Talk about Autism site with links to useful organisations and advice on how to use the internet and social networks safely.

Recent updates to the site

We have added some extra functionality to the site in the past two weeks.

Free theatre tickets for four families!

The Unicorn Theatre in London is giving away free tickets to an autism friendly performance of The Legend of Captains Crow's Teeth

Ambitious about Autism launches the first ever online autism film festival to celebrate World Autism Awareness Month

Autism Film Club begins on Wednesday 4 April 2012 and will see four international autism-themed films screened on the Ambitious about Autism website during April.

Our new-look site is now live!

Talk about Autism's new-look website has launched! The new look website has improved usability, functionality and is easier to navigate.