This past Monday marked the launch of the first online autism registry in the U.S., the Interactive Autism Network (IAN). The idea behind the IAN Project is to connect the parents of autistic children with researchers to allow the most up-to-date information to flow to the scientists who are working on finding causes, treatments, and cures.

Personally, I'm not much for "registering" anything ("big brother" and all that) but in this case I can see how it could benefit both sides by allowing research to move faster and by giving parents a way to feel like they're doing something to help.