1. Jason Leibowitz
LIS 695 Master’s Project
Prof. Mary Westermann
The aim of this master’s project is to cover a specific area within the health field, and to
compare how several medical databases approach the specific area. There will be an
introduction to the area I am covering, as well as an analysis of each database, and a conclusion
tying everything together. The area I am covering will be High Functioning Autism (HFA) in
young children.
Introduction:
What exactly is High Functioning Autism? According to WebMD, “High-functioning
autism (HFA) is at one end of the ASD spectrum. Signs and symptoms are less severe than with
other forms of autism. In fact, a person with high-functioning autism usually has average or
above-average intelligence. The differences from other forms of autism have led many
psychiatrists to consider high-functioning autism as similar to or the same as Asperger's
syndrome. However, usually children with HFA have language delays early on like other
children with autism.” This type of analysis is important in that so many children have HFA,
and parents should know what reference tools are available online. What kind of databases, and
are they beneficial? Since many parents like myself do a lot of online research on HFA, they are
not usually professionals within the field and need accurate and informative information that is
easy to use and understand. Also, the information needs to be well-cited.

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Here are the databases and informational websites/portals I plan on analyzing: Autism
Speaks, Ebsco Medline, PubMed Medline, Asperger Syndrome and High Functioning Autism
Association (AHA), ProQuest Psychology Journals, Nami.com, Medicinenet.com, and CINAHL
(Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature).
Autism Speaks is an organization that, amongst many things, aims to bring the autism
community together to urge the government and private sector to listen the concerns of parents
of autistic children. While this really isn’t a database, it is more of a portal to a wide range of
research topics within autism. For instance, there are articles that are divided between the
following areas: Science, Autism Treatment Network, Food for thought, and Got Questions
section. See (fig. 1) below:
(Figure #1)

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In addition, there are various other links sorted by state, under the topic of resource guide. These
links are a wealth of information for the parent. For example (fig. 2), these are some of the links
that are listed for New York State:
Figure #2
This website doesn’t contain any type of thesaurus, but there is a video glossary, for
which there is a free registration to access. Surprisingly, I do not see any podcasts on the
website, but there are tool kits for download, and there are various RSS feeds based on a topical
taxonomy (Advocacy, All News & Press Releases, Blog, Family Services News, Site-Wide,
Science News & Press Releases, and Walk Blog). The search function is very basic, with search
by keyword and by age filter. The website is not HON certified, as I expected, since it, in effect,
isn’t really a medical database, but a portal to various topical databases. Yet, I know, within the
autism community, that Autism Speaks website is highly regarded. Autism Speaks is a website

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that is geared mostly to the general public and to advanced users as well as the professional
audience. Access to the website is free, and it is funded by donations and charitable
organizations.
I would recommend the Autism Speaks site as a first place to go for up-to-date autism
research on the basic level. Its portal contains many links that are, and should be, helpful for
general consumer or non-professional use.
Next, there is Medline, which is run by the U.S. National Library of Medicine. There are
two ways I like to search for items on Medline. One is utilizing EBSCO Health and the other is
PubMed. First, let’s look at the EBSCO version of searching Medline. According to their
website regarding Medline with Full Text, “This authoritative database provides full text, cover-
to-cover indexing for journals indexed in MEDLINE. These top journals cover a wide range of
subjects within the biomedical and health fields containing information needed by doctors,
nurses, health professionals and researchers engaged in clinical care, public health and health
policy development. MEDLINE with Full Text contains full text for many of the most used
journals in the MEDLINE index - with no embargo. With full text coverage dating back to 1936,
MEDLINE with Full Text is an essential research tool for medical literature.” According to
PubMed, “PubMed comprises more than 24 million citations for biomedical literature from
MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. Citations may include links to full-text
content from PubMed Central and publisher web sites.”
As I conduct a search using the Ebsco search engine to search “high functioning autism”,
without any filters added, I notice that there are 735 articles that are returned (the number can go
up or down, depending on how often the database is indexed). When conducting the same search
utilizing PubMed’s search engine for “high functioning autism” of the Medline database, it

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returns 734 results (the number can go up or down depending on how often the database is
indexed). In addition, I did not add any filters to this search as well. This very minor
discrepancy I am speculating is due to different indexes that each engine runs of Medline. Either
way, 735 vs. 734 results on the same topic search are not really statistically significant to make a
difference in which engine to use.
Here are the first four results from both searches (fig. 3 & fig. 4). They are sorted by
recently added/newest added. Figure #3 Ebsco search results:

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Figure #4 PubMed Results:
As you can see, the first four results from each engine are different. However, from going
through them, they seem to be the kind of materials I would be interested in looking at. I would
love to see how each engine is indexing the materials, but obviously, they are different, even
though they are using the same Medline database. If you go further down the list of the searches,
you will see that most of the articles are picked up in both search engines, but they are ranked
differently. That is why I would recommend several methods, while searching high functioning
autism. First, always run the same Medline search utilizing the Ebsco and PubMed search
engines. Second, use the different types of filters in order to streamline the results. Both engines
utilize different filters and Boolean characters. In conclusion, I would recommend (and I use the
Medline database all the time) using both Ebsco and PubMed to search the Medline database for
research on high functioning autism. It is a great resource to find in-depth articles on high

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functioning autism, and I find it simple to use in its basic format. Medline does not seem to be
HON certified. I would have to assume that it isn’t needed, since it run by the U.S. National
Library of Medicine, which is part of the US government.
Another website is from the Asperger Syndrome and High Functioning Autism
Association (AHA). While, like Autism Speaks, it isn’t a database, it does contain a lot of
information on HFA, and is also a great starting point for a layman’s research. In effect, it is
really a portal or index to articles posted elsewhere or on their website. The website, not
surprisingly, is not HON certified, and there doesn’t seem to be a search function either, but
everything is easy to find based on their website layout. According to their website, “AHA
Association [Asperger Syndrome and High Functioning Autism Association] serves individuals
on the autism spectrum, their families, and the professionals who work with them, providing
crucial resources and support as they face challenges, build on their strengths and fulfill their
potential.” While the organization and website focus on a multitude of areas, let’s focus on the
articles and outside resources that can be accessed from the website. The website contains a list
of articles that are helpful I feel when starting out to research HFA. (fig. 5)

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Figure #5
As you can see, these articles are pretty specific to the area of HFA. In addition, this page
contains a link to the Asperger’s Center For Education And Training for articles as well. The
resources page is very important for this area, since it contains outside resources to research.
Examples include links to the following: Surveys & Studies, Sample Letters, Transition
Resources, Adult Corner, Internet Resources Educators, AHA Library, Advocacy Courses &
Seminars, Abbreviations, and Useful Ideas & Videos Blogs. Each of these separate resource
pages contains links in some cases to external resources. Again, this website as a whole is
geared to parents who have children on the autism spectrum, but I feel that someone conducting
research outside of having a child on the spectrum would find the information, while basic,
pretty informative, even without a search function mechanism. The next database/website to
discuss is a little more in-depth in a technical sense.

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This next resource is the ProQuest Psychology Journals. This resource from ProQuest
contains many detailed journals etc. covering all areas of psychology, and it is a nice resource for
finding HFA information on an academic level. Here is an overview (fig. 6) from the ProQuest
website.
Figure #6
The ProQuest database is subscription based, which I can access through the LIU library. The
database does not seem to be HON certified, but since it is put out by ProQuest, I would feel
comfortable in its reliability. The database is geared towards the Academic, Community
College, Government and Public communities. In addition, there are several RSS blog feeds that
one can subscribe to. Here is a general search I did based on “high functioning autism”, and I
received 2983 results. Now, obviously as in most searches like this, they can be narrowed down
to more specific areas, and types of articles (i.e.: journals, dissertations, and magazines etc.), but
I just wanted to show how many articles out there that this database has indexed. Here is a title
that for me was interesting. Cognitive Differences in Pictorial Reasoning Between High-
Functioning Autism and Asperger's Syndrome: Sahyoun, C. P., Soulières, I., Belliveau, J. W.,

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Mottron, L., & Mody, M. (2009). It is these types of detailed scientific articles that the ProQuest
Psychology Journals have indexed. This is a totally different kind of database, compared to the
more laymen’s types discussed earlier on in this paper. While most parents of autistic children
probably wouldn’t use something like this database (this one would and does), since it takes
some skill in knowing how to filter searching and understanding Boolean operators, I feel that
the academic and professional community would use it and probably does on a daily basis. In
addition, parents would need to have access to a subscription of the database itself, which I can
access through the local public library in person or remotely. Once again, I feel this is a great
resource for mostly the professional community and the experienced layman/parent.
The next website/database, is the National Alliance on Mental Illness or NAMI.
According to the website, “NAMI is the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the nation’s largest
grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of
Americans affected by mental illness. NAMI advocates for access to services, treatment, supports
and research and is steadfast in its commitment to raise awareness and build a community for
hope for all of those in need. NAMI is the foundation for hundreds of NAMI State Organizations,
NAMI Affiliates and volunteer leaders who work in local communities across the country to raise
awareness and provide essential and free education, advocacy and support group programs.”
Again, NAMI isn’t HON certified, but that doesn’t concern me, since it is run by the National
Alliance on Mental Illness. It is a free database that does take donations, and there are many
ways to follow news on NAMI topics through Facebook , Twitter, a Blog, and YouTube channel
Page. NAMI has a whole section on Autism that lists links to various sub topics within the
autism field (fig. 7). These links break down the many sub areas of autism.

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Figure #7
For example, I am interested in the genetics of autism. Under the research section, there is a link
to a page called genetic vulnerability, which contains links to resources and programs regarding
genetics. There is a link to the Autism Genetic Resource Exchange (AGRE), which is a
repository (gene bank) of genetic and clinical information that is made available to autism
researchers worldwide. In addition, there is a section on Caregiver Support, which I gather
would be of use to parents with autistic children. All in all, NAMI is a wonderful resource for

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general and for more in-depth information and research regarding many different areas of autism.
Both professionals and laymen researchers would find NAMI.com resourceful.
The next database/website I am looking at is MedicineNet.com. MedicineNet is operated
by WebMD, and is part of the WebMD Network. “MedicineNet is an online, healthcare media
publishing company. We provide easy-to-read, in-depth, authoritative medical information for
consumers via its robust, user-friendly, interactive website.” This is what I would call a basic
medical website that covers autism in a way for the average person to understand. First of all,
MedicineNet is HON certified, which gives a user the knowledge that the material on the website
meets certain standards of the Health On The Net Foundation. Second, I like how the autism
page has web anchor links to subject areas within the website (fig. 8).
Figure #8

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As you can see, besides articles on specific subject areas within autism, there are links to blog
posts, Developmental Pediatricians, FAQ’s, and an autism quiz. I really like how everything is
laid out for the general user to find things. Overall, I feel this is a great resource to at least start
one’s research.
The last database/website I looked at is CINAHL Plus with Full Text (Cumulative Index
to Nursing and Allied Health Literature). According the website, “This comprehensive research
database provides full text for over 700 nursing and allied health journals indexed in the
CINAHL database, and includes a higher number of records, additional journals, records dating
back to 1937 and expanded content. Additional materials included in CINAHL Plus with Full
Text include Evidence-Based Care Sheets and Quick Lessons which provide concise overviews
of diseases and conditions and outline the most effective treatment options.” CINAHL is an
EBSCO produced Health database that the Allied Health and Nursing Professions utilize. There
are various CINAHL products that are offered (fig. 9).

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Figure #9
As with the other databases, I have done a search for “High Functioning Autism”, which has
yielded me 403 results. As I was able to do with other EBSCO databases, I can filter the results
down. The results are mostly academic journals, but I found a few that were understandable to
the more advanced amateur user. The database, in addition to covering nursing topics, also
covers consumer health topics. It is this area where I feel that the general public would have a
use for since it is the general public which is the consumer. Here is an article that I found
interesting which appeared in the Exceptional Parent magazine titled, “Are There Benefits of
Online Learning for Students with High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders?” This is an
article that is geared towards parents, an article that I am sure would have some use for the
public consumer, especially a parent of child with HFA. Overall, this is a resource that would be
of interest to parents of HFA children, and to the general health community
In conclusion, I have covered the following website/databases/portals with regards to the
condition of Autism/High Functioning Autism (HFA): Autism Speaks, Ebsco Medline, PubMed

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Medline, Asperger Syndrome and High Functioning Autism Association (AHA), ProQuest
Psychology Journals, Nami.com, MedicineNet.com, and CINAHL Plus with Full Text
(Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature). What I have found out is that there
are many different types of online resources on this topic. Some of these resources, like the
Medline database (EBSCO and PubMed Versions), are geared to a more scientific audience, and
the Autism Speaks, Asperger Syndrome and High Functioning Autism Association (AHA)
website, and MedicineNet.com website, are geared more to the layman. or in many cases. parents
with autistic children. I found ProQuest Psychology Journals, Nami.com, and CINAHL to be
resourceful for the layman and the more advanced user. All of these websites/databases offer in-
depth articles on the subject, and contain links to other types of resources from blogs to videos,
and contact lists of specialists and programs. As a parent of a child with HFA, I have used all of
the above websites and databases to find out basic information and for links to other websites for
books and message blogs. While most of these websites and databases were not HON certified, I
feel that I can be confident in the information that is available on such sites. I would recommend
all of these sources to any parent or researcher for up-to-date information on High Functioning
Autism and general Autism.

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List Of References
1. Autism Speaks http://www.autismspeaks.org/
2. Ebsco Medline http://tiny.cc/9aqnox
3. High Functioning Autism (HFA). http://www.ahany.org/in_art.htm
4. Medicinenet.com http://www.medicinenet.com/autism_and_communication/article.htm
5. Nami.com
http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Section=By_Illness&Template=/ContentManageme
nt/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=66225
6. ProQuest Psychology Journals http://tiny.cc/t6pnox
7. PubMed Medline http://0-
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.liucat.lib.liu.edu/pubmed?term=%22high%20functioning%20auti
sm%22
8. Sabella, L., & Hart, J. (2014). Are There Benefits of Online Learning for Students with
High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders?. Exceptional Parent, 44(4), 48-50.
9. Sahyoun, C. P., Soulières, I., Belliveau, J. W., Mottron, L., & Mody, M. (2009).
Cognitive differences in pictorial reasoning between high-functioning autism and
Asperger’s syndrome. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 39(7), 1014-23.
doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10803-009-0712-9
10. WebMD http://www.webmd.com/brain/autism/high-functioning-autism