New Autism Charity Hopes to Carve Out Its Niche, Despite Tough Times

Few nonprofit leaders would consider 2009 an ideal time to start up a charity.

But Alison Tepper Singer isn't letting the recession deter her. What she believes is an important gap in autism research can't wait for the economy to rebound, she says.

Ms. Singer created the Autism Science Foundation, in Scarsdale, N.Y., in April, after resigning as a top official of one of the country's biggest and best-known autism charities. The departure was prompted by a disagreement over a