Working Together Con. last week in NYC

[Guest guest]

Hey guys! alright, I don't even know where to begin with this one! First thanks

to my husband for pulling it off as far as juggling his work schedule and

picking up the kids, feeding them, etc., he had to do this for 3 consecutive

days while I was in the City for this conference for two days, then in Plainveiw

for Lovaas on the third day, I love you, you're the best!

Alright, on Thurs and Fri. a collaborative conference hosted by the Alpine

Learning Group, NSSA, Eden 2, Connecticut Center for Child Development, and

Elija was held at the NY academy of Medicine. The mission of this first annual

conference was as follows:

" This conference is a collaborative effort to disseminate accurate, practical,

and useful information about the provision of effective education services for

individuals with autism. We believe that communication and collaboration,

across disciplines and service provision models, can have a far reaching impact

across a broad audience to benefit many individuals and families affected by

autism. The conference is designed to address a wide range of topics regarding

autism intervention across age and functioning levels and will be relevant to

parents and professionals alike. It is our hope that by sharing information and

resources and encouraging collaboration between agencies, diagnosticians,

service providers, educators, and families, more individuals with autism will

have an opportunity to maximize their full potential and be able to live lives

with dignity and purpose "

For me, this conference was very inspiring. There were 18 topics to choose from

on top of keynote and panel discussions during this 2 day conference and

realistically I could only pick six topics. It was hard to choose which speakers

to see as some topics were being presented simultaneously. I'm just gonna touch

on the presentations I saw that impacted me the most (I hope I get everyone's

names right and who said what, and don't leave anyone out, it was A LOT to take

in!!!)

The staff from Genesis (which is part of Eden 2) Ruth Donlin, Randy Horowitz,

and Mc along with Connie Russo from the Massapequa School District

and Rikhye from District 75 within the NYCDOE and Michele Kula-Korgood

Esq. as moderator, had a two part panel discussion of " innovative and

collaborative models of preparing and supporting students with autism in

inclusive settings "

The panel presented and discussed for 3 hours about laws for inclusion according

to IDEA, differing perspectives between parents and districts, transitioning

strategies and options for the student with autism to be in the Least

Restrictive Environment (LRE), placement selection, CSE agenda, assessments for

placement, advantages of inclusion programs for students as well as positives

for administration (specifically how Connie Russo's decision to have Genesis

basically run Massapequa School District's inclusion program for children with

Autism has cut District cost in half by not contracting out of district, less

time is spent on problems in classes since the staff from Genesis are the " right

people hired for the job " as opposed to having staff within district take a

crash course in Autism and ABA), Connie Russo spoke about some challenges of the

program and insight on unforseen problems. Ruth spoke about team

dynamics--getting the staff on board, striking a balance between partnerships

among many people- team members and partnership members--parents, child, special

ed and reg ed staff, related service providers--shared responsibilities,

collection of ideas, support among professionals, partnership challenges like

taking the time to plan and the importance of ensuring effective inclusion

programming by having team meetings, ongoing and initial staff training, the

development of a school and home correspondence system and schedule, the need

for a strategy on problem solving (like clarifying WHO is doing WHAT parts of

the plan and defining problem and desired outcomes)--THis was a fantastic panel,

vary informative, and a great model for other districts to consider (sorry guys,

Massapequa does not cross contract, you have to live there) I never knew Genesis

offered such services to families and districts (FYI I picked up a couple of

brochures about Eden 2 and Genesis Spring 2003 seminars www.eden2.org being held

the week of April 7th - April 11th, topics like introduction to ABA, Discrete

Trial instruction, Programming for students with Asperger's, promoting speech

and language skills, and understanding and managing challenging behaviors for

only $85 per topic! Trainings will be held at both Plainview and Staten Island

schools!)

The absolutely most insightful, intelligent, inspiring, informative speakers I

saw was the wonderful adult panel of four individuals (three are diagnosed with

Asperger's one with high functioning Autism) that so courageously and willingly

opened up to us all about their desire to promote general awareness about ASD

and the " need to educate the public about their capacity for feelings and

comminicating " the need for general public " to accept people's differences " the

need for " recognition and accomidations to make their uniqueness ok " the need to

" plan and execute ASAP a support system for the individual with Autism " the need

to let individuals on the spectrum know " they are special " .

Hoffman talked about some of his experiences and the pain and fear he felt

of intermingling, how he immersed himself in books for social avoidance, not

because he didn't want social interactions, but didn't know how. was

specifically the one who stated the importance of needing to educate the public

on their capacity for feelings. (, thank you for asking me if there was

anything you could do to help my son, you were a sweetheart, and great speaker,

I look forward to your memoirs!)

Eddy perfectly pointed out how labels can be positive for the

individual, then the label becomes other peoples choices. She eloquently

described how she simply does not at times want to talk, and how difficult eye

contact is for her as well as social interactions.

Micheal Carley was an amazing speaker, hypnotizing in his words. he talked about

" disability vs. difference " he's not a fan of poker but loves the line " don't

judge by the way the cards are dealt, but judge how they play them " . He spoke

about how for him, he used laughter and taking roles like " rebel or class clown "

to bridge the social gap. He gave great advice to parents and teachers 1. find

what the child is good at 2. Import a work ethic. Accept people's differences.

The concept of trying and effort can be taught.

Karl Writing was the first on the panel to speak. that " general awareness can do

wonders " and about how thankful he was to have a mom that had taken a fantastic

record of his development including notes on awkward play skills he had as a

child to help identify his diagnosis of Asperger's at age 44. One of my

favorite things he said in reference to social skills was how " I wasn't aware I

wasn't aware that I should be aware of social differences " (Thanks Karl for

sitting with me during lunch on Friday, I really enjoyed my conversation with

you!)

Thank you all so much for overcoming some very personal challenges to educate

parents, professionals and the public and thank you Dr. Gerhardt

(executive director of Nassau Suffolk Services for Autism) for moderating, it

was VERY enlightening!

I am looking forward to next years 2nd annual collaborative conference, in

closing I have to at the very least thank the presenters of the other breakout

sessions I attended, I really came home with a lot of great ideas and

information, although I think my head is going to burst!!! Suzanne Letso M.A.,

BCBA, Mulick Ph.d, Ira Cohen Ph.D, Dr. Partington Ph.D, BCBA,

Bridget , Psy.D., BCBA, Bobby Newman Ph.D BCBA, Joanne Gerenser M.A.,

CCC-slp, Amy Bergen, M.S., CCC-SLP, Cicero, M.A., Bonnie Forman, M.S.,

CCC-SLP, and Janet Twyman Ph.D., BCBA.

THanks Kathleen Mannion for posting this conference on the NSASA list and

sending me the info!!

take care, Jennica