Parent/Para-Professional - 2 Day: October 16-17, 2008 St. John’s, NL

Price: $185.00

Capital Hotel
208 Kenmount Road
St. John’s, NL

Thursday, October 16
JANET CASALI

Introduction to Developing Communication Skills For Verbal and Non-Verbal Individuals with ASD

At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to:

1. Identify the communication characteristics and learning styles of verbal and non-verbal individuals with ASD.
2. Recognize how oral motor planning can affect speech production.
3. Understand how behaviour and sensoryissues affect communication.
4. Develop effective communication strategies for intervention
5. Identify what types of strategies enhance the most effective outcomes.

Janet Casali is a speech and language pathologist with over twenty years experience. She consults to the Geneva Centre for Autism and the Provincial Schools for the Deaf in Ontario. Over the past 15 years, she has worked with pre-school and school-aged children who have ASD at the Geneva Centre and has supported their early intervention and school-aged teams. In addition to her involvement on these teams, Janet has developed and taught a training course for newly diagnosed preschool children and provides various workshops related to communication throughout the province. She has experience in school boards, mental health agencies and clinics and has taught at the University of Western Ontario.

Friday, October 17
Dr. Rita Jordan

Understanding, Avoiding and Managing Behaviours in ASD and, Interventions in Autism Spectrum Disorders

This session will include information about:

• Understanding, avoiding and managing behaviours in ASD
• Interventions in Autism Spectrum Disorders

Dr. Rita Jordan will look at and analyze behaviour in ASD in terms of the biology of the disorder, its associated developmental consequences and their effects on the life experiences of individuals with ASD and how these factors may contribute to the development of challenging behaviours. Dr. Jordan will discuss the need for understanding the cause and function of behaviour in order to avoid or manage it effectively, and will offer a range of strategies that can be adopted to minimize the behavioural effects of what is biologically inherent to the disorder. Strategies include functional analysis, understanding behaviour as a form of communication, alternatives to punishment, the reduction of both general and specific areas of stress, as well as drug treatments which may help to alter behavioural patterns and allow time for more educational approaches to take effect. Dr. Jordan’s primary focus is on positive, effective and humane intervention through education.

Interventions in Autism Spectrum DisordersIn this workshop session, Dr. Rita Jordan discusses how research in ASD has influenced our practice and the theoretical rationale for intervention, as well as the research evidence for particular interventions. She looks at the evolution of our knowledge of Autism Spectrum Disorders moving from the all-embracing theoretical explanations of the past to new findings from the fields of neuroscience and psychological research, as well as critical information garnered from the voiced experience of individuals with ASD.

Dr. Rita Jordan, Professor in Autism Studies, School of Education, The University of Birmingham, UK. After a degree in Psychology, Rita became a teacher in nursery and primary mainstream schools and started an opportunity group and toy library for children with special needs. She took a Masters in Child Development and researched curriculum development and parent training for children with complex needs and then worked as a teacher in schools for children with severe learning difficulties, and then children with autistic spectrum disorders, for nine years. During that time she took a further Masters in Linguistics and then trained teachers on special and mainstream courses and lectured in Clinical Linguistics and Education, at the University of Hertfordshire. Her doctorate was in pronoun development in autism. She recently retired as professor in Autism Studies at The University of Birmingham where she ran courses for professionals working with individuals with autistic spectrum disorders at all levels. She has written and researched on many aspects of autism and has lectured and been involved in consultancy nationally and internationally. She is a recent recipient of the Order of the British Empire.

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Learn practical skills that can be immediately implemented into existing curriculum and training programs, at home or in school!

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