Autism Conference At Florida Tech, Oct. 3-4, 2008

Main Category: Autism
Also Included In: Psychology / Psychiatry;  Conferences
Article Date: 18 Sep 2008 - 0:00 PST

email to a friend   printer friendly   view / write opinions   rate article

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the prevalence of children diagnosed with autism is rising, creating concern and greater interest in the disorder. Addressing this need for information, the Florida Institute of Technology School of Psychology will host the second annual Autism Conference, "The Many Faces of Autism," on Oct. 3 and a series of workshops on Oct. 4. The conference will present comprehensive, evidence-based information and feature noted autism experts speaking on a variety of related topics. Educators, providers and families will find support in developing effective educational and therapeutic programs for all individuals with autism spectrum disorders.

The conference starts Friday, Oct. 3 at 7:30 a.m. in the Gleason Performing Arts Center on the Florida Tech campus. Featured speakers include Brian Iwata, Juli Liske and Robert and Lynn Koegel.

Iwata focuses on the functional or experimental analysis of severe behavior disorders. He is former editor of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis and former president of the Association for Behavioral Analysis, the Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior and Division 33 of the American Psychological Association.

Liske is author of the book "The Eye of the Hurricane: Finding Peace within the Storm of Autism". She is mother to an eight-year-old son diagnosed with severe autism at the age of two. She works full-time as a family consultant.

Robert Koegel focuses his career in autism on language intervention, family support and school integration and has published more than 200 articles related to autism treatment. Lynn is the clinical director of autism services in the University of California, Santa Barbara, Autism Research Center. Recently, she appeared on the ABC network's hit show "Supernanny," working with a child with autism.

Conference registration fees are $50 for parent or student preregistration and $125 for a professional to preregister; the fees are $75 for a parent or student registering on-site and $150 for a professional who registers on-site.

Saturday Workshops

On Saturday, Oct. 4, workshops will meet from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Skurla Hall (College of Aeronautics) auditorium on campus. The cost is $125, full day; $100, half day.

Workshops will include "An Overview of Pivotal Response Treatment" by the Koegels and "Regulation of Behavior Analysis as a Profession and Ethical Considerations" by Jose Martinez-Diaz, program chair, Florida Tech Applied Behavior Analysis Program. Patrick McGreevy will conduct two half-day workshops on "Running an ABA-Verbal Behavior Home Program on a Tight Budget" and "Problems Often Encountered in an ABA-Verbal Behavior Program."

For the past 25 years McGreevy has consulted with school districts, residential programs and private schools in North America and Western Europe. He is an assistant professor at Florida Tech's Orlando Extended Studies site, author of Teaching and Learning in Plain English and founder of the Journal of Precision Teaching.

Presentations this day include "An Overview of Pivotal Response Treatment" by the Koegels and "Regulation of Behavior Analysis as a Profession and Ethical Considerations" by Jose Martinez-Diaz, program chair, Florida Tech Applied Behavior Analysis Program.

----------------------------
Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
----------------------------

The conference and workshop qualify for professional education hours for teachers and continuing education credit for psychologists, mental health workers and behavior analysts. For more information visit http://research.fit.edu/autismconference.

Source: Karen Rhine
Florida Institute of Technology