When:
August 26, 2021 all-day
2021-08-26T00:00:00-04:00
2021-08-27T00:00:00-04:00

Autism Webinar for Special Needs FamiliesEast Sandwich, MA, August 26th, 2021. Free. Part of a Summer Autism Lecture Series for the general public to learn about Autism from leading researchers in the field. Co-hosted by Pediatric Neurologist Margaret Bauman, David Amaral, the Director of the University of California MIND Institute’s Autism Center of Excellence, the Riverview School.

  • August 26th: Panel: The Future of Autism Research and Treatment – Extended Q & A: Everything you wanted to know about autism and couldn’t find someone to ask.
    Speakers:
    *  Dr. Margaret Bauman, Boston University.
    *  Dr. David Amaral UC Davis, The MIND Institute

To register or for more information visit https://riverviewschool.org/autism  or contact esoderstrom@riverviewschool.org


List of the 2021 Autism Workshops:

  • July 8: What is Autism? -Charles A. Nelson III, PhD, is currently Professor of Pediatrics and Neuroscience and Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and Professor of Education in the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He also holds the Richard David Scott Chair in Pediatric Developmental Medicine Research at Boston Children’s Hospital, and serves as Director of Research in the Division of Developmental Medicine. His research interests center on a variety of problems in developmental cognitive neuroscience, including: the development of social perception; developmental trajectories to autism; and the effects of early adversity on brain and behavioral development.
  • July 15: Exploring the Brain-Gut Connection in Autism – The Brain-Gut Connection has been discussed for many years but in rather vague, non-specific ways. We will aim to sharpen this connection by investigating the multiple interactions of the brain and the GI tract. From neural connections to potential biochemical effects of an altered microbiome to new thoughts about the blood brain barrier, we are closer to understanding how gastrointestinal factors affect the brain and behavior. We will demonstrate this with clinical examples in individuals with autism.
  • July 22: Healthy Relationships on the Autism Spectrum (HEARTS): A friendship and dating relationships intervention co-created with autistic people. This discussion will introduce the audience to the novel Healthy Relationships on the Autism Spectrum (HEARTS) intervention, which promotes healthy friendship and dating relationship skills.
    * The co-authors of HEARTS have first-hand experience working with survivors and perpetrators of dating and sexual violence, coaching people with an interest in online dating, supporting people with unconventional relationship structures (i.e., polyamory), and people with gender and sexual orientation minority identities (i.e., transgender, non-binary, and LGBQPIA+). A description of the non-experimental evaluation of intervention efficacy will also be provided.
  • July 29: Technology and Autism – Unpredictable and potentially dangerous challenging behavior (aggression to others, self-injury, emotion dysregulation) can create barriers to accessing community, therapeutic, medical, and educational services for individuals with autism. The current line of research evaluates whether peripheral nervous system and physical activity data obtained from a wearable biosensor can be used to predict challenging behaviors before they occur. Iterative results in a sample of 70 psychiatric inpatients with autism suggest that aggression to others, self-injury, and tantrums can all be predicted 3 minutes in advance with 80% average accuracy using machine learning classifiers. These findings lay the groundwork for the future development of precursor behavior analysis and just-in-time adaptive intervention systems to prevent or mitigate the emergence, occurrence, and impact of challenging behavior in individuals with autism.
  • August 5: Transition to Adulthood: Navigating the Challenges and Finding Opportunities for those who have Autism Spectrum Disorder in Massachusetts
    * For parents and caregivers of a child on the autism spectrum and who have similar neurodevelopmental conditions, the thought of entering adult life in the community is daunting. Often thought of as “going over the cliff”, this journey to the adult services world can be a very stressful one. This talk uses an appropriate analogy of navigating uncharted waters, the process of building a ” bridge ” to the other side by preparing in advance so that the journey does not have to be solo and feel like they are not alone.
    * The goal of this presentation is to help alleviate some of the stress for parents and students by providing an overview of what most consider the “major” domains to focus on at this time-medical/mental healthcare, education, employment, legal/financial planning; public benefits and state agencies, and to share important information, steps/tasks and related timelines, services and resources.
  • August 12: Epilepsy and Autism: what is the connection? Dr. Spence’s lecture will explore the connection between epilepsy and autism and discuss what parents and providers need to know. It has long been known that epilepsy is a relatively common co-occurring condition in individuals with autism spectrum disorder. It is present in ~20% of all children and adults with ASD. The seizures can start in early childhood or in later adolescence. Most epilepsy is relatively easy to treat; however, there is a very small risk of a devastating outcome called SUDEP (Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy) which will be discussed. Dr. Spence will talk about what is known about the overlapping biological mechanisms of epilepsy and autism. Finally, Dr. Spence will review emerging data for the use of CANNABIDIOL (CBD) for treatment of seizures in autism.
  • August 19: Developing Biomarkers to Improve Clinical Research in Autism – Participant characterization and selection for research and clinical trials relies on subjective clinical assessments and caregiver report measures. There is a critical need for objective and sensitive measures to quantify social and communicative symptomatology in ASD for the purposes of predicting response to intervention, measuring treatment outcomes, and stratifying a heterogeneous population into more homogenous subgroups. The discussion will review ongoing research in the McPartland Lab and the Autism Biomarkers Consortium for Clinical trials designed to evaluate feasibility of electrophysiological and eye-tracking biomarkers to address these needs.
  • August 26: Panel: The Future of Autism Research and Treatment – Extended Q & A: Everything you wanted to know about autism and couldn’t find someone to ask. with Dr. David Amaral and Dr. Margaret Bauman

 

 

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