FEAT NT presents Winner CCC-CLP Sept 2008

[Guest guest]

Internationally Recognized

Therapist, Presenter & Author

Winner

Coming to Dallas/Fort Worth

Social Skills Training for Individuals with Aspergers and High

Functioning Autism

a 2-day Conference

September 10 & 11th

Colleyville Center

5301 Riverwalk Drive

Colleyville, Texas

8:30-9:00 - Registration

9:00-4:30 - Workshop Begins/Ends

12:00-1:00 - Bring sack lunch or eat at local resturants

Continental breakfast & snacks provided

Workshop Fees:

Parent/$185.00 - After August 30 $200.00

Professional/$200.00 - After August 30 $225.00

Group of 5 or more/$185.00 per participant

CEU's Available

CEUs offered for Teachers and Speech and Language

Certificate of attendance is available for all others.

12 Hours total

Registration form

http://featnt.org/uploads/event_reg_2008.pdf

Vendors welcome - For vendor information and registration form

contact Lynette Rorer at events@... or call 817 849 1122

ABOUT MICHELLE GARCIA WINNER:

Winner, speech language pathologist and specialist

for persons with social cognitive deficits, is internationally

recognized as an innovative therapist, energetic and enthusiastic

workshop presenter and author based in San , Ca. where she runs

her private practice, the Center for Social Thinking. and

her team specialize in developing further understanding and

educational strategies for helping persons with social

thinking/social communicative deficits, including those with High

Functioning Autism (HFA), Asperger Syndrome (AS), Pervasive

Developmental Disability Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS) and Non-

Verbal Learning Disabilities (NLD). has developed the ILAUGH

Model of social cognition to help explain the complex difficulties

our students experience socially and academically. In addition to the

four books she has written, she has also released two new

DVDs " Growing up Social " and " Social Behavior Mapping " . All of

's work is very practical. She has a knack for taking

abstract concepts and explaining them in concrete ways to the benefit

of educators and students alike.

Conference Summary

DAY 1

Wednesday, September 10

" Social Cognitive Deficits Across the School and Home Day:

The ILAUGH Model of Social Cognition "

Designed for parents and professionals to understand the inner mind

of persons high on the Autism Spectrum (Asperger Syndrome, PDD-NOS or

High Functioning Autism), with ADHD, Non Verbal Learning Disability,

or have no working diagnosis but fit the clinical picture.

Participants will learn not only functional treatment strategies they

can use both at school and at home, but they will also better

understand why these students react and respond the way they do. On

this day we will introduce the I LAUGH model of Social Cognition

which helps to demonstrate how social processing difficulties impact

not only social skills but also the ability to work as part of a

group and focus on specific academic

tasks such as written expression, reading comprehension and

organizational skills for many of our students.

We will also address how best to approach writing IEP goals that

impact real, albeit, slow change in how students understand the world

around them. Concepts related to assessment will also be introduced

and the problem with using only standardized tests to qualify these

students will also be explored. This workshop is noted for its depth

in explaining WHY students with social skills difficulties have

related academic challenges, which impact them across their school

and home day.

DAY 2

Thursday, September 11

" Thinking About YOU Thinking About ME "

All participants, whether they be parents or professionals leave this

workshop day with not only new insights into the treatment for their

students but also with a new awareness of their own intuitive

perspective taking skills. believes that when adults learn

more about their own social thinking skills they become better

teachers to students who need coaching to develop these skills.

Persons with social cognitive deficits, which include those with

diagnoses such as Asperger Syndrome, High Functioning Autism, PDD-

NOS, NLD and ADHD often have difficulty efficiently considering and

responding to the perspective of those around them. Perspective

taking is referred to as " Theory of Mind " in the research. This

workshop will explore how central the skill of " perspective taking "

is to all social contact and interpretation, be it non-verbal or

verbal. This workshop day is an exploration of what it means to be

able to " take perspective " and how a deficit in this area impacts

students heavily in every environment in which they participate be it

school, home, community, and/or work. Perspective taking as a social

executive functioning skill will be discussed. will

introduce a model of explaining 3 different levels of perspective

taking deficits along with overall prognosis for each of these

levels.

Functional educational strategies to facilitate growth in thinking

about how other people think and the related social skills will be

reviewed to teach to students who function higher on the autism

spectrum or with related deficits. A four-step model of developing

social communication skills will be introduced. The audience is

encouraged to be active participants across the day. Videotape

examples of treatment strategies will be heavily utilized.