Local autism agency plans joint conference with OAR
The Organization for Autism Research, a highly respected national agency focused on applied research has held its own autism conference annually. This year, OAR decided instead to partner with other well regarded, established conferences. OAR chose two such conferences in the United States, one of which is Cleveland’s own Milestones Annual Autism/Asperger's Conference: Life-Long Strategies for Success.
Through this new partnership, OAR will provide a special conference track to focus on cutting-edge research and to implement these research findings in daily life. These tracks will feature speakers drawn from OAR’s Scientific Council and its growing list of funded researchers. OAR’s choice to partner with Milestones emphasizes the effective and important work of this this grassroots Cleveland autism organization.
Milestones Autism Organization (MAO) was founded by Ilana Hoffer Skoff and Cleveland Heights resident Mia Buchwald Gelles. The women met in 2000, in the office of a speech pathologist. They shared with each other the experience of having a child on the autistic spectrum, and became each other's source of information and strategies, which they learned at conferences and through their own research and practice.
Three years later, recognizing an unmet need in Cleveland, they held their first Milestones conference. Over 400 people attended the gathering. Convinced that others were looking for education, training, and practical strategies, Gelles and Skoff started Milestones Autism Organization. They focused their mission on training professionals, paraprofessionals and parents in research-based successful educational interventions.
Michelle Garcia Winner is the keynote speaker at this year's conference. Winner is a speech/language pathologist specializing in the treatment of students with social cognitive deficits, including diagnoses such as autism, Asperger's syndrome, and nonverbal learning disorder. Based in San Jose, Calif., Winner works with clients, consults with families and schools, and she does training workshops throughout the country for psychiatrists, psychologists, counselors, and state policy makers.
Winner coined the term social thinking, and its related treatment strategies. She has written or coauthored numerous books, published by Think Social Publishing, Inc. Her goal is to help administrators, educators and parents appreciate how social thinking and social skills are an integral part of a student’s academic and social experience, as well as critical for success in adulthood. In 2008, she received a Congressional Special Recognition Award.
In addition to Winner's sessions and the OAR track, the June 21 conference offers 30 workshops and 13 different tailored tracks, from new diagnosis to the transition to adulthood. The conference is an opportunity for parents, professionals and adults with autism to find out about local resources and continue learning best practices for school, home, community and work.
For more information on OAR, visit researchautism.org. For more info on Milestones and their annual conference, visit www.milestones.org, deena@milestones.org, or call 216-464-7600.
Deena Nyer Mendlowitz
Deena Mendlowitz is the communications associate at Milestones Autism Organization.