SPECTRUM CONNECTION

JUNE 1. Jeri Kendle, Interim President/COO, Vocational, Academy Director of the Southwest Autism Research and Resource Center will present workshop sponsored by Kansas Center for Autism Research and Training. From 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., at KU Edwards Campus, 12600 Quivira, Overland Park, Kan. Cost, $60. Click here for registration information.

MAY 6. Howard Green and Jennifer McDonald of Virginia Commonwealth University will present workshop sponsored by the Kansas Center for Autism Research and Training (KCART). From 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., at KU Edwards Campus, 12600 Quivira, Overland Park, Kan. Cost, $60. Click here for registration information.

APRIL 14. Show your support for your favorite school’s autism program. Fundraiser for Kansas Center for Autism Research and Training (K-CART) and MU Thompson Center for Autism & Neurodevelopmental Disorders. From 6 – 9:30 p.m. at Boulevard Brewery, 2501 Southwest Blvd., Kansas City. Tickets are $35 and can be purchased here.

APRIL 9. Phil Strain of the University of Colorado will present workshop sponsored by the Kansas Center for Autism Research and Training (KCART). From 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., at KU Edwards Campus, 12600 Quivira, Overland Park, Kan. Cost, $60. Click here for registration information.

By Toni Lapp

If you’re the parent of a student with an autism-spectrum disorder, you have most likely participated in an individual education program (IEP) meeting for your child.

For many families, the annual meeting is a stressful event in which educators converse using unfamiliar acronyms and bewildering jargon, and parents rubber-stamp their signatures to a document that they don’t understand and didn’t have a hand in developing.

It needn’t be that way.

As the legal education decision maker for the student, parents often do not realize the power that they wield.

As a result, parents may fail to fully exercise their influence at these meetings, says Jeanne Holverstott, an Overland Park autism specialist. Sometimes parents just don’t know what they can ask for.
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MARCH 3. Sean Swindler, director of community program development & evaluation for Kansas Center for Autism Research and Training — K-CART — will lead discussion. Learn how autism affects the workplace and families in our community, as well as how K-CART addresses the needs of this population. Coffee and pastries served at 7:30 a.m.; lecture begins at 8 a.m. at Regnier Hall, KU Edwards Campus, 12610 Quivira Road, Overland Park, Kan. 66213. Free and open to the public. To RSVP call Christine at (913) 897-8548 or click here.

By Julius Karash

How can we map out better futures for adults with autism? An initiative by Advancing Adults with Autism brought together 1,000 folks at 16 satellite sites as part of a national townhall meeting to discuss the issue.
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