NEWS INDEX Archives 2007 October

Autism 'Red Flags' and intervention the subject of Nov. 1 talk at U. of I.

Craig Chamberlain, Education Editor
217-333-2894; cdchambe@uiuc.edu

10/18/07
  
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — How to spot the early signs of autism and intervene will be the subject of a pubic talk Nov. 1 on the University of Illinois campus.

The speaker will be Amy M. Wetherby, the L.L. Schendel Professor of Communication Disorders at Florida State University, who has helped create a Web site for parents, autismspeaks.org, that uses videos to compare autistic behavior alongside that of children with more typical development.

Wetherby’s talk, “Early Red Flags of Autism Spectrum Disorders: From Early Identification to Early Intervention,” will run from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the Alice Campbell Alumni Center, 601 S. Lincoln Ave., Urbana. The talk, as well as the reception following, are free and open to the public.

Wetherby will discuss research on the earliest indicators of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in infants and toddlers. As part of that presentation, she will identify some of the “red flags” in very young children and illustrate with short videos.

Wetherby also will discuss the importance of early intervention for substantially improving outcomes for children with ASD, as well as recommended practices for screening and early diagnosis.

The talk is sponsored by the College of Education and its department of special education, with funding from the Goldstick Initiative for the Study of Communication Disorders.

For additional information about autismspeaks.org, see the recent AP story about the project.