The 6th Annual Chattanooga Autism Conference will be held on Friday from 8;30 a.m.-3:40 p.m. at the Chattanooga Convention Center.
The conference will include autism education and evidence-based treatment strategies for parents, educators, clinicians, and adults on the autism spectrum. There are presentations tailored to parents who have young kids with autism, to educators, and to adults with autism. Workshops in Spanish will be offered for the first time this year.
Attendees will be able to visit with over 60 exhibitors and connect with other parents and professionals.
Last year about 400 peopled attended and this year over 500 are expected. Registration is now closed.
In addition to sharing the same sense of humor, cramped childhood bedroom, and the habit of talking about themselves in the third person, keynote speakers Gina Gallagher and Patricia Terrasi are sisters and among the growing number of parents raising children with disabilities. The sisters will present a workshop which draws upon their experiences raising daughters with Asperger's syndrome and bipolar disorder. The presentation uses humor through personal family experiences to reinforce a message of hope, support, and acceptance for other family members, consumers and providers. It allows the audience to laugh and to share the smiles and tears that come with raising a child who isn't "perfect".
For more information, visit ChattanoogaAutismCenter.org or call 531-6961.