Empowering Individuals, Creating Community

BCASC 5TH Annual Autism Conference Registration

Conference registration for the BCASC 5th Annual Autism Conference is now available.  The conference is March 24th at Central Bucks South High School in Warrington, PA.  This year we welcome Dr. Stephen Shore as our keynote presenter.  In addition, we have 3 breakout sessions througout the day covering a wide variety of topics.  An exhibitor hall will be availalbe to attendees in order to learn more about local resources.  To learn more about the conference and to register please visit our registration website by clicking HERE.  Exhibitor and sponsorship registration is also available at this time by visiiting the Conference website.

BCASC Parent Forum

Date: Thursday, January 19, 2012
Time: 7:00pm-9:00pm
Where: Doylestown Health & Wellness Center, 847 Easton Road, Warrington PA 18976 (in the Doylestown Room on the lower level of the building.)

The group is open to all, including parents, grandparents and guardians or children and teens and adults on the autism spectrum in Bucks County and surrounding areas. Parents of children with autism spectrum disorders often feel socially isolated and have difficulty finding information and support.

The group will be an open forum, with no pre-planned agenda. Discussion will revolve around areas of concern or interest to the parents in attendance.

Contact parentforum@bcasc.org for more details

Check out the Parent Forum page for 2011-2012 dates.

BCASC Education Committee Meeting

Date: Thursday, February 2, 2012
Time: 7:00pm-8:00pm
Where: Starbucks in Southampton (2nd Street Pike & Street Road)

Contact education@bcasc.org for more details
 

BCASC Speaker Series: What is Evidence-Based Practice, and why it is important?

Below is the presentation from Dr. Peter Doehring, Director of Autism Services, Foundations Behavioral Health given at the October Speaker Series Meeting.

With the tremendous increase in scientific research on Autism Spectrum Disorder (or ASD) over the past 15 years, we are able to identify specific, evidence-based practices (or EBPs) based on the consistency and quality of research supporting them. We define EBP, and discuss the advantages of relying on EBP whenever possible. We also describe some of the limits to EBP, because of the limited range of research currently available, and the challenge of knowing whether research findings apply to all children with ASD. We conclude by offering some practical advice to parents and professionals seeking to evaluate whether a given approach is likely to work with their child.

Trained as a clinical and research psychologist, Dr. Peter Doehring began his career developing screening and early intervention programs for ASD in Canada, before taking charge of the Delaware Autism Program (DAP) in 1999. During his 9 year tenure, he continued to develop new programs for ASD identification, behavioral intervention, and family support during an unprecedented period of program growth for what was already the largest specialized public school program of its kind in the US. He joined the Center for Autism Research (CAR) at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia in 2008 as Director of Regional Programs. In this context, he developed a range of hospital and community-based training programs, helped to lead a regional consortium for training, services and research (ASERT), and established a regional research registry. He recently joined Foundations Behavioral Health as Director of Autism Services, to lead the development of a new in-patient treatment program for children and adolescents with ASD and related disabilities who are in behavioral crisis. He also recently published an edited volume reviewing evidence based treatments for autism, and will soon complete a second edited volume describing strategies for developing services, training, research, and policy at the regional and national level.

If you have any questions, please e-mail speakerseries@bcasc.org