How are You Spending Your Summer Vacation?

Put-in-Bay, on Lake Erie’s beautiful South Bass Island, Ohio, is the home of Typing to Speak, a series of small group, interactive, communication workshops throughout the summer.
src: www.putinbayphotos.com/

Summer is here, a time to spend quality time with your family, relax, get a tan, go to an amusement park, or maybe take that long dreamed-of trip of a lifetime. We hope your having a great vacation so far.

For many SBT members and families, as well as trainers, facilitators, and other professionals, it means combining vacation time with attendance at one or more of the many autism-related conferences or workshops held across the country, including:
(Click on links below for more information about these events on SavedByTyping.com or the event’s website. Links open in new windows.)

• Typing to Speak, a series of small group, interactive, communication gatherings held in the village of Put-In-Bay, Ohio throughout the summer. For more details about the individual workshops, including costs, download the PUT-IN-BAY 2016 WORKSHOP SCHEDULE for TYPERS, FAMILIES AND FACILITATORS. (PDF opens in new window)
  
  Located in the Western Basin of Lake Erie, Put-in-Bay is a great place to combine your family vacation with an opportunity to join other autistics, their support persons, and families from across the United States meet and make new friends, expand your communication circles through shared in-the-community experiences and seatwork, and perhaps gain a few insights along the way.
   
• 2016 ICI Autism Summer Institute, a popular conference hosted in a different location each year by the Syracuse University School of Education’s Institute on Communication and Inclusion. This year’s conference, the theme of which is “Communication is More Than Speech: Building Inclusion Through Typing,” will be held in the idyllic setting of Columbia, MD from Tuesday July 26 – Thursday July 28, and will feature:
  • Keynote speaker Paula Kluth, inclusion consultant and author of We Never Thought You’d Ask: Voices of People with Autism, Joyful Learning: Active and Collaborative Learning in the Inclusive Classroom, and more
  • Ralph Savarese, poet, Professor at Grinnell College, and author of Reasonable People: A Memoir of Autism & Adoption
  • A panel of individuals who type to communicate including Grant Blasko, Sujit Kurup, Kayla Takeuchi, and Jamie Burke
  • Hands-on skill-building workshops for typers and support people at all levels
  • Three days of concurrent sessions on research, practice, music, movement, relationships, and more
  • Planned recreational and wellness activities in retreat-like setting of Columbia, Maryland!

  Centrally located between Washington D.C. and Baltimore, Columbia’s unique city center offers all the convenience and amenities of an active downtown within the serenity of 12 wooded acres. It is just a short drive from the Baltimore Washington International airport and close to multiple Metro Stations, which provide easy access to Baltimore and our nation’s capital. If you’ve never been there, this is a great chance to combine the Summer Institute with a visit to the inspirational living history lesson that is Washington, DC.

• 2016 Midwest Autism Summer Institute, June 27 – 28 in Des Moines, Iowa.
   
• Kris’ Camp, an innovative Autism Therapy program coming to Smithville, Tennessee (near Nashville,) from July 11-17. For 21 years, Tallahassee-based Therapy Intensive Programs, Inc. (TIP) has been providing this innovative therapy program for autistic children and their families, named after Kris Moore (5/30/1988 – 11/9/1993), a wonderful little boy who touched many people in his brief life.
  The Kris’ Camp approach is competency-based on a “least to most” amount of facilitation and looking at autism as a movement disorder.Camp therapy programs provide individualized therapy programs, drawing on one or more of the following disciplines and provided by licensed and experienced professionals: art/art therapy, neurologic music therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech/language therapy, vision therapy and education.

  One of the unique features about this program is that therapy camps involve the entire family; the core five days of Kris’ Camp are therapy / sibling camp days. Therapy campers participate in 6 hours per day of intensive one-on-one (some groups for the older campers) therapies, while their siblings can attend sibling camp.Parents are provided with respite during this time, and pick their kids up at the end of each therapy day. Opportunities are provided to meet with other parents and staff in a relaxed environment via three group dinners and a Wine & Cheese party.

• National Autism Conference presented by the National Autism Association (NAA,) September 8 – 11 in New Orleans, LA. A wide range of renowned autism experts on multiple topics await you at NAC 2016 including:
  • Keynote Speaker Christopher “Mr. Chris” Ulmer: Engaging Neurodiverse Individuals: The Power of Acceptance and Positivity – special education teacher; founder of Special Books by Special Kids, a multi-media initiative that is now spearheading a worldwide acceptance movement.
    
  • Lindsey Biel, OTR/L: Sensory Smart Strategies for Real-Life Challenges – pediatric occupational therapist; evaluates and treats children, adolescents, and young adults with sensory processing issues, autism spectrum disorders, and other developmental challenges; co-author of the award-winning Raising a Sensory Smart Child: The Definitive Handbook for Helping Your Child with Sensory Processing Issues, with a foreword by Temple Grandin and the author of Sensory Processing Challenges: Effective Clinical Work with Kids & Teens.
  • Chantal Sicile-Kira: A Full Life with Autism: How to Prepare for Real Life While Still in School – award-winning author, speaker, consultant and leader in the field of autism and adolescence and transition to adulthood, with over 25 years of experience as a parent and professional; author of Autism Spectrum Disorder, Adolescents on the Autism Spectrum, Autism Life Skills, What is Autism, and A Full Life with Autism (co-authored with her son, Jeremy, now 26).

  Conference attendance included a Meet & Greet on Thursday, September 8th, from 7:00 pm – 11:00pm. Join fellow attendees on the rooftop on the Mark Twain Courtyard to relax, enjoy a taste of New Orleans with an elegant spread of hors d’oeuvres and drinks, take in the local sounds of a smooth jazz band, and reconnect with old friends or meet some new ones. This event is complimentary to all conference attendees, exhibitors and speakers.

• The Autism Project’s 2016 National Speaker Conference, Friday, Sep 30, 2016 in Cranston, RI.
   
• 15th Annual PEPSA Autism Summer Institute on July 26 & 27 at St. Petersburg College, Clearwater, FL Campus; hosted by The University of South Florida. [NOTE: PEPSA is an acronym for Partnership for Effective Programs for Students with ASD.]
   
• USAAA 11th Annual World Conference and Expo, August 18 – 20 at the Hyatt Regency Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky. [NOTE: USAAA is an acronym for the US Autism & Asperger Association.]

If you plan to attend any of these conferences,or have attended any other recent event, such as the Rethinking Autism conference held in Bloomington this past April, we’d like to hear about your experience and share your story with our members. Just tell us a bit about it and we will publish a blog post on the SBT website. Any photos or videos from the event would be a great addition, as well. Just send us an email, and we’ll take care of the rest.