Audio clip
Debbie Murray
IF YOU GO
Where: Lee University campus in Cleveland, Education Building
When: Begins today at 9:30 a.m., Friday 9 a.m.
Cost: $80 for two days and two lunches
Registration preferred: Call Hariett Cannon at 423-614-8192
COMMON SIGNS OF AUTISM
Symptoms of autism spectrum disorder can range from mild to severe:
* Difficulty with social interaction
* Problems with verbal and nonverbal communication
* Repetitive behaviors or narrow, obsessive interests
* Avoiding eye contact
* Failing to respond to their name
Source: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
As a growing number of families in Cleveland and across the nation are facing a loved one's diagnosis of autism, a symposium at Lee University aims to arm caregivers and educators will tools to cope with the complex condition.
The seventh-annual Southeastern Autism Symposium will be today and Friday at Lee University's Helen DeVos College of Education in Cleveland, Tenn.
The symposium, which will include a number of sessions, is geared toward educators, medical professionals and parents and will explore the costs -- financial and emotional -- of autism and strategies to work with people with autism, said Dr. Debbie Murray, dean of the College of Education.
Parents of children with autism are attending the symposiums in greater numbers in recent years, Dr. Murray said. She attributed the increase in parental attendance to keynote speakers who themselves have autism.
This year Sondra Williams, an autism awareness advocate who was diagnosed with autism at age 38, will speak.
"If you have a child with autism, you're struggling every day to meet the needs of that child, and sometimes you don't see how your child can turn out as an adult," she said. "If you see an adult with autism who is functioning and independent, then that gives a parent great encouragement."
Dr. Murray said she expects about 100 people to attend.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 1 in 150 U.S. children has autism, and diagnoses are on the rise, Dr. Murray said.
"We're seeing more and more children with autism in regular classrooms. We hope that some of the issues we cover in the symposium will help teachers and administrators make sure that (the children's) transition to the regular education program is successful," she said.
New this year, Lee also is hosting a camp for children with autism, which ran Monday through today. Children went swimming at the local YMCA, participated in therapeutic horseback riding and other outdoor and art activities, Dr. Murray said.
Florida-based attorney David Nevel also will speak at the event, based on his experience as a behavior analyst and as a father of a child with autism. He said he will discuss the need for legislation mandating insurance coverage for behavior therapies for children with autism, which can cost $36,000 to $50,000 a year.
"It can devastate a family," he said.
A bill to mandate such coverage was introduced this year in the Tennessee Legislature but is still with a subcommittee.
Health care reporter Emily Bregel has worked at the Chattanooga Times Free Press since July 2006. She previously covered banking and wrote for the Life section. Emily, a native of Baltimore, Md., earned a bachelor’s degree in American Studies from Columbia University. She received a first-place award for feature writing from the East Tennessee Society of Professional Journalists’ Golden Press Card Contest for a 2009 article about a boy with a congenital heart defect. She ...
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