As part of our Big Lottery Project Lifeworks organised an Autism Spectrum Conference at Keele University which took place on the 5th October 2017. The purpose of this was to raise awareness and to help professionals, students and anyone else interested in autistic spectrum conditions to understand and engage with people on the spectrum more effectively. We endeavoured to highlight the challenges individuals on the spectrum face on a daily basis.
Presentations by our four speakers:
Dr Donna Berry (School of Psychology, Keele University).
Dr Pamela Wood (Snr Clinical Psychologist, Autism Spectrum Assessment Service).
Dr Luke Beardon (Autism Centre, Sheffield Hallam University).
Louise Zandian (Lifeworks CEO).
To end the conference the speakers formed a panel to enable a question and answer session. Donna's presentation focused on Autism and Policing, Pamela spoke about the Autism Assessment Service, Luke gave his thoughts on how unhappy autistic children can be supported to become happy autistic adults. Louise's presentation was about the development of communication support and mentoring for people with above or average IQ on the Autistic Spectrum.
