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Poster Session: Janet Lawson, MFT, Exec. Dir. Autistry Studios; Dan Swearingen, M.S.; Nate Yates, Special Ed Teacher; Amarjit Kaur, MFT Intern
The founders and staff of Autistry Studios in Marin County will present experiences developing and teaching prevocational workshops for teens and young adults with high functioning autism and Asperger’s Syndrome.
Autistry Studios found the format of very small workshops, meeting for extended periods of time, with projects driven by the students' interests to be very effective.Emphasis will be on assumptions made, lessons learned - what worked and what didn’t and how the work has evolved. We will also describe what these workshops have taught us about the larger needs of this growing population and what we are doing to meet those needs. Our programs don’t work for all students and we are developing new workshops with far more structure for those who need it. We are also creating small businesses that provide employment development and opportunities for our students.
Learning Objectives
1. Use the positive power of building from your students’ interests
2. “Create a natural social environment and the socialization will happen”
3. Understand positive approaches to tackle the employment problem
Presenters
Janet Lawson, MFT, works with adolescents and young adults. She has a Masters in Library and Information Science from Indiana University, MS in Counseling Psychology from Dominican University, and a BA in Film Studies from UC Berkeley. She worked in the film industry and was a Producing Fellow at the American Film Institute.
Dan Swearingen was educated as an astrophysicist with Masters degrees in Physics and Astronomy but has mainly worked in software development. Dan has many years of engineering people management experience working with teams of software engineers and now works with our students helping them excel on their projects.
Nate Yates is a Special Education teacher at Hall Middle School in Larkspur, CA. He has a BA from UC Santa Cruz in Film and Digital Media Production. He taught at ABC School in Richmond, CA. Nate is pursuing an MA in Special Education through SF State University's Project Mosaic.
Amarjit Kaur, MFT Intern, has a Masters in Counseling from SF State University with a dual specialization in Marriage and Family Therapy and Pupil Personnel Services (PPS credential). She has worked as a school counselor for several years and currently works at Seneca Center as a Day Treatment Therapist. |
