2nd Annual Central Virginia Autism Conference
Autism in the Family:
Families and Professionals Caring & Coping Together
This year our conference will feature Dr. Robert Naseef, author of Autism in the Family: Caring and Coping Together. As a psychologist and father of an adult child with autism, Dr. Naseef integrates his personal experiences into his professional expertise on autism and special needs. Dr. Naseef will share his perspective on developing and maintaining an emotionally healthy family–no simple task when the family includes a child with special needs. He writes and speaks from an academically informed perspective, as well as his firsthand knowledge. Dr. Naseef has used his resources to counsel parents of children with special needs and to host a variety of group therapy sessions for fathers to express themselves and receive support.
His presentations will include:
Saturday, April 16th, 2016: 8:00am – 4:00pm
- Being Present: The Family Journey to Acceptance and Resilience – Acceptance does not mean giving up. It is not making war or peace with autism or other challenging conditions. It means doing our best as a family living day-by-day. It also means taking care of everyone’s needs while finding the elusive balance – changing what we can and letting go of what we cannot.
- Special Children, Challenged Parents, Caring Professionals: Building Partnerships – In this session, Dr. Naseef will share strategies to strengthen the parent-professional relationship and to help everyone involved work together more effectively. Drawing from personal and professional experience, Dr. Naseef will guide professionals and parents in learning strategies to overcome emotional and developmental challenges both special children and parents may encounter.
- Understanding and Guiding Your Child’s Behavior – In this session, Dr. Naseef will address some of the challenging behaviors that children with autism may exhibit and offer help in guiding them toward more socially appropriate ways of self-expression. Participants will also explore practical behavioral approaches to common regulatory issues including eating, sleeping, and toliet-training.
- Panel of Dads and Sons – Dr. Naseef will conclude the conference by facilitating a panel discussion of fathers and their sons with ASD.
Register for Saturday’s Conference here.
There will also be a special Pre-conference session on Friday night, April 15th especially for dads, stepdads and male caregivers. The Friday session is free but registration is requested. More info and registration for Friday can be found here.
Sponsorship and Exhibitor Opportunities are available for this conference. More information on those opportunities and the registration form can be found here. Sponsors/Exhibitors may also register online here. Extra processing fees apply to all online registrations.