High Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder

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Handouts/Brochure

Speaker

Timothy Kowalski, MA, CCC-SLP Related seminars and products

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Timothy P. Kowalski, M.A., CCC-SLP, is a licensed speech-language pathologist specializing in social-pragmatic communication deficits and internationally known expert on Asperger Syndrome. His Orlando practice has seen clients from Europe, South America and throughout the USA. Mr. Kowalski regularly consults to schools on best practices for students identified or suspected of having Asperger’s syndrome and provides schoolwide district inservices.

Mr. Kowalski presents internationally on a wide variety of issues relative to Asperger’s, is a guest lecturer at universities and colleges and is a consultant for forensic cases involving Asperger’s syndrome. He has worked in a variety of psychiatric healthcare delivery systems including in-patient and outpatient psychiatric hospitals, sex offender units, and school-based settings. Mr. Kowalski is the author of six books on Asperger syndrome: Asperger Syndrome Explained; Social-Pragmatic Success for Asperger Syndrome and Other Related Disorders; Are You In The Zone?; The Source for Asperger’s Syndrome; Me, Myself, and You; Understanding Emotions: A Guide for Adults; and an article entitled Assessing Social Communication in Asperger Syndrome.

He holds the position of vice president of professional practices in speech-language pathology for the Florida Speech-Language-Hearing Association and is also a member of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Autism Society of America, Council for Behavior Disorders, and the Council for Exceptional Children. Mr. Kowalski is the recipient of the “2010 Clinician of the Year Award” offered by the Florida Association of Speech- Language Pathologists and Audiologists and the 2011 FLASHA nominee for the ASHA Louis M. di Carlo Award for Recent Clinical Achievement. He holds the “TEAMS 2000 Speech-Language Pathologist of the Year” award for his work with Autism in the four-countywide greater Orlando, Florida metropolitan area and has served on the board of directors for the Greater Orlando Chapter of the Autism Society of America.

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Timothy Kowalski is the President of Professional Communication Services, Inc. He receives royalties as a published author. Timothy Kowalski receives a speaking honorarium, recording royalties, and a consultant fee from PESI, Inc. He has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Timothy Kowalski a member of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and the Florida Association for Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists.

Additional Info

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Target Audience

• Speech-Language Pathologists
• Occupational Therapists
• Occupational Therapy Assistants
• Physical Therapists
• Physical Therapist Assistants
• School Psychologists
• Social Workers
• Counselors
• Psychiatrists
• Psychologists

Objectives

1. Determine how to develop social awareness in clients for the purposes of client psychoeducation
2. Ascertain how mirror neurons impact social awareness, and describe how this impacts the clinician's choice of treatment strategy
3. Discuss the social triad of interaction, communication, and emotional regulation, with clinical intervention techniques to address deficits in these areas
4. Detect fine motor difficulties and how to address them in clients
5. Recognize when sensory difficulties are present and determine how to address them in clients
6. Examine gross motor difficulties and how to address them in clients
7. Ascertain how to address problem academic behaviors with clinical interventions to reduce instances of talking off-task, daydreaming, ignoring new information, reading comprehension, tendency to focus on unimportant information, organization, self-monitoring skills, time management, procrastination, problem-solving, literalism, and perfectionism

Outline

DIAGNOSTIC CRITERIA

• Comparison of three major classification systems
  • DSM-5® compared to DSM IV-TR®
  • ICD-10
  • Gillberg’s Criteria

EPIDEMIOLOGY

DIAGNOSIS

RATING SCALES

• Tools for higher functioning individuals
• Tools for pragmatic language assessment

MISDIAGNOSIS IS COMMON

• Comparison of common clinical misdiagnoses

THEORIES AS TO WHY THEY ACT THE WAY THEY DO

• Executive function
• Central coherence
• Emotional intelligence
• Anxiety

SOCIAL INTERACTIVE DOMAIN

• Identify behavioral issues related to social interaction
• Intervention strategies designed to address areas of social interaction

SOCIAL COMMUNICATIVE DOMAIN

• Identify issues related to social communication
• Intervention strategies designed to address areas of social communication

SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL DOMAIN

• Identify behavioral issues related to social emotional regulation
• Intervention strategies designed to address areas of social emotional regulation

ACADEMIC ISSUES

• Identify organizational difficulties
• Identify issues impacting academic success
• Intervention strategies
  • To assist in initiating work assignments
  • To increase motivation
  • To increase attention
  • For curriculum adaptation
  • For academic modification
  • For improving reading comprehension
  • To improve cognitive processing

GROSS MOTOR ISSUES

• Identify issues and interventions for improving gross motor skills

FINE MOTOR ISSUES

• Identifying four fine motor issues
• Intervention strategies for improving fine motor skills

PROGNOSIS

HANDS-ON LEARNING: PRACTICAL, SKILLS-BASED ACTIVITIES

• Case study diagnosis
• Developing treatment goals