Diana Henry, MS, OTR/L, FAOTA president of Henry Occupational Therapy Services, Inc., studied with Lorna Jean King in 1975, and then together founded what is now called the Children's Center in Arizona. Diana opened her clinic specializing in sensory integration (SI) in 1984 and developed programs for Arizona schools.
Diana is SCSIT and SIPT certified. She received her B.S. in OT from Tufts University, and her M.S. in sensory integration from Rush University. Diana has taught at Arizona State University, nationally to school districts, associations/clinics and internationally in Australia, Canada, England, France, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Brazil, Scotland, Ireland, and Northern Ireland. With her husband Rick, Diana produced the Tools for Teachers™ and the Tools for Students™ DVDs, wrote the Tool Chest™, the Tools for Parents™, the SI Tools for Teens™ handbooks, the Sensory Tools for Pets, and the Tools for Tots: Sensory Strategies for Toddlers and Preschoolers books, and produced the Teen Sensory Tools™ DVD. Diana is presently working on Tools for Infants™ book, Sensory Songs for Tots™ CD and Forever Winter (about NLD).
In April 2008, Diana and her colleagues were awarded the American Occupational Therapy Recognition of Achievement Award for developing The Sensory Processing Measure (SPM). In 2007, ATEACHABOUT was featured in a PBS documentary titled: The Boomer Century
Hi, I am Laura Nagle, an autistic adult. After half a century wondering who and what I am, I self diagnosed as Aspie about the time of my fifty third birthday. I soon found by a roundabout way that I had been diagnosed as autistic when in fourth grade. Further, at that time of official diagnosis, I had been recommended for institutionalization.
Upon learning the nature of my self I joined the Northern Arizona Chapter: Autism Society of America. It was here, and with these wonderful people, that my life changed. As it turns out, my years of being autistic without knowing that fact has value. In speaking I can impart my hard learned lessons to people who can then learn them the easy way! My goal is that every person of the spectrum should have a better life than I have had.
Recently, my personal mission to better the lives of autistic people has taken on a new dimension. I am involved in the production of a wonderful documentary film about life as an adult with autism: me! What an unexpected opportunity this is! You can find bits of this film on my web site: lauranagle.net, or on You Tube - just search Laura Nagle.
Leah Kelley is a K-12 Special Needs Resource Teacher, a parent of a child with ASD, and an experienced primary teacher. She completed her Master of Education Degree at Simon Fraser University, focusing on Supporting Educators in Understanding the Experience of Students with Autism, and is currently working as part of the SFU Education Field Studies instructional team supporting educators in their Graduate Diploma Program. Leah is an advocate for both children and adults who experience the world differently. She is privileged to be the Co-Producer of the documentary film Vectors of Autism (featuring Laura Nagle) and also authors the Blog 30 Days of Autism, a project that offers a glimpse into the world of those whose lives are touched by autism with a focus on increasing social understanding.
Susan is a professor at Northern Arizona University where she teaches courses on educational interventions for students with Autism and Spectrum Disorders. She is a board member of the Northern Arizona Autism Society of America. She is a board certified behavior analyst who provides consultation services through Consultation Services of Northern Arizona.
Bart Stevens is an Associate Member of the Arizona Bar Association and Maricopa County Bar Association. He established Bart Stevens Special Needs Planning, LLC in 1993. It was the first company in Arizona dedicated exclusively to providing Special Needs Planning Services. He is a Senior Certified Special Needs Planner (SrChLAP) and Arizona Certified Legal Document Preparer (AzCLDP) Bart has been a Seminar and Conference Speaker for the Autism Society of America National Conference, Greater Phoenix Autism Society, National Down Syndrome Society and Congress, National Spina Bifida Association, The Arc, the Epilepsy Foundation, World Congress on Disabilities; SARRC (Southwest Autism Research & Resource Center), Crecer Con Amor AZ State Conference; YMCA Law Day; Learning Disabilities Association; and the AZ State University Special Ed Teachers Program. Bart authored the book, "The ABC's of Special Needs Planning Made Easy©" and the Special Needs Estate Planning brochure for the National Down Syndrome Society. He has published Articles in The Advocate (The Autism Society of America's newsletter), the Exceptional Parent magazine and Paraplegia News. Bart offers Special Needs Planning and Consulting services nationwide.
Dr. Kristen Gaisford is doctoral level Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA-D), specializing in providing center-based and home-based services for children with autism and related disorders. In May 2007 she earned her masters degree in psychology from Western Michigan University with a specialization in autism and organizational behavior management. In May 2010 she was awarded her PhD in psychology, with a specialization in behavior analysis from Western Michigan University. During her time at Western Michigan University, she spent four and a half years providing services to children in an Early Childhood Developmental Delay (ECDD) classroom and training both undergraduate and graduate students to work with the children in the classroom. She has spent the past three and a half years providing both individual and group supervision to masters students working towards their board certification. Finally, for the past two and half years she has provided consultation to school districts for students in preschool through high school and has developed and supervised in-home ABA programs.
Allison Meritt is a Parent Information Network Specialist with the Arizona Department of Education, Exceptional Student Services and a parent of a young adult with a disability. In serving her respective region, Apache, Navajo, Coconino, Yavapai and Mohave counties, she provides parents with resources, trainings, information, and technical assistance that is essential to their active participation in their child's special education. Allison also provides services to service providers, community agencies, and parent organizations.
Dr. Rachel Stankey has been an occupational therapist for over 16 years, and works for Northland-Rural Therapy Associates (NRTA) in Flagstaff, AZ. She is the program coordinator of the Arizona Early Intervention Program (AzEIP) in Coconino County and serves as the lead occupational therapist at NRTA; she is also adjunct faculty at Western New Mexico University. Rachel loves to work on feeding with children of all ages and their families; she gives frequent lectures on feeding therapy to parent groups and other professionals and has also created training modules for occupational therapists on feeding assessments.
Jennifer Turrell is the mother of two delightful girls, a 4 year old with Autism Disorder and Eosinophilic Esophagitis (tube fed) and a 2 year old considered "at risk for autism." Jennifer has spent the past two years figuring out how to put together, pay for and maintain a 37 hour a week EIBI program for the 4 year old who also does 7.5 hours of preschool with a one–on–one aide in the FUSD system and 1 hour each of Speech and OT feeding therapy. This is as close to the gold standard 40 hours a week of ABA therapy recommended for the best possible outcomes for early intervention in autism as it has been possible to get to with the resources available in Flagstaff, Arizona.
Lindsey Nebeker is a musician, advocate and speaker diagnosed with autism, currently working as a Development Specialist at the Autism Society national headquarters near Washington, D.C. She holds a B.A. Degree in Music Technology from the College of Santa Fe, and is a Partners in Policymaking graduate. Since 2005, Ms. Nebeker has been active within the autism community by presenting at numerous conferences and workshops in the United States and Canada. She created a blog called "Naked Brain Ink" (a focus on ASDs, relationships and sexuality), and participated in CREA's Disability, Sexuality and Rights Online Institute. In addition, Ms. Nebeker has been featured in Glamour Magazine, ABC's Good Morning America, NPR, and recently appeared on the cover of Autism Spectrum Quarterly (along with her partner Dave Hamrick).
David Hamrick is a 32-year old person with high-functioning autism and works as a meteorologist for the National Weather Service near Washington, DC. He has given many presentations on the subject of autism since 1999, and has served on the Board of Directors for the Autism Program of Virginia and a past Vice President of a local autism chapter. In addition, Mr. Hamrick has appeared in a story featured in Glamour Magazine, Good Morning America, Autism Spectrum Quarterly, and National Public Radio.
You can register via RegOnline at this link.
Online registration will stay open until April 7th at 6:00pm. After that, you can register onsite at 7:30am the day of the conference, but no guarantees space will be available. So, register now!
7:30am-8:00am Sign in and registration
8:00am-9:30am Opening and keynote with Diana Henry; "Addressing Sensory Challenges Through Collaboration & Team Empowerment"
9:45am-11:00am Session 1 breakouts:
11:15am-12:30pm Session 2 breakouts:
12:30pm-1:00pm Lunch
1:00pm-2:00pm Plenary session with Laura Nagle; "The Emotions of Autism"
2:15pm-3:30pm Session 3 breakouts
3:45pm-5:00pm Session 4 breakouts
5:00pm-5:30pm Closing, turn in evaluation form, pick up certificates
You can download the vendor form here.
For more information, email us at NAZASAinformation@nazasa.org