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• ACERT Teaching Scholarship Circle on Universal Design
• Supported Decision Making Grant

The involvement of speech-language pathologists in provision of speech therapy services for children diagnosed on the autism spectrum is nothing new. For years we have been the professionals well suited, if not the best suited, to provide intervention focused on facilitating social communication competencies. Many of the children we treated as youngsters are now college age and their intellectual abilities would suggest that the academic challenges of colleges and universities are within their capabilities. However, without appropriate supports for the social communication and executive functioning demands of post-secondary education, students diagnosed on the autism spectrum are likely to travel a bumpy road to graduation. This presentation will delineate the difficulties faced by a growing segment of the undergraduate population. Further, a model developed at the University of Rhode Island that provides needed supports through involvement of the Department of Communicative Disorders as well as the URI Office of Disability Services for Students will be described. To learn more about this event, please click here.

Amy L. Weiss, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, BRS-CL is Professor and Graduate Program Coordinator in the Department of Communicative Disorders at the University of Rhode Island where she teaches courses in language disorders of infants and toddlers through school-age children, stuttering, phonological disorders, and cultural and linguistic diversity. Dr. Weiss is currently collaborating with Dr. Lynne Hewitt at Bowling Green State University to determine best speech-language pathology practices where college students on the autism spectrum are concerned.