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Developing a Culture of Belonging for Neurodiverse Students

Mar 7, 12:50 pm
- 2:15 pm
2112 Margaret Brent

All classrooms, labs, and communities are neurodiverse: everyone's mind is different. Some differences–such as autism, ADHD, dyslexia, Tourette’s syndrome, and other conditions–can be disabling in some contexts. In this workshop, faculty will learn what they can do to accommodate the needs of students with disabilities while also making their classrooms and labs more inclusive for all students.


Presenters

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Kathy Dow-Burger

Kathy Dow-Burger is a Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences Clinical Professor and the Friedman Endowed Director of the Neurodiversity and Autism Transition Services which includes SIGNA’s college program for neurodivergent students and the EFFECT and modified-PEERS high school college-bound programs. She is a certified and licensed speech-language therapist with extensive experience in autism and other communication differences, advocacy for accessibility, use of accommodations, and Universal Design for Learning for neurodiverse people. Kathy is a co-organizer of the annual Neurodiversity at Work Research Conference which brings together leading scholars, neurodivergent leaders and practitioners, and leading neurodiversity employers to advance neurodiversity employment research.

Hearing and Speech Sciences
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Candace Nuzzo Michiels

Candace Nuzzo Michiels, MA, CCC-SLP, is a Speech-Language Therapist and Faculty Assistant in the University of Maryland’s Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences (HESP). She supports the Social Interaction Group Network for All (SIGNA) program within the Neurodiversity and Autism Transition Services. In this role, she trains and supervises undergraduate Peer Coaches and Peer Mentors on the implementation of the Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS®) for Young Adults curriculum for weekly communication skills groups and one-on-one mentoring sessions. Candace is certified by the American Speech-Language Hearing Association, and licensed to practice in D.C. and Maryland.

Hearing and Speech Sciences
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Shevaun Lewis

Shevaun Lewis is an Assistant Research Professor, Assistant Director of the Maryland Language Science Center, and Director of the University of Maryland Autism Research Consortium. She works to foster interdisciplinary research and community across multiple colleges. Her current research aims to create tools and practices to make labs and workplaces more inclusive of autistic students and employees. She completed her PhD in Linguistics at the University of Maryland in 2013, and has been PTK faculty since 2016.

Autism Research Consortium