Nan Lester, M.S., and Future Horizons announce co-presentation of the first Eugene conference featuring clinical pioneer in the field of Asperger Syndrome: Dr. Tony Attwood. Registration for the conference, to be held on October 14^th at Lane Community College, is now available online at Aspergercounseling.com, the website of Nan Lester, local counselor and educator in private practice specializing in Adolescents and Adults with Asperger Syndrome.

“Dr. Attwood is unmatched in his ability to capture the essence of potential in the individual with Asperger Syndrome.,” says Lester. “The topic and breadth of content is designed to appeal to a broad population, all working toward the same objective: a full, rich meaningful life with the education, career and relationships deserving of the individual.”

The target audience of Dr. Attwood’s first conference in Eugene is:

• Individuals, parents, spouses and other family members affected by Asperger Syndrome
• Medical and mental health professionals with a special consideration for practitioners within the psychiatric, psychological, behavioral health, pediatric and other clinical domains that are striving for diagnostic expertise
• Educators and other professionals within the field of education
• Social workers
• Social service agencies such as Vocational Rehabilitation
• First responders such as police officers, paramedics and other emergency personnel

Background

Dr. Attwood first became interested in the work of Hans Asperger as a student at the University of London under the direction of Uta Frith, and as a clinical partner with Lorna Wing. These scholars were the first to recover Austrian Hans Asperger’s work, which, in addition to becoming obscured by the intense conflict of World War II, was also a much smaller sample than that of Leo Kanner’s observational work of classical autistic children, concurrently being conducted in the United States. The marked developmental and diagnostic distinction between autism and Asperger’s Syndrome is the lack of a clinically significant language delay. If anything, an early grasp of language, albeit professorial "encyclopedic" or pedantic in nature is a hallmark feature of Asperger Syndrome. Meanwhile, the development of typical interaction of peer relationships in the early years is highly problematic, as the child seems to lean toward the company of adults, and others that will turn their full attention toward their special topics of interest. Therefore, it is often a teacher, who observes the child's behavior among typically developing peers, who is the first to validate parental concerns.

Hallmark features of Asperger Syndrome are broken down into the following three areas on Nan Lester’s website within the document Understanding Asperger Syndrome (Lester, 2003)

• Executive Function (thought process) challenges.
• Social Communication differences
• Sensory Integration Dysfunction (see “Understanding Asperger's Syndrome”  http://www.aspergercounseling.com/executive.html)

It is estimated that 22% of individuals with AS fall into the superior range in IQ assessment (Myles, 2002.)

“The humor, the talent, the unique individuals that I see are amazing. I believe in teaching self-efficacy and building function with the goal of independence. I will not allow AS to be seen as a disability, but rather as a cognitive variance that when channeled and fostered with understanding and encouragement can flourish to full potential.” Nan Lester.

For more information and to register, please visit our website at Aspergercounseling.com or call Asperger Counseling Northwest at (541) 345-8588

Asperger Counseling Northwest is located at 943 Washington Street, Eugene, Oregon. Services include individual and group counseling, functional skills, facilitation of online community college and university courses, advocacy and mediation services.

Home   Understanding Asperger Syndrome: Overview

About Nan Lester    Directions to office     Links

Email

Nan Grayhawke M.S., M.Ed., M.P.P, P.C.