Santa Clara University

Six hundred people came together at Santa Clara University last weekend for a conference on current best practices for working with children and adults with Asperger's Syndrom and Autism Spectrum Disorders.  The event focused on recent research outlining social skills practices to facility communication and highlighted new technologies that are making communication easier for individuals with special needs.

Ethics Center Character Education Director Steve Johnson gave a presentation on "How Religious Institutions Might Better Serve People with Autism."  Other speakers included Carol Gray, director fo the Gray Center for Social Learning and Understanding, and Carl Feinstein, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford Univesity and director of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital.

The conference was co-sponsored by the Ethics Center and the Morgan Autism Center.