NEW YORK, Aug. 5, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Organizations from all over the world and all sorts of disciplines came together in support of the ICare4Autism 2014 International Autism Conference in New York City this past June 30th thru July 2, 2014. The conference turnout included over 500 people coming from a variety of disciplines and all walks of life. Attendees included top medical professionals, self-advocates, educators, and families who all found something new to take away from the conference.
Some of our sponsors included Trax Family which makes GPS trackers that help parents locate their child through a mobile app or computer, Dipper Education coming from China to share their programs that help children improve their communication skills, and MEDomics, a private molecular diagnostics company that provides Mutation Expert-based Diagnosis of a patientís genome--also known as gene sequencing--to really understand autism at a molecular level so that physicians may be able to better diagnose patients.
Another important sponsor and presenter was Michele McKeone, Founder and CEO of Autism Expressed, which was a great resource for autism professionals. As a special education teacher, Ms. McKeone created a program to help students on the autism spectrum develop digital skills that they werenít able to learn in a in a public high school classroom. The program provides individualized agendas according to the needs of the student and is meant to level the playing field and give students a competitive edge especially for their post-secondary endeavors.
Shema Kolainu - Hear Our Voices, School and Center for Children with Autism was another major sponsor of the conference as the model school and a sister organization of ICare4Autism. Other education centers for special needs children were represented as well--Emerge & See and Rebecca School.
Monarch Center for Autism, Theracare, and Roche Pharmaceuticals, who also provide services for people in regards to health care, as well as residential and educational programs also had a wide array of information and resources available as well.
It was great to see other organizations such as Therapy Nook which offers expert recommended educational toys and equipment that parents, teachers, and autism professionals across a variety of disciplines are able to use. Other toys, apps, and devices represented included Operant Systems, which creates software that helps in servicing, teaching, and managing different treatments for special needs children and adults and Different Roads who created tools that have proven effective in educating and empowering students on the spectrum.
The Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN), headed by Ari Ne'eman as well as resources and representatives from the Jewish Press had important information to share about how to be a better self advocate and best practices for those on the autism spectrum to live up to their full potentials.
It was a great opportunity for a great mix of autism professionals as well as families to share ideas and learn something new. We could not have made it without the wonderful support from all of our sponsors and exhibitors who really worked hard to share their resources with the autism community.
A photo accompanying this release is available at:
http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=26843
