Hello everybody,
More than two months have passed since I arrived in Chapel-Hill... How time flies! The spring finally arrived. Check the following pictures to see Chapel-Hill during this season.
As the city is so nice, I made a painting of the Bell Tower:
Meanwhile, I'm auditing classes, and I’m also doing an internship in the TEACCH Autism Program. This is an exceptional regional center that offers a set of services meeting the clinical, training, and research needs of individuals with Autism, their families, and professionals. Specifically, I participated in the following activities:
1) Parents of Adults Group: a support and informational group for parents whose child is 18 years or over.
2) TEACCH Early Intervention Services - In-Home TEACCHing Sessions: parents receive services in home.
3) TEACCH Social Group: targets preschool age children with emergent communication and social interest in peers. This group meets weekly for a 2-hour session for a 9 week block of sessions, during which children participate in a range of well-structured, meaningful, and motivating group, dyad, and individual activities.
4) Supported Employment: helps individuals with ASD to become as independent as possible by assisting them in obtaining and maintaining meaningful and stable employment in predictable and rewarding work environments.
5) Also, I have observed several day of diagnostic, and these are unique opportunities to meet TEACCH staff and to learn more about the diagnostic process in autism.
Furthermore, I have been the opportunity to have meetings with professors to talk about my PhD project. Specially, I need to thank prof. Linda Watson and Dr. Gary Martin (http://comm.soc.northwestern.edu/familystudy/).
Finally, the Research Writing Course and the Writing group are being very helpful to improve my writing and language skills.
Soon, I’ll attend two conferences: 1) the 34th Annual TEACCH Autism Program Conference:
1) ASD Interventions Across the Lifespan May 15-17, 2013, in Chapel-Hill (http://teacch.com/teacch-autism-program-at-unc-chapel-hill-lend-carolina-institute-for-developmental-disabilities-and-greensboro-ahec-present); and 2) the 25th APS Annual Convention, May 23-26, 2013 in Washington (with a poster presentation).
1) ASD Interventions Across the Lifespan May 15-17, 2013, in Chapel-Hill (http://teacch.com/teacch-autism-program-at-unc-chapel-hill-lend-carolina-institute-for-developmental-disabilities-and-greensboro-ahec-present); and 2) the 25th APS Annual Convention, May 23-26, 2013 in Washington (with a poster presentation).
In sum, being at the UNC-CH has been an amazing experience.
Best,
Marisa
