Stanford Autism Center to Hold Annual Autism Symposium April 19

Having a child with autism is challenging, but what happens when the child becomes an adult and ages out of a traditional support system? The Stanford Autism Center at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and Stanford Children’s Health will offer some answers to that question and much more on April 19 at the seventh annual Autism Spectrum Disorders Update, an event that gives members of the community a chance to learn about new autism research and therapies.

Autism experts from the center and across the country will lead the discussion, which will bring together doctors, parents, caretakers and educators for the daylong event. It’s one of many educational opportunities the team offers to parents and caregivers of children with autism.

“We do not want to be in a silo doing research out of touch with the people who care and know so much about autism. We want to engage with parents,’’ said center director Carl Feinstein, MD, who is also a professor emeritus of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Stanford School of Medicine. “There is huge concern about when these children become young adults. What happens to them when all the educational support goes away?”

This year’s theme, “Connections: From Brain Circuits to Social Engagement,” will give parents insight into the latest science, research and therapies for individuals living with autism and will focus on social connectedness.

Topics at the event include:

• How to foster social skills for young people with autism.
• How the brain circuitry for individuals with autism functions differently than typical adults.
• The effects of Oxytocin on children with autism.
• What an individual with autism needs to succeed at college.

The day will include breakout sessions that allow attendees to ask questions of the experts and researchers.

“This is a very important event for us,” Feinstein said. “What the parents tell us at our breakout sessions is what we talk about in our work.”

Dedicated to diagnosing, treating and advancing research into autism spectrum disorders, the Stanford Autism Center is involved with ongoing research and offers a multidisciplinary approach to care from experts in developmental pediatrics, psychology, psychiatry, neurology, genetics, molecular and cellular physiology, neurobiology and cognitive neuroscience.

The symposium will take place April 19 from 8:15 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Arillaga Alumni Center on the Stanford campus, located at 326 Galvez St. More information and symposium registration is available at: http://childpsychiatry.stanford.edu.

About Stanford Children’s Health and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford

Stanford Children’s Health, with Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford at its core, is an internationally recognized leader in world-class, nurturing care and extraordinary outcomes in every pediatric and obstetric specialty from the routine to rare, for every child and pregnant woman. Together with our Stanford Medicine physicians, nurses, and staff, we deliver this innovative care and research through partnerships, collaborations, outreach, specialty clinics and primary care practices at more than 100 locations in the U.S. western region. As a non-profit, we are committed to supporting our community – from caring for uninsured or underinsured kids, homeless teens and pregnant moms, to helping re-establish school nurse positions in local schools. Learn more about our full range of preeminent programs and network of care at stanfordchildrens.org, and on our Healthier, Happy Lives blog. Join us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford is the heart of Stanford Children’s Health, and is one of the nation’s top hospitals for the care of children and expectant mothers. We are the only children’s hospital in Northern California with specialty programs ranked in the U.S. News & World Report

Top 10 for 2013-14, and the only hospital in Northern California to receive the national 2013 Leapfrog Group Top Children’s Hospital award for quality and patient care safety. Discover more at stanfordchildrens.org.

(Registration available here.)