The Treating Autism team consists of a devoted but motley crew of parents, which is an excellent thing! It means we organize conferences which are a great experience for everyone, and that means you too. We ensure that everyone will leave with new and valuable information. Our speakers range from cutting edge researchers to parents who are biomed veterans with years of experience to share. We provide introductory information for new people and more in-depth treatment options and research for veterans and practitioners.

We also place just as much emphasis on making sure that you feel welcome. Without support, few parents could sustain the effort it takes to help their children - we know this from experience. Over the two days and two evenings, you will have a chance to network with other parents, meet service providers and autism-friendly businesses, and learn things that will inform your decision-making for a long time. You will run into old friends and leave with new ones made.

Day one of our conference will be devoted to non-biomed learning. We are offering our delegates a choice of three workshops that focus on therapies you can use yourself: Intensive Interaction (II), Relationship Development Intervention (RDI), and Verbal Behaviour (ABA/VB). Each of these workshops will provide you with enough information to go home and use appropriate and effective techniques to help your child in myriad ways. Our speakers are all highly motivated and experienced experts in their areas and will be able to provide you with useful and usable information. Please see the information at the bottom of the page to read more about the presentations, to help you choose the therapeutic approach that best suits your child and your family.

We are pleased to announce that the conference will take place in Uxbridge at Brunel University conference venue, which is both affordable for accommodations and easily accessed.

Whether your child is newly diagnosed or already an adult, our conference will offer you many things of value. Please do mark your calendar and start making arrangements to spend the weekend with us. Do it for your child and for yourself. Below we offer you some of the feedback we have received from delegates at our recent conferences. If you're still not sure what a Treating Autism conference could offer you, please take a moment to catch their enthusiasm.

On behalf of the Treating Autism team,
Anita, Chair Treating Autism

I have had an amazing experience this weekend. Thank you to everyone at Treating Autism for making me so welcome. I am taking away from this so much to help me and my daughter, can't wait for the next one! Please keep doing an annual event. The TA team do a fantastic job: we are very grateful. . . Thank you!

Very good and realistic topics, also encouraging and giving hope to parents. Thank you.

Thank you so much for all your hard work, unbelievable what you've achieved!

Not only is this interesting and informative, it has refreshed my enthusiasm to push on and leave no stone unturned.

Just a huge thank you!

Great to know we're not alone.

Fascinating, motivating, informative, inspiring.

Excellent, would definitely recommend it.

Thank you for an extremely useful and informative conference.

I thought that the Coventry conference was really good, but this one was even better. Thank you to all parents who are brave and honest enough to provide us with informed, honest, valuable, constructive ideas and suggestions.

Thank you very much! this conference has provided us with info, help and support we need to give our son the best care.

Definitely becoming a member to attend many more. Very informative and value for money. I have learnt so much today about autism and the effects contributing to this disability that no professional I've seen before was able to tell me.

It's my first time to a conference. I have found it so helpful, and understanding autism a lot more!

DAY 1 - SATURDAY

DAY 1 - SATURDAY

Delegates to our September 2012 conference will be able to chose attending one of the following three hands-on behavioural therapy workshops taking place on Saturday 8 September:

1. Applied Behaviour Analysis/Verbal Behaviour (ABA/VB)
The VB approach to ABA, places a heavy emphasis on teaching the individual with autism to request their needs and wants within their natural environment in order to teach functional communication to replace inappropriate behaviours. For those individuals who are currently unable to communicate using speech, ABA/VB initially recommends using sign language. A comprehensive procedure for teaching sign language for the individual to request their needs and wants is taught. However, speech should always be the ultimate aim. Some individuals with autism are not able to demonstrate any sound when asked to. Teaching these individuals to make a speech sound on demand can be incredibly challenging, however with techniques taken from the research literature, such as direct reinforcement, stimulus-stimulus pairing, and rapid motor imitation, it is possible to teach the individual to vocalise a sound on demand. These techniques will be discussed and presented to enable participants to use these procedures.
To find out more about VB and the workship leader Risca Solomon visit www.autismtherapy.co.uk. More details on this workshop available in pdf document available to download at the bottom of this page.

2. Relationship Development Intervention (RDI)
Elisa Ferriggi, Think Autism, and Sharon Bradbrook-Armit, Thinking in Shades of Grey, will be presenting a variety of interactive group participatory sessions within their four and a half hour workshop that will provide you with strategies that you can use and implement from the moment you get home. You will learn through a variety of learning strategies from discussion, demonstrations, hands-on activities, videos and handouts.
To find out more about RDI® please visit www.rdiconnect.com. More details on this workshop available in pdf document available to download at the bottom of this page.

3. Intensive Interaction (II)
Tandy Harrison will be presenting a workshop on Intensive Interaction, an approach which supports children with autism to develop interactive play and social communication skills. She will show you how to follow your child's lead and use their interests to develop shared attention and that sense of connection that is vital for meaningful interaction and learning. Intensive Interaction is done "one to one" and can be done anywhere. No special equipment is needed as you, the parent or interactive partner, are the best resource. It is an approach that can enable parents to develop a stronger relationship with their child and find ways to have more fun together. The workshop will show you how to do Intensive Interaction and will explore its use with children who are pre-verbal or who have little speech, as well as with verbal children who need support to develop social communication, conversation and play skills. The workshop will be tailored to using the approach in a home environment and will address issues that are of particular relevance to families..
To find out more about Intensive Interaction visit www.intensiveinteraction.co.uk. More details on this workshop available in pdf document available to download at the bottom of this page.

Straight after the workshops, there will be a Bonus Presentation: Introduction to Biomedical Treatments by Lucinda Miller. A parent speaker will also be presenting. This will be a chance for anyone new to these options to learn some basics about how to improve the health of children with autism and in doing so, improve their quality of life and their ability to learn.

DAY 2 - SUNDA
Y

DAY 2 - SUNDAY

Confirmed speakers:

Dr Luc Montagnier - Role of Bacterial Infections in Autism: Consequences, Detection and Treatment Dr Montagnier is the President of the World Foundation Aids Research and Prevention, associated with U.N.E.S.C.O, Professor Emeritus at the Pasteur Institute, and Director of Research, Emeritus, C.N.R.S. In 2008 he was a shared recepient of The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Dr Montagnier is part of Chronimed group of researchers and clinicians that focuses on studying chronic diseases, both from biological and clinical perspective: "Our working hypothesis is that immune dysfunction associated with  inflammation of the intestinal mucosa, leads to the introduction of  bacterial components, including neurotoxins, into the bloodstream, creating oxidative stress as well as microvascularities, especially  affecting meningeal vessels, and finally neuronal damage. ... much research is still needed to strengthen this  hypothesis, but our goal here is have the medical community and the  parents aware of these opportunities for immediate treatment ..." (quote taken from article 'Autism: the Microbial Track'). View French television news report: 'Treating Autism with Antibiotics', featuring the work of Dr Montagnier. In another inteview Dr Montagnier discusses at length the importance of detecting infections which may be at the root of chronic illness, including Autism: part 1, part 2.

Prof Jeremy Nicholson, Imperial College London: System Medicine of Autism; Exploring Gut Microbial and Metabolic Perspectives Professor Nicholson BSc, PhD, C.Biol. F.I.Biol. FRSA, FRC.Path. C.Chem. FRSC., is head of The Department of Surgery and Cancer at Imperial College where he founded the world's largest research groups in metabolic science. He obtained his doctorate from the University of London and subsequently became a post-doctoral fellow and Professor of Biological Chemistry at Birkbeck College, London. He was awarded the Royal Society of Chemistry Gold and Silver Medals for Analytical Science, and has published extensively in his field. His research involves understanding the role of microbes in regulating human metabolic pathways and how the microbes are involved in drug metabolism toxicity as well as variations in therapeutic responses. Prof Nicholson will be presenting on changes in microbiome and how it could be related to autistic symptoms, as well as the potential for early detection of autism based on urinary metabolic profiling. See interview with Prof Nicholson discussing autism as a systemic, multi-organ disease: Autism - Why has this disorder been so hard to crack.

Dr Lorene Amet DEA DipBiotechnol, D Phil, MEd (Autism) Dr Lorene Amet is trained as a neuroscientist (brain development, brain ischemia and epilepsy) and has worked in Edinburgh, Oxford and Princeton Universities before working as the Principal Scientist at the Autism Treatment Trust in Edinburgh. Lorene will be bringing updates on several exciting research and
clinical projects. Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are defined solely from behavioural features, yet ASD encompass different syndromes and involve different causalities. This presentation aims to address the insufficiencies of the current diagnosis criteria, overlooking the health issues and underdiagnosing certain groups, for example in girls and in children with late onset regressive ASD. The talk will cover the use of several tools, including Folic Acid Receptor antibodies, immune dysfunction and oxidative stress markers as means to collect information for each individual, which is then used in combination with a behavioural assessment to draw a comprehensive intervention plan.

Dr Daniel Goyal - Autonomic Nervous System in Autism Dr Daniel Goyal will be speaking on much neglected abnormalities of Autonomic Nervous System in Autism, ways to diagnose them and possible corrective treatments. Dr Goyal qualified from Aberdeen Medical School in 2001 and after three years in Occupational and Environmental Medicine, he chose to focus specifically on Environmental Medicine. He is a Clinical Researcher in the Neurosciences Department at the University of Manchester specialising in the neuro-immunological approach of ASD. Dr Goyal sees patients at Sincere Health Clinics and Breakspear Medical Group. 

Dr Jeff Bradstreet - Stem Cell Treatment and Update on GcMAF for Autism Jeff Bradstreet MD, MD(H), FAAFP is an internationally recognised lecturer and researcher in autism. He is a  fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians and a member of the American College of Toxicology. He has been involved in autism related outcome studies and environmental research with the University of Washington and other academic centers and serves as a adjunct Professor of Pediatrics at Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine in Tempe, Arizona. Dr Bradsteet will be presenting on the Stem Cell Therapy as a potential treatment for autism. He will also be reviewing his data in Nagalase, GcMAF and Vitamin D.

Prof Kenny De Meirleir - GcMAF in health and disease Kenny De Meirleir, M.D., PhD, Professor of physiology, pathophysiology and medicine at Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium will present on GcMAF (also known as vitamin D-binding protein-derived macrophage activating factor DBP-MAF) research and its potential therapeutic application in various diseases, including its potential to address some of the core medical issues in autism. (more details coming soon - in the meantime see Dr Bradstreet's observation on clinical use of low-dose GcMAF in autism, as well as GcMAF experiences shared by many parents posted on his blog here, here and here).

Ursula Kraus-Harper - CEASE Therapy: Homeopathy and Isopathy in the Treatment of Autism Ursula Kraus-Harper MA PhD RSHom has been a registered homeopath since 2003 and a qualified CEASE therapist since April 2010. She sees a growing number of autism-spectrum children and young adults from the UK and abroad in her practice in Filgrave near Milton Keynes. Improvements that parents have attributed to the homeopathic treatment include improved speech, better comprehension, less hyperactivity, less anxiety, better eye contact, improved digestion, improved toilet habits, improved sleep, improved skin problems, improved general immunity.

Lucinda Miller MGNI MRNI MH Lucinda is a Biomed Specialist, Family Naturopath, Iridologist & Master Herbalist. Her practice encompasses many areas, but with a particular focus on children with developmental and autistic-spectrum conditions. She started training as a Naturopath in 1997 and gained a diploma in Naturopathic Iridology and Western Herbal Medicine from The Holistic Health College.  In 2008 she gained a further diploma from Functional Medicine University and is a fully qualified NLP coach and mentor for kids with ADHD and Autism. She has been specialising in children's health (including learning, behavioural and developmental challenges) for eleven years. Lucinda operates NatureDoc Clinics in Central London, Wiltshire and Hampshire. She has three wonderful young children.

Evening Events

FRIDAY 7 September: Meet and Greet from 7pm-11pm in the Newton Room, Hamilton Centre, Brunel campus. Informal get together event. Tickets only £1.50 and money raised goes toward Treating Autism projects. Cold buffet finger food will be provided, buy your own drinks at the bar.