1200 East Colton Ave.
Redlands, CA 92373
Email: Lisa Iland
RedlandsAutismConference@yahoo.com
Jan Blacher, PhD
Jan
Blacher received her A.B. in Psychology from Brown University in
Providence, Rhode Island, and her Ph.D. in Special
Education/Developmental Psychology from the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is currently Professor of Education and
Faculty Chair of the Graduate School of Education, at the
University of California, Riverside. She is known nationally for
her research on intellectual disability/mental retardation and other
developmental disabilities, and for her expertise in special
educational programming. Dr. Blacher is frequently asked to appear
as an Expert Witness in contested cases involving right-to-education
suits for children with autism, mental retardation or other learning
disorders. Over the years, Dr. Blacher has served as
consulting editor for the American Journal on Mental Retardation
and Mental Retardation and she is the North American Editor
and Associate Editor of the international Journal of Intellectual
Disability Research. She has written extensively on such topics
as: out-of-home placement of children and young adults with severe
disabilities; relationship between family functioning and mental
retardation; dual diagnosis in mental retardation; and the impact of
diagnosis, assessment, services, and coping in Latino children and
families.
Dr. Blacher is the Founding Director of
SEARCH, a
family autism resource
center newly established at UC
Riverside. Dr. Blacher’s research, which is longitudinal in nature,
focuses on families of children and young adults with developmental
disabilities, including autism. She has published on family coping
in Anglo and Latino families, and is currently studying the cultural
context of autism. The transition to school (kindergarten/1st
grade), as well as transitions to adolescence and young adulthood
are of particular interest.
She was recently appointed to the National Research Council of The
National Academy of Sciences, and the Johnson & Johnson/Rosalynn
Carter Institute Caregivers Program. As of February, 2002, she has
been writing a column for EP,
Exceptional Parent Magazine.
She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of
Science (AAAS).
Beth Haley, PhD
Beth Haley is an
assistant professor at the University of Redlands in the Business
Administration and Accounting Department in the College of Arts and
Sciences. She currently teaches organizational behavior, ethical
dilemmas in management, and business in film courses. Professor
Haley left the business world to pursue her interest in the human
side of industry through a doctorate in industrial/organizational
psychology from Rice University in 2001. Her last position in
industry was as a software support engineer at Intel Corporation.
Dr. Haley is a member of the Academy of Management, the
Organizational Behavior Teaching Society, the Society for Business
Ethics, and the Society for the Psychological Study of Social
Issues. Her current research examines cultural “stories” (defined
broadly) and the relationship with individual ethics.
But one might
ask, what are her credentials for speaking at a conference dedicated
to autism spectrum disorders? Their names are Jonathan and Joseph
Coleman, two of her grandsons. Jonathan was first diagnosed at two
years of age with PDD-NOS and later with autism. Joseph was
diagnosed before the age of two with autism. As an organizational
psychologist, Dr. Haley, began the very personal research of how to
best help her grandsons be better prepared once they enter the world
of work. She hopes to share what she has derived from the
literature for finding fit in the workplace for individuals on the
autism spectrum.
Emily Iland, M.A.
Emily is a member of the Transition Task Force of the California
Blue Ribbon Commission on Autism and has provided data from her
Master's thesis to inform the Commission’s legislative
recommendations. She is the Secretary of the Autism Society of
America, Los Angeles, and a founding member of SCAAN, Santa Clarita
Autism Asperger Network. Emily is a founding member of
C.L.E.A.R,
Community and Law
Enforcement Aware Response, a collaborative to reduce
criminal involvement of people with disabilities and help law
enforcement officials be informed in their response to people with
special needs.
Emily is currently working with the University of Minnesota’s
Institute on Community Integration and The Bubel Aiken Foundation to
develop curriculum for an Inclusive Service Learning program for
students in elementary, junior high, and high school. As the
California State Representative of the Yes I Can Program for
Social Inclusion, Emily trained staff and families in junior
high and high school to help teens with developmental disabilities
make friends and have fun.
Emily is an educational consultant and presents at conferences in
both English and Spanish all over the U.S. and in Mexico. She
received a Master’s Degree in Special Education with distinction at
California State University, Northridge in Summer, 2007. Emily
received the Nathan O. Friedman Outstanding Graduate Student of the
Year Award, an honor reserved for a single master’s candidate. Emily
received a B.A. degree, summa cum laude, from Marquette University
with majors in Political Science and Spanish and is a member of Phi
Beta Kappa. Emily is a 2003 graduate of the City of Santa
Clarita/College of the Canyons Community Leadership Program and
received the 2005 Community Service Award from the City.
Her website is
www.asdAtoZ.com
Lisa Iland
Lisa Iland is a student of
speech and language pathology and a presenter in the Autism
community. She is a contributing author of the award winning book
Asperger's and Girls, and a
regular contributor to the
Autism Asperger Digest Magazine as columnist of the Sib Talk
newsbite. Lisa specializes in teen social skills and Asperger's
Syndrome, and sibling issues.
In May 2008, Lisa will graduate from the University of
Redlands with
her B.A. in Communicative Disorders and Spanish. She will begin her
Masters degree in Speech and Language Pathology this fall.
The Autism Conference at the University of Redlands is part of
Lisa's senior honors thesis as a
Proudian Honor Scholar. Lisa felt
inspired to organize a free conference in the Inland Empire in order
to promote discussion, support, and collaboration about autism
spectrum disorders.
www.lisailand.com
Tom Iland
Tom Iland is an Accounting Major
who will graduate from California State University, Northridge in
2008. He is also an intern in the accounting department at Disney in
Glendale. Tom shares his perspectives as an
adult on the autism spectrum, including what has helped him the
most.
Bill Rocque, PhD
Bill is a sociologist
interested in issues of social control and the human body. He did
his dissertation research at the University of Colorado, Boulder
studying the social response to autism in a Colorado school
district.
Gina Rocque, M.A., CCC-SLP
Gina Rocque has worked as a
Speech-Language Pathologist and Educational Consultant in the public
schools and private practice setting over the past ten years. She
specializes in the assessment and treatment of autism spectrum
disorder (ASD). She has extensive experience working with families
and on interdisciplinary teams to coordinate and implement special
education services for students with ASD. In addition, she served
on the Colorado Department of Education’s Autism Task Force, which
developed recommended practices and materials for school districts
and community providers for developing and implementing appropriate
educational services for children with ASD and their families.
Cindy Wineinger, M.S. CCC-SLP
Cindy Wineinger joined
the University of Redlands Department of Communicative Disorders
faculty in 1990. After working clinically for 10 years with both
children and adults, she returned to her alma mater to teach and
supervise clinical practicum.
Ms. Wineinger’s main academic interests are clinical pedagogy and practice as it pertains to children with Autism. She currently is responsible for the clinical training of students interested in assessment and intervention of children with Autism. She has continued her own clinical development by joining the Interdisciplinary Council on Developmental and Learning Disorders and participating in the DIR (Developmental Individual Difference Relationship Based intervention) where she is a candidate in the Certification Program.
Research interests include qualitative research dealing with best practices in clinical approaches to language disorders secondary to Autism. She has developed a clinical teaching resource dealing with clinical approaches to Autism Spectrum Disorder and has presented regularly at local and national conferences. She has conducted a pilot study looking at the use of dance and movement therapy with children with ASD.
