MAY TOPIC: Radical Inclusion: A podcast. A book.  And a vision for our adult children.
Individuals with disabilities deserve to live productive, engaged lives. Are we willing to help them accomplish this?
When her son with autism finished high school, Andrea Moriarty leveraged his passion, talent, and personality to help him create an out-of-the-box vocation: a podcast. About 50 podcasts into it, she began to see a pattern. Each and every guest embodied three traits—risk, humility, and kindness—that she believes are building blocks for inclusion in our communities. When we integrate these in society, we all thrive.
 
Andrea and Reid will present together, entertaining you with the making of Reid’s first 50 podcasts and describing how to advocate for radical inclusion in the life of your son or daughter.

           

GUEST SPEAKERS: Andrea and Reid Moriarty

Andrea Moriarty is the author of "One-Track Mind" and "Radical Inclusion.”  She cofounded Banding Together and has served on the board of Able Arts Work and New Village Arts. She speaks nationally and leads workshops to share unending hope, affectionate humor, and innovative resources with parents and educators. Moriarty and her husband, Jim, are adoptive parents of grown twins. Allie is a board-certified music therapist and Reid has autism.
 
Reid Moriarty (reidmoriarty.com) is a “man with a mic” motivated to entertain to show that everyone has a unique gift. He just released his 5th solo album—Summer Sounds– which is streaming on all platforms. Reid is front man for the band Jungle Poppins and hosts his own podcast, Talk Time with Reid Moriarty, as well as other YouTube content. His voice breaks through social barriers to inspire. Off stage, Reid is a lap swimmer who loves all kinds of beans.

TO RSVP 

HOW TO JOIN THE VIRTUAL MEETING:

• Please RSVP by no later than May 17 by 4:00 pm on Eventbrite
• On meeting day, we will send those that have RSVP'd an email with a link to join the meeting on Zoom. (Email sent by 10:00 am for early RSVPs and another at 5:00 pm.)
• Join the meeting on Zoom at 6:30 pm. The guest speaker will start shortly.
• All interested family members welcome!

Dr. Pierce will discuss the latest trends in autism research that relates to new innovations in screening, early detection and brain imaging.

She will also highlight findings from SPARK, the largest genetics study of autism in the world, that includes over 40,000 individuals with autism.  Pierce was drawn to SPARK because its large size makes it possible to study autism’s diversity. “People with autism are so wildly different ,” she says. “The idea that the same treatment will work in the same way for all children with ASD is not realistic.”

Dr. Pierce would also like to hear from parents regarding the impact COVID has had on their child’s development and progress.

GUEST SPEAKER: Karen Pierce, PhD - Professor in the Department of Neurosciences and Co-Director of the UCSD Autism Center of Excellence

Dr. Pierce is a professor in the Department of Neurosciences and the Co-Director of the UCSD Autism Center of Excellence.  She has been studying autism spectrum disorder (ASD) for the past 25 years and is a leading expert on the clinical and neural profiles that make children on the spectrum unique.  Her research spans a range of topics from early screening and detection to eye tracking and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).  

Dr. Pierce's first exposure to autism was as an undergrad at Stonybrook University in New York in a research lab whose focus was aggressive adolescents with autism. Most of the kids had very little language, and reacted out of frustration. This experience inspired Pierce to pursue a degree in experimental psychology after college. “I was interested in helping kids improve their social communication so that they could feel happier and less frustrated,” she says.

As a graduate student at the University of California, San Diego, Pierce developed a program to teach typically developing students how to have a positive relationship with students with autism. Now, two decades later, Dr Pierce is still working on ways to positively impact those with an autism diagnosis.

Dr. Pierce has been invited as a keynote speaker on the topic of autism at both national and international conferences. She has published over 85 papers on autism, including in high-impact journals such as JAMA Pediatrics and Nature Human Behavior and has been highlighted in the public media including CNN, The Wall Street Journal, and Time Magazine. Her research is funded by the National Institute of Health and the Centers for Disease Control as well as private organizations such as the Simons Foundation.  She has been honored by several awards and recognitions including US Department of Health and Human Services IACC Top 20 Research Paper, Autism Speaks Top 10 Research Paper, and the San Diego Health Hero Award.

TO RSVP