9th national conference on facilitated communication (FC)
Lecturer descriptions
Mathias Gottstein (FC-user Germany)
Oleg Mathushevich (FC-user Germany)
Sue Rubin (Whittier, Kalifornien, USA)
Here is my personal info:
born 1978
College Student/ FC advocate
I am nonverbal autistic and FC is my voice
www.sue-rubin.org
Mathias Gottstein (FC-user Germany)
Born June 8th 1984, FC since 10 years, mainstream school,
Abitur, right now trying to find professional instruction.
Also see the community page.
Oleg Mathushevich (FC-user, Köln, Germany)
Born 1986: student at Bertha-von-Suttner-Realschule (mainstream school) in Cologne. He communicates with FC since September 2000. Since summer 2002 he is able to type indepently and he learns to use his speech for communication.
Also see the community page.
Angela Hallbauer (Nortorf, Germany)
Teacher for special education, communication teacher for AAC. Advice centre for AAC (Schleswig-Holstein, Germany). Speaker of the International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (ISAAC). Class teacher of a class with 5 nonverbal students at a special school for mental retarded children. She is working as a special teacher since 1995. Since that she always worked in classes with many students who are nonverbal or who have limited speech including students with autism. That`s why she has done a lot of further education on the topics AAC, autism, TEACCH, PECS and electronic communication aids. She works with her autistic students using electronic communication aids and signs in approaching literacy.
Born 1962: Caregiver for handicapped persons . She has worked with the rehabilitation of individuals with handicaps in a rehabilitationcentre for 10 years. The last 5 years she works as a facilitator and school assistant with a 14-years old autistic teenager for the Lebenshilfe institution in Cologne. Since 1999 she has experience with FC.
Maud Deckmar (Östersund, Sweden)
Born 1951: Lecturer, writer
I have worked comprehensively in Sweden with quality monitoring and quality development in the area of services for people with intellectual disabilities. I have also held lectures and courses for staff and parents, based on life experiences, as being a mother of a 29-year old son with intellectual disability and autism.
My homepage is: www.deckmar.se
Francesca Benassi (Rome,Italy)
has been working for many years in the rehabilitation of autism and
communication disorders, dealing and publishing on research,
rehabilitation and training issues in connection with autism,
developmental and cognitive disorders. She planned and implemented
software to support communication, movement and cognitive rehabilitation,
while working out projects for the social integration of people with disabilities.
She is President of the Neurorehabilitation Research Centre and
scientific coordinator of the Italian Centro Studi sulla Comunicazione Facilitata.
Andrea Alfaré (Rheinfelden near Basel, Switzerland)
Homepage IFC: www.ifc.ch
Hanne Pittroff (Würzburg, Germany)
Born 1947: Teacher for Grundschule and Hauptschule (mainstream schools), psychologist, special teacher for blind and deaf students. At the moment she works as a teacher for deafblind students and co-principal of Graf-zu-Bentheim-Schule, a rehabilitationcentre with the main focus on eyesight and further needs at an institution for blind people in Würzburg. Since the 70s she has experiences in alternative communication. Since 1981 she works with hearing impaired and partially sighted children and their alternative communication strategies (Braille, Lormen, tactil gestures).
Teacher. Since 1994 he is working with FC at a school for mental retarded children. Mr Tieck and Ms Griesshaber give courses on FC nationwide and are guest speakers on regional and national conferences. Lectures on FC at the academia of education Ludwigsburg.They advise institutions in conceptionalquestions (schools, sheltered working institutions , homes) and teach stuff anf paretns.
Mr Tieck and Ms Griesshaber are members of the FC-Netz Deutschland
Internet:www.fc-netz.de
Teacher, facilitator and school assistant. She supports an autistic boy at the Realschule/Gymasium (mainstream school) for more than seven years. Ms Griesshaber and Mr Tieck give courses on FC nationwide and are guest speakers on regional and national conferences. Lectures on FC at the academia of education Ludwigsburg. They advise institutions in conceptional questions (schools, sheltered working institutions , homes) and teach stuff and parents.
Ms Griesshaber and Mr Tieck are members of the FC-Netz Deutschland
Internet:www.fc-netz.de
Annette Kitzinger (Oeversee, Germany)
Born 1966: Master of Design (focus toys) / graphic artist.
At present working as a self-employed graphic artist.
Mother of an autistic daughter of 8 years who is using AAC for 5 years.
Foundation of an AAC-internet group.
Co-writer of the book “Now I tell you inv my words-first steps in AAC with children”. Writer/Producer of the METACOM symbol system for AAC.
Internet:
www.metakommuniziert.de , www.metacom-symbole.de
Leonardo Emberti Gialloreti, MD, PhD
Neuro-epidemiologist and researcher at the University of Rome “Tor Vergata” (Italy). Since 1990 he is carrying out - in the framework of the most recent approaches to disease in terms of impairment, ability and activity - research projects in the neurological field and in the rehabilitation of physical and psychiatric handicaps. He participated and coordinated several researches: Models to assess rehabilitation activities in patients with stroke; aetiology of Parkinson Disease; therapeutic effectiveness of electro- miographic biofeedback in disabilities; work reinstatement of post head injured people; association between night apnoea and stroke; role of neuro-psychological deficit in the functional recovering in people with autism; neuropsycological disorders in people with autism; functional outcome measurement in mentally impaired people; auditory sensoring processing in autism.
Rosemary Crossley (Melbourne, Australia)
Rosemary Crossley has been director of DEAL Communication Centre in Melbourne since it opened in 1986. She has worked with children and adults with severe communication impairments for more than thirty years.
While working at St. Nicholas Hospital - a state institution for children diagnosed as severely or profoundly intellectually impaired - in the late seventies, Rosemary taught a group of teenagers with cerebral palsy to communicate through spelling. Anne McDonald, her first student, went to the Supreme Court in 1979 to win her freedom from the hospital. Anne and Rosemary later co-authored a book, Annie's Coming Out , which was made into the film of the same name.
Since then Rosemary has written several more books, including Facilitated Communication Training . She consults and lectures in many countries, mainly on strategies for facilitating and augmenting communication.
Rosemary has been awarded an Order of Australia in recognition of her work with people who have severe communication impairments
Homepage http://www.vicnet.net.au/~dealccinc
18 year-old Senior at Westhill High School in Syracuse, New York. He is a fully included student in a Regents Academic track program. Jamie has used facilitated communication since age five, and has progressed from supported typing, to independent typing, and typing with two hands. He has recently become able to read his typing out loud as well as unfamiliar text. Within the last four years, Jamie has begun to have useful and reliable speech. He is a frequent presenter at Syracuse University School of Education, and is a presenter at conferences throughout the United States and has also presented in England. In the spring of 2001, Syracuse University produced a video written and narrated by Jamie, titled, “Inside the Edge, A Journey to Using Speech Through Typing”. This video won the TASH Image Award for 2002, which honors those who challenge stereotypical beliefs of those with disabilities. Jamie is a regular attendee of Syracuse Symphony, enjoys reading, movies, vintage films, swimming, bowling, and is a participant in the Young Actors Workshop of Syracuse Stage. This past November, his peers voted Jamie “Most Respected Student” in the Senior Class. Jamie strives to show that those who use an alternative method of communication can certainly be included and have academic success in regular education classrooms.
Ludo Vande Kerckhove (Trier, Germany)
Born 1961.Lic. MoReKi, he works self-employed in the field of communication and autism. FC training, coaching, supervision. Project manager of the FC centre Bonn. Since 1993 experiences and practical use of FC. Guest speaker on international conferences and congresses, he gives courses on FC in Europe and the USA.
Homepage: www.seminare-fc.de
Ursula Strauß (Oberhausen NRW, Germany)
Born 1955.Self-epmloyed pedagogue of specialneeds. She works as a therapeut in a centre for individuals with autism in Bottrop. She gives courses on autism, therapeutic methods, FC and constructivism nationwide.
Since 1991 she works with FC. During conferences and workshops in Syracuse, USA she made first experiences with FC and observed children with autism visiting mainstream schools with FC during a practice. Since that time she uses FC in her work.
Ursi Kristen (Dossenheim near Heidelberg, Germany)
Born 1948. Teacher for special education, further education in Client-Centred therapy, play therapy and Person-Centred adivice . She works at the advice centre for AAC at Martinschule, Ladenburg. She is speaker of the International Society of Augmentative and Alternative Communication and lecturer at the academia of eduaction in Linz/Austria. She gives courses in AAC and is a writer.
Martina Otto (Heidelberg, Germany)
Born 1979. She is studying special education with the main focus on education for mental retarded individuals and individuals with speech diseas at the academia of education Heidelberg. Since 2004 further education in early intervention . Since 2002 she works in the short time residence “ Wilde 13”. The last two years she works as an assistant person for homework and free time acticvities including the use of FC with a group of children and teenagers with autism.
Annika Schöfisch (Heidelberg, Germany)
Born 1981. She is studying special education at the academia of education Heidelberg. For the last 3 years she has beein working for the "Wilde 13", a short time residence . She is working as an assistant person for homework and free time activities including the use of FC with a group of children and teenagers with autism.
Douglas Biklen (Syracuse, USA)
Professor of Cultural Foundations of Education and Teaching and Leadership,
Faculty in the Concentration on Disability Studies,
Coordinator of the Inclusive Education Program,
Coordinator of the Doctoral Program in Special Education,
and Director of the Facilitated Communication Institute
in the School of Education at Syracuse University.
His work involves teaching and research on the sociology of disability,
inclusive education, and communication. He has published numerous books.
His current research on inclusion focuses on lessons drawn from autobiographical
accounts of people with disabilities. He is Co-Producer of the documentary entitled
“Autism Is A World” for CNN Presents (2004).
He has received numerous awards, including the Marc Gold Leadership Award of
The Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps.
Professor Biklen has written two books on facilitated communication.
His next book, Autism and the Myth of the Person Alone
will be published by NYU Press in July 2005.
Senior lecturer in developmental psychology at Nottingham Trent University (UK). He is an active researcher in the field of communication disabilities, and has been researching FCT for 10 years. He specialises in video analysis and has recently been using eye-tracking techniques.
Annegret Schubert , Syracuse, NY, USA
Born in 1955, Speech-Language Pathologist, Ph. D. (2001) in Special Education. Has worked with children and adults with autism since 1980, with emphasis on augmentative and alternative communication, including sign language, picture communication systems, electronic communication devices, as well as FC. Since 1989 central focus on FC as speech pathologist, trainer, and researcher. Led facilitated communication seminars in German speaking countries between 1990 and 1998. Her dissertation with the title „Shared Knowledge, Body Language, and Time: Our Experiences with Communication“ deals with perspectives on communication held by AAC/FC users. Currently, she is working as speech pathologist for the Syracuse City School District, where she has many jobs, including evaluation and training in facilitated communication. She is a member of the “Centerhill Network”, a group of FC Trainers in the USA.
Study of logopedics in Italy (university of Ferrara), further education in England (university of Leeds). Main focus on AAC. She is representative and guest speaker for MAKATON and guest speaker for Hanen in Germany and Greece. She is competent in courses for parents and working with parents. She is guest speaker and does publications on autism, AAC in the Kindergarten, early intervention at home and working with parents.
E-Mail:mantaka@okeanis.com
Heike Ulrich (Trubschach, Switzerland)
Born 1974. Teacher for special education at the Heilpädagogische Schule (special school for mental retared children) in Langenau. She is working with AAC since she has been studying. During a practice in Scotland she made her first experiences with MAKATON. Since 2000 she is representative for MAKATON.
Monika Wegenke (Heidelberg, Germany)
Born 1959: Educator/Pedagogue. Since 1990 she works with children,
teenagers and young adults with autism. Since 1995 work with FC.
Member of the FC-Netz Deutschland www.fc-netz.de .
Pedagogical leadership of th ea short time residence of the „Offenen Hilfen“
in Heidelberg. There she accompanies FC users and facilitators.
Claudio Castañeda (Köln, Germany)
Born 1977: student of social work science at the KFH Cologne. Since 2001 he works as a facilitator and school assistant for the Lebenshilfe institution. Since April 2001 he works with Oleg Matushevich (FC user). Since 2002 he supports Oleg as a school assistant at a mainstream school. Since 1998 he has experiences in the work with FC and AAC with several children, teenagers and young adults with autism.
Peter Schütterle (Köln, Germany)
Born 1974. Teacher for special education. Since 1997 he works with FC and AAC (e.g. as school assistant at a FC project at the Schule am Sandberg a special school for mental retared children in Cologne and at the the HORIZON project). Since 2000 organizer of the internet forum www.kometh.net with the focus on AAC. Since 2003 teacher at the Hugo Kükelhaus Schule, a special school for mental retared children in Leverkusen.
Internet: www.kuekelhausschule.de, www.kometh.net
Born 1975. Self-empoyed pedagogue for special needs. Since 1999 she has experience with FC . 2000 she worked at the HORIZON project for FC users. Since 2002 school assistant of a FC user with autism at a Hauptschule (mainstream school) who is meanwhile student of a Gymnasium (mainstream school) in Opladen. Since March 2004 school assistant of a FC user with autism at the Gesamtschule (mainstream school) in Bad Godesberg.
Annemarie Sellin (Berlin, Germany)
Psychologist. Since 1990 work with FC. Her son Birger Sellin is using FC since that time. He is autistic and nonverbal. Since 1991 Ms Sellin gives courses on FC nationwide. She does personal councelling for individuals who want to start using FC or already use it. She is working as a communication psycholigist in a project for assistance in communication and works in Berlin with teenagers and young adults with autism and teaches FC to the facilitators and staff of the project.
Irene Leber (Germany)
Born 1961. Special teacher at a school (with Kindergarten and advice centre for AAC) for children with physical an severe handicaps in Pforzheim. Since 1988 she is working with AAC. Various publications on AAC. She gives courses and is guest speaker on conferences and congresses. Speaker for the International Society of Augmentative and Alternative Communication.
Alberto Frugone (FC-User, Genoa, Italy)
Born 1978, is a person with autism. He lives in the Italian Riviera, near Genoa and is a student at the faculty of Psychology at the University of Genoa.
He has been admitted at the University, after having brilliantly obtained his degree at a local Lyceum. After that he passed the admission test at the University, classifying himself 6 th out of 600 students.He has generously contributed to the diffusion of FC in Italy accepting, back in 1994, to demonstrate at public conferences by answering questions from the audience.