16 October 2018
By Bryan Smyth
bryan@TheCork.ie
The Shine Centre for Autism and Rainbow Club for Children with Autism hosted the Autism Aware Conference 2018 in Cork City Hall on 14th October. The event coincided with the launch of Shine’s new parent information portal www.autismaware.ie. The purpose of the conference and web portal is to inform and empower the parents, educators and carers of children and people with autism by equipping them with knowledge and practical information about autism. The delegates listened to presentations on co-morbidity, social skills development, understanding behaviour, sensory challenges and autism and there was a particular emphasis on parent wellness with two presentations on that topic.
Karen O’Mahony of The Rainbow Club
Hugh O’Donovan Psychologist, Elma Carroll Shine, Karen O’Mahony Rainbow Club and Eoin Motherway Shine pictured as The Shine Centre for Autism and Rainbow Club for Children with Autism hosted the Autism Aware Conference 2018 in Cork City Hall.
Photography by Gerard McCarthy
Theresa Keane, Jacqui Kelly and Susan Conway from Youghal
Photography by Gerard McCarthy
Photography by Gerard McCarthy
Vivienne Foley Speech & Language Therapist
Photography by Gerard McCarthy
Speaking at the conference, Shine Chairperson Eoin Motherway stated “following on from the success of our free award-winning Social Skills App series we have once again turned to a digital platform to reach as many parents as possible. Autismaware.ie is another free resource for parents that was made possible by the generous support of the Community Foundation of Ireland and is packed with information and strategies to help parents and others to better understand their child with autism and equip them with some practical skills to assist in their development”.