5 Most Attended Webinars of 2019

For the past 50 years, ARI has dedicated its efforts to pioneering groundbreaking research and sharing free educational resources with people around the world. One of our main channels for distributing this information is through our online webinars. This year, we’re proud to feature many great scientists and health care, professionals on many different topics. All of our webinars this year were equally imporatnt to us and can be replayed at any time. That being said, we are pleased to share with you a list of five of our most attended webinars of 2019.

#5 Sensory Processing and ASD

Virginia Spielmann, MSOT, is the Executive Director of the STAR Institute for Sensory Processing. She is also a well-traveled speaker, coach, and educator on topics including sensory integration, DIR/Floortime, child development and infant mental health. In this hour-long webinar, she covers the fundamentals of how all humans process their surroundings using their sensory processing systems. She then examines the neurobiological reasoning behind disordered sensory processing, as seen in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Finally, she shares her expertise on intervention methods that can be used to help individuals with autism improve their ability to process their surroundings and ways that neurotypical individuals can make small changes to help support them.

#4 Learning Behavioral Strategies: Child and Parent Outcomes

In this presentation, we hear from three diverse perspectives on the subject of parent-focused and child-focused interventions for autism. Suzannah Joy Iadarola, Ph.D., is a pediatric psychologist that supports community and research programs for individuals with autism and their families. Caitlin LeGros, MSN, CNM and Lisa Latten, MSEd. are both clinicians as well as parents of children affected by autism. These three speakers give us in-depth insights into autism treatment from both personal and professional points of view. They mention the positive outcomes that interventions can have on child development and family dynamics. They also take time to acknowledge the strain that treatment can put on a caregiver, and give examples of self-care mechanisms that can be used to counteract stress.

#3 Mood and ASD: Nutritional Strategies for Anxiety and Depression

Vicki Kobliner is a Registered Dietitian and owner of Holcare Nutrition. She practices a functional nutrition approach that helps the body heal itself, and has extensive experience using various diet modalities to help children with autism and related disorders. Vicki works with infants, children, and adults with chronic illnesses, digestive disorders, food allergies, ADHD, and autism, and provides fertility and prenatal nutrition counseling. In this Q&A session, Vicki answers live questions from the audience regarding nutritional cause and effect on mood in individuals with autism, and strategies for improvement. If you enjoy this talk, be sure to take a look at Vicki’s later webinar where she answers questions about nutrition tailored to the holiday season and family gatherings.

#2 Research on Microbiota transfer therapy in Autism

Many studies have reported abnormal gut microbiota in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), suggesting a link between the gut microbiome and autism-like behaviors. In this webinar, Dr. Rosa Krajmalnik-Brown gives an overview of the general research conducted in her lab regarding the connection between the microbiome and autism spectrum disorder. Then, she takes us through a deep dive of the latest research on Microbiota Transfer Therapy (MTT) as a treatment for autism. Dr. Krajmalnik-Brown specializes in molecular microbial ecology for bioremediation, the use of microbial systems for bioenergy production, and the human intestinal microbial ecology and its relationship to obesity, bariatric surgery, and autism. She pioneers research on gut microbiome and autism and is the author of three patents and more than nintey peer-reviewed publications.

#1 PANS/PANDAS in Autism

Susan Swedo, M.D. is formerly the Chief of Pediatrics & Developmental Neuroscience Branch at the NIMH. Dr. Swedo and her NIMH team were the first to identify a new subtype of pediatric OCD, known as PANDAS, in which symptoms are triggered by cross-reactive antibodies produced in response to infections with Group A beta-hemolytic streptococci. PANDAS stands for Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal infections. In this talk, Dr. Swedo gives us an overview of PANDAS and similarities and differences to the similar, yet distinct disorder, PANS (Pediatric Acute-onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome). She also explains who is typically affected by these disorders, how a diagnosis is made and the major known treatments.