Contact: Paige Watson

STARKVILLE, Miss.—Mississippi State is inaugurating a program for professionals that focuses on improving the lives of state residents with autism spectrum disorders, intellectual disabilities, and developmental and specific learning disabilities.

To be held on Dec. 8 and 9 at the Pearl River Resort in Choctaw, the “Gaining Perspectives through Strategies” conference is organized by the university’s T.K. Martin Center for Technology and Disability, in cooperation with TEAAM Autism, a Taylorsville-based non-profit organization.

The event gets underway at 9:30 a.m. [the 8th] with a keynote address by Mark H. Yeager, TEAAM Autism executive director and CEO.

A University of Southern Mississippi doctoral graduate in autism spectrum disorders, Yeager often has been referred to as the “father of the Mississippi autism movement.”

Advance registration may be completed at www.teaam.org/GPSConference.html.

A first-of-its-kind in Mississippi, the event specifically is designed to benefit teachers and other education professionals, social workers, speech pathologists, occupational and physical therapists, psychologists, rehabilitation counselors, and medical professionals, as well as parents and family members.

The attendance fee is $225 per person. Professional continuing education units and Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification credits are available to all who qualify.

A complete conference schedule and CEU/CRC credit application details also are found at the above-listed website.

For more on Smith County-based TEAAM Autism, visit www.teaam.org.

Information on MSU’s T.K. Martin Center is found at www.tkmartin.msstate.edu.

MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.