May 26 – The Italian Istituto di Ortofonologia (IdO) is in the United States to present, today and tomorrow, its projects. The occasion is the international conference organized by Monmouth University in New Jersey, which focuses on disorders on the autism spectrum, and the different treatments from country to country. Federico Bianchi Castelbianco, Director of the IdO, Magda Di Renzo, Head of Therapies, and Lidia Racinaro, developmental psychotherapist, will be the speakers at the international conference on “Perception in autism through different cultures. Perspectives on speech pathology and on educational approaches,” promoted by the School of Education’s Speech-Language Pathology Program (Department of Education), the Institute of Global Understanding, the Office of Global Initiatives and the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning of Monmouth University (West Long Branch in New Jersey). The conference will be held in the Wilson Auditorium, where the IdO will present: the first emotional contagion test (TEC), a new scale to observe and detect the degree of empathy in children with autism; the therapeutic project Tartaruga, an approach to engage in a triad therapy the child with autism, the family and the school; and the IdO test on mental states, an evolution of the Meltzof test and its application in children with autism. “In the United States – comments Patrizia Bonaventura, professor of speech pathology and promoter of the event – mainly behavioral rehabilitation techniques are practiced. Is this the best option for people with autism, or would it be better to integrate the major therapies offered in Italy, which focus on a single type of work, attentive to the emotional aspects within the relationships built with peers and family members? This is why the best scholars from Italy and the US will explore best practices in the treatment of autism.”
