9th Annual Autism & Employment Conference
Presented by the Autism Society of Iowa and the Iowa Development Disability Council
Friday, September 11, 2020
Virtual Conference Held by Zoom
For a printable event flyer, click here!
Agenda
9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. – How to Prepare for an Interview
Presenters: Candice Fedeler, MA, Ed. and Ambrose Ball-Harney
10:15 a.m. – 11:15 a.m. – Accessing Employment Services
Presenters:
- Brian Dennis, MS, CRC – Iowa Employment Solutions and Ticket to Work
- Chris Phillips – Transition Alliance Program at Cedar Falls Schools
- Scott Atwood, Ph.D. and Bridget Quinn – Balance Autism
- Vocational Rehabilitation Representative
11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. – Scanning the workplace – 4 scans autistic people can do at work to recognize where they might face sensory, movement, communication, and executive function issues.
Presenters: Josh Cobbs and Anne Grego-Nagel
12:30 p.m. – Break
1:00 p.m. 2:00 p.m.– Turning Your Interest into Employment Ideas
Presenter: Ashlea Lantz, MA
2:15 – Panel of Employees with Autism– Facilitated by Sue Askeland
- Leo Bird – U.S. Post Office
- Mike Dierdorff – Talk to Me Technologies
- Tyler Leech – Wells Fargo
- Reyma McCoy McDeid, MA, – Central Iowa Center for Independent Living
- Joel Wesselink – Mercy Hospital, Iowa City
Continuing Education Units
Continuing Education Credits: The Autism Society of Iowa is an accredited sponsor for CEU’s for Social Work #300. This conference offers 5.5 credit hours. Certificates of Attendance will be provided for CEU’s.
Keynote Speakers
Ambrose Ball-Harney
Ambrose is the Lead RBT Classroom Support and Transition at Metro West Learning. He received a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology along with a minor in Religious Studies from the University of Iowa. He has a long history of working in the Human Services field and greatly enjoys working with students with autism and challenging behavior.
Josh Cobbs
Candice Federler, MA ED.
Candice is the Director of Programming and Metro West Learning and holds a degree in Early Childhood Special Education from the University of Northern Iowa and completed her course work in Applied Behavior Analysis from the Chicago School of Psychology. She worked for Des Moines Public Schools as a Behavior Interventionist for grades K-5. Candice has been trained in ABA, Verbal Behavior, Lindamood-Bell Visualizing Verbalizing and Seeing Stars, TEACCH, Picture Exchange Communication Systems, and other communication devices. She is well-versed in Positive Behavior Intervention Supports (PBIS) and has given several trainings to staff and families on how to implement with fidelity. Candice is a Certified Crisis Prevention Intervention (CPI) Trainer and A Registered Behavior Technician. Candice is a board member of the Autism Society of Iowa.
Anne Grego-Nagel
Ashlea Lantz
Ashlea Lantz is a Senior Consultant with Griffin-Hammis Associates. She provides training and technical assistance around Customized Employment, Supported Employment, Self-Employment, Benefits Planning, and Agency Capacity Building. Before joining Griffin-Hammis Associates, Ashlea was the Director of Employment of a community-based rehabilitation agency. She has extensive experience in working with families both personally and professionally. Ashlea is a certified benefits planner and has a Master’s degree in Rehabilitation Counseling from Drake University.
