Stony Brook University will host the inaugural CASL Conference, Conversations on Autism and Sign Language: Unlocking the Emergence of Social Communication, at the Charles B. Wang Center on Monday, December 15, from 9 am to 6 pm, and on Tuesday, December 16, from 12 pm to 4 pm.
CASL is a unique event designed to encourage bold new ways of thinking about how the drive and capacity for communication emerges. By considering the nature of communication in communities of individuals with autism and those who use sign language, the conference aims to improve the quality of life and humanistic appreciation of individuals for whom social communication can sometimes be difficult. The insights that will emerge from this workshop are meant to aid in decreasing social challenges for these groups.
CASL will feature three groups of world-renowned researchers from around the country: a group of linguists who devote their careers to the study of sign languages; a group of researchers who study communicative abilities in autism; and a group of scholars who have begun to explore the connection between the two areas of research. In addition, the workshop will engage and include members of the community who themselves identify as having autism.
The conference co-organizers are Mark Aronoff, Distinguished Professor of Linguistics at Stony Brook University, and Matthew Lerner, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Psychiatry and Pediatrics at Stony Brook. For more information — including a list of prominent researchers from around the country who will be participating and a detailed agenda — please visit the website. To register, click here.
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