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Dr Judith Gould, is the Lead Consultant at the NAS Lorna Wing Centre for Autism and retired as Director of the Centre in 2015. She is a Chartered Consultant Clinical Psychologist, with over 40 years’ experience, specialising in autism spectrum disorders and learning disabilities. Before being the Director of The Lorna Wing Centre she worked as a member of the scientific staff of the Medical Research Council Social Psychiatry Unit and was a Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, University of London. She has also worked as a Clinical Psychologist within both health and social services. She has published widely in the field of autism spectrum disorders. Her current interest is the diagnosis of women and girls in the spectrum. Lorna Wing and Judith Gould’s early work in the 1970s on the epidemiology of autism and related conditions, led to the concept of a spectrum of autistic conditions. Judith Gould together with Lorna Wing set up The Centre for Social and Communication Disorders, (now the Lorna Wing Centre for Autism) which was the first service in the UK to provide a complete diagnostic, assessment and advice service for children, adolescents and adults with social and communication disorders. Lorna Wing and Judith Gould developed an interview schedule called the Diagnostic Interview for Social and Communication Disorders (DISCO) to be used as part of the diagnostic process. This schedule enables the professional to use a dimensional approach when making a diagnosis which is more helpful than diagnostic sub-grouping when planning treatment, education and care. The DISCO is widely used throughout the UK and overseas and training in its use is carried out both at the Centre and internationally. Dr Jacqui Ashton Smith is Executive Director of Education at The National Autistic Society. She is responsible for the development of the NAS Education strategy, 6 Independent and 2 free schools across the UK. Jacqui is a qualified teacher with postgraduate qualifications in education, special needs and autism. She has a MBA (Masters of Business Administration) in Educational Management. Her research focused on quality issues in schools and services for people on the autism spectrum. Jacqui is also a Doctor of Education. Her research identified the characteristics needed in leadership of residential schools for autistic pupils. She presented a paper on this at the International Special Education Conference in Belfast 2010. Jacqui is a Principal trainer for The National Autistic Society. She delivers training nationally and internationally on autism and education-related issues. She has presented papers on autism, education, transition, person-centred planning, autism-specific quality assurance and Girls on the autism spectrum at three World Congresses: Australia, South Africa and Mexico and Autism Europe. She has also presented papers at International Conferences and spoken at events in Israel, Portugal, Spain, Greece, Scotland, Norway, Catania, Dubai and throughout the UK. She also led a team of consultants advising on autism and education in Jordan. Jacqui co-led the first postgraduate course in Asperger syndrome in the world. The course is a project by The National Autistic Society and University of Sheffield. Jacqui was an Associate Tutor at Christchurch University, Canterbury and continues to deliver training packages for mainstream teachers. Jacqui is a member of the Accreditation Standards Body, an autism- specific quality assurance programme run by The National Autistic Society. She is also a member of the AET Expert Reference Group. Dr Judith Gould and Jacqui co-wrote a paper in 2011 entitled; Missed or mis-diagnosis; women and girls on the autism spectrum Ros Blackburn is an adult with autism. At three months old she was withdrawn, isolated and in a world of her own. At eighteen months she was diagnosed severely autistic but with average intellectual ability. Now in her 40’s, Ros lectures nationally and internationally giving insight into her own experiences and the care and education practices she has observed. In spite of severe limitations imposed by her condition, Ros displays great courage and a strong sense of humour in facing her fears and tackling life’s challenges. In this talk Ros will draw on her experience of living with severe autism and her considerable experience both as a recipient of services and increasingly as an observer of education and care approaches. Ros brings a perspective that is unique and yet speaks to all her audience: people with an autism spectrum disorder, carers, families, educators and the planners and providers of these services. Ros tells it ‘as it is’. She does not disguise the fear and limitations which are part of her daily experience. Yet she is also able to convey her wonderful capacity for fun and zest for life and her refusal to accept ‘second best’ for herself or for others. She describes the approach taken by her parents to give her what she now describes as the ‘veneer of social competence’ that enables her to engage in a still largely autism -unfriendly world. She explores with humour and passion the ‘mistakes’ from which she has had to learn and some of her coping strategies. From these she is able to offer helpful advice on practical strategies (and even more helpful advice on what not to do!). Her talk also illustrates the problems of having an uneven profile of strengths and weaknesses, where often the strengths mask her very real difficulties and needs. She does not advocate any one approach except that we should remember that people with ASD are people too and that ‘common sense’ should apply. Her position can best be summarised as an insistence on the need for high expectations for people with ASD linked with equally high levels of support. In a quote from her mother, Ros pleads that one should ‘never make autism the excuse, but help the person overcome the problems caused by it’. .

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