Autism Spectrum Disorder Roundtable

The Children’s Museum of New Hampshire, in partnership with the Association of Science and Technology Centers, is hosting a two-day professional meeting for museum colleagues from around the country on March 10 and 11.

This Roundtable for Advancing the Profession (RAP) will provide a forum for museum professionals to network, learn together, and expand their knowledge base about the Children’s Museum of New Hampshire’s Autism Partnership Program, Exploring Our Way. This is the second professional program that the Museum has organized this year on this subject. The first was a week-long online educational forum with international participants, and the upcoming on-site RAP will introduce the museum's professional colleagues to the Children's Museum of NH as well as the state's Seacoast Region.

Exploring Our Way was developed by Children’s Museum staff in partnership with Easter Seals to provide a supportive and comfortable setting where children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are able to gain skills and increase their confidence in the Museum environment.

This Roundtable for Advancing the Profession will explore:
- What Autism is and is not
- How Exploring Our Way started
- How other museums can support families who have a child on the autism spectrum
- How museums can become a vital resource for families dealing with an ASD diagnosis
- Other museums' autism programs

Attendees will be able to see the Exploring Our Way program in action on the morning of March 11, learn how to replicate the program in new settings, and hear from the autism experts who partnered with the Children’s Museum of New Hampshire in creating Exploring Our Way.

Paula Rais, Director of Community Engagement at the Children’s Museum of New Hampshire, will be the lead facilitator for the weekend roundtable, along with the program’s state-wide advisory panel and allied professionals including clinicians, psychologists, advocates, parents, and young people on the autism spectrum.