Brain Awareness Week 2005

Brain Awareness Week March 2006

Brain Awareness Week March 2007

Brain Awareness Week March 2008

Brain Awareness Week March 2005:

FOCUSING ON EARLY CHILDHOOD

AUTISM AND RELATED DEVELOPMENTAL DISORDERS

Program on autism and related developmental disorders highlighted during Brain Awareness Week, March 14th through March 18th.

Question: What tool do we use every second of every day but rarely notice? Answer, the brain. Often, we become aware of the brain when we or our family and friends realize we cannot do normal things. During the week of March 14th through March 18th the University of Tennessee Neuroscience Institute will engage in activities to enhance the public awareness of the brain and behavior. The flourish of research findings on the brain is revealing some of its deepest mysteries and helping to conquer its most feared disorders and diseases.

On March 16th, 6:30 to 8:30, at the Le Bonheur Children’s Medical Center auditorium The University of Tennessee Neuroscience Institute will join with the Community Institute for Early Childhood to present a public program on autism and related disorders. This is a very timely program because of the increasing occurrence of this disorder in children in the Memphis metropolitan area and across the country. This program is designed for a general public audience. Everyone is welcome, particularly parents, caregivers, support groups, teachers and allied professionals. Our speakers are excellent and will speak on what new perspectives are emerging on these disorders from research, the best methods for assessment, and one form of higher functioning autism, Asperger’s Syndrome. Parking and refreshments will be provided.

FOCUSING ON EARLY CHILDHOOD

Child care providers, teachers, social workers, and other early childhood professionals explored "What Makes a Child's Brain Healthy" at a two-hour public forum on brain development sponsored by the University of Tennessee Neuroscience Institute. The forum helped shed light on how the brain is affected by insults like drugs or alcohol and what enriched environments can do to the developing brain. More than 100 participants at the forum received continuing education credits.

To promote Brain Awareness Week, the institute's director and a representative from the Shelby County Health Department appeared on Memphis television, and e­mail invitations were sent to contacts provided by the Community Institute for Early Childhood. As a follow­up to the forum, University of Tennessee neuroscientists visited several public schools and local colleges and gave presentations on various aspects of the brain and nervous system.