Hundreds of people attended an autism conference on the South Coast that focuses on communication strategies.
The Spectrum of Opportunity conference held at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks on Saturday brought together those with autism and their families, along with educators, speech pathologists and therapists to take a closer look at autism and communication. The event taught them how to support and include people with autism who experience communication challenges.
The keynote speaker was Santa Barbara resident Andreas Forsland, who developed software, called Prose, that allows nonverbal people -- many of whom have autism -- to communicate by a few taps and swipes on an iPad or iPhone.
"The human spirit and the human will and tenacity to express themselves is profound," he said. "And when you make technology available that's easy for them to access, you're unlocking creativity and self-expression. And that can come in many forms."
This is the second autism conference at the university this year. CLU is the parent of KCLU Radio.