AT FREE CLINIC AT UMHS: Dr. Sheryl Rosin with a patient in 2015. Photo: Michelle Peres
Autism expert Dr. Sheryl Rosin, Ph.D., CCC-SLP--and her mission to help autistic children in St. Kitts--is the subject of the new documentary “Touching Autism: Empowerment Through Partnership" from the Ministry of Education in St. Kitts.
The UMHS Endeavour includes the full-length documentary at the end of this post.
Dr. Rosin visited the island and the UMHS campus last fall and helped create an autism training certificate program for teachers in St. Kitts. She helped people learn the importance of early detection and gave teachers hands-on training, and also worked with local children. In addition, she worked with parents. Dr. Rosin is one of North America’s leading autism experts and has presented at conferences for the American Speech-Language Hearing Association, Michigan Speech-Language Hearing Association, Florida Speech-Language Association and the Autism Society of America on the topic of children with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder).
In an interview with the UMHS Endeavour last year, Dr. Rosin talked about the importance of early intervention programs for children that may have autism. This is something that all future doctors at American and Caribbean medical schools should be aware of, especially those considering pediatrics as a specialty. "By participating in evidence-based early intervention programs, children can make positive gains in their communication, social skills, and behavior," Dr. Rosin said. "The brain is so malleable to change in its younger state that by getting the diagnosis early and using the appropriate interventions, the neural connections in the brain can change for better outcomes for the child in the future. Pediatricians need to learn the red flags, screen, and refer for diagnosis as soon as the symptoms come into play because a false positive is better than a false negative of 'wait and see!' "
The documentary includes interviews with Dr. Sheryl Rosin; Dr. Edwin Purcell, UMHS Dean of Basic Sciences; Josephine Claxton Richardson, Learning and Support Coordinator; Michelle Jacobs, Student Support; Lisette Lopez, speech pathologist, and others. In her certificate training program, Dr. Rosin covered such areas as autism overview; behavior competency; social skills competency; sensory awareness competency; environment competency; emotional awareness and bullying competency; motor skill competency; medical and health consideration competency; and program development competency.
The documentary was written, produced, directed and narrated by Maria Crawford.
Dr. Sheryl Rosin Documentary 'Touching Autism'
Video: © 2016 SKN Education Media Unit/Ministry of Education, St. Kitts, WI.
(Top photo) Autism expert Dr. Sheryl Rosin with a family in St. Kitts. Photo: Courtesy of SKN Education Unit/Ministry of Education, St. Kitts, WI.
About UMHS:
Built in the tradition of the best US universities, the University of Medicine and Health Sciencesfocuses on individual student attention, maintaining small class sizes and recruiting high-quality faculty. We call this unique approach, “personalized medical education,” and it’s what has led to our unprecedented 96% student retention rate, and outstanding residency placements across the US and Canada. UMHS is challenging everything you thought you knew about Caribbean medical schools.
Scott is Director of Digital Content & Alumni Communications Liaison at UMHS and editor of the UMHS Endeavour blog. When he's not writing about UMHS students, faculty, events, public health, alumni and UMHS research, he writes and edits Broadway theater reviews for a website he publishes in New York City, StageZine.com.
