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Monthly NNEA meetings feature students, parents, educators, and advocates from diverse backgrounds who want to speak about and discuss their experiences with neurodiversity and/or advocacy efforts and contribute to the larger network of neurodiversity education and advocacy across the globe.
If you want to be considered to speak in one of our future meetings, please complete this application form
Past Monthly NNEA Meeting Speakers
Past Monthly NNEA Meeting Speakers
November 19, 2020: Siena Castellon — Neurodiversity Celebration Week & Quantum Leap Mentoring
January 14, 2021: Helen Zhu — The Harker School & Isabella He — SN Inclusion, Mission San Jose High School
February 11, 2021: Aaryan Shah — Unitopia, Irvington High School & Alexandra Koch and Ananya Madduri — Phillips Academy Andover
March 18, 2021: Dr. Tom Keating — Cognitopia. (Recording)
April 8, 2021: Alex Vasquez & Dr. Lynn Cominsky (Recording)
May 13, 2021: Rossie Stone — Dekko Comics (Recording)
June 10, 2021: Ayush Agrawal & HAAPE Junior Board (Recording)
July 8, 2021: Isabelle Hsu and Joy Kuo, Irvington & Simi Golani, BASIS (Recording)
August 12, 2021: Annabelle Au, Yashvi Monani, and Shreya Sundar from Rainbow Loop Education, Irvington High School (Recording)
September 9, 2021: SNP REACH Presentations (Recording)
October 14, 2021: Sasha Balasingam, Los Gatos High School; Cynthia Wen, Glen A. Wilson High School (Recording)
November, 2021: Skip for Stanford Neurodiversity Summit
December 2, 2021: Toby Mak, South Island School from Hong Kong (Recording)
January 13, 2022: BIPOC Neurodivergent Panel - Lyne Odhiambo, Zero Hour; Lauren Ellzey, @autienelle (Recording)
February 10, 2022: Panel on Parenting and K-12 Education — Jayme Hope, Serena Chen, Maisie Soetantyo (Recording)
March 10, 2022: Alexander Blum, San Francisco State University; Chris Wiebe, Associate Head of School at Bridges Academy (Recording)
April 14, 2022: Panel on Special Education for Neurodiverse Students: John Honerkamp, Irvington High School; Jen Wilger, Temple Grandin School; Yvonne Curic, Chisholm Academy; Cameron Aaron, Bridges Academy; Martika Theis, Palatine High School (Recording)
May 12, 2022: AnDrea M Crawford, Parent and Advocate/ SNP REACH Camp Counselor; Lauren Pearson, Teen Author/ NNEA Core Committee Member (Recording)
June 9, 2022: Panel on Transition to College as Neurodiverse Students: Brian Liu, neurodiverse student/ soon-to-be high school math teacher/ UC Berkeley, Class of 2021; Esperanza Padila, neurodiverse student/ UC Berkeley graduate/ will attend UCSF; Tait Smith, neurodiverse student at Tufts University (Recording)
July 14, 2022: Ziyad: Founder of the Publication, The Global Spectator, with neurodiverse contributors, he is neurotypical (but has an advocacy journey to share), from Pakistan; Katelyn Weinstein: neurodivergent advocate, studying neuroscience and psychology at the University of Guelph (Canada) (Recording)
September 8, 2022: SNP-REACH Presentations (Recording)
Isabella Fortson, Jerry Yang, Diya Menon, Ayleen Zavala, Irene Lee, and Jennie Wang. Presented: "Neurodiversity Teamkits: Tools for Everyone"
Jolene Tien, Sudeepthi Ravipati, Prisha Purohit, and Zehwah Zahoor. Presented: "Neurodiversity 101: Neurodiversity Magazine"
Rayna Vora, Kevin Rha, Rose Kong, Taj Jawanda, Cate Marshburn, Gavin Griffin, Tanvi Vidalia. Presented: "In Their Shoes: A Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Book"
Jehan Idsassi & Chloe Howes. Presented: "A Leap to Neurodiversity: International Non-Profit Organization & Resource Dedicated to Promoting Neurodiversity"
Isaac Lui, Isabelle Tarantino, Annie So, and Kabir Alkhairy. Presented: "Zoo-rodiversity: A Children’s Book on Neurodiversity"
Hannah Thai & Viren Mehta. Presented: "Neuromations: Animations of Neurodiverse Individuals’ Stories"
October 25, 2022: Skipped for the Stanford Neurodiversity Project. (No Recording)
November 10, 2022: Inclusion of Neurodiverse Individuals in the Workplace: Stephen Destefani, Wells Fargo; Kenneth Ellington, leading tech company in Silicon Valley; Chelsea Asaro, Rangam. (Recording Not Available)
December 8, 2022: Parents with Neurodiverse Children Panel with Abby Kirigan, Emon Reynolds, and Andi Savelli (Recording)
Upcoming: Parents with Neurodiverse Children
Dec 8, 2022 4-5 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
For our NNEA meeting on Thur, Dec 8th (4pm PST), we’ll be having three parents with neurodiverse children on a panel to share their experience with us. They are by no means just any parents with neurodiverse children. Each of them has a very unique journey that can possibly offer very helpful insights to many of us, whether we are students, parents, advocates, or educators. (Please see their bios below.)
When: Dec 8, 2022 4-5 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Please use this meeting registration link below to register in advance
(different from the August link):
https://stanford.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJAkde2qqDIsH9yRLDPNjoZZrBvdh0IvI5Ob
Looking forward to seeing you!
Sincerely,
Isabelle Hsu & Sasha Balasingam
Co-Chairs of NNEA
Parents with Neurodiverse Children Panelist: Abby Kirigin
Parents with Neurodiverse Children Panelist: Abby Kirigin
Abby is a mom to three gifted, creative, and 2e children. She is pursuing her doctorate at Bridges Graduate School of Cognitive Diversity in Education, is the Administrative Director for Touchstone Learning, an elementary school for dyslexic learners, and is a partner at REEL Palo Alto, a Bay Area advocacy group for twice-exceptionality. Abby holds a Master's degree in Human Computer Interaction from Carnegie Mellon and a B.A. in Computer Science & Philosophy.
Parents with Neurodiverse Children Panelist: Emon Reynolds
Parents with Neurodiverse Children Panelist: Emon Reynolds
Emon lives in the Bay Area with her family of seven. She is CEO of her household and supports her four 2e kiddos and 2e husband in navigating their life adventures with neurodiverse profiles. She earned her Bachelor and Masters degrees from Wake Forest University and her professional career seasons included work in television production for ESPN, as an event coordinator for large entertainment facilities, and a real estate broker. Nothing in her educational and professional life speaks louder to her qualifications for being her family’s fierce advocate than her “on the job training”. In sharing her journey and experiences, she hopes to encourage and give hope to other families to seek the supports they need. And to take on the “hard” that comes with advocating for our 2e kiddos and children of color in their educational and life journey.
Parents with Neurodiverse Children Panelist: Cindi Savelli
Parents with Neurodiverse Children Panelist: Cindi Savelli
Cindi team-leads the Neurodiversity@PHP activities at Parents Helping Parents in San Jose, which they started pandemic summer 2020. There’s a Zoom parent support meeting every Monday evening! She’s mom to a 26 year old neurodiverse son who graduated from college last June and is off to a new job in Washington, D.C. in January, as well as a 24 year old daughter who works for the Stanford Maternity Data Center. In her spare time, she’s visits family in France with her French husband.
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