Webinar: Sharpen Your Observation Skills Using the SORF for Earlier Detection

Who should attend?

This free webinar series is for diagnostic team members, interdisciplinary healthcare professionals, early intervention providers, and early childhood specialists. This series is for those enrolled in our online professional development courses and courses available to the public, or anyone interested.

What will we cover?

Autism Navigator is collaborating with ECHO Autism and Autism Science Foundation to bring this webinar series to you. This webinar will help you plan and conduct systematic observations with families of young children 12 to 36 months of age that can be done virtually or face to face. We will continue to focus on virtual screening, observation, and intervention with new cases.

Each webinar will cover the following agenda:

• Strategies to collect a virtual systematic observation at home to capture social communication development and early signs of autism
• Practice observing early signs of autism and scoring the SORF that measures 22 early red flags of autism based on the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria
• Featured topics such as changing developmental trajectories with early intervention and mobile coaching strategies
• Updates on Baby Navigator and Autism Navigator online resources to help families get started right away

The SORF is an evaluation tool for children 9 to 36 months of age used as a follow-up to a positive autism screen in primary care or for children referred for concerns about autism. Since face-to-face diagnostic evaluations may not be possible at this time, a virtual observation can provide families with a way to keep evaluation and referral going so families can access appropriate early intervention. We will watch video clips from virtual and in-person observations to practice rating red flags of autism using the SORF and answer questions after each agenda topic.

When is this scheduled?

This webinar series is scheduled once a month and continues year-round with new content in each webinar. Join anytime and come back as often as you can.

• 2nd Thursday of each month (barring holidays) from 12:30 to 2:00pm (Eastern Time)

You must register to participate. You can find the specific dates on the Registration page. Once you register, you will receive email reminders for each webinar in the series.

Why is attending important?

By attending, you are joining a community of learners watching videos together and sharing their experiences, questions, and encouragement. We cannot record our webinars because we show photos and videos of our families, so make sure to attend.

How do I register?

The Sharpen Your Observation Skills Using the SORF webinar series is a recurring Zoom webinar. When you register for the first time, you won’t have to register for future webinars. Attend as often as you can.

Please note: The use of AI note-taking or recording products violates our Terms of Use and is strictly prohibited during our webinars.

How do I get to the Feedback Survey and Attendance Certificate Request form?

Links to each are below.

Where is the SORF Resources Page for this webinar?

Be sure to go to the Sharpen Your Observation Skills Using the SORF Resources Page that we have created for you. You will find the SORF Manual, fillable SORF forms, home observation guidelines, Baby Navigator resources, and research articles. You will also find information about our Baby Navigator Provider Portal.

Hosts for this Webinar

• Amy M Wetherby, PhD, CCC-SLP, Distinguished Research Professor, College of Medicine, Florida State University | Director, FSU Autism Institute
• Charly Nottke, MS, Assistant Director of Early Detection & Prevention Research, FSU Autism Institute
• Kristin Sohl, MD, FAAP, Executive Director, ECHO Autism, University of Missouri, School of Medicine
• Alycia Halladay, PhD, Chief Science Officer, Autism Science Foundation