The Greater Atlanta Telugu Organization(GATA) conducted a workshop on Autism -101 on Oct 23rd at the Sai Murali Restaurant in Alpharetta .
After the meet and greet, lunch was served to provide ample time to dine prior to speakers taking the stage. At 1:30 PM, Siva Mattipalli, in hiswelcome speech, emphasized the importance of this workshop before handing the program to the master of ceremony Gireesh R. Meka. During this time, Gireesh provided an invitation to the guest while the GATA members seated them. The children of GATA members presented flowers and the parents presented plaque to 3 Chief guests. 

Dr. Narendra Reddy, a specialist in Psychiatry/Neurology, presented the basics of autism. Sitara Nayak, a member of Resources to Parents, provided the contact info and went over various programs offered to assist parents with special needs kids.

She also circulated pamphlets that cover the primary contacts info of their team in Georgia. She was kind enough to be the primary contact point for parents that have questions around support system available in Georgia instead of parents having to go through hoops to have their questions answered.

During the 10-minute break, following the GATA tradition of hosting a birthday or special occasion for a guest, celebrated Sunita Tadepalli’s birthday with the cutting of a cake. There were others whose birthdays fell this month, and they also came on the stage to be greeted for the past/future birthdays.
Dr.Jagan Chilakamarri, just before his session, unveiled the T-shirt designed by the GATA team and presented the first one to Dr. Narendra Reddy.

Dr.Jagan ‘s speech was very professional and captivated the audience with his experiences and interactions with autistic children and their families. He also talked at length on various medicines and supplements.
Then it was time for the Q & A session. Almost every one in the gathering either shared their experiences on autism or asked a question to one of the three chief guests. They also expressed their gratitude to GATA , for raising the community’s awareness on autism.

Shirt distribution and management was handled by Gopi, Prasheel and Guru P; all of whom did an excellent job in making the task seamless to all in attendance.

Dr.Satyanarayana Reddy presented the vote of thanks. He promised to the community that GATA will do baby sitting once every few months to share and care the parents responsibilities.

The event was well organized by all the GATA members – Umesh Mutyala, Satya Karnati, Raj Kesireddy, Raghu Goverdhan, Arun K and others.

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