PRUE WIGNALL
B.Ed T.T.C.end.S -L.T. M.N.Z.S.T.A.

I trained in Christchurch , New Zealand as both a teacher and a speech-language therapist and spent two years as a new-entrant teacher in regular primary schools in Christchurch and Wellington . I also worked as an itinerant speech-language therapist between a number of schools in the wider Wellington area.

In November, 1987, I was appointed to the position of Senior Speech-Language Therapist at the Templeton Centre (a major residential psychopædic establishment in Christchurch ) where I worked with people with a wide number of genetic and chromosomal conditions, syndromes and developmental differences, including autism.

During my eight years there, I was also involved with people with intellectual disabilities, their families and supporters, who were already living in the community or who were about to be moved into the community from Templeton.

I resigned from Templeton in the middle of 1995 to establish the Merivale Speech-Language Therapy Clinic and have been working with the Programme since the end of 1997.

I am currently working on a Master of Philosophy degree in Autism Studies and would be very interested in hearing from anyone who has any information about early historical through to modern theories of the causes of Autism. I am particularly interested in the very early attempts at explanations ( eg , the changeling or fairy child) and unusual or outrageous ones ( eg , the cold mother).

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