The Sophomore personal projects are coming to a close and there are several standouts amongst the projects. One of those projects was done by Kieran Kelly-Marx. He wrote a fifteen minute speech focused on self advocacy.
Kelly-Marx described his speech, “it’s a 15 minute speech discussing my life, my support team, my interest in activism around the theme of my autism and how that impacts me.”
Originally he had some struggles coming up with an idea for his project but his mom gave him the idea and support to write about the advocacy that is important to him. Kelly-Marx is involved in speech and debate and has a big interest in activism.
He said in his speech that, “my autism doesn’t define me, but I consider it to be a good part of who I am.”
As a part of his project Kelly-Marx presented his speech to the organization Parents Supporting Parents. The group works with families to help them through difficult family situations. The organization has assisted him, his parents, and his brother.
When Kelly-Marx presented his speech to the organization he is a part of, one of the members saw it and invited him and his family to present the speech at the Association of Positive Behavioral Supports conference in Chicago. This group is dedicated to working with professionals on different strategies for different positive behavioral supports. These are used to help students with special support and special needs.
At the conference Kelly-Marx was the only advocacy speaker and spoke in front of an international audience. He believes that the speech was very well received and will be influential. Kelly-Marx plans to integrate both of his speeches into his final presentation for the Sophomore Personal Project.
Kelly-Marx is just one of many impressive projects. Be sure to check them out on Wednesday during Seminar.
