The Els for Autism Foundation, which serves people living with autism spectrum disorder, is hosting a conference to teach important life skills through recreational activities.The Els for Autism Foundation owns the Els Center for Excellence campus, where the Autism Innovations and Global Impact Conference is being held next week.The Els for Autism Foundation was founded by international World Golf Hall of Fame golfer Ernie Els in 2009 and is located at the Els Center for Excellence campus in Jupiter (18370 Limestone Creek Road). His wife, Liezl Els, is the managing director of the foundation. Their son Ben is living with autism.The foundation works to create programs and disseminate best practices to organizations around the world.The Autism Innovations and Global Impact Conference is next Thursday and Friday, followed by the sensory-friendly obstacle course Roots & Ruts Off-Road 5K on Saturday. The event promotes recreational activities for people living with autism spectrum disorder and uses those activities as an intervention for good mental health and well-being practices. The event encourages ways to improve in social communication, attention, learning, language skills, good coping mechanisms and other everyday skills. These skill sets are practiced while learning various sports and other activities, including music. There will also be guest speakers at the event. "Everybody without autism gets to go to the golf course if they want to play golf, and they have no problem, so why not teach somebody with autism how to play golf and build their skills around that, or how to do yoga, or how to participate in music or how to participate in art, and if that person has something they need to learn, integrate the learning into what they’re going to do that’s going to help get them out with the family or into the community," Dr. Erin Brooker Lozott, program director for the Els for Autism Foundation, said. "The research shows this makes a huge difference. It's more meaningful. It’s more positive and productive with the outcomes, and people with autism like it. It may be going out for a walk. It doesn’t have to be a rigorous sport, but it’s the thought that if you’re doing something that’s good for you and help you be healthy, having emotionally healthy experiences in life, emotional positive health, and it’s going to build your other skills you need, why not build a therapeutic integration into a recreational activity."It's critically important for people with autism to engage in recreational activities, understanding it needs to be meeting the needs and the interests of the person and we can’t choose what that recreational activity is going to be, but the feelings of enjoyment, competency, self-confidence, and really that positive emotion of mental health and well-being, along with fulfilling the core deficits of autism and turning a weakness or area of improvement into a strength is significant. It makes a difference for all of us who don’t have autism or don’t have another developmental disability and we need to afford all people with all types of learning needs the same opportunities as somebody who doesn’t have a learning need," Lozott said.Click here to sign up for the event.