Public Speaking & Professional Development
What is the difference between autism and neurodiversity? How do neurotypical parents/professionals and autistic individuals establish positive, healthy, learning and working alliances? What role does MY attachment style play in my relationships with neurodivergent kids? What about my relationships with students, or clients?
Let’s talk about it: I am a dynamic, approachable and engaging public speaker who enjoys providing professional development opportunities, conference workshops and parent training on a wide variety of ASD-Informed topics and practices. Here are some examples of recent workshops and presentations:
ASD-Informed Psychotherapy for Mental Health Clinicians
Neurodiversity at School: Professional Development for Educators
“Autism - NOW What?” A 4-session Parent Training Experience
Clinical Consultation with Care Teams, Child Protection Services
ASD-Informed Foster-parenting
And many more…
Please use the “Contact Me” button below to inquire about speaking engagements.
Professional Development for Educators
While Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) continues to influence IEP's for autistic learners, teachers and clinicians often express concern about taking a purely behavioural approach to teaching (and interacting with) autistic kids. Teachers observe that behavioural approaches to teaching “social skills” often dampen curiosity and undermine exploration, obscure the child’s unique, individual perspectives and obstructing meaningful connections and interactions with peers.
With recognition that they stimulate behavioural change in autistic kids, behavioural interventions may negatively impact a child’s overall mental health. Behavioural interventions are designed to address behavioural problems - and autism is not a behavioural problem! If it is an issue at all, it is a neurologically-based, developmental issue, requiring attachment-based, ASD-Informed, developmental intervention.
Current research aligns with parents’ lived experience, by demonstrating that learning happens within relationship. Engaging kids meaningfully enables them to increase their capacity for growth, development, self-awareness, resilience and lifelong mental health. Relationship-based learning is essential for optimal development, whether autism is a factor or not. And, joyful learning happens within trusting, mutually respectful, well-boundried, attachment relationships!
The challenge for neurotypical educators is how to establish healthy teaching and learning relationships with autistic students, when this was not addressed in their own training. I provide teachers with exciting and encouraging professional development opportunities to gain the theoretical understanding and practical skills to establish positive teaching and learning relationships with neurodivergent students of all ages. Together, we will shift from “How do I get this kid to do….?” to something that is MUCH more alive and exciting! Who’s in?!
Educator’s workshops range from 90 minutes to 3 hours in duration. Inquiries about school, community or conference-based presentations are welcome!
In-service Training for Mental Health Professionals
Mental health clinicians recognize the essential working alliance they establish with clients’ - the unique relationship which is the “container” where the client can make the changes they desire in their own lives. Autism, diagnosed or not, impacts the working alliance similarly to how it impacts the client’s other relationships. When autism is a factor, relationships are often experienced as challenging, confusing and unpredictable - even aversive. ASD-Informed Psychotherapy provides a multi-modal framework which is applicable to multiple theoretical approaches and theories of change, making psychotherapy accessible to autistic/neurodivegent individuals of all ages.
Individual workshops/group trainings are typically 120 minutes in duration. Inquiries are welcome.
Presentations/TRAINING for Parent Groups
Parenting autistic children (and their neurotypical siblings) requires an understanding of early development and secure attachment, to enable parents to support their neurodivergent child to reach their full developmental potential, without compromising their own or their child's mental health. As an Adlerian parent counsellor it is my privilege to support parents in learning about their children’s mental health, and about the tremendous impact of an ASD-Informed parent-child relationship on the child’s development, mental health and resilience.
Presentations vary in length and content. Inquiries from individual (or groups of) parents are always welcome.