Mona Delahooke - Supporting Autistic and Neurodivergent Students

THE SESSION WILL BE RECORDED AND CAN BE ACCESSED FOR 30 DAYS

A New Vision for Supporting Autistic and Neurodivergent Students

After the release of the recent distressing report from the Senate Select Committee on Autism, we know that there is much to be done. We can start by learning and understanding how to support Autistic and Neurodivergent students in ways to ensure that the environment is inclusive and respectful of their communication and learning.

This workshop addresses what’s missing in our current understanding of how to support autistic and neurodivergent children. Many Teachers and Allied Health providers are trained in singular disciplines and thinking, rather than an integrated approach to the brain-body connection resulting in a piece-meal approach to treatment goals across a child’s private providers and IEP teams.

Too often, we view a child’s behavioural differences as items of an Autism-diagnosis checklist instead of understanding that they are a child’s way of adapting to how his or her body-brain highway processes information. Many Autistic and Neurodivergent students have their behaviours targeted as the focus of treatment. In this workshop, we will redefine the differences we observe in neurodivergent children. Doing so will help us begin to teach children to respect the signals from their own bodies and to involve them in devising creative solutions that honour their own individual differences. This approach to Autism stands in contrast to approaches that involve cajoling, reinforcing and non-reinforcing of surface behaviours.

Goals:

1. Demonstrate an understanding of the difference between a neurodevelopmental and a behavioural approach to Autism support.

2. Understand how neurodevelopment progresses along a predictable trajectory that can be customized to each child or teenager.

3. Learn how to contextualize your current intervention approaches to align with each child’s neurodevelopmental ability.

4. Describe how caregivers, providers and teachers can integrate a basic understanding of the “therapeutic use of self” when working with vulnerable children, regardless of their diagnosis.

Mona will speak for 90 mins and we will have 30 mins for questions - so bring them!

We are very excited to have Mona back this year. Don't miss this awesome information.

The handicap session will be recorded. Participants will have access for 30 days.