This workshop is designed for professionals who work directly with autistic children and young people (CYP) and are looking to enhance their foundational knowledge and understanding of autism. The workshop is evidence-based and current, incorporating the autistic perspective through academic contributions and is guided by both professional insight and lived experience.
The workshop delves into autistic cognition, communication styles, sensory processing differences, and trauma. We address the effects of Alexithymia and examine current theories of autism such as monotropism and the double empathy problem, along with the challenges they present. We advocate for an experience-sensitive approach in collaborating with autistic individuals, not treating them, and we delve into what it means to be neuro-affirming.
We concentrate on the neurodiversity paradigm and critically assess the significant influence of the medical model, which pathologizes behaviors and views autism as a condition needing to be "fixed" or "cured". Autism, being an intrinsic part of one's neurology, cannot—and should not—be fixed or cured. It requires acceptance, understanding, and recognition as a difference, not a deficit.
