Understanding Autism

Description

Understanding the individual behind the diagnosis.

3-Hour Workshop | $75 per person | Perth | Take-Home Resources | Certificate of Attendance

What might school feel like?
If you’ve met one autistic student, you’ve met one autistic student. There can be enormous variation in communication, sensory needs, strengths, interests, regulation, social interaction and support needs.
Schools ask students to navigate constant change, social interaction, noise, movement, instructions, group work, transitions and unwritten expectations, often all at once. For some autistic students, that environment can require an extraordinary amount of processing and energy.
We’ll explore how differences in communication, sensory processing, predictability, social expectations and regulation can influence a student’s experience at school, including the things we may never see from the outside.

Beyond compliance
An autistic student appearing to cope doesn’t necessarily mean everything is okay.
We’ll look at masking, overwhelm, shutdown and the cumulative impact of continually trying to meet expectations that weren’t designed with that student in mind. The focus is not on teaching students to appear less autistic. It’s on understanding their experience and finding ways for the environment, communication and support around them to work better.

Supporting the student in front of you
There is no universal list of “autism strategies”. Instead, we’ll look at how to identify individual strengths, needs and barriers and use that understanding to make thoughtful, neuroaffirming adjustments.
You’ll leave with a deeper understanding of autism and a stronger framework for supporting the individual student rather than the diagnosis.

Who is it for?
Educators, school staff, Parents, Carers and Tutors wanting to move beyond a basic understanding of autism and develop more individualised, neuroaffirming approaches to support.

Are you a teacher?
This workshop is mapped to relevant focus areas of the Professional Standards for Teachers in Western Australia and may contribute towards your professional learning requirements.

APST Focus Areas: 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.5 | 4.1