Available Conferences

by Susan J. Golubock
and Jim Sinclair

LIVING IN A NEUROTYPICAL WORLD:
Increasing Understanding and Decreasing Stress

INTENDED AUDIENCE:
Autistic individuals and/or those who live and work with them.

Workshop 1 (Susan):
• Understanding one's sensory processing strengths and limitations

Objectives:

• Discover your own sensory profile


• Learn how processing differences can result in behaviors that are often misinterpreted

Workshop 2 (Jim):
• Autistic self-awareness and understanding of one's social environment

Objectives:

• Increase awareness of those autistic characteristics that one has, that may bring one into conflict with one's environment


• Increase awareness of the norms and expectations of one's social environment


• Develop strategies for accommodating one's needs and processing styles within one's environment.

Workshop 3 (Jim):
• Interpersonal interactions and relationships

Objectives:

• Increase awareness of one's own needs and preferences regarding interactins and relationships


• Learn skills for identifying and understanding other people's needs and preferences.


• Learn skills for negotiating within relationships


[Note: "The Nature and Functions of Rules, Boundaries, and Social Conventions" is strongly recommended as a companion session to this one.]

Workshop 4 (Susan):
• Sharing of sensory experiences in relationships

Objectives:

• Learn the purpose of sensory play in normal development, and explore why autistic leisure pursuits differ


• Learn strategies for discovering sensory interests in other people and expanding your own

Workshop 5 (Jim):
• Communicating with Neurotypical People

Objectives:

• Increase awareness of common communication behaviors of neurotypical people.


• Identify how one's own autistic communication style differs from common neurotypical communication.


• Develop skills for understanding and translating between one's own communication style and NT communication styles.

Workshop 6 (Susan):
• Dealing with Sensory Issues In Everyday Activities and Interactions

Objectives:

• Learn strategies for decreasing sensory stress during one's day


• Learn how to use a sensory diet to improve or restore one's functional state.

Workshop 7 (Jim):
• The Nature and Functions of Rules, Boundaries, and Social Conventions

Objectives:

• Understand the differences between different types of social expectations.


• Learn to identify one's own personal boundaries and the boundaries of other people.


• Learn to make responsible decisions in asserting one's own boundaries and respecting others' boundaries.

Workshop 8 (Jim):
• Autism, Culture, and Community

Objectives:

• Learn about the cultural model of autism, and how it differs from deficit models.


• Consider ways that various autistic characteristics influence how autistic people relate to others.


• Learn about some of the ways autistic people relate to each other in Autistic community settings, and the Autistic culture that has begun to emerge from the creation of shared Autistic spaces.

Workshop 9 (Susan):
• Using assistive devices to improve organization and make tasks easier

Objectives:

• Identify devices that match one's learning strengths and the task one is attempting to do


• Learn strategies for getting, and staying, organized that match one's learning strengths.


[NOTE: "Understanding one's sensory processing strengths and limitations" is strongly recommended as a companion session to this one.]

Workshop 10 (Jim):
• Autism, Culture, and Community

Objectives:

• Learn about the cultural model of autism, and how it differs from deficit models.


• Consider ways that various autistic characteristics influence how autistic people relate to others.


• Learn about some of the ways autistic people relate to each other in Autistic community settings, and the Autistic culture that has begun to emerge from the creation of shared Autistic spaces.

Workshop 11 (Jim):
• A Culture of One? Being Autistic in an NT World [for Autistic people]

Objectives:

• Explore implications of the cultural model in terms of how autistic people think about themselves and about the ways they are different from non-autistic people.


• Consider whether some of the customs that have developed in Autistic communities might be useful in participants' lives.


• Develop skills and confidence in negotiating cultural differences with neurotypical people.


• Learn about opportunities to meet other autistic people and experience Autistic community.
[Note: This is a companion workshop to "Autism, Culture, and Community" designed for Autistic people]