Reframing Autism - Autism Essentials

• Great intro and summary to some differences we might see with Autism, strengths-based and affirming; centred around language, brain differences, communication and socialising, and thinking and processing. A good overview and something to recommend to others.

Bringing the Energy and All the Autism Level Up Supports To Regulate It - Autism Level UP!

• Engaging and interactive training delivered by neurodivergent professionals. I have looked at the Autism Level Up suite of resources before and this training put them all together and made them make sense, I can really see the utility of this approach in practice in matching energy to tasks and exploring how to level up or down depending on the mismatch. Similar in some parts to sensory ladders but takes it steps further in a really useful and engaging way. Adaptable and individualisable and can see myself utilising these resources in practice.

• Their resources are available here.

The Inside of Autism - The Autistic Advocate

I am doing the 12 month membership option and working through the 6 modules.

• Module 1: The History of Autism. Interesting overview of the history of Autism and how the deficit narrative that we have today was formed, dangers of celebrity theorists and how our language creates perceptions which drive attitudes and ideas which make life harder for Autistic people. Concise and informative summary.

UCL Centre for Research in Autism and Education - 2024 Annual Lecture: Autistic Professionals and the Triple Empathy Problem - Dr Mary Doherty

• Really interesting lecture from an autistic doctor. Expansion of the double empathy problem to the triple empathy problem with cumulative disadvantage between a non-autistic health professional and an autistic patient where there is layered miscommunication potential for both autistic<->non-autistic and health professional<->non-health professional; importance of increasing awareness of this issues, recognising it and non-autistic professionals making an effort to understand the autistic experience; Finding the leverage points to create change, challenging myths and changing narratives, highlighting lived experiences of autistic doctors

• Autistic Doctors International - Autistic Space Framework: sensory, predictability, acceptance, communication, empathy + physical space, processing time and emotional space

• Linktree for Autistic Doctors International

ADHD Women’s Palooza 2024

• Listened to 3 talks, summit was over too fast to listen to more, didn’t like that the organiser still uses the term ADD in her business name, but some useful talks

• ADHD stigmas, myths and plain ol lies: Let’s get it straight, Terry Mathen – not a lot of new information but a useful summary of some of the common stigmas; nice message of finding our strengths and recognising the difficulties

• ADHD basics: The tripod approach to living your best ADHD life, David P Pomeroy – basics (sleep, exercise, food/nutrition), strategies, medication; simple but potentially useful framework when working with clients

• ADHD and trauma: What is EMDR for ADHD? Noelle Lynn - brief explanation of trauma, EMDR and adaptations for ADHD/AuDHD, highlighted that we can do harm if adaptations aren’t made, EMDR to focus on negative beliefs, shame, overidentification with symptoms

The PDA Space Summit 2024

• Multiple talks and didn’t get to listen to all that I wanted to, some really useful information and some things that weren’t new.

• Susan Issa – PDA and the nervous system – highlighted the connection between PDA and the nervous system really clearly, PDA as an extreme anxiety response, window of tolerance and increasing safety, the wide range of what demands can be, adult/child/infant state and different supports – gave me more understanding of the breadth and strength of the PDA response and useful to frame as a nervous system response, the adult/child/infant responses was a good reminder to check in with self

• Sally Cat – How PDA is hidden – difference between internalised and externalised PDA, different types of masking and not all negative, adrenal defence strategies (fight, flight, freeze, fawn, flop, fib, fantasy, funster, forget, flooding – interesting additions to the Fs, more to think about

• Scott Nielsen and Laura Hellfield – How cortisol the master hormone impacts wellbeing and behaviour – cortisol, neuroception, ANS, dangers of chronic high cortisol – not a lot of new information but some good reminders of strategies and how to support self

• Amanda Maguire – Discovering your PDA identity - importance of identity, many things impact on a PDA identity, process of acceptance and building supports – positive talk about the impacts of identity and how to support yourself

• SENStory – Managing sensory motor needs and hypermobility for PDA children – importance of working in nature, overlap of neurodivergence and hypermobility 50%, signs to look out for, adaptations to traditional physio approaches needed – good simple explanation of hypermobility, signs to look out for and how to adapt approaches to support hypermobility and PDA, useful for my client population

• Neurowild – Shifting expectations – misconceptions, need for change and knowing about fluctuating capacity, interoception, regulation, EF differences, sensory and emotional processing; Neurowild shift: I see you, I hear you, I got you – really useful talk and engaging with great graphics as always, I really liked the shift she talked about and even though this was aimed at supporting kids I can see the application to my adult clients

Autistic and Neurodivergent Considerations in Trauma-Informed Care - Whāraurau