Sarah Selvaggi-Hernandez brought the language of “positive autistic self-identity” to Learn Play Thrive. We latched on and never looked back. Sarah is an autistic occupational therapist who studies, practices, and teaches person-affirming approaches to sensory-processing differences. Sarah is the creator of Ethics & Neurodiversity: Let’s Talk Sex and a guest instructor in The Learn Play Thrive Approach to Autism.

Sarah’s previous professional experience includes assistant professor of pediatrics and mental health at Bay Path University, early intervention therapist in Springfield, MA, and occupational therapist at psychiatric residential treatment facility in East Windsor, CT. She now works as a full-time autistic advocate and sensory consultant. Sarah and her husband Jeremy also served as a therapeutic foster family for the State of Connecticut for nearly twenty years, and continue to provide therapeutic respite care for autistic children. Sarah can be found happy-flapping with her family in Enfield, CT.