JANUARY 9 - FEBRUARY 6, 2023

Neurodiversity-Affirming OT Practice (REGISTRATION CLOSED)

An Autism CE Summit

In this transformative summit, you’ll learn strategies that will totally transform your work AND you’ll meet your people: thousands of other OTs who are looking to embrace authentic, neurodiversity-affirming practice. The summit includes eight recorded 1.5 hour talks and eight live Q&As with the neurodiverse panel of instructors. It is registered for 1.2 AOTA CEUs (12 contact hours). This summit will fill your toolbox and renew your enthusiasm for your work.

Continuing Education
from Learn Play Thrive

Investment

This summit includes 12 contact hours of recorded lectures and costs $369

Access

Each day from January 9th to January 13th we’ll release one to two pre-recorded 1.5 hour talks. You’ll have access to the talks until February 6th to watch on your own time. During the week of January 16th, you’ll have the opportunity to attend live Q&As with each instructor (these are optional and not included in the CE credit hours, but are a great opportunity to go deeper in your learning!). 

 

Continuing Education

This course is registered with AOTA for 1.2 CEUs (12 contact hours).

 

FAQs

Information about completion requirements, accommodations, and more can be found in the FAQs.

JANUARY 9

Learning about Autism from Autistics:
The Neurodiversity Paradigm as the Foundation for Therapeutic Practice

Let’s start here: Autistic people are the experts on autism. And unfortunately, most of what we learned in grad school is way off target. The good news is, we have Autistic SLPs Rachel Dorsey and V. Tissi to help us dive deep into how Autistic people think and learn and what it means to use a neurodiversity model in our work.

Objective One

Differentiate between key terms including neurodiversity, neurodivergent, neurodiverse, autistic, and allistic.

Objective Two

Generate a list of at least 3 clinical practices that are true to the intended meaning of being “neurodiversity-affirming.”

Join us for the live Q&A

Tune in on January 16 at 1PM ET to ask Rachel and V your questions!

Meet your
Instructors

INSTRUCTOR

Rachel Dorsey,

M.S., CCC-SLP
GUEST INSTRUCTOR

V Tisi,

M.A., CCC-SLP

JANUARY 9

Beyond Treatment and Service Provision:
Disability Justice for Our Futures and Our Freedom

Racism and ableism are inextricably bound together. They inevitably show up in our worldviews, shaping how we do our work and how we understand it. In this talk, Lydia X. Z. Brown helps us understand the disability justice framework, vision, and praxis so that our work can begin to truly align with and reflect our values.

Objective One

Analyze the relationship between systemic discrimination and disability, identifying at least three ways this impacts disabled students.

Objective Two

Create a support plan using at least two disability justice-informed strategies.

Join us for the live Q&A

Tune in on January 16 at 9:30AM ET to ask Lydia your questions!

GUEST INSTRUCTOR

Meet your
Instructor

Lydia X. Z. Brown,

J.D., Esq.

JANUARY 10

No One Truly Loves Compliance
Fostering Authentic Connection in OT Practice

None of us became therapists to teach kids to put their authentic participation and emotional well-being second to compliance to authority. In this talk, OT pioneer Greg Santucci will help you explore how co-regulation and safety can be the pathway to true participation for our autistic clients.

Objective One

Plan an intervention using at least one strategy to foster co-regulation with autistic clients.

Objective Two

Analyze the connection between felt safety and participation in daily activities.

Objective Three

Generate a brief description for parents or teachers about the importance of co-regulation and why compliance-based interventions do not make durable changes in behavior.

 

Join us for the live Q&A

Tune in on January 17 at 10:30AM ET to ask Greg your questions!

GUEST INSTRUCTOR

Meet your
Instructor

Greg Santucci,

MS, OTR/L

JANUARY 10

The Way MOST Autistic Kids Process Language
What Every OT Should Know About Gestalt Language Processing

Did you know that most Autistic kids learn language through repeating scripts and over time break the scripts down into unique phrases? And did you know that this is a totally normal way to learn language? In this talk SLP Alexandria Zachos helps us understand how to confidently and affirmingly work with kids who communicate through delayed echolalia.

Objective One

Analyze language samples and determine the current language level of a gestalt language processor.

Objective Two

Apply knowledge about gestalt language processing and child-led therapy to plan a therapy session for a gestalt language processor.

Join us for the live Q&A

Tune in on January 17 at 1 PM ET to ask Alex your questions!

GUEST INSTRUCTOR

Meet your
Instructor

Alexandria Zachos,

M.S., CCC-SLP

JANUARY 11

What is My Body Telling Me and Why Does It Matter?
Interoception as the Foundation for Understanding and Communicating How You Uniquely Feel

So many traditional interventions for autistic people ask our autistic clients to change their external behaviors to accommodate neurotypical expectations, rather than helping our clients tune into how they feel inside and what they truly need to thrive. In this talk, OT Kelly Mahler and Autistic OT Kim Clairy teach us how interoception is a key component of promoting authentic well-being for our autistic clients.

Objective One

Generate a description of  interoception, the 8th sense, that can be used with clients and/or their families.

Objective Two

Analyze the connection between interoception and understanding/communicating how you feel. Plan at least one strategy that they can use to support the interoception growth in clients of all ages.

Join us for the live Q&A

Tune in on January 18 at 4PM EST to ask Kelly and Kim your questions!

Meet your
Instructors

GUEST INSTRUCTOR

Kelly Mahler,

OTD, OTR/L
GUEST INSTRUCTOR

Kim Clairy,

MSOT, OTR/L

JANUARY 12

What’s Level Got to Do With It?
Using Energy for Regulation Instead of (Made Up) Emotions

Regulation is so important, but for our autistic clients, naming, describing, and matching emotions isn’t always the best path to get there. Additionally, there’s no one way to be regulated! Different activities call for different amounts of energy, and always aiming for “calm and focused” can lead us off track. In this talk you’ll learn how focusing on energy levels can totally change the way you support your clients to engage in their daily occupations.

Objective One

Create an energy profile for autistic clients in order determine regulatory needs in context.

Objective Two

Apply an energy framework in order to support authentic regulatory strategies and tool use for autistic clients.

Join us for the live Q&A

Tune in on January 19 at 12PM EST to ask Amy and Jacquelyn your questions!

Meet your
Instructors

GUEST INSTRUCTOR

Amy Laurent,

PhD, OTR/L
INSTRUCTOR

Jacquelyn Fede,

PhD

JANUARY 13

We Are Not Just the Handwriting Teachers:
Supporting Emergent Writers for True Self Expression

Do you ever get the feeling that your work was supposed to be more impactful than teaching letter formation? The good news is, when we start with a deep understand of emergent literacy, our approach to teaching written expression is totally transformed. This talk will help you make your work with autistic emergent writers more strengths-based, impactful, engaging, and fun. Trust us: it’s a totaly paradigm shift.

Objective One

Analyze the differences between emergent writing and early conventional writing.

Objective Two

Plan 3 authentic writing activities using the principles of emergent literacy.

Objective Three

Implement 3 teaching strategies for emergent writers.

Join us for the live Q&A

Tune in on January 20 at 3PM ET to ask Gretchen your questions!

GUEST INSTRUCTOR

Meet your
Instructor

Gretchen Hanser,

PhD., MS, OTR/L

JANUARY 13

AAC Essentials for OT:
Using Authentic Strategies to Foster Autonomous Communication

Communication is a right, and there is a better way to teach AAC use than prompting. In this talk, SLP Kate McLaughlin teaches us exactly what we need to know to empower our clients to say what they want to say when they want to say it. This talk will springboard your journey into confidently supporting your emergent communicators in daily life.

Objective One

Differentiate the needs of aided language learners from language learners who speak.

Objective Two

Examine the impact of prompting, including physical prompting, on language learning and autonomous communication.

Objective Three

Plan strategies to support AAC and autonomous communication within occupational therapy sessions.

Join us for the live Q&A

Tune in on January 19 at 10:00AM EST to ask Kate your questions!

Who is this
summit for?

This is more than just a summit.

Neurodiverse Panel

The verdict is in: Autistic adults are the experts on Autistic culture. The speakers in this summit include Autistic professionals as well as non-Autistic professionals who have a practice of listening to and learning from the Autistic community.

Community Building

Change doesn't happen in a vacuum, so we're here to bring you together with your OT people. We'll use reflection questions and a community forum to connect you with other likeminded therapists as you grow and transform your approach to working with autistic clients.

Live Q&A

Optional live question and answer sessions give you the chance to ask your pressing questions to some of the most insightful professionals in our field so that you can truly apply your learning to your work with confidence.

Frequently Asked Questions

This summit is for occupational therapists and other professionals working with autistic kids in any setting. It is not designed for parents. This summit is targeted at the intermediate level.

This summit will focus on autistic kids of all ages. Some but not all of the content is also relevant to autistic adults. 

Each presentation includes a recorded lecture and a discussion question. You’ll also have the opportunity to attend a live Q&A with each instructor. 

This summit is registered for AOTA CEUs.
This course is not approved by any physical therapy associations. However you can check with your state board to see if it meets your license renewal requirements.

Yes! The lectures are pre-recorded and you’ll have access to them for the month of January. The recordings of the live Q&As will also be made available for the month of January. 

Yes! If 3 or more people from your company plan to enroll email me the names of everyone enrolling at admin@learnplaythrive.com and I’ll provide a coupon code. It’s 15% for 3 registrants, 20% off for 4 or more, and 30% off for 7 or more.

We offer scholarships to therapists from under-resourced countries. Please visit our scholarship page to learn more.

In order to complete the course, you must:
– Watch all course lectures to 100% completion
– Pass a short multiple choice quiz after each lecture
– Complete a course survey for each lecture
 
No partial credit will be awarded

You will have access to the recordings until February 6th. There will not be any chance of an extension.

If for any reason the course is canceled by the provider before your registration period has expired, you will receive a full refund.

All lectures in the summit have closed captions. If you need additional accommodation, please email admin@learnplaythrive.com. Accommodations will be made to support all learners in compliance with the Americans with Disability Act.

 

You can send an email to admin@learnplaythrive.com

Learn strategies that will transform your work

and meet hundreds of OTs who are

ready to embrace a neurodiversity-affirming practice.

The assignment of AOTA CEUs does not imply endorsement of specific course content, products, or clinical procedures by AOTA.