Description
The Neurodiversity-Paradigm Framework for Autistic Social Communication: A Neurodiversity-Affirming Therapy Approach
🤔 Is there such a thing as “Neurodiversity-Affirming” Social Skills Training (SST) for Autistic Populations?
💡Are your therapy approaches for autistic social communication aligned with the Neurodiversity Paradigm?
Many therapists rely on outdated models that pathologize autism, often centering interventions around “persistent deficits” as defined by the DSM-5 (APA, 2013). This has historically led to the widespread use of social skills training (SST) as a primary intervention.
🤔 But did you know? Research shows limited evidence supporting the long-term effectiveness of SST.
🔥 More importantly, autistic individuals often report negative experiences with SST, as it promotes autistic masking— a trauma response to stigma, and a coping strategy linked to increased anxiety, depression, and burnout, even in autistic children and adolescents.
So, how can therapists support autistic communication in a way that is trauma-informed, strengths-based, and neurodiversity-affirming? Get ready for a transformative 10-hour deep dive—six years in the making!
✅ Learn how to move beyond compliance-based interventions and develop approaches that truly support autistic individuals in authentic, self-determined communication.
✅ This groundbreaking course brings together years of research, experience, and real-world application providing a research-based framework for understanding autistic social communication through the lens of the Neurodiversity Paradigm.
Julie has presented key segments of this framework at major professional conferences across the United States, Canada, and Australia, including the 2024 ASHA Annual Conference. Now, for the first time, you can access the full framework in one comprehensive 10 hour training!
A Neurodiversity Paradigm Perspective on Autistic Social Communication
Gain insight into
➥ Understanding the Neurodiversity Paradigm vs Neurodiversity Lite
➥ Understanding Autistic Trauma: Explore the sources of autistic trauma and its long-term outcomes. Learn how therapists and educators can mitigate or exacerbate poor mental health outcomes in the young people you work with.
➥ Autistic Neurology Overview: Gain insights into the latest research on autistic sensory processing, movement, and communication profiles—to better understand young autistic experiences.
➥ Research on Young Autistic Socialization: Unpack the latest findings on joint attention, eye contact, play, the double empathy problem, and monotropism, which may make you rethink your “intervention” plan.
➥ Autistic Masking and Camouflaging: Learn the implications of these behaviors on autistic mental health from a young age and strategies to support autistic authenticity.
➥ Autistic “Theory of Mind” and Empathy: Discover why the pathology paradigm myths that Autistics are lacking in theory of mind and empathy persist, and what contemporary autism research has revealed.
➥ Strength-Based, Autism Evaluations: Find out how providers can conduct a respectful, neurodiversity-affirming evaluation and write a strength-based report.
➥ The vital social communication skills that Autistic young people need to thrive: Get the answers to “You’ve told me what not to do, so what do I do now?”
➥ Social Skills / Social Communication Goal Makeovers: Rethink “autism intervention” for social communication goals and replace them with evidence-based, neurodiversity-affirming goals with outcomes that actually help autistic young people improve their quality of life and mental health outcomes.
➥ Therapy and Classroom Guidelines: Gauge which therapeutic practices to prioritize and which to abandon to help autistic children and adolescents thrive.
➥ Educating Parents and Caregivers: Flip the pathology narrative on autism with evidence and offer parents and caregivers education on truly neurodiversity-affirming approaches.
🔓🔓🔓 Therapist Neurodiversity Collective members get a $199 discount on the course enrollment fee!
► Presenter: Julie Roberts, M.S., CCC-SLP, Founder of Therapist Neurodiversity Collective
► 10 Hours of Professional Development Credit)
► Course Access: 90 days from date of enrollment
► Audience: This professional development course is designed for speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, psychologists, mental health counselors, social workers, and other therapists who work with autistic people and are interested in adopting a neurodiversity-paradigm-centered approach to social communication development.
What’s included?
☑ Multiple course handouts and downloadable resources.
☑ List of citations for further study.
☑ Certificate of Course Completion for 10 hours of professional development.
Course Reviews
Julie Roberts, M.S., CCC-SLP, is a formally late-diagnosed Autistic Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) specializing in neurodiversity-paradigm-centered approaches to therapy and education, with a special focus on autistic social communication. She is a neurodiversity paradigm advocate, writer and speaker who delivers high-energy presentations that challenge audiences to re-examine their beliefs about Autism and outdated and damaging therapy and education practices. Her work centers on teaching culturally responsive, evidence-based approaches and strategies that advance the emancipation goals of the Neurodiversity Movement, deconstruct autism stigma and bias, and prioritize good mental health and quality of life outcomes for autistic populations. Julie has had the opportunity to present professional development courses to thousands of therapists, and her frequently cited articles and educational tools have reached an extensive audience worldwide.
In 2018, Julie founded Therapist Neurodiversity Collective, Inc.™, an international neurodiversity-affirming therapy, education, and advocacy organization that aims to
✦ Champion a transformative vision of acceptance and equitable inclusion for autistic, other-neurodivergent, and other-disabled people.
✦ Offer unparalleled, free and affordable public education that upholds the value of neurodiversity, highlighting contemporary autism research, trauma-informed practices, and methodologies built on presuming competence and upholding dignity and human rights.
✦ Foster partnerships and professional growth for therapist members aligned with the neurodiversity paradigm.
