Fostering Belonging in Autistic Individuals
This workshop explores evidence-based, person-centered frameworks to assess and foster a true "felt sense" of belonging for autistic individuals across educational, vocational, and community settings. The session describes a constructional approach to fostering belonging, with dynamic, assent-based clinical programming. Participants will learn to look beyond physical inclusion to design meaningful curricula and strength-based targets that promote long-term autonomy and authentic social connection.
Speaker Name
Kathleen Dyer, PhD, CCC-SLP, BCBA-D, LABA
Course Objectives
By the end of this course, learners will be able to:
Participants will be able to identify direct and indirect assessment methods for the assessment of autistic students’ belonging.
Participants will be able to identify collaborative approaches to person-centered support related to increasing the quantity and quality of social connections in autistic individuals.
Participants will be able to select tools and strategies for use in clinical practice that are framed within an assent-based compassionate approach to strength-based treatment for improving social connection and belonging with autistic individuals.