Episode #016: Creating Environments For All Autistic Individuals to Communicate | Interview with Nathan Morgan

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As a young child, Nathan Morgan was diagnosed with autism. Along his journey of speech therapy, IEPs, and occupational therapy, he felt inspired to give back to his community so he went into social work. Today, through his day job and his self-advocacy work, Nathan supports families who are trying to navigate what autism means.

Within the autism community, people have different ways they like to interact with other people. Some may prefer a blend of verbal and sign language, or only verbal, or some verbal but mostly some form of technology. Unfortunately verbal communication is still the communication that most people want to push, and this leads to some tension over how to encourage inclusivity when everyone may prefer a blend of communication methods.

The pandemic has been an awesome opportunity for individuals with autism to connect with others in ways that make them feel the most comfortable. Nathan approaches this with the question, “What can we take moving forward that will help us improve our community?”. From virtual conferences to Facebook groups to face-to-face game nights, Nathan shares a variety of ways that the autism community is interacting and communicating with each other throughout the pandemic.

If you’re looking for more ways to engage and communicate with your students, check out my FREE April webinar called 5 Strategies to Help Your Students with Autism Engage and Communicate. Everyone who attends the live session will receive a free therapy material and certificate of participation. See you there!

What’s Inside:

• Knowing that communication is going to look differently for different people, Nathan has created group interactions that allow adults and teenagers with autism to communicate in the way that they feel most comfortable.
• Nathan shares his thoughts on how autism can be weaponized in language and discusses both his professional opinion and personal perspective on whether to say “autistic” or “person with autism”.
• For adults with autism, it can be harder to find resources, especially when you combine that with the myth that autism is a childhood disease, so Nathan is taking on that challenge with his Facebook group.

Today’s Guest:

Nathan Morgan, MSSA, LSW, is a Social Worker at Milestones Autism Resources and has a background in childhood development, early intervention, and early childhood mental health. Nathan is also an autism self-advocate who has presented on panels, at events, and on the local news. Nathan is passionate about teaching and autism related research. Nathan currently leads an online social community for adults on the autism spectrum.

Mentioned In This Episode

— Milestones.org
— Milestones on Facebook
— 5 Strategies to Help Your Students with Autism Engage and Communicate

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