Full Course Description
Advancing Social Engagement in Autism: Evidence-Based Strategies for Real-World Success
Dr. Jed Baker—one of the pioneers behind cognitive behavioral skills development for individuals with autism—brings together today’s leading voices in autism support to share what actually works when it comes to building real, lasting social connection.
In this high-impact session, Dr. Baker breaks down a powerful, inclusive model that blends a range of expert approaches, while tackling the big questions every clinician, educator, and parent faces:
- How do we pinpoint the right social goals?
- What sparks engagement and motivation in our learners?
- How can we adapt our strategies to different language and developmental levels?
- What ensures real-world success—not just in-session wins?
- How do we create a community that supports neurodiverse peers?
- And how do we measure what truly matters?
He’ll share case examples that bring these ideas to life—illustrating how to overcome common barriers and turn theory into connection.
Whether you’re working with kids, teens, or young adults, this session is packed with practical strategies to help individuals with ASD thrive socially and emotionally.
Program Information
Objectives
- Identify key components of social skills training across various approaches.
- Demonstrate an understanding of how to establish motivation and buy in for skills training.
- Develop practical skills for modifying teaching approaches for students with varying levels of receptive language comprehension.
Outline
What really makes social interaction work—and why does it break down for some?
- Explore the core challenges behind social difficulties and why traditional approaches often miss the mark.
Key Components of Skill Development Across Methodologies
Introducing Our Panel of Speakers and Their Unique Contributions
- Targeting relevant skills
- Motivating participation in learning skills
- Modifying the setting
- Using teaching strategies suited to individual’s language functioning
- Planning for generalization into the real world
- Creating accepting peer environments
- Measuring outcome
Case Studies Highlighting the Key Components of Skill Development
- Helping less verbal students interact in meaningful ways with peers
- Facilitating peer connections for highly verbal yet isolated students with ASD
- Assisting adults in the dating world
Target Audience
- Psychologists
- Psychotherapists
- Speech-Language Pathologists
- Teachers/School-Based Personnel
- Occupational Therapists
- Occupational Therapy Assistants
- Licensed Clinical/Mental Health Counselors
- School Administrators
- Social Workers
- Marriage & Family Therapists
- Nurses
Copyright :
11/13/2025
The Science of Relationships, Dating, and Employment: Evidence-Based Strategies from the UCLA PEERS® Program
Join Dr. Elizabeth Laugeson, developer of the world-renowned UCLA PEERS® program, for an engaging and interactive session on the science of social success.
Through valuable insights into research outcomes, resources, handouts, and real-world case studies, you will gain actionable strategies for:
- Making and keeping friends
- Handling bullying and rejection
- Developing and maintaining romantic relationships
- Thriving in the workplace
- Improving social confidence
Program Information
Objectives
- Identify ecologically valid social skills strategies for making and keeping friends, handling bullying and rejection, developing romantic relationships, and maintaining employment, as taught in the UCLA PEERS® program.
- Demonstrate an understanding of evidence-based teaching methods used in PEERS®, including role-play demonstrations, social coaching, and real-world practice assignments, to effectively teach social skills to teens and adults.
- Develop practical skills for social coaching individuals in implementing PEERS® strategies using the 4 P’s (priming, prompting, praising, and providing corrective feedback).
Outline
- Social differences among neurodivergent teens and young adults
- Understanding the differences between peer rejection and social neglect
- Examining the importance of improving friendship
- Understanding the consequences of peer rejection
- The role of neurodiversity and choice in learning social strategies
- Overview of PEERS® curricula
- Evidence-based methods of social skills instruction
- Overview of PEERS® social strategies
- Making and keeping friends
Case Vignette: Alex’s Struggle with Making and Keeping Friends
- Handling teasing and bullying
​​​​​​​Case Vignette: Maya’s Struggle with Teasing and Bullying
- Developing and maintaining romantic relationships
​​​​​​​Case Vignette: Jordan’s Struggle with Dating and Romantic Relationships
- Finding and maintaining competitive integrated employment
Case Vignette: Sofia’s Struggle with Workplace Social Interactions and Job Stability
- Summary of research findings for PEERS®
- Risks and limitations of research and strategies
- Overview of publicly available PEERS® resources
Target Audience
- Psychologists
- Speech-Language Pathologists
- Teachers/School-Based Personnel
- Occupational Therapists
- Occupational Therapy Assistants
- Licensed Clinical/Mental Health Counselors
- School Administrators
- Social Workers
- Marriage & Family Therapists
- Nurses
Copyright :
11/13/2025
Thinking Socially: A Framework for Friendship-Building
From an early age, students are expected to work in groups and navigate peer relationships—even with those they wouldn’t naturally choose as friends. As social expectations grow more complex, many students struggle due to factors such as increased screen time, social anxiety, and reduced in-person interaction.
The Social Thinking Methodology offers practical strategies and metacognitive tools to help students better understand and engage with the social world. This session will include clinical stories that highlight how and why these frameworks were developed—and how they support lasting change.
Attendees will receive Thinksheets to help explore each concept in a practical, ready-to-use format for students or clients. They’ll also have time to reflect on how these tools apply not only to those they support—but their own social experiences as well.
(Originally developed for individuals with social learning differences, these frameworks have since been embraced in mainstream settings for their effectiveness in making the implicit rules of the social world more explicit and accessible.)
Program Information
Objectives
- Describe the six different levels on the Friendship Pyramid.
- Explain how a student’s inner voice can promote or discourage attempts at building relationships.
- Utilize a “Feelings Shift Across a Day” worksheet for students to tune into how their feelings shift across a time in a day.
Outline
- The Social Competency Model
- Developing one’s metacognitive awareness of one’s inner-voice: Inner Coach & Self-Defeater
- 10 Core Social Thinking Vocabulary
- The Four Steps of Communication
- Socially Based Executive Functioning
- The Friendship Pyramid
- How Feelings Are Different from Emotions
- The Feelings Journal
- Risks and limitations of research and techniques
Target Audience
- Speech-Language Pathologist
- Social Workers
- Occupational Therapists
- Teachers/School-Based Personnel
- Psychologists
- Marriage & Family Therapists
- Licensed Clinical/Mental Health Counselors
- Case Managers
- School Administrators
- Nurses
- Physical Therapists
- Occupational Therapy Assistants
- Physical Therapist Assistants
Copyright :
11/13/2025
Awareness, Acceptance, Appreciation, and Action: A Pathway for Meaningful Social Interaction
Unlike traditional approaches that focus on Level 1 autistic individuals, this session highlights strategies to support those with higher support needs—especially non- or limited-speaking individuals who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) tools.
Through a mix of lecture, case studies, and video, we’ll explore the 4 A’s of Autism—Awareness, Acceptance, Appreciation, and Action—as a practical framework for educators, clinicians, and allied professionals.
In this session, you’ll:
- Gain awareness of social interaction challenges faced by non-speaking autistic individuals
- Recognize when traditional methods fall short and AAC-based strategies are essential
- Appreciate the strengths and contributions of nonspeaking individuals
- Identify immediate and long-term steps to foster inclusive, empowering communication
Includes video clips from Carl the Collector, a groundbreaking PBS Kids series featuring an autistic lead character. A must-see session!
Program Information
Objectives
- Apply the 4 A’s of Autism: Awareness, Acceptance, Appreciation, and Action as a framework for recognizing when, how, and with whom using assistance and augmentative communication (AAC) devices will empower autistic with the communication ability to learn and implement social skills for successful interaction.
- List and describe 2 or more common software packages for improving communication and related social interaction.
- List and describe 2 or more common hardware devices for improving communication and related social interaction.
Outline
Introduction
- Outline of presentation
- What brings me here, as an autistic person to focus on communication and social interaction for non and limited speaking autistic individuals.
- What the 4 A’s of Autism: Awareness, Acceptance, Appreciation and Action mean to me as an autistic person
The 4 A’s of Autism
- Relating the 4 A’s of Autism to recognizing and supporting a non or limited speaking individual for communication and social interaction.
- Methods and materials for supporting a non or limited speaking individual for communication and social interaction
- Supporting software
- Supporting hardware
Implementation
- Examples and case studies
- What can you do today, over the next month, and the next year to support non and limited speaking autistic individuals for successful communication and related social interaction.
Conclusion
- Summary of presentation
- Description of risks and limitations of presentation content
Target Audience
- Teachers/School-Based Personnel
- School Administrators
- Speech-Language Pathologists
- Occupational Therapists
- Occupational Therapy Assistants
- Physical Therapists
- Physical Therapist Assistants
- Social Workers
- Licensed Clinical/Mental Health Counselors
- Psychologists
- Case Managers
- Marriage & Family Therapists
- Nurses
- Nursing Home/Assisted Living Administrators
- Addiction Professionals
Copyright :
11/14/2025
Critical Skills to Manage Overwhelming Frustration, Regulate Emotional Reactivity, and Curb Impulsivity
Individuals with challenging behaviors are often caught in a cycle of discipline—seclusion, exclusion, and even restraints—that can lead to lasting negative outcomes.
Parents, educators, and therapists are frequently overwhelmed by these behaviors and unsure how to respond in ways that truly support growth and long-term change.
This seminar will decode the underlying causes of behavioral outbursts and offer practical strategies to both calm and prevent them. You’ll learn to:
- Remain calm in the midst of behavioral storms
- Partner with the clients to identify the triggers behind meltdowns
- Set up effective prevention plans to reduce outbursts
- Teach critical emotion regulation and coping skills
Program Information
Objectives
- Participants will be able to identify predictors of successful outcomes.
- Participants will be able to describe the common feelings young people experience which lead to social-behavioral challenges.
- Participants will be able to list 7 common triggers to frustration and anxiety in young people with social-behavioral challenges.
- Participants will be able to design prevention plans for managing social-behavioral challenge.
Outline
Triggering situations and interpretations that lead to meltdowns
7 common triggers to frustration and anxiety in young people with social-behavioral challenges
Create prevention plans for managing social-behavioral challenges
Target Audience
- Psychologists
- Psychotherapists
- Speech-Language Pathologists
- Teachers/School-Based Personnel
- Occupational Therapists
- Occupational Therapy Assistants
- Licensed Clinical/Mental Health Counselors
- School Administrators
- Social Workers
- Case Managers
- Marriage & Family Therapists
- Nurses
- Addiction Professionals
- Dieticians
- Nursing Home/Assisted Living Administrators
- Physical Therapists
- Physical Therapy Assistants
Copyright :
11/14/2025
The Social World Unmasked: Teaching the Hidden Curriculum to Neurodivergent Minds
Join Brenda Smith Myles, PhD, to gain a compassionate understanding of the “hidden curriculum”—the often-unspoken social rules and expectations that can create barriers to inclusion and well-being. You’ll learn:
- Respectful, strengths-based strategies for supporting neurodivergent individuals in recognizing, interpreting, and choosing how to respond to social expectations in ways that honor their authenticity
- Tools to help individuals build agency and confidence by understanding context, prediction, slang, metaphors, and nonverbal communication—without pressure to mask or conform
- Approaches to embed direct instruction and self-advocacy into everyday life, fostering independence and informed choice across environments
Through clinical stories, practical tools, and affirming guidance, you’ll leave prepared to help your clients navigate the social world on their terms—supporting connection, autonomy, and emotional safety at every step.
Program Information
Objectives
- Define the hidden curriculum.
- Explain the hidden curriculum’s applicability to school, community, and home.
- Identify hidden curriculum areas and items across preschool, middle school, high school, and adulthood.
Outline
- Practical introduction to the autistic brain and learning, context, prediction, and generalization
- The importance of implicit learning for the autistic brain
- Introduction the hidden curriculum and its impact across environments
- Examples of the hidden curriculum
- Multiple ways to teach and generalize the hidden curriculum
Target Audience
- Teachers/School-Based Personnel
- School Administrators
- Speech-Language Pathologists
- Occupational Therapists
- Occupational Therapy Assistants
- Physical Therapists
- Physical Therapist Assistants
- Social Workers
- Licensed Clinical/Mental Health Counselors
- Psychologists
- Case Managers
- Marriage & Family Therapists
- Nurses
- Nursing Home/Assisted Living Administrators
- Addiction Professionals
Copyright :
11/14/2025
Supporting Social, Emotional, and Cognitive Growth in Autistic Children: Navigating Neuroplasticity, Gut-Brain Connection, and Sensorimotor Techniques
Led by Dr. Varleisha Lyons, this groundbreaking session aims to shift the narrative surrounding autism intervention by emphasizing empowerment rather than eradication of individual characteristics. Attend and you’ll learn how:
- By embracing neurodiversity and capitalizing on strengths, you will learn how to create supportive environments encouraging confidence and exploration, ultimately promoting neuroplasticity and enhancing abilities across all domains including sensorimotor, social, emotional, and cognition
- The brain-gut connection provides insights into managing client discomfort and challenging behaviors, paving the way for improved well-being and the expression of inherent gifts
- Sensorimotor techniques can optimize motor performance and sensory processing, leveraging areas of strength to foster social-emotional growth
Don't miss this opportunity to revolutionize your approach to autism intervention and support the full potential of autistic individuals in our communities. Register now!
Program Information
Objectives
- Implement and skillfully embrace a strength-based sensorimotor approach when working with autistic individuals
- Gain insights into the neuro mechanisms associated with the diagnosis of Autism and the brain-gut connection
- Implement the Self-Regulation and Mindfulness Approaches a support tool for both families and individuals with Autism
- Cultivate a supportive environment through contextual sensory intervention approach
Outline
Strength-based Sensorimotor Approaches and Autism Care
- Advocacy initiatives
- Empowerment rather than eradication of individual characteristics
- Bridging the gap from treatment to acceptance
The Neurobiology of Autism
- Peripheral and central nervous overview
- The sensory system: Why clients flap
- Intersection of trauma and autism
- Gap between the age of concern and age of diagnosis
Improve Social, Emotional, and Cognitive Function
Self-Regulation and Mindfulness Intervention Program
- Strength-based sensorimotor techniques
- From “Safety and Self-Reservation” to “Reciprocal Mindfulness”
- The brain-gut connection to manage challenging behaviors
- Apply rhythm, heavy work, auditory, and praxis
- Strategies to regulate the vagal response
- A.C.T.I.O.N from Trauma Interventions
- Body scanning, inversion, and more
- Supportive environmental strategies
Target Audience
- Occupational Therapists
- Occupational Therapy Assistants
- Speech-Language Pathologists
- Teachers/School-Based Personnel
- School Administrators
- School Social Workers
- Physicians
- School Counselors
- School Psychologists
- School Guidance Counselors
- Psychologists
- Social Workers
- Licensed Professional Counselors
- Physical Therapists
- Physical Therapist Assistants
Copyright :
04/19/2024