A conversation with Dominique Chabot, Autism Canada Family Services Manager and parent to two autistic children, and Bruce Petherick, Autistic Advocate around how to better navigate the holiday season, including tips for attending and hosting gatherings, shopping, Santa visits, ugly sweaters, gift ideas and more.

The music from today's podcast was composed and performed by Bruce Petherick, autistic advocate and neurodivergent musician. To hear more, visit Bruce's website at www.brucepetherick.com

Recording from Au-Some Conference 2022

Megan Pilatzke was formally identified as autistic on May 19, 2021 at 31 years old. Since then, she has become a passionate advocate and public speaker for autism education and acceptance. She focuses her advocacy efforts on quality of life and supports for autistic adults. She also advocates for employment inclusion for all neurodiverse individuals. To date, Megan has been featured in a CBC article and on CBC’s The Current radio show where she discussed her personal experience with late identification and autism assessments. She is a proud member of the Autism Alliance of Canada and is working with their disability policy working group. The group is working toward initiatives to support inclusive employment for autistics within Canada. Megan will also be co-authoring a peer-reviewed study focusing on autistic work experiences. In her spare time, Megan enjoys cross stitching, bird-watching and spending time with her family and three cats.

The music from today's podcast was composed and performed by Bruce Petherick, autistic advocate and neurodivergent musician. To hear more, visit Bruce's website at www.brucepetherick.com

As presented at Au-Some Conference 2022, Kara discusses what led her to seek diagnosis and how she navigated the process.

Kara Dymond (PhD) is a late diagnosed autistic and ADHD advocate. Growing up, Kara began thinking about differentiation and the potential in every student while working on homework with her younger brother, Danny, who is autistic. She realized the extent of her own neurodivergencies as an adult, often from relating to her students and other neurodivergent adults. Today, Kara is a student-centred educator who teaches autistic children in the Toronto Catholic District School Board, the author of The Autism Lens, and an instructor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. Kara also co-hosts a podcast called Autistic Tidbits & Tangents, with Maja Toudal, an autistic psychologist from Denmark.

The music from today's podcast was composed and performed by Bruce Petherick, autistic advocate and neurodivergent musician. To hear more, visit Bruce's website at www.brucepetherick.com

(Note that this was initially recorded as a video webinar)

A conversation about the ins and outs of heading Back to School with tips and tricks for navigating the transition from our expert panel.

PANEL:

Kara Dymond is a neurodivergent elementary school teacher, a teacher instructor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) and an autistic autism consultant with a Canadian school board. Connect with Kara at www.karadymond.com

Bruce Petherick is an Autism Canada team member, autistic advocate, neurodivergent musician, teacher and parent to neurodivergent children. Connect with Bruce at info@autismcanada.org or www.brucepetherick.com

Dominique Chabot is Autism Canada's Family Support Manager and a parent to 2 children on the Autism Spectrum. Connect with Dominique at info@autismcanada.org

SESSION 3:

- IEP's and IPP's

The music from today's podcast was composed and performed by Bruce Petherick, autistic advocate and neurodivergent musician. To hear more, visit Bruce's website at www.brucepetherick.com

(Note that this was initially recorded as a video webinar)

A conversation about the ins and outs of heading Back to School with tips and tricks for navigating the transition from our expert panel.

PANEL:

Kara Dymond is a neurodivergent elementary school teacher, a teacher instructor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) and an autistic autism consultant with a Canadian school board. Connect with Kara at www.karadymond.com

Bruce Petherick is an Autism Canada team member, autistic advocate, neurodivergent musician, teacher and parent to neurodivergent children. Connect with Bruce at info@autismcanada.org or www.brucepetherick.com

Dominique Chabot is Autism Canada's Family Support Manager and a parent to 2 children on the Autism Spectrum. Connect with Dominique at info@autismcanada.org

SESSION 2:

- Self-care for the whole family

- What to do after school on the first days back

- Asking for Learning Strategies (AKA: Accommodations)

- Tips for Homework

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The music from today's podcast was composed and performed by Bruce Petherick, autistic advocate and neurodivergent musician. To hear more, visit Bruce's website at www.brucepetherick.com

(Note that this was initially recorded as a video webinar)

A conversation about the ins and outs of heading Back to School with tips and tricks for navigating the transition from our expert panel.

PANEL:

Kara Dymond is a neurodivergent elementary school teacher, a teacher instructor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) and an autistic autism consultant with a Canadian school board. Connect with Kara at www.karadymond.com

Bruce Petherick is an Autism Canada team member, autistic advocate, neurodivergent musician, teacher and parent to neurodivergent children. Connect with Bruce at info@autismcanada.org or www.brucepetherick.com

Dominique Chabot is Autism Canada's Family Support Manager and a parent to 2 children on the Autism Spectrum. Connect with Dominique at info@autismcanada.org

SESSION 1:

- Preparing for the first days back: What to do the week before, trial runs, back to routines, etc.

- Self-care for caregiver(s), student(s) and family

- Getting back to routines

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The music from today's podcast was composed and performed by Bruce Petherick, autistic advocate and neurodivergent musician. To hear more, visit Bruce's website at www.brucepetherick.com

In this episode, we welcome guest Jude Morrow and guest host Luke Silinski to the podcast.

Jude is an autistic entrepreneur, TEDx speaker, consultant, philanthropist, and the founder of Neurodiversity Training International, the world’s premier neurodiversity-led training and consulting firm (neurodiversity-training.com). In 2001, Jude was diagnosed autistic at the age of eleven, after having been viewed as having communication and social difficulties. Jude’s journey to becoming a proud autistic adult is chronicled in his first book Why Does Daddy Always Look So Sad?, which also follows Jude’s experience of being an autistic dad to his non-autistic son, Ethan. His latest book is Loving Your Place on the Spectrum: A Neurodiversity Blueprint. Jude graduated with an honors degree in social work in 2012 and brings his personal and professional experiences to all the work he does.

You can connect with Jude on social media or via his website, https://www.judemorrow.com

Luke is an autistic self-advocate and Autism Canada Ambassador. He is currently a high school student in Alberta, Canada and the founder of Ag Tech STEAM, where he brings "coding and ag tech to rural kids and educates those not familiar with ag and ag tech to offer options for the future with agriculture, ag tech and STEAM."

Check out Ag Tech STEAM here: https://agtechsteam.ca

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The music from today's podcast was composed and performed by Bruce Petherick, a neurodiverse musician and friend of Autism Canada. To hear more, visit Bruce's website at www.brucepetherick.com

"How you view your child's behaviour is going to inform how you address it". - Sue Simmons

Sue Simmons is a mom, autism advocate, Certified Professional Coach and Certified EFT practitioner who, while exploring ways to help her son, discovered that looking at autism from a developmental perspective and working on adjusting the way she responded to her son's behaviour, helped both of them to decrease frustration and feel more successful every day.

Sue talks about her personal story and shares how she helps other families explore and initiate this new perspective in their lives.

To connect with Sue: https://equinoxfamilyconsulting.com

*NOTE: Autism Canada does not endorse any specific treatments, therapies or medical interventions. Our goal is simply to provide resources and information for family's and individuals.*----more----

The music from today's podcast was composed and performed by Bruce Petherick, a neurodiverse musician and friend of Autism Canada. To hear more, visit Bruce's website at www.brucepetherick.com