Discovering a New Pathway for Your Child with Autism
Connect, Communicate, Grow Seminars
16, 17 September, 2017 Te Papa, Wellington, NZ
14, 15, 16, October, 2017 Apaes Centre, Cali, Colombia
Daily Schedule from 9:30am – 4:30pm
Location:
TBD (Soon)
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
November, 2017
Daily Schedule from 9:30am – 4:30pm
Location:
TBD (Soon)
Bahia Blanca, Argentina
Spring, 2018
Daily Schedule from 9:30am – 4:30pm
Location:
TBD (Soon)
Our Connect, Communicate, Grow workshops are helpful for families with a child with autism who are interested in starting a play-based autism program as well as experienced families who could benefit from a recharge and reminder of key strategies. It is also a powerful seminar for training and supporting volunteers who are spending time in a child’s playroom.
Inspirational! Sean was knowledgeable, relaxed, clear, friendly, and happy to answer a lot of questions from the audience. He gave excellent advice; practical and easy to follow.
Heather Oliver, Ashley 2
Sean has close to 20 years experience in the field of autism. Specialising in Relationship Based Autism Programs he has led seminars in more than 10 countries and worked with hundreds of families worldwide. Author of the Playbook: How to Play and Grow with a Child on the Autistic Spectrum, Sean’s workshops have been described by parents as “Mind-blowing”, “life changing” and, “the most valuable seminar we have attended”.
Connect, Communicate, Grow, is a play based, relationship centred social development program that will appeal to parents and professionals who are seeking an alternative to traditional autism behavioural therapy.
At our autism workshop with Autism Specialist Sean Fitzgerald you will learn:
How to inspire a child with autism to engage and learn.
Strategies to promote social connection.
Strategies to develop communication and language.
Techniques for responding to and changing your child’s challenging behaviour.
Practical tools for maintaining an inspired attitude with your child.
How to tailor the strategies across different ages and developmental levels.
Ways to customise this approach to suit a full-time or part time program with school.
An ideal seminar for parents and a great training opportunity for professionals.
We will teach you how to:
Connect and play with your child in a way that inspires increased enjoyment and willingness to socially respond.
Create an environment for your child that encourages them to look, play and engage with the people in their life.
Acquire skills to help your child achieve a greater attention span. As interactive attention span develops, all subsequent learning becomes easier.
Use fun play-based learning as a way to powerfully target language development.
The topics we will cover include:
Autism: A Developmental Perspective
Understanding how children with autism develop in comparison to typically developing children enables the identification of core areas of strength and challenge. You will learn about the psychology and neurology of autism then how to use this knowledge to design a powerful and focused social educational curriculum to help change a child’s developmental path.
The Importance of Dynamic Social Engagement
All children, including those with autism, learn through motivating interactive experiences with other people. Understanding how to create dynamic and inviting social experiences for a child with autism is key to helping that child learn. Throughout the workshop you will learn and practice this skill.
An Empowered and Coherent Attitude
Social engagement is a dynamic process. The emotional state of the adults participating in the interaction is crucial. Creating an attitude of acceptance and appreciation is essential to inspiring a child with autism to engage and learn. You will learn practical tools for creating and maintaining this attitude.
Creating an Optimal Learning Environment
Understanding the neurology of autism enables the design of both physical and social environments that support children in their learning process. You will learn how to create an optimal environment for a child with autism by adapting both the physical and social environments.
Inviting Interaction
Learn the skills necessary to spontaneously create play-based social experiences for a child with autism that captivate a child, inspire social engagement and encourage social development.
Inspiring Communication
Special attention will be given to to the development of communication and language. By understanding how language develops and learning techniques to encourage development, you will know how to inspire a child to make the sustained effort it takes to learn more language.
Teaching Methods
Children – and adults – learn the most through fun interactive sessions. So we have designed the workshop to be fun and interactive. There will be plenty of time for you to participate. We have developed activities to help you understand key concepts and practice crucial skills. There will also be time for you to ask questions, share your experience and make sure you leave knowing exactly how to begin running a program.
Video Analysis
We will show you video footage of experts working with a variety of different children with autism and explore and analyze the videos together.
Written Material
We have interesting visual aids and informative written material to take home.
