Autism workshop/seminar/discussion magnum opus cursum

Autism workshop/seminar/discussion magnum opus coursus.

Designed by Lisa Be for Project Vortex

As you may know, I’m doing research at a lab at Harvard where I focus on autistic women. One thing I’ve learned is there are lots of easy, objective tests we can give ourselves to determine if we have biological markers for autism. I’m excited to share those with you so we don’t have to have any more discussions about everyone asking themselves do I have or don’t I?

I also notice the news that will help women the most is very slow to get to the public. So I’m offering a workshop to give autistic women groundbreaking research into their lives right now. The workshop will meet once a week for ten weeks, starting this week. Here are some topics we’ll cover:

  1. Use the same techniques that labs do to quickly diagnose female subjects for autism. It’s easy and fun. You can try it out on everyone.
  2. Question people who say they improve executive function. Science says only two things work, and they’re really weird things.
  3. What to do about a speech delay when research shows it’s more important to decrease the mother’s stress levels than get a kid into speech therapy.
  4. Don’t look for friends, look for special interests, the friends will follow. Neurotypical girls make friends their special interest; no wonder we were lost in junior high.
  5. Find out the one thing autistic women do that makes all camouflaging fail. But also, does this mean we can all stop trying to mask?
  6. The biggest problem autistic women have is emotional isolation. If an autistic woman isn’t feeling that then her kids are; understanding why helps you understand what drives you.

We’ll also have a discussion board to talk about any topic that interests you as it relates to women and autism. I’ll drop in each day to shed some light — or some tears — because it’s always in the free-for-all where I learn the most.

Closeup you see that we’ve all had to navigate the world in similar ways as autistic girls and women — knowing there was something wrong but we didn’t know what. Some researchers call us the lost generation of autism but talking with you all makes me feel like the found generation.

People are joining from all over the world, so the meeting times accommodate a range of time zones:

Tuesday 9pm Eastern
Wednesday 8am Eastern
Thursday 5pm Eastern

The deadline to sign up is this weekend. The cost is $150.

Sign up here.

And one more thing. I’m going to send videos of me and my friends talking about autism. This video is me with Caitlin. You get it without even signing up; in the middle she talks about a group of autistic women we created a few years ago that was so transformative to her. How could you listen to that and not sign up now? Really?

 

13 replies
  1. Sean Crawforld
    Sean Crawforld says:

    I like how this page is filed under “diversity” implying that “persons with autism” are a significant group, a group deserving to be out of the closet and receiving due care and attention.

    I really only learned this idea from years reading this blog, so good for you Penelope.
    By the way, I (knowingly) know only one man with A (I can’t spell it) syndrome and that has been informative.

    • Penelope Trunk
      Penelope Trunk says:

      Thanks for asking. Amazing that I forgot to include this info. It starts this week, but so many people signed up late, probably because of me not putting a start time in the announcement, that I’m recording this first week so no one misses anything.

      Penelope

  2. carrie
    carrie says:

    $150 is way too much for just an interested observer, so I’ll be looking out for more teasers like the one you posted, that was good!

    • Melanie
      Melanie says:

      I understand the reasoning as I thought the same, but then I figured it’s ten sessions so that makes it $15 a pop, plus extra sessions here and there – so it’s actually more bang for your buck than some of the other courses :p

  3. cortney
    cortney says:

    i think you may have made the right choice regarding the plane flight. i say do not push someone with autism to do something when they’re in the burnout zone unless you are going to offer concrete support. what happens when you find yourself at an engagement with nothing left to give and you melt down? what does that do for you self-esteem and professional reputation? we have to honor our own boundaries regarding our energy levels.

  4. Alison
    Alison says:

    Might you be re-running this? Now that I subscribe to your email updates I would know about it in time to take part. Thanks!

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