Ecologies of Autism

a collective exploration

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Structure of the Course

 

1. This course includes four live and virtual, 90-minute sessions (content descriptions below), with time allotted for dialogue, questions, reflections, and guidance on how to apply the content. The sessions are scheduled at a cadence of one per week.

 

1. Before the initial session, each participant will have a 30-minute individual virtual meeting with myself. At this meeting, participants may share any motivations, hopes, or goals for taking the course, and I will utilize what is shared to personalize the course.

 

1. Four, weekly one hour Q & A virtual sessions (this will either be individual or if more than one participant, the group of participants will attend). Some guidance will be offered for inquiring and exploring at the end of each course session.

 

 

Who is this Course for?

 

This course has been designed for parents and loved ones of autistic folx, for mental health professionals and for the public. These populations will not mix if in groups (i.e., only mental health professionals will be with one another). This course may also be with one individual at a time. 10 CEU’s will be provided for licensed mental health professionals who are licensed in Texas.

 

The schedule will be solidified after enrollment and will be determined upon mutual availability between myself and the participant(s). However, the course is intended to be completed within 4 weeks.

 

Session Descriptions

 

Session 1: The Fertilizer and The Compost

 

Whiteness and Neurotipicality, Umwelten, Pathology, Myths, Disability, The Allistic World, Allism, Knowledge Systems, Colonialism, Behaviorism. An exploration of the ontologies, epistemologies and histories that influence what autism means to us. What is autism? Unlearn, learn, and make space for creating.

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Session 2: Autistic Perception (part 1)

 

The Autistic Brain, Alexithymia, Synesthesia, ‘Delayed Processing’, Pattern Recognition, Time, Metaphors, Trauma, Risks of Neurodegenerative Diseases (and preventative protocols), Anxiety, Meltdowns and Shutdowns. Western Science’s obsession with the autistic brain is both poison and medicine. This session re-imagines and re-distributes the scientific knowledge of the autistic brain to understand autistic perception from the view of the autistic.

 

Session 3: Autistic Perception (part 2)

 

Language, Communication, Representation, Bionic Reading, The Body, The Vestibular System, Proprioception, Interception, Feeling and the More-Than, Morality. Examples, videos, and sensorial play for inviting in the autistic ways of being, moving, connecting, and perceiving.

 

Session 4: The Harvest

 

Feeling Trapped; the Ineffable; The micro, meso and macro systems and autism; Late Diagnosed Autistics; What Autistics say they would like from the world. Integration session for exploring where we go from here? What questions may best serve us?

 

 

Course cost: $1500.00

 

*Includes 4 weeks of one, 90-minute course content session; 4, one-hour Q & A sessions; and an initial 30-minute individual meeting.

 

*$200.00 discount per person for groups of 3 or more.

 

*Discount for students, intern level clinicians and those with less access to wealth.

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*Payment plans available.

 

 

About the Educator/Facilitator

 

Kristina Yarbrough is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and a Ph.D. Candidate in Depth Psychology. Kristina has worked in counseling and social services for over 20 years in Texas, Mexico City and Seattle. Clients in Kristina’s work have included autistic folx of all ages, and autistic folx who are in diverse relationships with their autistic ways of being, knowing and doing. Kristina has also worked with the partners, parents, and families of autistic folx, and in their schools and communities as an advocate. Kristina is also autistic.

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Some Resources Used in this Course

 

Erin Manning, Ph.D. (2012). Always More Than One: Individuation’s Dance

 

Naoki Higashida (2007). The Reason I Jump.

 

Temple Grandin (2013). The autistic brain.

 

Crespi, B. (2021). “Pattern Unifies Autism”

 

Zhao et. al. (2022). Alterations of Prefrontal-Posterior Information Processing Patterns in Autism Spectrum Disorders.

 

MIND Institute (2022). Amygdala changes in autistic individuals linked to anxiety.

 

Hannah Gadspy, Douglas (Netflix)

 

Amanda Baggs, “In my language” (YouTube)

 

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.).

 

https://embrace-autism.com/autistic-brain-differences-connectivity/

 

https://psychcentral.com/blog/aspie/2018/09/allism-spectrum-disorders-a-parody#Allism