Early Bird

Developing Positive Self-Esteem: How to Help Autistic Individuals Understand Themselves and Their Autism in an Empowering Way

Original price was: $209.00.Current price is: $179.00.

April 29, 2025 8:00 - 3:00pm Central Standard Time

Peter Vermeulen, Ph.D – *Sale price applies to first 50 registrations* Join us for this live interactive webinar as we learn how the autistic cognitive style impacts the development of a realistic and positive self-understanding.

Category: Live Webinars

Autistic individuals understand the world in an atypical way. Their ‘absolute thinking’ does not only affect their understanding of the world around them, but also their own inner world: the world of their emotions, thoughts, desires, and needs. The autistic thinking makes it hard to develop a self-understanding that empowers one to navigate a world that is not always autism friendly. On top of that, comparing themselves with their peers, for whom live seems to be easier, autistic children and youngsters often develop a negative self-esteem.

In this course you will learn how the autistic cognitive style impacts the development of a realistic and positive self-understanding. We will also describe what makes it hard for autistic individuals to understand their own autism and how to cope with it.

We will explore how we can help autistic individuals to develop a good understanding of themselves and their autism. You will learn how to make psycho-education (interventions that aim at explaining the diagnosis to autistic children and adults) autism friendly and neuro-affirmative. We will share our experiences with 25 years of work with ‘I am Special’, a psycho-education programme we developed in the nineties. You will learn about strategies that improve the self-understanding and enhance a positive self-esteem.

Who should attend?

This course is suitable for anyone working or living with children or adults on the autism spectrum: parents, teachers/educators, teaching assistants, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, social workers, counselors, administrators and psychologists. This conference is open to anyone who wishes to attend and there are no prerequisites. This is an intermediate level course.

Below are 3 options for participation:

BUNDLE: Live zoom webinar AND On-Demand Replay (available May 5, 2025-June 5, 2025)

ON-DEMAND ONLY: Access the recording at your own pace between May 5 - June 5, 2025 only

LIVE ZOOM WEBINAR ONLY: Attend live on April 29, 2025 only (also includes a one time live replay of the recording on Saturday May 3, beginning at 10am CT)

View Packet

Registration Form

Professional Development

Earn Grad Level CEUs/PDUs

Speaker

Peter Vermeulen, Ph.D.

Peter Vermeulen, PhD in Psychology and Clinical Educational Sciences, has more than 35 years of experience in the field of autism. Founder of “Autism in Context”, where autism is understood in context. Peter is an internationally respected lecturer/trainer and he presents all over the world. Peter wrote more than 15 books and several articles on autism, some of them translated into more than 10 languages. For his +30 years of work in the field of autism, he received in 2019 a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Financial Disclosure: Peter Vermeulen, Ph.D. receives an honorarium for his presentation with AEP Connections, LLC. Dr. Vermeulen is a paid autism trainer and also receives royalties for the books that he has written.

Non-Financial: Dr. Vermeulen has reported no conflicts of interest, financial, or non-financial regarding this presentation.

Objectives

Learning objectives:

1. Define “Theory of Own Mind”

2. Identify at least 3 conditions necessary to develop a good understanding of oneself

3. Explain the importance of context in self-knowledge and provide at least 2 examples of how self-understanding requires contextual sensitivity

4. Describe how the autistic thinking affects the understanding of self and the understanding of your own autism diagnosis

5. Identify at least 3 principles of an autism friendly psycho-education

6. Develop materials and/or adapt existing materials to inform autistic individuals about their diagnosis in a positive and neuro-affirmative way

Schedule

CENTRAL TIME ZONE

7:50 am – 8:00 am Registration Opens

8:00 am – 9:30 am Part 1: Autistic thinking: the consequences for self-understanding and self-esteem

Understanding yourself: what is Theory of Own Mind?
Theory of Own Mind and the autistic cognition – a predictive coding perspective
Self-concept and self-esteem in autism: what does research tell us?

9:30 am – 9:45 am Break

9:45 am – 11:15 am Part 2: Understanding your own autism:

The challenges of understanding your own autism
Informing children, youngsters and adults about their diagnosis (psycho-education)
Should we inform them about their diagnosis, when and how?

11:15 am -11:45 am Lunch Break

11:45 am – 1:15 pm Part 3: Improving the self-understanding of autistic individuals:

What have we learned from 25 years of psycho-education in autism?
How to make psycho-education more autism-friendly: strategies to talk about autism in a positive and neuro-affirmative way

1:15 pm – 1:30 pm Break

1:30 pm – 3:00 pm Part 4: How to improve the self-understanding in an empowering way

Helping autistic individuals to understand themselves in context:
- Me and the other ones
- Let’s not make the autism too big: understanding my autism in context
From “I am Special” to “H.A.P.P.Y.”

Professional Development Offerings

ASHA CEUs

Each program (day) is offered for .6 ASHA CEUs. Full attendance and a completed evaluation required for satisfactory completion of ASHA CEUs.

Provider approval and use of the Brand Block does not imply endorsement of course content, specific products, or clinical procedures.

NBCC

AEP Connections, LLC has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7173. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. AEP Connections, LLC is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.

Available NBCC Clock Hours: 6

NASP

AEP Connections is approved by the National Association of School Psychologists to offer continuing education for school psychologists. AEP Connections maintains responsibility for the program. NASP Approved Provider #1165. A code to access the course evaluation will be provided in segments throughout the webinar, to ensure full participation. Full attendance and a course evaluation are required for satisfactory completion.

NASW

This program is Approved by the National Association of Social Workers (Approval #886925205-5977) for 6 continuing education contact hours. Category: Social Work. Course approval expiration: 2/28/2026.

ASWB

AEP Connections, LLC, #1332, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: 1/27/2025- 1/27/2028. Social workers completing this course receive 6 continuing education credits. Full attendance, a course evaluation and an additional post test is required for satisfactory completion.

AOTA

AEP Connections, LLC is an AOTA Approved Provider of professional development. Course approval ID 11601. This distance learning – interactive is offered at .6 CEUs. Intermediate, OT Service Delivery. AOTA does not endorse specific course content, products, or clinical procedures. A course evaluation with additional post test questions is required for satisfactory completion.

CERTIFICATE OF ATTENDANCE

Up to 6 hours for the day. Attendance will be checked via ZOOM log in/log out and time attended will be reflected on the certificate. A course evaluation is required for satisfactory completion.