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The BCBA's who work with our Autistic students to see and read this as well

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Add more to "autistic social communication" as indicating individual autistic social communication patterns.  Every autistic student has there own social communication patterns

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Add more to "autistic social communication" as indicating individual autistic social communication patterns.  Every autistic student has there own social communication patterns

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All forms of communication, both verbal and non-verbal, are valid and should be encouraged and honored

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All forms of communication, both verbal and non-verbal, are valid and should be encouraged and honored

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if the ESA leads, legal, sped directors, etc. have seen this document and will we be supported legally if parents challenge not evaluating and/or not teaching masking

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if the ESA leads, legal, sped directors, etc. have seen this document and will we be supported legally if parents challenge not evaluating and/or not teaching masking

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The support I feel when I read this!

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the articles attached to provide a reference

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the articles attached to provide a reference

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I wonder how we can add or change some verbiage around the 'stimming' statement - I like that we strive to accept and support the sensory input and stimulatory needs, but maybe the statement could also include encouraging students to meet their own needs while also offering redirection or education for stims that are harmful to the student or others? Open to wording ideas!

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My group appreciated that the statement was cited with updated research that can referred back to

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That this can be used with our SPS teams/colleagues as well as with families

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What about students who qualify for social behavior for neurodiverse behaviors that we don't think we should be supporting? How do we support them in making sure their team follows a neuroaffirming approach? Not all students who require social behavior services will need SLP but all students will need support for neuroaffirming practices.

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Thank you! Thank you! So appreciative of the effort and time that went into this position statement.

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I like that this statement states what therapy "should focus on" and what we are working towards in addition to sharing what we are not doing. I think that will help with buy in, and makes the framework/statement positive.

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I like validating students' strong interests

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That the information was presented in a succinct form that is digestible.

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That the information was presented in a succinct form that is digestible.

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There is power in numbers, and I think this will be impactful to have a shared position statement on this topic.

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to know when this will roll out and how it will be rolled out? will it be on us to present to our teams and families, will this be applied district-wide.

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to know when this will roll out and how it will be rolled out? will it be on us to present to our teams and families, will this be applied district-wide.

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This information is so helpful!

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I would love for us to get away from talking about "stims" or "self-stim" and maybe come around to "regulatory" or "self-reg". I'm not sure where the autistic community is on this (not a member) but it seems like better language to describe the actual function of the behaviors, which is important I think.

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Taking on the leadership to make this shift within our district for the best outcomes for our students.

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I really like this statement. I think it is very clear.

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Seeing students as important as they are!

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Seeing students as important as they are!

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I like the clarity about what SLP services should encompass in this realm. This list is clear and concise and will be easy to put into reports/IEPs.

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how will this impact eligibility and treatment goals for IEPs

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how will this impact eligibility and treatment goals for IEPs

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Can we add more areas of qualification to this/come up with something similar for more areas of service?

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Can we add more areas of qualification to this/come up with something similar for more areas of service?

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e.g. artic/fluency students who don't want to work on their speech

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How to advocate and teach other professionals about Neurodiverse Affirming Practices so that the entire district can begin to shift

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How to advocate and teach other professionals about Neurodiverse Affirming Practices so that the entire district can begin to shift

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Very happy to have this as a resource.

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I like that this gives me a place to get support in conversations around student goals. 

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I like that this gives me a place to get support in conversations around student goals. 

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This will be great to share with parents and teachers.

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Would making this document a little broader (E.g. with PT/OTs, for all kids instead of just autistic kids) be more thoughtful and effective in using with families and school community members.

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How do we get this out to special education teachers and staff without SLPs having to do all the education.

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The utility of these statements for evaluation reports

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The utility of these statements for evaluation reports

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for stims - adding in a caveat about harm to self or others would be addressed 

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for stims - adding in a caveat about harm to self or others would be addressed 

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Sped case managers and other providers to be aware of this document

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Sped case managers and other providers to be aware of this document

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It would be great for this to be presented to school psychologists as well! And for sped case managers to be aware.

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that there are sources listed to support the positions in the doc! very helpful!

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For younger students, I wonder about including more information about gestalts (examples of different types, how they help students, why they're important, etc.)

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For younger students, I wonder about including more information about gestalts (examples of different types, how they help students, why they're important, etc.)

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the phrase "self-knowledge" and promoting that in our ND students

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the phrase "self-knowledge" and promoting that in our ND students

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What will evaluation procedures look like?

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What will evaluation procedures look like?

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If we are committing to this position statement, I think that we also need to update and clarify what tools are appropriate to use for Social Comm/Pragmatics assessments/qualifying for services (e.g., CELF-5 Pragmatics Profile)?

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I like that we have this cohesive document to use and reference as a group. I like that it specifies the neurodiversity affirming areas SLPs focus on.

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I wonder if there are any differences or language specific to early educations.

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creating a neurodiversity affirming goal bank.

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would there be any autistic SPS students or staff that would want to offer input?

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This will be useful for use with students and their families thanks!! And a step to remedy historical practices!

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to share with my SPED staff at my school

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The whole document. Thanks for drafting it!

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While I appreciate that value of presenting these ideas to staff and parents so they can understand their students better, I wonder if this isn't for ALL forms of neurodiversity and whether we are simply asking our parents and staff to foster empathy and understand that our students' behaviors all serve a purpose as attempts to communicate. Also, perhaps some modes of communication are not ALWAYS appropriate at ALL times. It's not cut and dry.

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Karma deserves a raise for this marvelous document! THANK YOU!!!!

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many thanks for all your hard work on this

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Thank you for all the work that was put into developing this document. Your hard work is noticed and appreciated!

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how to engage our youngest students in creating their goals (one idea from this week's ASHA Leader is to say, "Draw a picture of a good school day").

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How firm and concise this is! It’s accessible and makes these concepts easy to understand. The glossary is helpful for new terms that may feel overwhelming for some

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How do we envision using this document out in an IEP meeting with a family, particularly where there are differences with home language, culture, literacy in English, etc.

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1) Examples of ND affirming goals across the age span; 2) How do IEP Teams honor the child by giving them the opportunity to be their true selves, but also address behaviors that have typically been called "disruptive"?

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I like having shared terminology and definitions to work from as a group.  Thank you!

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I like having shared terminology and definitions to work from as a group.  Thank you!

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I wonder whether this document could also be used to indicate an autistic student needing a 504 plan rather than an IEP, as a disability does not necessarily indicate a need for special education services if there isn't an adverse impact.

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Training Presentations for other SPED Staff

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Training Presentations for other SPED Staff

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It would be awesome if there were template presentations by grade band (Pre-K, Elem, Middle, High) for SLP's to pull from (and possibly customize individually) to present to staff supporting autistic students to educate them on the neuroaffirming approach.

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To laminate this and carry it around with me

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To laminate this and carry it around with me

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I want to be sure that our definition of 'disability' acknowledges the extra challenge that comes with having a disability. Disability is beyond difference. Disability is not just a mismatch between needs and context (that's me when I forget my coffee in the morning). Our students who have disabilities are working harder for the same or less progress. In fairness to these students, it's important to recognize the hard work they're doing! Additionally, disability brings particular legal rights. Watering down or obscuring the added challenge that disability entails risks diminishing the understanding of this.

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Thank you very much for your work to gather language and statements in other areas that Karma listed (GLP, eligibility criteria, etc). This is no small task and these documents support our work and advocacy on our teams in our schools.

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I like that this centers the belief that everyone really gets to be who they really are (and also that we are in a role of supporting them in identifying their identity and helping them learn new skills).

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neurodiversity affirming + growth oriented

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neurodiversity affirming + growth oriented

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I wonder how to make sure that we are helping our neurodivergent students develop the range of skills that is possible for them (like we work with our allistic students to help them increase their range of skills) while honoring their true neurodivergence. I think some parents will hear this as a lowering of expectations. I wonder how we can effectively present this as a framework for supporting neurodivergent students in their on-going development of new and expanded communication skills.

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Our previous eligibility guidelines had examples and non-examples of adverse educational impact for each area of qualification. Can we look at adding this back to that document? Current guidelines have this for stuttering/fluency, pragmatics, and voice. Hoping new neuro-affirming guidelines will include examples/non-examples, and that we can add these back for artic and language.