Overview

Working with autism is a key skill requirement for practitioners working with young people. This includes the ability to adapt therapeutic interventions in a way that is meaningful to neurodivergent young people. 

This 2-part webinar will guide psychologists through some of the key practical strategies and adaptations to ensure your work is fun, flexible and impactful. 

Webinar 1: Monday, 7 July 2025, 9.30am-1:30pm AEST

Webinar 2: Tuesday, 8 July 2025, 9.30am-1:30pm AEST

Through an Acceptance Commitment Therapy framework, participants will learn how to promote flexibility in young people and parents via:

• guiding young people towards a valued and meaningful life in the face of difficulty,
• teaching of flexibility to young people to enable them to manage difficult thoughts and feelings as they emerge,
• enhancing willingness to experience difficulty via cognitive and behavioural techniques,
• recognising the “why” behind a behaviour to help guide adult action with the best chance of success,
• utilising language that promotes better listening and calmer responses,
• understanding differences in brain function that impact a child’s responses,
• preventing meltdowns,
• developing persistence,
• celebrating diversity and the strengths that typically accompany neurodivergence, particularly autism, and
• recognising best times and best methods for teaching social skills through a neuro-affirming lens.

Target audience

This highly practical workshop is designed for professionals who are already familiar with autistic presentations, including psychologists, social workers, paediatricians, counsellors, teachers, speech pathologists, occupational therapists and behaviour analysts.

Level of Learning

Intermediate. This activity is targeted to those who have some previous learning on the topic.

Duration of access

These webinars will be recorded and made available only to participants of the live event for 12 months. The recording is not intended to replace live participation.

Places are limited and registration will not be available after the webinar has taken place.

Related activities

The following on-demand activities may be of interest to you on this topic.

• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy with children
• Neuro-affirming ACT for autistic kids and teens

APS CPD-Approved

This activity has been assessed against the APS Standards for CPD activities and approved for its education quality. Learn more about the APS CPD Approval process.

CPD Frequently Asked Questions

Refer to the APS CPD Frequently Asked Questions for general and technical information when undertaking APS Professional development activities.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of these webinars, participants should be able to:

• engage effectively and in a meaningful way with neurodivergent kids and teens,

• assist parents to understand and manage dysregulated behaviour, and

• identify practical strategies to assist young people to manage difficult thoughts and feelings as they emerge.

Presenter(s)

Jodie Wassner MAPS

About the presenter(s)

Jodie Wassner is an Educational and Developmental Psychologist with over 25 years of experience counselling young people and their families in Melbourne and Sydney. She divides her professional time equally between clinic work with young people and educational training for psychologists and other health professionals, via local and international workshops, as well as supervision for psychologists and provisional psychologists worldwide.
She is especially familiar with the issues that are likely to emerge across the developmental period and has extensive experience working with anxiety, depression, autism, attention deficits, learning difficulties, grief, anger, family conflict, bullying, sleep disturbance, stress management, social skills, school attendance problems, eating disturbance and OCD.