Is This Autism? Training – February 19th and 20th

Sep 2, 2025 | Trainings, Upcoming

Registration for this training is coming soon! Sign up to be notified when registration opens.

About the training

Is This Autism? Recognizing and Working with Autistic Clients

Many clinicians remain ill-equipped to recognize autism or have an outdated understanding of it, leading to missed or misdiagnoses, especially in their clients who camouflage. It is critical for professionals working with both children and adults to understand what aspects of a client’s profile are due to autism, other co-occurring conditions, or unrelated diagnoses. In this two-day training, you will learn how to recognize autism in your clients, particularly those who have a less obvious presentation of autism, and what to do next.

This training is appropriate for professionals who: 

  • Work with children, adolescents, or adults,
  • Do assessments or therapy,
  • Have any amount of training (including no training) in autism.

This training with be offered on February 19th & 20th, 8:30 – 4 pm ET, on Zoom. 

Registration

Registration for this training is coming soon! Sign up to be notified when registration opens.

Rates:

  • Registration (by February 16th): $550
  • Continuing Education Credits (for SLPs, Psychologists, Social Workers, LMFTs, and LPCs): $25
    • Cancellations made on or before February 12th, 2025 are eligible for a 100% refund.
    • Cancellations made after February 12th, 2025 are eligible for a 50% refund.
    • No refunds will be issued for same-day cancellations or no-shows.

Books:

Is This Autism?: A Guide for Clinicians and Everyone Else and Is This Autism?: A Companion Guide for Diagnosing are required to be purchased for this workshop. After registering, participants will recieve a discount code to purchase through the publisher or can order elsewhere.

Accessibility Accommodations:

If you require any accommodations, please indicate your needs in the registration form. If you have additional requests or did not include accommodations during registration, please contact us at umarc-workshops@umd.edu.

Continuing Education

Learner Objectives:

  • Understand why clinicians are missing autism in their clients, and why this is important.
  • Describe core characteristics of individuals with a less obvious presentation of autism. 
  • Understand the range of co-occurring conditions that are not part of the diagnostic criteria, but which have an impact on the autistic person.
  • Begin to understand the intersection of race/culture in our work with neurodivergent clients. 
  • Discern the difference between ableist and neurodiversity-affirmative language 

For SLPs:

  • American Speech-Language and Hearing Association (ASHA) CEU certificates have been requested for speech-language pathologists who have attended the entire training. Application has been made to offer this activity for 1.1 ASHA CEUs, professional area, advanced level.
  • The cost for these CE’s will be $25.

For Psychologists, Social Workers, LMFTs, and LPCs:

  • CE’s for psychologists, social workers, LMFT’s, and LPC’s will also be available. The cost for CE’s will be $25. Application is being made to offer this activity for 11.25 CE’s, beginning, mediate, and advanced levels.
    • The Stixrud Group is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The Stixrud Group maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
    • Weaver and Associates is sponsoring continuing eduction for social workers, LMFTs, and LPCs.
    • This training targts intro, intermediate, and advanced levels.
  • All participants who attend the entire training will receive a Certificate of Completion for 11.25 hours signed by our trainers, along with a follow up letter. This follow up letter has been used by attendees to petition their professional organizations to receive CEU credit.
  • If you have any grievance or concerns, please contact: Susan Hammond, Ph.D.

    Email(s): shammond@stixrud.com
    Telephone number(s): 301-565-0534
    Address: 8720 Georgia Ave, Suite 606, Silver Spring, MD 20910

Schedule and Details

The entire workshop will take place over Zoom. Time for breaks and Q&A are embedded throughout the day. A sample schedule is below (subject to change).

Day 1: Recognition and Diagnosis (all times listed are Eastern Standard Time)

8:15 – 8:30 Sign in and tech check
8:30 – 8:45 Introduction and Announcements
8:45 – 11:00 DSM-5-TR diagnostic criteria in clients who camouflage
11:00 – 12:00 Diagnostic Process and Case Example
12:00 – 1:00 Break for Lunch
1:00 – 1:45 Breakout Groups for a 2nd Case Example with Discussion
1:45 – 4:00 Co-occuring Features and Differential Diagnosis

Day 2: Autistic Strengths & Working with Autistic Clients

8:15 – 8:30 Sign in and tech check
8:30 – 8:45 Announcements
8:45 – 10:15 Strengths
10:15 – 10:30 Break
10:30 – 11:00 Intro to Working with Autistic Clients
11:00 – 12:00 Working with Young Children
12:00 – 1:00 Break for Lunch
1:00 – 2:15 Working with Older Teens and Adults
2:15 – 2:30 Break
2:30 – 3:45 Working with Support Networks (caregivers, educators, other clinicians, etc.)
3:45 – 4:oo Q & A and Wrap Up

Our trainers

 Donna Henderson, PsyD

 Donna Henderson is a clinical psychologist specializing in neuropsychological evaluations for children, adolescents, and adults. She’s a frequent lecturer and provides training and consultation for other healthcare professionals.

Sarah Wayland, PhD

Sarah Wayland is the founder of Guiding Exceptional Parents, and co-founder of The Behavior Revolution. She provides neurodiversity-affirmative support, education, and community for parents of neurodivergent children.

Jamell White, PhD, LCSW-C

Jamell White has a background in clinical social work, special education, and human development, and specializes in working with autistic children, adolescents and adults. She has over 20 years of clinical experience.

Disclosure

  • The presenters co-authored the books on which the presentation is based, and as such receive royalties for purchases of those books.