Southern Utah Autism Conference 2025: Full Schedule

9:30am PDT

How to get your autistic child to sleep through the night.

Saturday April 26, 2025 9:30am - 10:30am PDT

I have read a ton of research on healthy sleep practices. I have a level 3 autistic child and through implementing these practices, he now sleeps about 10-12 hours each night without waking up. Helping a family get their child on a healthy sleep schedule is so important because lack of sleep will affect everyone. Once families can get their kids to sleep well, the parents can then have more time for self-care and improving their relationships. So in this session, we will discuss best practices for helping autistic children get a healthy amount of sleep.

Speakers

Sage Allen

Saturday April 26, 2025 9:30am - 10:30am PDT
Room C5

Behavior at Home

Audience Families

10:35am PDT

Disability & Special Needs Planning Made Easy;

Saturday April 26, 2025 10:35am - 11:35am PDT

Room C5

Join us for an informative and educational workshop for family members with loved ones of all ages with Autism or any other types of physical or cognitive disabilities or special needs. The topics covered in this workshop include Guardianship vs Alternatives to Guardianship, Wills, Family Trusts, Special Needs Trusts, SSI, Social Security Disability, Social Security Retirement/Survivors Benefits, Medicaid/Medicare, ABLE Accounts, Budget Planning and Lifestyle/Transition Planning. This workshop will explain why these disability and special needs planning aspects and documents are important to have and how they complement each other in a plan designed to protect yourself, your family and/or your loved one’s current and future quality of life and care. Don’t be afraid to plan… be afraid if you don’t plan.

Speakers

Andre Sam

Comprehensive Disability/Special Needs Planner, Disability & Special Needs Project

Andre Sam, CRPC®, APMA®, is a Comprehensive Disability/Special Needs Planner with the Disability & Special Needs Project. Upon earning a Bachelors Degree in Economics from the University of Arizona, Andre began a career in Comprehensive Disability and Special Needs Planning. Andre... Read More →

Saturday April 26, 2025 10:35am - 11:35am PDT
Room C5

Audience Caregivers

11:40am PDT

How to deal with extended family members that don't "get" autism.

Saturday April 26, 2025 11:40am - 12:40pm PDT

Room C5

An autism diagnosis can often cause strain on relationships with extended family members. Autism causes many families to totally change how they do life and those changes can be hard for extended family members to accept. In this session, we will talk about how to foster a good relationship with these extended family members who don't understand autism or who are not supportive. We will talk about communication, setting appropriate boundaries, and regulating our emotions around these people. We will discuss being intentional about how we want to react to unthoughtful comments from extended family members. I have a Master's degree in Marriage, Family, and Human Development and I have a lot of personal experience in navigating these tricky relationships with my own family.

Speakers

Sage Allen

Saturday April 26, 2025 11:40am - 12:40pm PDT
Room C5

Communication

Audience Families

1:30pm PDT

Lego Therapy: Building Social Skills in Home and School Environments

Saturday April 26, 2025 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT

Room C5

DEVELOPING A LEGO THERAPY PROGRAM FOR SOCIAL, COMMUNICATION, and IMPULSE CONTROL SKILL DEVELOPMENT IN BOTH SCHOOLS AND HOMES

Lego Therapy is a research-based intervention for individuals on the Autism spectrum that is under utilized and can be implemented effectively in a home or school environment. This session will address how to create a Lego Therapy Program and support implementation in homes or schools; specifically how to do Lego Therapy; the specific social, emotional, impulse-control, and communication skills that Lego Therapy targets; the current data on Lego Therapy effectiveness; and how to incorporate it into Tier 2 School Intervention/SpEd programs and home environments. Participants will get a hands-on demonstration of a Lego Therapy session as well as the informational materials needed to get started on Lego Therapy in their home or school.

Speakers

Brynn Bell

LCSW, BCBA, George Washington Academy

Brynn Bell is passionate about mental health therapy and applied behavior analysis (ABA) and is especially outspoken about the importance of early intervention and working with youth. She has worked in an ABA clinic setting providing both mental health and behavior analysis services... Read More →

Saturday April 26, 2025 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT
Room C5

Communication

Audience Families, Educators

2:30pm PDT

Teaching Flexible Thinking: Strategies for Autism Spectrum Individuals

Saturday April 26, 2025 2:30pm - 3:30pm PDT

Room C5

FLEXIBLE THINKING...WE ALL NEED IT, BUT HOW DO WE TEACH IT?
Rigidity in some form or another impacts individuals on the Autism spectrum and can be pretty difficult to combat. This session will explore different methods, visuals, and language to teach flexible thinking. This session will increase caregivers' skills at fostering a better understanding in their loved one on the spectrum of equality versus equity, all or nothing thinking, size of reaction matching the size of problem, growth mindset, and CBT thinking errors related to rigidity.

Speakers

Brynn Bell

LCSW, BCBA, George Washington Academy

Saturday April 26, 2025 2:30pm - 3:30pm PDT
Room C5

Behavior at Home

Audience Families

Southern Utah Autism Conference 2025

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