Autism in the Classroom

Credit

Speaker

Emily Kircher-Morris, MA, MEd, LPC Related seminars and products

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Emily Kircher-Morris, MA, MEd, LPC, is a licensed professional counselor specializing in neurodivergent children, adolescents, and adults. With a background in both education and mental health, she integrates neurodiversity-affirming and strengths-based approaches into her clinical work, consultation, and training for clinicians.

Emily is the host of The Neurodiversity Podcast, where she explores evidence-informed counseling practices, identity development, executive functioning, and systemic supports for neurodivergent individuals. She is the author of multiple books, including Neurodiversity-Affirming Schools: Transforming Practices So All Students Feel Accepted and Supported (2025). She provides continuing education and professional development nationally and internationally.

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Emily Kircher-Morris is the owner of Neurodiversity Alliance and the podcast host of The Neurodiversity Podcast. She receives compensation as a consultant and national speaker. Emily Kircher-Morris receives royalties as a published author. She receives a speaking honorarium from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Emily Kircher-Morris is a member of the National Association for Gifted Children.

Additional Info

Program Information

You will have access for 90 days after the program for review. For live CE credit, you must watch the live webcast in its entirety at its scheduled time and complete the CE quiz and evaluation within one week. Please note that this requirement may vary by credit type. Please see detailed credit information for specific requirements for each credit type.

Please note: There will be a 70-minute lunch and two 15-minute breaks; one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Lunch and break times will be announced by the speaker and at their discretion. A more detailed schedule is available upon request.

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Objectives

1. Analyze how autistic neurotype may influence student presentation in school settings, including patterns that are commonly misunderstood or under-identified.
2. Interpret social communication differences in autistic students and how they may influence classroom participation, peer interactions, and relationship needs in school settings.
3. Differentiate how repetitive patterns, sensory differences, intense interests, and predictability needs may influence regulation and classroom functioning for autistic students compared to their neuro-normative peers.
4. Identify how nervous system demands, cumulative stress, and masking may contribute to overload, participation difficulties, and recovery needs for autistic students in school settings.
5. Apply a neurodiversity-affirming framework to respond to autistic student behavior based on regulation, communication, sensory experience, and context rather than punitive or compliance-based assumptions.
6. Use classroom systems, environmental supports, and accommodations to reduce barriers and support regulation, access, and participation for autistic students.

Outline

Understand Autism in School Settings

• Autism as a neurotype, not a checklist of deficits
• Common misconceptions and stereotypes that shape how students are perceived
• Subtle presentations and the gap between internal experience and outward appearance
• Co-occurring profiles and the difference between diagnosis, educational identification, and school-based support
• Discussion of limitations and risks

Communication, Relationships, and Social Experience

• Why social communication differences are so frequently misread
• Process time, pragmatic language, and classroom communication expectations
• Eye contact, body language, tone, and participation styles
• Peer misunderstandings, social vulnerability, and supporting authentic connection

Repetitive Patterns, Sensory Differences, and Predictability Needs

• Repetitive movements, routines, and intense interests as meaningful and often regulatory
• Sensory processing differences and their impact on attention and daily functioning
• Predictability needs and support around uncertainty and change
• Monotropism, deep interests, and demand sensitivity in classroom contexts

Stress, Overload, and Regulation in School

• Regulation as a body-based, relational, and environmental process
• Overload, shutdown, withdrawal, and meltdowns
• Masking, chronic strain, and autistic burnout
• Why students who appear fine at school are often struggling beneath the surface

Reframe Behavior Through a More Accurate Lens

• Why autistic behavior is so often misread in school settings
• Distinguish distress, overload, and unmet needs from willful noncompliance
• The limits of punitive and compliance-based approaches
• De-escalation, co-regulation, repair, and collaborative problem-solving

Classroom Supports That Improve Access and Participation

• Predictability, routines, visual supports, and reduced ambiguity
• Environmental design that lowers cognitive and sensory load
• Flexible participation, transition supports, and built-in regulation opportunities
• Accommodations matched to real barriers in communication, regulation, and learning

Target Audience

• Counselors
• School Counselors
• General Education Teachers
• Special and Gifted Education Teachers
• School and Clinical Social Workers
• School Administrators
• Psychologists
• School Psychologists
• Ancillary Service Providers
• Speech and Language Therapists, Occupational Therapists, Physical Therapists