Description:

Hypnotic conversations explore, evoke, engage and reallocate and experiential resources. Having hypnotic conversations with young people who meet criteria for autism spectrum disorder (ASD), presents challenges both in relating and accessing resources. The challenge extends to helping their parents to better parent by seeing them as resourceful and capable. Recent research supports viewing ASD through an autonomic diversity lens such that restrictive and repetitive behaviors (RRB) are self-regulatory efforts to moderate sympathetic arousal and increase vagal (parasympathetic) tone. In practice this means that, rather than teaching young people with ASD to suppress RRB, we can help them utilize them for comfort and competence. In this workshop, we will identify and apply skills for hypnotic conversations that open opportunities for growth and change by building rapport, helping young people with ASD to self-regulate in creative ways, and supporting parents at their growing edge. The lessons learned in this role-playing and discussion broadly apply.

Educational Objectives:

1. List four fundamental skills for having hypnotic conversations.
2. Identify at least three caveats for clinicians using therapeutic communication with young people who meet criteria for autism spectrum disorder.
3. Delineate steps in a therapeutic interaction that can help young people with autism spectrum disorder access and utilize restrictive and repetitive behaviors more adaptively.
4. List three parenting practices that can be conveyed and modeled in hypnotic conversation.

*Sessions may be edited for content and to preserve confidentiality*