Hello again! I feel like I should probably apologise for being a bit ‘sporadic’ with my email newsletters. Although maybe not? Maybe some of you like the fact that I’m not organised (she says, hopefully!). I’ve been a bit busy, as per usual. I’ll start by sharing that I recently went to visit our eldest daughter who is currently studying in America.
That meant I had a week in New York; I was able to take my Dad with me on this trip, which was so lovely. I took nearly 800 photos and I will be writing a full blog post to describe all we got up to soon, with tips for anyone else who might want to visit NYC.
I’ve also been busy at home, recording more podcasts and webinars for different sessions - promise I will share more about those in the next newsletter! I really enjoyed the ‘In conversation With’ book launch event at our lovely local independent bookshop and was thrilled when I popped into town today and saw a copy of our book PDA in the Family sitting on the shelf in Waterstones - next to Temple Grandin and Pete Wharmby no less! That was a real ‘wow’ moment for me. I signed the book and put it back and hope that somebody picks it up again soon…
PDA Summit 2024
Time for some important PDA news now - the PDA Summit will be taking place from 26th - 28th April this year. The Summit is an annual event, now on its 5th year, organised by Nicola Reekie, mum to two awesome boys (one with a PDA diagnosis). Nicola's motivation was to inspire a deeper understanding of what drives PDA, and what the behaviours that come with it are trying to communicate to us. She had planned to run the first PDA conference in person in 2020 but we all know what happened that year... so instead this became a global online event, and the number of people attending has been growing every year.
Over three days, a variety of speakers will be discussing PDA in detail, sharing lived experiences, educational challenges, therapeutic support and parents’ experiences. Each day at 10am there will be a set of webinars released, which will then be available for 24 hours viewing. All the webinars will be free to access for each of those three Summit days.
There are so many awesome speakers this year, including author of The Explosive Child, Dr Ross Greene! I'm thrilled to be on the speaker line-up alongside him and all the other fab speakers who have such a wide wealth of PDA knowledge and understanding between them. For more information on each of the webinars and to register for free, check out my blog post:
Newly published:
Girl Unmasked - How Uncovering My Autism Saved My Life
Girl Unmasked is the story so far from Emily Katy, a 22-year old autistic/ADHDer who wanted to share her experiences in order to help other individuals who might be ‘flying under the radar’.
Emily has a brilliant blog called Authentically Emily where she has been sharing some of her experiences for the past few years (and on social media @itsemilykaty), including those from the time when she was sectioned and placed on a children's mental health unit at the age of 16. Her autism diagnosis only came after that in-patient stay (and her ADHD diagnosis four years later).
Girl Unmasked is a great insight into autism for anyone who is ready and willing to learn more and I highly recommend it. Emily’s writing is a joy to read! This book would be particularly helpful for mainstream education staff and healthcare professionals, especially those who work in mental health support. It could also be extremely helpful and reaffirming for any autistic individuals who feel they are growing up 'unseen' and misunderstood, and for those for whom that stage has passed but who might find comfort now in realising they were not alone. Read more in my review post:
Question Time
To end this week’s newsletter I’d like to leave you with Happy Easter wishes and a quick question:
If you have any questions about our book, PDA or autism more generally please feel free to get in touch via stephstwogirls@gmail.com.
Specifically Easter ducks and Easter chickens.
And even Easter cats.
I do wonder - what was the most odd/unlikely Easter-shaped chocolate in your stack?
PS: Grandin has another book in the next few months.
It is called AUTISM AND ADOLESCENTS: THE WAY I SEE IT
Like the other WAY I SEE IT books from Future Horizons, it is full of questions.
[one of my favourite parts is about biking and driving - this is from another WAY I SEE IT book].
One way I like to explore New York [virtually] is through the drawings of Jack Davis.
And there was a great adult colouring in banner which showed so much of New York City.