Axia-ASD Post Diagnostic Support Group – Programme Winter 2018-2019

Crewe Lifestyle Centre – ask at Reception and you will told where the group is held
All meetings are from 12:00pm – 2:00pm. Refreshments are provided.

The group talks are presented by Sarah Hendrickx, an autistic adult, author and diagnostician at Axia-ASD unless otherwise stated.

Wednesday 17 October 2018

Personal Story from a Group Member
Ronnie will share his experiences and thoughts about life with the group. This will be followed by a led group discussion on any points raised by Ronnie’s words.

Wednesday 5 December 2018

Sugar, Sleep, Stress and the Spectrum.
Guest Speaker, Flo Neville, Autistic Nutritional Coach
Stress hormone imbalance can affect short term memory, mood regulation, planning and organising; regulating our behaviour and making good judgements. Meanwhile, a lack of quality sleep is a common challenge both for those who are autistic and those who live with them. This talk includes an overview of the physiology of stress hormones and provides an achievable set of routine and dietary strategies which can make all the difference between being wide awake during the night and sleeping soundly; and which also significantly reduce anxiety levels during the day.

In addition, the gentleman from SEAT who attended our PDSG will be returning with a car for people to view.

Wednesday 30 January 2019

Atypically Autistic – ‘You don’t look autistic to me’.
The stereotypical view of autistic people is that we are all like Rainman or Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory; somewhat oblivious to what people think about us and all nerdy loners. More recently there has been an understanding that autism can present itself in other ways which leads to a very different type of autistic personality type than was traditionally thought. This has been termed the ‘female presentation of autism’ and does appear to affect many autistic women, but other autistic people also relate to this autistic profile. In this talk, we will look at how women and others who do not fit the traditional autistic profile have been missed, mis-diagnosed and misunderstood.

After the break we will split the group into those that want smart phone assistance and those that want to talk about the presentation.

Wednesday 13 March 2019

Exercise and Autism – ‘When I run, it is the only time that my brain and my body are at the same speed’.
For some autistic people exercise is key to their well-being and can ever be a deep interest. For others, the idea of sweating, moving, being outdoors is highly uncomfortable. Some new research suggests that exercise may be beneficial in helping autistic people to overcome some of the negative impacts of autism, such as anxiety and depression. In this talk, we will look at the research and some personal examples and think about how we can find an exercise that suits us all.

Also: There will be an opportunity to learn how to juggle and there will also be technologically knowledgeable people on hand to help with any phone related IT matters (this was a request for help from a previous group).