Staci Neustadt

You've tried everything. You brought in their favorite topic. You changed the activity. You adjusted your approach, your tone, your timing. You've read the books, attended the trainings, and genuinely care about getting this right. And still — they seem somewhere else entirely. Disengaged. Unreachable. Like nothing you do is landing. Before you question your skills, your patience, or your instincts — consider this: the problem may not be engagement at all. It may be the framework you're using...

What If We’ve Been Misreading Autistic Play? You might have seen it…—or experienced it yourself. Doing the same thing over and over.Lining things up.Dropping, spinning, repeating. And somewhere along the way, many of us were taught: 👉 “That’s not functional.” 👉 “We need to redirect that.” 👉 “That’s not how play is supposed to look.” But what if that’s not the full picture? What Looks Repetitive Might Be Meaningful From an autistic perspective, play often has a purpose that isn’t always...

Autism awareness vs acceptance explained. Learn how behavior is communication and how to better support autistic individuals.