Katie will welcome us to Day 1 of the conference, and introduce the topics we will be learning about today.
Katie Koullas
Host, CEO - Yellow Ladybugs
In line with our 80s theme, going back to fix the future, this opening panel brings together autistic educators to reflect on their own school experiences alongside their professional insights as teachers or specialists working in education today. We explore five key themes autistic young people have consistently raised: sensory load, relationships, inclusion, identity, and wellbeing. Through lived experience and practical classroom wisdom, our panellists will help us reimagine what school can look like when autistic voices are not only heard, but centred.
Millie Carr
AuDHD Educator
Jacinta Interligi
AuDHD Teacher
Siobhan Lamb
Neurodivergent Educator
In many homes, classrooms and therapy rooms there are ladybugs who seem to be coping, who aren’t causing trouble, who look capable and compliant, and because of that don’t draw much attention at all, and this panel takes a closer look and asks why they are so often missed, not because they are hiding, but because we don’t always recognise what we are seeing. We talk about how expectations of girls, the way schools are set up, and the habits professionals are trained into can all lead to the signs of struggle being overlooked, and what this can mean over time for our ladybugs and their family when years go by without being properly understood. We then look at what it actually means for adults to notice differently and respond in ways that help young people feel safer, more understood, and better supported in everyday life, so that participants leave with a clearer sense of what to look for, what they may have been missing, and what becomes clearer once they begin to see it.
Monique Mitchelson
AuDHD Clinical Psychologist
Chenai Mupotsa-Russell
Autistic Therapist
Dr. Michelle Garnett
AuDHD Clinical Psychologist
This conversation offers a compassionate and reflective exploration of the emotional and mental health challenges many autistic girls and gender diverse young people experience throughout childhood and adolescence. Our panellists will apply the autistic lens to anxiety, depression, burnout, and trauma, and consider how these experiences are often masked or misinterpreted for our ladybugs.
Bernadette Grosjean
Autistic Psychiatrist
Marie Camin
AuDHD Clinical Psychologist
Kizzy Searle
Neurodivergent Speech Pathologist
This panel is about what it really feels like to parent and care for autistic and neurodivergent children while you are also carrying your own childhood, your own history, and all the things you are still unpacking as you go. Many parents and carers in our community are trying, very consciously, to do things differently from how they were raised, and that process of learning about neurodivergence often shifts how old memories land, how past misunderstandings are understood, and how past hurts start to make a different kind of sense, all while you are doing your best to show up for your child in a way that is more connected, more affirming, and more aware, within systems that can feel exhausting, relentless, and unforgiving. This conversation focuses on what is happening in homes long after school finishes and the front door closes, when the advocacy is no longer visible, the masking drops, the emotions rise, and the real work of caregiving continues in ways that few people see. It explores the emotional load of being the one who is trying to break the cycle, the constant tension between advocating for your child and holding yourself together, the way intergenerational trauma and cultural expectations quietly shape how we parent whether we realise it or not, and what genuine self-compassion and meaningful support can look like for parents and carers who are carrying an enormous amount, often very quietly. Through lived experience and practical reflection, this panel offers honesty, reassurance, and ways families can support their children while also learning how to care for themselves in the process.
Sarah Middleton
AuDHD Social Worker
Khadija Gbla
AuDHD Activist and Advocate
Jessica Benson-Lidholm
AuDHD Psychologist
In this session we will learn how PDA needs to be understood as a nervous system disability, stemming from a deep and pervasive need for autonomy. We will explore how this understanding frames common PDA experiences including demand avoidance and equity-seeking behaviours. We will also unpack some of the misunderstandings about supporting our PDA ladybugs through an honest reflection on where we might be going wrong (are our PDA strategies grounded in expectations of complying and meeting demands, or are we committed to supporting our PDAers through the lens of safety, connection and radical acceptance?)
Megan Anna Neff
AuDHD Clinical Psychologist
Kristy Forbes
Autistic Advocate
This panel explores rejection sensitivity, perfectionism, and the way shame can start to build for autistic girls and gender-diverse young people through everyday experiences that adults often don’t realise are having such a deep impact. We talk about how small corrections, misunderstandings, and the hidden social rules of school and home can slowly shape how a child sees themselves, and what it means for families, teachers, and professionals to respond in ways that protect dignity rather than unknowingly adding to that weight. This topic came directly from our community, where many autistic adults shared how moments from childhood still live in their body decades later, which led us to ask where these shame spirals actually begin and how we can interrupt them much earlier. Families, teachers and professionals will leave with a clearer understanding of why “small” feedback can feel enormous, how these patterns form over time, and what becomes possible once we start seeing these moments differently for our ladybugs.
Chelsea Luker
AuDHD Psychologist
Sandhya Menon
AuDHD Psychologist and Author
Em Hammond
AuDHD Speech Pathologist and Creator of Neurowild
This session will look into the impact of these systems not just in classrooms, but in the homes and nervous systems of autistic children and their families. We want to talk about what’s happening on a practical level (the emotional toll, the power imbalance, and how we can shift from compliance to connection, relational and felt safety).
Tara Kent
AuDHD Developmental Educator
Raelene Dundon
AuDHD Educational & Developmental Psychologist
Frances Brennan
AuDHD Speech Pathologist
Natasha will welcome us to Day 2 of the conference, and introduce the topics we will be learning about today.
Natasha Staheli
Co-host, Director - Yellow Ladybugs
This panel will explore what many families in our community describe as “School Can’t”, reframing it not as refusal or behaviour, but as a nervous system and safety response that unfolds long before a child stops attending. We want to gently unpack what is really happening beneath attendance difficulties, how trust and relationships can be repaired, how stressors and barriers build quietly over time, and what meaningful adjustments that target felt safety actually look like in practice. By drawing on our pannelists framework and experience, we hope to help teachers and schools better understand how many of our ladybugs can appear ‘fine’ at school while carrying an unsustainable load, and to equip parents with language and confidence to advocate for their children when capacity has been reached. This conversation will balance practical insight with advocacy, supporting schools to respond differently and families to feel seen, understood, and less alone in a topic that carries enormous emotional weight for our community.
Emma Gilmour
AuDHD Counsellor and Psychotherapist
Louise Rogers
Parent Peer Mentor
Tiffany Westphal
Social Worker
This discussion will focus on how we can support our ladybugs (aka high masking students) to connect and communicate in authentic ways (without the pressure to conform to neurotypical models or “social skills” expectations). It’s about exploring what connection really looks and feels like when it’s safe, natural, and self-directed.
Caroline Gaddy
Neuroqueer Speech Pathologist
V. Tisi
AuDHD Professional Development Provider
Rachel Dorsey
Autistic Speech-Language Pathologist
This panel builds on the idea of dialectics we introduced last year and takes it further into the real, everyday experiences of our ladybugs who experience intense emotions and periods of extreme distress that are often misunderstood as “maladaptive behaviour”. We want to reframe what is commonly labelled as behaviours of concern as meaningful, often desperate attempts to communicate overwhelm, and explore how dialectical thinking and DBT-informed approaches can offer practical ways to support regulation, safety, and understanding. By unpacking how dialectics moves young people out of “either/or” thinking and creates space between emotion and reaction, and how DBT offers skills to work with those moments. This panel will help parents, educators and professionals better support young people whose distress can feel frightening, confusing, and hard to respond to in the moment, while also empowering our ladybugs with tools that help them make sense of what is happening inside their own minds and bodies.
Sonny Jane Wise
Multiply Neurodivergent Advocate
Sarah Hens
AuDHD Social Worker
This panel looks at why eating can be so hard for many autistic girls and gender-diverse young people, and why it is often misunderstood as fussiness, defiance, or a disorder rather than a nervous system, sensory, and safety experience. We explore how sensory differences, body awareness, gender expression, and social pressure can all shape how a young person experiences food, and what it means to support eating in ways that feel safer, more respectful, and more workable for them. Parents, teachers and professionals will leave with a clearer understanding of what might really be happening when a child struggles with food, and what kinds of responses can reduce pressure instead of increasing it.
Ari Spanos
Neurodivergent Practising Dietitian
Steph Robertson
AuDHD OT
Margo White
AuDHD Certified Practicing Nutritionist
The session will explore how puberty and hormones might impact our ladybugs: a time where many families notice dramatic shifts in "behaviour", mental health and overall stability. This panel will explore what’s really happening beneath the surface during adolescence, how changes in the developing brain affect mood, regulation and medication, and why this stage can feel so intense for neurodivergent teens and their families.
Dr. Alberto Veloso
Psychiatrist and Paediatrician
Dr. Zayna Adamu
AuDHD Paediatrician
This panel will bring together three key frameworks to explore how educators, clinicians and families can create safer, more affirming environments for our ladybug students. The session will trace the evolution of these interconnected approaches, from SPELL’s early foundations through to the current SPACE–TIME framing, underpinned by Monotropism. Each speaker will share insights into their framework’s core principles and offer practical guidance for schools and services on supporting predictability, autonomy, sensory safety and authentic inclusion.
Helen Edgar
Autistic Educator
Elaine McGoldrick
Autistic Teacher
Dr. Ruth Moyse
Autistic Educator and Researcher
This conversation will explore how technology can be both a lifeline and a source of overwhelm for autistic girls and gender-diverse young people. We want to unpack how digital tools, from AAC and AI to social media, gaming and online friendships, can support communication, regulation and belonging, while also looking at what happens when connection tips into compulsion, overload or harm.
Amelia Wright
AuDHD Social Worker
Jess Rowlings
AuDHD Speech Pathologist
Joanne Hatchard
Neurodivergent Therapist
This online session will feature a collection of short video clips (10–15 minutes each) from autistic individuals sharing their unique experiences and perspectives. Our aim is to amplify a diverse range of lived experience so our audience can better understand both the shared journeys within the autistic community and the individuality of each story. The session will intentionally include voices from across our community, including autistic people who are trans, Indigenous, AAC users, and from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, ensuring we hear from individuals whose perspectives are often underrepresented and whose identities intersect in meaningful ways.
Marnina Kammersell
Autistic Writer
Tash Trickey
AuDHD OT
Maisie Soetantyo
Autistic Founder Autism Career Pathways
Percy/Lavender Kiku
Nonspeaking Autistic Advocate
Katie Koullas
Host, CEO - Yellow Ladybugs
Masking is very common for many of our ladybugs across home, school, and therapy settings.
Masking is something many autistic girls and gender-diverse young people do to cope, but adults often miss the early signs. In this short session, Sarah focuses on practical ways to recognise when a young person is masking, even when they appear calm, capable, or independent. She uses school-based examples to show educators what to look for, while also offering guidance that supports parents and therapists.
As part of our Back to the 80s theme, we’re returning to the basics so we can change the future for our ladybugs. Sarah shares what would have helped her as a young autistic student masking and outlines simple, everyday actions that reduce pressure, build trust, and create environments where masking is less necessary.
Sarah Gurrin
AuDHD Educational & Developmental Psychologist
Many autistic girls and gender-diverse young people are missed in early childhood because their presentation doesn’t match traditional expectations of autism. Their interests, communication styles, sensitivities and ways of coping are often interpreted as shyness, giftedness, anxiety or simply being “easy.” These interpretations mean adults overlook patterns that point to an autistic profile.
In this session, Josie and Amanda explore the quieter, less recognised presentations seen in early childhood and primary school. They outline the day-to-day experiences that adults often misread, why these patterns are different in girls and gender-diverse young people, and how these misunderstandings delay identification. The session offers clear, practical guidance for educators, therapists and parents on what to pay closer attention to when supporting young people who don’t fit the traditional picture.
A/Prof. Josephine Barbaro
Autistic Professor and Research Fellow
Amanda Moses
Neurodivergent Psychologist
Understanding emotions can be hard for many of our ladybugs, especially when the tools they’re given don’t reflect how they naturally understand their internal world. This session offers practical ways to support them better, at school, at home or in therapy – by using approaches that feel clearer, more accessible and less overwhelming for autistic young people.
Many emotional-literacy tools assume skills and processing styles that don’t match the lived experiences of autistic girls and gender-diverse young people. Feelings wheels, emotion charts and “label your emotion” activities can feel confusing, abstract or inaccessible, even when adults believe they’re being helpful. Jessica explains where the mismatch happens and why these tools often fall flat, and shares practical alternatives drawn from her experience as a psychologist, AuDHD adult and mum to a ladybug. This session gives parents, teachers and allied health professionals simple, realistic ways to support emotional understanding without pressure, guesswork or shame.
Jessica Benson-Lidholm
AuDHD Psychologist
Many of our ladybugs are judged through neurotypical expectations of friendship. But autistic ways of connecting (shared interests, deep one-to-one bonds, penguin-pebbling, parallel play, low-demand interaction and steady, comfortable silence) are often the most supportive for our ladybugs. In this session, Sandhya and Marie explore what autistic friendship looks like in real life, how AuDHD traits like executive functioning differences shape friendship rhythms, and how adults can recognise and nurture the connections that genuinely work for autistic girls and gender-diverse young people.
Marie Camin
AuDHD Clinical Psychologist
Sandhya Menon
AuDHD Psychologist and Author
This five-minute message is from a current student living the reality of school right now. Annabel shares what burnout felt like from the inside, why relational safety mattered more than any strategy, and how learning only became possible once the adults around her changed how they responded. Through her story, you will hear the things students rarely say out loud but wish every adult understood. Annabel created the powerful video “What Matters”, which resonated deeply at previous conferences, and she returns to remind us what still matters for students today.
Annabelle Kariappa
AuDHD student and Advocate
This panel brings together an autistic psychologist, speech pathologist, and occupational therapist to explore one of the most common challenges for families and educators: recognising what they are seeing when a ladybug is struggling. Building on the deeper mental health discussion from earlier in the conference, this conversation focuses on how autistic distress, sensory overwhelm, burnout, anxiety, trauma, and other co-occurring mental health conditions can look similar on the surface but require very different responses. Through practical insight, Monique, Adina and Steph will help listeners feel more confident understanding the patterns they are noticing and responding in ways that are supportive, safe, and neuro-affirming in everyday situations.
Monique Mitchelson
AuDHD Clinical Psychologist
Adina Levy
AuDHD Speech Therapist
Steph Robertson
AuDHD OT
Hear from Rebecca Gannon, who is a multiply neurodivergent Educational and Developmental Psychologist, proud Wiradjuri human, parent and advocate. Rebecca will share her professional and lived experience to help our community better support our ladybugs.
Rebecca Gannon
Neurodivergent Educational and Developmental Psychologist
Alison Davies shares her experience of parenting, family, and self-discovery, offering reflections on letting go of “shoulds” and finding more joy, connection and ease along the way. Her story invites us to look back at the patterns we inherit, and consider how understanding our past can shape a more supportive future for our ladybugs and their families.
Allison Davies
AuDHD Consultant and Advocate
This session explores what it means to come back to your own instincts as a parent when you feel pulled in every direction by advice, expectations, and other people’s opinions about what you “should” be doing. Esther speaks about the idea of parenting the child in front of you, not the child other people imagine, and how reconnecting with your own understanding of your child can feel grounding in a world that often makes parents second guess themselves. Drawing on a trauma-informed lens and the ‘two hands’ concept of warmth and nurture alongside boundaries and structure, this conversation helps parents understand how both are needed for children to feel safe and connected, and why finding this balance can feel especially complex for neurodivergent parents raising neurodivergent children. Parents and carers will leave feeling more confident trusting their gut, understanding their child’s needs more clearly, and finding a steadier way to respond without feeling pulled off course by outside pressure.
Esther Fidock
AuDHD Psychologist
This panel explores what it feels like to support autistic young people when you also experience rejection sensitivity, burnout, masking fatigue, and a lifetime of people-pleasing that has shaped how you move through the world. We talk about how these patterns don’t disappear when you step into a caring role, and how trying to create safety for someone else can bring you face to face with the ways your own nervous system has learned to survive. Through lived experience from two AuDHD carers, this conversation looks at what it means to slowly reject people-pleasing narratives, build safety from the inside out, and support others from a place that feels more grounded, honest, and sustainable rather than driven by fear of getting it wrong. Parents, educators and professionals will leave with a deeper understanding of how RSD, burnout and masking fatigue affect caring roles, and what it can look like to reduce pressure rather than add to it.
Chelsea Luker
AuDHD Psychologist
Khadija Gbla
AuDHD Activist and Advocate
This panel explores what it means for autistic teenagers to navigate identity, gender, sexuality, and belonging at a time when connection feels important, vulnerability is high, and rejection sensitivity can make every interaction feel amplified. We look at how relational safety becomes the foundation for identity exploration, why many autistic teens are trying to understand who they are in environments that don’t always feel safe to do that openly, and how attempts to restrict or control this exploration often don’t stop it, but instead make it happen in ways that are less supported and less safe. Through the different lived experiences of Lil, who never masked, and Lumen, who masked for many years before understanding themselves more fully, this conversation highlights the very real duality in how autistic young people move through identity and connection. We also explore how marginalised gender identities, RSD, and the pull toward alcohol, drugs, or risky situations can sometimes be connected to a search for belonging, relief, or acceptance rather than simply “bad choices.” We also acknowledge that for many parents and carers, identity exploration can feel unfamiliar or confronting, particularly for those whose own upbringing was shaped by conformity, masking, and expectations to fit in. Families, teachers, and professionals will leave with a clearer understanding of how to create environments grounded in curiosity, grace, and safety, where autistic teens can explore who they are with support rather than secrecy, and where connection is guided by trust rather than control.
Annelil Desille
AuDHD Clinical Psychologist
Lumen Gorrie
AuDHD Clinical Psychologist
In this session, Hibak will draw on her lived experience as an Autistic ADHD woman and her work as an occupational therapist and autism assessor to explore how everyday environments, expectations, and systems shape how neurodivergent people cope, function, and feel safe. With a strong interest in culture, identity, and practical support across the lifespan, Hibak brings a perspective that connects clinical understanding with real life. Participants will leave with a clearer sense of how small environmental shifts can make a big difference to regulation, dignity, and day-to-day wellbeing for our ladybugs and the people supporting them.
Hibak Hassan
AuDHD Occupational Therapist
A presentation by Kelsie Olds (AKA OccuPlaytional Therapist) an autistic OT who brings powerful insights from both lived and professional experience. Kelsie will read her emotionally powerful poem “Caged Birds” about our misunderstood ladybugs who protect their autonomy with such ferocity they are labelled as “bad, naughty, disrespectful’ and will follow up with a few important thoughts on how we can make the important shift in our thinking to better support them.
Kelsie Olds
Autistic OT
In this short, sharp and powerful session, Ebony offers a clear way to understand what many adults find confusing or hard to respond to by looking through a neurosensory and nervous system lens. Drawing on her experience as a teacher and neurodevelopmental therapist, she explains how the body, brain, sensory system and environment work together to shape how a young person copes and communicates in the moment. Listeners will leave with one practical shift in how they interpret behaviour and one practical shift in how they respond with greater clarity and confidence.
Ebony Birch-Hanger
Autistic Educator
This session will offer a lived-experience perspective that invites us to think more deeply about how autistic experience is shaped by identity, culture, and belonging. Drawing on Mish’s work and insight, this conversation will gently challenge us to consider how the environments around autistic young people influence how they are seen, understood, and supported. It will provide a thoughtful lens that complements the themes of safety, masking, and support explored across the conference, helping parents, educators, and professionals reflect on the many factors that shape how our ladybugs move through the world.
Mish Kumar-Jonson
Neurodivergent Social Worker
This session invites us to gently reflect on what many of us were taught about parenting, schooling, and supporting autistic children, and what we now understand that helps us do things differently for the next generation. Drawing on lived experience, advocacy, and deep insight into autistic nervous systems, Kristy will explore how parenting can shape fear, masking, and disconnection for many of our ladybugs and what it means to move towards safety, trust, and connection instead. With a focus on parenting, relationships, and the environments our ladybugs grow up in, this session will help us recognise the patterns we may have inherited without realising, and offer practical ways to shift towards responses that feel more affirming and more humane for autistic children and the adults caring for them.
Kristy Forbes
Autistic Advocate
Em introduced us last year to her NeuroWild Map, a powerful visual model that helped us understand how many of our ladybugs become stuck in cycles of RSD, fawning, masking, perfectionism, and survival as a way to stay safe in environments that don’t meet their needs. This year, Em takes us further across the Map to explore what happens when children begin to move out of survival and into safety, self-advocacy, and authentic connection. We will look at what this shift can actually look like in real life, why it is often misunderstood by adults as behaviour, defiance, or regression, and how parents and educators can recognise the signs that a child is finally feeling safe enough to stop performing. Drawing on parts of the Map that we did not explore last year, this session offers a hopeful and practical understanding of what becomes possible for our ladybugs when the conditions for safety, dignity, and self-advocacy are truly in place.
Em Hammond
AuDHD Speech Pathologist and Creator of Neurowild