Jacquelyn Fede is a developmental psychologist and autistic self-advocate and Amy Laurent is a developmental psychologist and pediatric occupational therapist. They are the co-founders of Autism Level Up, where they push people who support and care for autistic people to take our work to the next level. This talk is an edited replay of their interview for the Neurodiversity in the New Year summit. Listen in to the episode to transform your idea of what it means to do play interventions with kids on the spectrum. We’ll dive deep into:

• How play interventions may be robbing autistic kids of the chance for true, restorative, freely chosen play
• How we can reframe developmental interventions that use toys or playful activities, but are not truly play for our clients
• What it means to truly watch, learn from, and listen to our clients as they joyfully engage in true play