Novel Pathways - Speech Therapy and Coaching

08/31/2025

Autistic people have Autistic social skills.
These are more often well-received by other Autistic people, or simply, anyone with similar, compatible social skills.

Do our social skills look different?
Often they do.

Does that make life difficult sometimes?
Can do for many of us.

Is it useful to understand and appreciate the fact that different social communication styles from ours exist? Sure. And that goes both ways.

Is it our responsibility to override our authentic social skills, and learn to socialise in a way that is more familiar and comfortable for allistic people? Nope. This makes it really hard to find our people.

Can we learn about these allistic social communication styles with a view to easing social pressures, building safety, or getting ahead? If we want. A lot of Autistic people with privilege choose to.

And a lot of Autistic people don't have the privilege to choose. For many, masking is an essential skill in preserving safety and reducing risk.

Does that mean that we accept masking as a necessary, inevitable thing for marginalised communities? And get on with it?

How about, instead of that, we do the hard work addressing and dismantling the hateful beliefs and systems that have made masking so necessary for so many people.

Em

08/13/2025

Hey there - How's August treating everyone? I'm personally navigating screentime struggles, sleep challenges, and trying to figure out what school is going to look like this year. The kids, mostly the same, but different?

Reaching out (even though marketing is NOT my happy place) to see if a few more families might be in need of some guidance from autistic adults who take immense joy from celebrating, advocating for, and supporting autistic children, teens, and young adults. We would love to share our perspectives, resources and some concrete strategies for supporting your autistic child at home or wherever their needs pop up. Spoiler alert: no pathologizing language will be used and we will relentlessly refer to your child as a whole, capable, and fabulous human. If that's not ok, this isn't for you.

Creating Connection is holding a 5-week class series in York, ME starting 9/18, from 6-8pm. We can also accommodate folks joining remotely when necessary. Please comment if (1) you'd like to get more info and/or (2) you'd like to increase the visibility of this post because you love small local businesses that support autistic kids/youth. Thanks so much if you've read this far. Have a lovely remainder of your summer =)

Send a message to learn more

07/12/2025

Creating Connection’s summer newsletter is here! It’s got some big news and info on wonderful upcoming programs. Check it out!

In case you don’t know, this is a business I co-founded with a dear OT friend, focused on supporting neurodivergent young people, their families, and other therapists/supporting individuals through coaching, collaboration, and education. We would love your support in spreading the word (and our visibility)!❤️

Summer is here, our newsletter is back and we have a lot of exciting announcements to share! We're so grateful to have you with us to walk this journey towards understanding and embracing neurodiversity.

09/19/2024

08/31/2024

Calling all kids (7+) in York, Maine and surrounding area!

If you love to read, talk about, act out, draw, color or write comics and graphic novels...come join the club!

Find out more and register today!
Link in comments below.

08/31/2024

Check out this fun local event for middle school kiddos!

Music, games, pacman,corn hole, mandalla coloring and more !!!

07/11/2024

Welcome to our first Creating Connection newsletter! We are excited to share upcoming events, news from within the neurodivergent community, as well as our thoughts and experiences on important neurodivergent topics.

06/07/2024

We'll be here THIS Saturday from 8am - noon. Come down and chat and play some games with us!

Come visit us THIS Saturday! It's free! We will be at Family Health & Fitness Day from 8am - noon with some fun activities and freebies. Hope to see you there!

06/07/2024

If your kiddo likes art or creating in any form, we'd love for them to come share their passion with us! There will be a drop-in meet & greet next Thursday from 4-5p with some art and other activities available.

There are still spaces for both age groups.

05/14/2024

Come play with us this summer!

Link in comments

03/30/2024

This is such a powerful story and reminder for us to check our assumptions about nonspeakers’ capabilities. Assuming competence is so important!

Spelling to communicate (S2C) changed one young woman's life.