Event summary
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O'Brennan National School, Kielduff, Kerry
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Autism and Understanding Anxiety This training approaches anxiety as a contextual and relational experience, often emerging when environments place sustained demands on autistic children to adapt, mask, or function without adequate support. Rather than viewing anxiety as an internal flaw, the session highlights the role of environmental unpredictability, sensory overwhelm, communication barriers, and relational misattunement, particularly in primary school settings. Participants will explore: How anxiety is experienced physiologically and emotionally by autistic children. The cumulative impact of masking, fatigue, and unmet needs from an autistic perspective. How anxiety often reflects threats to safety, predictability, and belonging. Practical supports that reduce anxiety by changing expectations, environments, and adult responses, thereby restoring a child's sense of agency, belonging and security.
Location
O'Brennan National School
Ballynahinch
Kielduff
Kerry
V92 AE73
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Joan McDonald
Following many years teaching in mainstream classrooms, Joan worked on individual planning in centres for adults with learning disabilities and those with mental health struggles.
She, then, became one of the first SENOs in Ireland, observing and providing school supports for students with atypical needs across eighty rural schools.
While studying for an M.Ed. in Autism, Joan was taught by and met a variety of autistic adults, which ultimately led to her own autism assessment. Prior to meeting such a diverse range of autistic people, Joan would only have recognised autism in people with profound and complex support needs.
Joan is passionate about using students’ interests to support autistic learners of all levels of cognitive ability to access education and contented lives.
She currently works on a variety of projects with agencies such as Middletown Centre for Autism, Dublin City University, Nua Healthcare, Fingal Libraries. In recent years, creating and delivering the Posauteen and Posaudult courses to help autistic people understand and advocate for themselves has been a major focus of Joan’s time.
Event summary
Date
Start Time
End Time
O'Brennan National School , Kielduff , Kerry