Lunch and learn schedule

Below is a full list of sessions for the 2023-24 academic year.

Click the links below to sign up to individual webinars (all 12:30pm-1pm). For more information on each presenter, scroll down to the bottom of the page where you can read about their experience in their respective fields.

Presenter	Title	Session overview	Date of webinar
Carrie Caceres-Taguiang Outreach Consultant	Autism and challenges associated with eating	This lunch and learn will cover the common eating challenges and patterns associated with autism before looking at strategies for intervention. It is suitable for parents and carers as well as professionals who may need support to understand and manage feeding and eating problems with the autistic individuals they work with.	Friday, 29th September Watch recording
Matthew Wicks Head of Outreach and Training	Positive Behaviour Support: A School Wide Model	This session will explore the implementation of a school wide positive behaviour support (SWPBS) model in a Special Needs School. We will discuss how a setting is assessed for readiness, what steps are required to implement the model including documentation, training requirements and culture changes. The aim of the session will be to answer the question of how feasible it is to implement the model in an SEN school and will be relevant to school leaders, behaviour analysts and other professionals involved in interdisciplinary teams in schools.	Wednesday, 11th October Watch recording
David Anthony Director of Research, Learning and New Business	Building strategies for resilience	This session will explore what is meant by ‘resilience’. It will provide suggestions and strategies on developing the resilience of professionals, parents and individual learners using a range of tools. The session is suitable for any professional working within a school or college environment, but parents and autistic learners are also welcome to attend.	Monday, 20th November Watch recording
Francesca Moore, Behaviour Analyst and Alicia Robson, Therapy Assistant	Masking and the impact on mental health	In this lunch and learn session, we will explore what masking is, the signs of masking, and the impacts of masking. Hear some personal experiences of masking at school and university from our speakers. We will then consider ways in which professionals and parents can support those who are masking to ‘unmask’, and prevent the negative impacts on mental health.	Wednesday, 13th December Register now.
Marta Martin Perteguer Deputy Head of Early Years	Emotional Regulation and Autism	This lunch and learn will discuss factors that can contribute to emotional dysregulation in autistic individuals and how exploring proactive and reactive strategies through co-regulation can lead to the development of independent self-regulation tools.	Monday, 29th January Register now.
Hannah Smith, Head of Fast Responder and Cynthia Gouveia Caria, Outreach Consultant	Exploring Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) and helpful approaches	The first part of this session will pinpoint the key characteristics of a PDA profile, how demands are perceived by those who have a PDA profile and how these demands can impact on anxiety. The second half of this session will include case studies, exploring approaches to support and strategies to reduce anxiety. The session will have a particular focus on experiences within a school environment, and will be suitable for any education based professional, but also parents and autistic learners.	Wednesday, 21st February Register now.
Rachael Hlomador Outreach Consultant	Overcoming challenges associated with toileting	In this lunch and learn we will explore the challenges associated with toileting. It will focus on strategies that can be used to increase independence around toileting. It will also highlight different approaches to toileting and some prerequisite skills that can be built before toileting. The session seeks to reduce the stress and anxiety around toileting for both children and carers.	Friday, 22nd March Register now.
Rachael Hlomador Outreach Consultant	Building sibling interaction	This lunch and learn will discuss various strategies to build positive and meaningful sibling relationships. It will highlight the different ways in which carers can facilitate a meaningful interaction for both autistic and non-autistic children. It will also explore different activities that can promote positive interactions.	Wednesday, 22nd May Register now.
Carrie Caceres-Taguiang Outreach Consultant	Autism and Mental Health: strategies and sources of support	This lunch and learn will explore the mental health problems that some autistic individuals may experience. It will highlight how stress and anxiety can affect autistic individuals. The second part of the Lunch and Learn will explore some strategies and approaches to reduce stress and anxiety and will provide some recommendations to parents, carers and professionals for how to improve the mental health of autistic individuals.	Friday, 28th June Register now.
Sarah Larner Head of Early Years	Exploring challenges associated with sleep	This lunch and learn will explore challenges faced by many parents of autistic children related to sleep. We will look at common sleep issues and discuss a range of behavioural strategies to help build positive sleep and bedtime routines. We will walk through a practical activity to tailor your child’s bedtime routine specifically for them, taking into account their individual preferences and sensory needs.	Monday, 15th July Register now.

You can also view recordings of last years’ sessions here.

Speaker information

Presenter

Speaker biographies

Hannah Smith

Head of Fast Responder

Hannah is a Board-Certified Behaviour Analyst (BCBA) and has worked with and supported autistic children and young people and their families for over 10 years. She has worked across a variety of settings including, an ABA school, on early intervention home programmes, SEN & mainstream schools, and most recently worked for a specialist NHS CAMHS team (Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service).

Hannah joined BeyondAutism in January 2022 as the Fast Responder, a pilot service set up in response to the growing number of fixed and permanent exclusions of autistic pupils and challenges faced by schools in supporting pupils at point of crisis. You can find out more about the Fast Responder service here.

Hannah is passionate about preventing placement breakdown, whether that may be at home or within education, and doing so by working collaboratively with the interdisciplinary team around the child or young person, whilst keeping the views and needs of the individual and their families at the forefront.

Matthew Wicks

Head of Outreach and Training

Matt has worked with children and young people since 2007, in a variety of settings including mainstream schools, special needs schools and ABA specific special schools. After completing his degree he began work as an ABA Tutor at Ambitious About Autism. 4 years later he left to pursue his career in ABA, studying for a masters in ABA part time while working as a self-employed Behaviour Analyst on ABA home programmes. In 2014 he graduated and began working towards becoming board certified. Matt passed the BCBA exam in February 2017 and has been working for BeyondAutism as an Outreach Consultant since June 2017. He is passionate about disseminating knowledge and understanding of behaviour analysis. He lives in North London with his wife, daughter and son.

Carrie Caceres-Taguiang

Outreach Consultant

Carrie studied Psychology at University College London (UCL). During her undergraduate, she undertook an ABA home progamme and remained with the family for two years.

In 2015, Carrie applied to become an ABA Tutor at BeyondAutism. Her interest and commitment to the field grew an in 2017, Carrie was promoted to ABA Instructor. Whilst in this role, she undertook her Masters in ABA and in 2019, graduated from Queen’s University Belfast. In 2020, she progressed to her current role of Behaviour Analyst where she enjoys training the Practitioners and seeing how their application of Behaviour Analytical principles can make significant impacts on the pupils.

Carrie became a BCBA in August 2021 and hopes to continue supporting the pupils to become more independent.

David Anthony

Director of Research, Learning and New Business

David has worked within the field of special educational needs since 2005 and joined BeyondAutism in 2015. Since then, he has worked in leadership roles in our Schools, Sixth Form and Post-19 service. He has studied at a range of institutions including the Institute of Education; The Central School of Speech & Drama; University of the Arts London; and is continuing his postgraduate studies at Queen’s University Belfast. David has experience of working within a range of schools and services, including primary, secondary, and adult provision. David is passionate about all learners having access to an education that ensures they develop the skills and knowledge to become active citizens in their communities whilst having choice and control over their own lives. With the right support and opportunity, David believes all learners can reach their individual aspirations and outcomes.

Rachael Hlomador

Outreach Consultant

Rachael studied Psychology at university, with a special focus on Child Development. In the last year of her degree, she took an ABA module that gave the inspiration for her future career.

She volunteered at Focus – a weekend group for autistic children – as well as at a primary school in Barnes, before joining BeyondAutism Schools in 2017. Rachael found her passion in the field and loves to see her pupils learn and grow to achieve new milestones. She was promoted to ABA Instructor in 2018. Whilst in this role, she undertook her Masters in ABA and in 2020 graduated from Queen’s University Belfast. She became a Behaviour Analyst in 2020 at Park House School. Rachael became a board-certified Behaviour Analyst (BCBA) in December 2021.

In February 2023, Rachael became an Outreach Consultant. She is passionate about sharing her knowledge about behaviour analysis and autism. She believes all autistic children and young adults should be able to access a bespoke educational experience to enable them to develop skills that will have a meaningful impact on their lives.

Cynthia Gouveia Caria

Outreach Consultant

Cynthia is a Psychology graduate from Brunel University London currently finishing off her MSc in Applied Behavioural Analysis. She has been working in the field for 4 years, starting in 2018, where she worked as a project assistant, supporting with early intervention programmes for young people at risk of exclusion or placement breakdown. After graduating in 2019, Cynthia undertook a graduate PBS practitioner role for a learning disability and mental health organisation, facilitating with PBSP’s and interventions as part of a multidisciplinary team. In 2022, she started working as a behavioural therapist for autistic people and those who have a learning disability. Here she supported with independent living and skill acquisition. Between 2022-2023, Cynthia was the safeguarding champion for a few of the residential services, delivering training and the upkeep of competencies. She also worked on AFLS projects and won an APT-RAID first place award with her team for excellent work supporting individuals with behaviours that challenge. The move to Outreach and Consultancy will support her growth in achieving a BCBA accreditation, supported by experts in the field and continuing to create positive change for young individuals.

Sarah Larner

Head of Early Years

Sarah joined BeyondAutism in September 2011 having worked in various capacities with autistic children prior to this. She joined as a Trainee ABA Tutor and worked her way through various roles across the schools, post-19 and outreach. In 2018 she joined the Early Years Team as the Behaviour Analyst before becoming Head of Early Years in June 2023.

Sarah completed a Masters in Applied Behaviour Analysis through Bangor University in September 2016 and became a BCBA in February 2018.

She is passionate about helping autistic children succeed through learning communication strategies and gaining access and understanding within their local communities. She loves seeing the progress that the children make and celebrating these successes with parents and staff. Whilst Sarah has extensive experience working with individuals from 15 months up to 25 years of age, she is particularly motivated working with young children and their parents, focusing on early intervention and consistency across all settings from a young age to empower children to grow and succeed.

Marta Martin Perteguer

Deputy Head of Early Years

Having autistic children in her family Marta knew from very early on that she wanted to dedicate herself to supporting autistic children and their families. She graduated as a SEN Teacher and completed two master degrees in Inclusive Education and ASD and Psychoeducational Intervention. Marta has worked with autistic children and young adults in different settings. Her latest role was in an autism specific primary school in south west London where she worked for over five years.

Marta has developed significant knowledge in Makaton, PECs, Podd and other language programmes to enable her to support pupils with a variety of communication methods. Marta teaches with a holistic approach, always celebrating her pupils’ personalities. She particularly enjoys developing an adaptable educational environment that ensures children thrive and succeed beyond expectations. Marta is particularly invested in parental mental health and supporting autistic children and young people to unlock their full potential and achieve happiness within their family units and communities.