Destination Education was privileged to receive an invitation to attend the 2nd Annual Oak Lodge Autism Conference.

In brilliant London sunshine, Jennifer (Senior SEN/Secondary Recruitment) and Megan (Recruitment and Media Manager) headed to the home of Saracens Rugby at Allianz Park on Monday 23rd May.

The speaker at the conference was Peter Vermeulen. Peter has an MSc and PhD in Psychology and Educational Sciences and focussed on Outcomes for People with Autism and Autism as Context Blindness.

He has worked with people with ASD and their families for more than 25 years. Peter is a co-director of Austime Centraal, a ground breaking and highly regarded training and education centre for autism spectrum conditions. Peter is an internationally respected lecturer/trainer and he presents all over Europe and beyond. Peter has written more than 15 books and several articles on autism.

Over the course of his 3 sessions, Peter discussed his work at the Autisme Centraal centre (Gent, Belgium) and explained the ‘The Autisme Centraal method – ABCDEF:

  • A: Autistic Thinking
  • B: Basic Comfort
  • C: Concrete Communication
  • D: Double Track
  • E: Each Person is Unique
  • F: Functional

We enjoyed the day and found it interesting to see that latest thoughts and approaches around working with those with autism. If you ever get to see Peter speak we strongly suggest you attend. Not only is he highly knowledgable he is a charismatic speaker!

We would like to thank Oak Lodge for this fantastic opportunity and we look forward to next year’s conference.

If you are interested in working with children with Special Educational Needs please contact Jennifer by calling 0203 655 2130 or email [email protected].