From Hanging In to Hanging Out: Creative Ways to Support Friendships for Neurodivergent Kids and Teens

📅 Friday, October 23, 2026 | 🕘 9:00 AM – 4:30 PM

📍 Parkview Manor, Toronto (North York), ON

Early Bird Rate: $350 CAD on now (ends Aug. 31st)

Research tells us that having just one or two close friends has a significant impact on building positive self-esteem and independence, as well as handling stress, depression, and anxiety. Yet, many neurodivergent individuals struggle to make fulfilling social connections.

This unique, 1-day workshop explores neurodiversity-affirming strategies to support highly verbal neurodivergent individuals to develop personally meaningful relationships.

Designed specifically for professionals supporting Autistic individuals and/or those diagnosed with ADHD and other neurodevelopmental differences, this course focuses on bridging the gap between clinical theory and everyday practice.

This course provides 6 hours of professional development.

What We Will Cover

Morning Sessions: A discussion into foundational friendship pillars, including promoting regulation, exploring authentic interests, and supporting genuine connection during play.

Afternoon Sessions: We will build directly on these themes with an actionable focus on creating personalized, collaborative, strengths-based goals, alongside frameworks to coach invested adults to help kids and teens thrive with friends.

This workshop focuses on supporting individuals with well-developed verbal language skills.

Meet Your Presenters

Learn from three registered Ontario Speech-Language Pathologists who bring extensive clinical experience to this topic:

Lanni Zinberg-Swartz, M.Sc.(A), S-LP (C), Reg. CASLPO

Lisa Drake, M.Cl.Sc., Reg. CASLPO

Lauren Lowry, M.Sc.(A), Reg. CASLPO

Registration Details:

🎟️ Early Bird Rate: $350.00 CAD

Includes full day workshop access, continuous all-day beverage refreshment station, morning snack break, a full lunch buffet, and afternoon pastries/trail mix station.

Regular ticket price begins September 1st: $399.00 CAD

Registration is strictly limited to room capacity to maintain an interactive environment.