Karen Sudom hosts autism workshop

Karen Sudom at Ranchland Mall

Toni Lucas

Karen Sudom is an autism specialist from Medicine Hat.  She held a seminar at the Ranchland Mall on Wednesday, February 19. The title of her talk was 'Engaging Life Issues Autistically", and it was an exercise in autism immersion. She speaks from experience, being diagnosed with autism herself as an adult, also raising three children, two of who have been diagnosed with this disorder.


Autism affects social skills, communications, and cognitive thinking. Sudom designed exercises that challenged all three of these abilities.  This was autism immersion. By the end of the session the goal of the various exercises was to have participants see the world through the eyes of the disorder, at least for a little while.

It was a well thought out workshop. Sudom had a number of slides that could be viewed in more than one way. With each exercise she got audience feedback and she explained afterward why she had everyone engage the way they did. She then explained how it related to having autism. She supplied the audience with tools to help them better teach someone with autism. "Celebrate the small victories, because they rarely come in size large," is her motto.

Sudom showed optical illusions that helped demonstrate that there was more than one way to perceive the world around oneself.  That helped to illustrate that there is no one right way when working with people that have autism.

Everyone was paired up with a partner and they were given five minutes to build a story with each partner adding a few sentences at a time. All of the stories started with the same sentence. Afterward Sudom had three groups present the stories they had created. She discussed the various types of communication skills the groups used. Then she reassigned the exercise with a twist. The story did not have to be the same, but no one in the room was to use the letter 'N'. Personally, I could feel the gears clog, the wheels jam, and the exercise became frustratingly more difficult.

Our ability to communicate was affected by the imaginary hindrance. The listeners were suddenly more judgmental, and the effort no longer was about the story, but was instead about the task.

Once again Sudom picked the same groups as before to present their stories. She remarked that some within the room were quick to judge the usage as wrong if the letter 'n' was included in their story and that others offered helpful alternative words if the person did use the dreaded letter 'n'.

One purpose of this exercise was to demonstrate the communication challenges that can occur if there is a single roadblock.  She wanted to get people to recognize how quickly they jump to correction without offering constructive alternatives.

She asked how many people had stopped working on the exercise before the five minutes were up. It was not a small percentage of the room.  She spoke about how autism is a communication disorder. "You knew you had your disability for five minutes, you know it was going to end, and you gave up." She could relate with the frustration of those that quit. "I sleep with me, it's never gone."

The workshop was mentally challenging, more physically demanding than expected, and filled with insights and tools to help understand autism better. Many of the strategies Sudom taught would help any parent or caregiver communicate with their charges (autistic or not) more effectively.

Over 40 people came for the presentation. There were attendees from Lethbridge, Crowsnest Pass, Magrath. Fort Macleod, Claresholm and Pincher Creek. Some came because the work with people that are affected by autism, some because they have a family member that has been diagnosed, a few suspect that they know someone that falls within the spectrum and others to learn more about the disorder itself.

"Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a complex neurobiological condition that can affect the normal function of the gastrointestinal, immune, hepatic, endocrine and nervous systems. It impacts normal brain development leaving most individuals with communication problems, difficulty with typical social interactions and a tendency to repeat specific patterns of behaviour. There is also a markedly restricted repertoire of activity and interests. Individuals on the autism spectrum tend to have varying degrees and combinations of symptoms and therefore treatment needs to be specific to the individual."  ~Autism Canada website.

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Karen Sudom