selected

Get immediate help with your child/adult on the autism spectrum in a way that respects and honors the autistic experience, nervous system, psyche, and brain.

We can help you to gain the deepest understanding of your loved one and what makes them tick...

so that you can enable THEM to…

  • Move beyond meltdowns, high anxiety, and extreme/explosive behaviors

  • Feel truly safe

  • Forge safe and meaningful relationships

  • Lengthen and strengthen their Social Attention Span (the length of time they are able to comfortably maintain a back-and-forth interaction with another human being)

  • Exit cycles of button-pushing (where your child/adult does certain things to get a reaction out of you or others)

  • Gain life skills and social skills – without resisting the learning process

  • Become more flexible and willing to go your way, try new things, and manage their emotions when things don’t go as they want or expect

  • Make the leap from sounds to words, words to phrases, and phrases to sentences

  • Improve upon their capacity for and comfort with conversations with others

  • Enhance their engagement, participation, and interaction

  • Amplify love, joy, happiness, and ease in your moment-to-moment experience.

while YOU learn to…

  • Avoid control battles
  • Speak your child/adult’s Autism Love Language
  • Defuse inflammatory statements, desires, or decisions (if your loved one is highly verbal)
  • Build trust and facilitate coercion-free learning and growth
  • Improve your relationship with your parenting partner if you have one
  • Set super clear boundaries in a way that is loving, clear, and doesn’t lead to battles
  • Understand (as few do) exactly where stims come from and how best to handle them
  • Circumvent crying, hitting, spitting, screaming, pinching, swearing, and similar behaviors
  • Manage – and overcome – the extremely common stress, frustration, fear, confusion, and distress that sabotages the parenting experience
  • Make your home environment most conducive to regulation, reduced control battles, and better behavior
  • Support your child/adult’s mental health and emotional well-being – and yours!
Free Resource

"SSS: Stop Stopping Stims!"

Get a copy of our white paper "Autism - Stop Stopping Stims: Why Stims Are Important (and Beautiful!)" by entering your name and email address below.
We will send it to you via email!

The Safe To Connect autism approach (including the ACT protocol) – created and practiced by renowned neurodivergent authors, seminar leaders, and lecturers Kate C. Wilde and Raun K. Kaufman, with well over half a century of combined experience with parents like you and children/adults like yours – is built upon the understanding that autistic children and adults have to feel safe… to connect.

Learn more about Kate C. Wilde and Raun K. Kaufman âž›

People on the autism spectrum must first feel safe in order to communicate, learn, socialize, self-regulate, express emotions, try something new, be more flexible, participate in an activity, and reach out and embrace you and others.

The Safe To Connect autism approach is comprised of a wide range of tools and strategies, which you can access through either our group courses (some pre-recorded and some live) or our individualized one-on-one services.

OUR SIGNATURE OFFERING

for those of you in crisis

Explore our LIVE and self-paced courses to find the solution you've been looking for.

ACT (Autism Crisis Turnaround)

LIVE Rescue Course

If your loved one on the autism spectrum experiences meltdowns, high anxiety, or extreme/explosive behavior, this is the course you need to take. Whether it’s hitting or pinching, screaming or swearing, seeming miserable or saying that they are… it’s not your child/adult/s fault. And it’s not autism’s fault, either.

There is a way out if we understand and address the real underlying causes. And that’s exactly what this in-depth, step-by-step, two-day course does.

Offered a few times throughout the year (with opportunities to view recordings of anything that you miss), this course comes with the Autism Crisis Lifeline instant mini-course, which you get immediate access to upon registering. It also comes with after-course implementation support.

learn more âž›

SELF-PACED MINI-COURSES

with lifetime access

The 3 Autism Neuro-States:

Unblocking Learning, Communication, and Connection

Instant access mini-course

If you have ever wondered why your loved one is sometimes responsive and sometimes not, where stims come from, why your child/adult seems to have a particular skill or understanding on one day but not on another, and when the best time is to engage, play with, or teach them, then join us for this vitally important mini-workshop.

Once you understand your loved one’s three neuro-states, the answer to these questions becomes clear.

We’ll show you how to adjust the way you interact with your loved one based on the neuro-state they’re in so that you can enhance your relationship with them, help shift them out of fight-or-flight survival mode, interact with them without upsetting them, reduce anxiety, and enable them to be open and receptive to the things that you and others are endeavoring to teach and show them.

learn more âž›

Autism:

Making the Leap from Sounds to Words

Instant access mini-course

Do you love or work with someone on the autism spectrum who makes sounds but does not (reliably) use spoken words to communicate?

We will show you, step by step, how to ignite language lift-off – without pushing or pressuring. If you want help turning sounds into words and single words into two-word phrases, this is the mini-workshop for you.

Gain the tools to use your loved one’s interests to inspire language-based communication, enable them to surmount any frustration they may be experiencing, address echolalia (while honoring it), and remove hidden obstacles to speech.

learn more âž›

Autism:

Defuse Inflammatory Statements, Desires, and Decisions with Your Highly Verbal Loved One

Instant access mini-course

If you are the parent of a teen, a tween, or an adult on the autism spectrum, and you struggle with various things that your loved one says when they assert something they think (“You’re stupid!”, “All teachers suck!”) or want (“I want to punch him in the face!”, “I’m going to break into that store!”), then this is the mini-workshop for you.

It will take you through a new and much more effective and productive approach to these issues and confrontations called Taxi Driver Decisional Assistance.

We’ll show you how to give your loved one a way to work through the social and other consequences of potential decisions using a conflict-free analogy and discussion style that gives them nothing to push against or rebel against.

learn more âž›

Autism Crisis Lifeline

Instant access mini-course

Get quick, first-step help with meltdowns, high anxiety, and extreme/explosive behaviors through a combination of recorded lectures, informational slides, and worksheets to fill out between the lectures.

Discover the 7 causes of meltdowns, anxiety, and near-meltdowns. Get the first step to eliminating Crisis Intensifiers. (You can’t put out the fire when there are dozens of sparks igniting it.)

Most important: Learn the 3 Lifeline Launchers to immediately lower the temperature. Note: This mini-course works best as a precursor to the ACT live rescue course, but it can also be taken on its own.

learn more âž›

Autism on Fire:

What to Do During Meltdowns and Explosions

Instant access mini-course

Do you (like a great many others) struggle with what to do during those very challenging times when your loved one on the spectrum is hitting (themselves or others), crying, screaming, swearing, or throwing/breaking things?

Whether your loved one is a surprisingly strong five-year-old or a 300-pound 25-year-old, this mini-workshop will help you feel more emotionally calm, confident, and in control, gain clarity about steps to take to keep you and others safe, enable your loved one to feel more safe and cared for during their most challenging moments, move toward de-escalation, and be the parent you most want to be during these types of situations.

Note: Although you are probably familiar with our signature ACT (Autism Crisis Turnaround) live rescue course, this mini-workshop is different. The ACT live rescue course is a comprehensive two-day course that walks you through the steps to preventing Neuro-Crashes and the meltdowns, anxiety, and extreme/explosive behavior they precipitate. This event is a ninety-minute mini-workshop that focuses on what to do during Neuro-Crashes, meltdowns, and explosions.).

learn more âž›

INDIVIDUALIZED ONE-ON-ONE SERVICES

in-home service

If you’ve always wanted Raun or Kate “all to yourself,” with concentrated, customized, gold-standard help, this is your chance. This is a rare opportunity. Raun or Kate will hit your situation (and your child/adult’s situation) from all angles. The in-home service includes:

  • Thorough Debrief: A detailed discussion with you (before coming to your home) about your loved one on the autism spectrum, your program (if you are doing one), your family, your situation, your challenges, etc. This will be used to personalize the package so that it best suits you and your child/adult’s needs.
  • Direct Work with Your Loved One: 30 minutes of each day, will be spent working with your child/adult – demonstrating important concepts and techniques – while you observe. Afterward, there will be a Q&A where you (and anyone from your support team) can ask questions about the session, and each technique demonstrated will be explained.
  • Consultations: You can ask absolutely any questions about anything that you need help or guidance with regarding your loved one, their program, their behaviors, their eating, their sleeping, their skills, etc.
  • Feedback Sessions: Observation – followed by very helpful and constructive feedback – of sessions with your child/adult (can be you working with your child/adult or members of your support team, a family member, an older sibling, or a therapist).
  • Personal Focus Sessions: Issues you may be having with your own motivation level or emotional state will be addressed. Nothing else can really work without tackling this, as it affects everything you do with your loved one and the entire way that your child/adult responds to you.
  • Support Team Training: If you have a support team, time will be spent training them so that they are much more effective with your child/adult.
  • Training You To Train: If you have a support team, you will get help to be excellent at training them and giving feedback. This creates continuing improvement in your program and in the quality of work being done with your loved one.
  • Couples Support: Focused time will be spent with you and your partner helping to work through issues that may be getting in the way of your relationship, your parenting, or your child/adult’s program. (These are exceptionally useful!)

selected

Together with you and Raun or Kate, a schedule will be constructed that will have the best balance of the options above – spanning six hours per day (if you’re working with Raun) or five hours per day (if you’re working with Kate) – with an additional hour lunch break midway through each day.

In-home services can range from two days to five.

book a free in-home service discussion session with Kate âž›
book a free in-home service discussion session with Raun âž›

OUR CONSULTATION PACKAGES

THE CORE
Consultation Package

For those seeking in-depth, one-on-one consultative help with their loved one(s) or client(s) on the autism spectrum, this is the primary session package.
It can be applied to situations such as:

  • Setting up a program or growth-oriented course of action – with specific emphasis on Unleashing the Social Brain, which (along with the ACT protocol) comprises the centerpiece of Kate and Raun’s work.
  • Maintaining a program or growth-oriented course of action as above
  • Fostering language development
  • Developing conversation skills
  • Powerfully enhancing or repairing your relationship with your child/adult
  • Overcoming long-standing behavioral and other issues that your loved one struggles with
  • Enabling your child/adult to feel safe and thus be able to reach out and increase engagement
  • Teaching self-help skills that will serve your loved one now and in the future

You will get a personalized package of (50 minutes each) of undivided attention, focused time, and concrete help overcoming challenges, obstacles, and difficulties that you’re facing.

Also included:

  • Texting between sessions as questions or challenges come up
  • Free entry into Raun K. Kaufman and Kate C. Wilde’s ACT (Autism Crisis Turnaround) live rescue course (via Zoom), which focuses on how to implement the ACT protocol for meltdowns, anxiety, and extreme/explosive behaviors (regularly $495 per individual and $595 per couple)
  • Free access to the online go-at-your-own-pace Autism Crisis Lifeline instant mini-course, which provides some initial ACT protocol strategies
  • Free access to any live online mini-workshops that may be on offer during the time period of your package.

THE AUTISTIC TEEN OR ADULT
Support Package*

If you’re the parent of a teenager or young adult, you know that it can really make a difference for a young person to have someone to talk to who can listen non-judgmentally, give insightful yet totally non-confrontational help, and make the whole experience fun, enjoyable, and useful.

Raun brings almost 30 years of experience working directly with teens and knows how to reach them. If you have a teen or adult on the autism spectrum, Raun has been where they are! (That’s a reason so many teens on the spectrum respect him so much.) The experience Raun provides includes:

  • A place where they can express themselves fully and be listened to without judgment or criticism.
  • A venue to explore things (events, feelings, recurring thoughts, ongoing issues, shyness, anxiety) that are bothering them.
  • A chance to work through and problem-solve challenges that they are trying to figure out for themselves.
  • A rare opportunity to talk with someone who has been where they are and overcome what they may be struggling with.
  • A mentor that can be a model for how to hold difficult conversations, ask people to be different, show caring, stick up for yourself without being hostile, and handle it when things don’t go your way.
  • Taxi Driver Decisional Assistance: A unique approach to addressing potentially problematic thoughts, desires, and decisions that a teen might make (i.e. “I want to beat up my teacher,” “I’m going to tell that girl she’s sexy,” “I’m not listening to anything my parents say anymore.”) that enables a different way for them to think about these decisions without pushing, contradicting, threatening, scolding, or debating them. This approach enables them to think through the social and other consequences of potential decisions, extreme responses, magical thinking, belligerence, etc. using a conflict-free analogy and discussion style where Raun is their “taxi driver” just trying to help them take the best route to their desired destination – and alerting them to roadblocks and obstacles on various routes. This allows for much better decision-making while not giving them anything to push against or rebel against.

*This package can also be used for teen siblings of someone on the autism spectrum if you feel they could use some help.
Our packages start out with 30 minutes once a week for four weeks. It can then transition to a modified schedule.

book a free package discussion session with Kate âž›
book a free package discussion session with Raun âž›

FAQs