Description

Ways Autistic People Seek and Share Connection to Others

Card Deck

A neuroaffirming 50 card set exploring autistic communication, connection, and sociality.

The Ways Autistic People Seek and Share Connection to Others Communication Cards were created to help autistic individuals, families, educators, clinicians, support workers, and communication partners better understand the diverse ways autistic people experience and express connection.

Grounded in autistic lived experience, sensory and nervous-system frameworks, contemporary autism research, and neurodiversity-affirming practice, this card set explores autistic communication as meaningful, relational, and deeply connected to regulation, safety, attention, and shared understanding.

The cards challenge deficit-based interpretations of autistic communication and instead provide language for communication styles that are often misunderstood, overlooked, or incorrectly pathologised.

Topics explored throughout the card set include:
· echolalia
· information-based sociality
· collaborative processing
· object-oriented joint attention
· sensory referencing
· social scripting
· conversational deep dives
· parallel connection
· silent bids for connection
· verbal looping
· and many more

Each card provides a concise and accessible explanation of a different autistic communication style, helping readers better understand:
· why the communication style occurs
· the underlying cognitive and sensory processes
· how connection may be expressed
· and how to support more authentic and respectful communication

The cards can be used:
· for self-reflection and identity exploration
· within therapy and mentoring
· in classrooms and educational settings
· during supervision and professional development
· as discussion prompts
· and as part of communication profiling and support planning

Designed to be practical, reflective, and accessible, the cards encourage a shift away from asking:
“What social skills are missing?”

and toward asking:
“How does this person experience connection, communication, regulation, and understanding?”

Whether used independently or alongside the companion guidebook, these cards provide a thoughtful framework for exploring autistic communication through a strengths-based and neuroaffirming lens.

Because autistic communication is not broken non-autistic communication.

It is a different way of experiencing, organising, and sharing connection.