The Think Sensory Summit · Season 2 · Bonus · Download
Re-Imagining Participation: Neurodivergent Occupations and the EMPOWER Model
From Bryden Carlson-Giving, OTD, OTR/L
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Re Imagining Participation EMPOWER Model Slides, 45 slides
This bonus is included with the All-Access Pass, along with every session, audio version and transcript.
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The 45 slides from Bryden Carlson-Giving's live presentation, illustrated with Bryden's original watercolors. Bryden covers:
- How the medical model of disability shows up in OT evaluations, goals, and interventions, and how it feeds ableism
- What neurodivergent occupations are, with side-by-side examples of neuronormative and affirming views of participation
- The four foundations of the EMPOWER Model: disability justice, trauma-informed care, antiracism, and strengths-based approaches
- The five stages of the anti-ableist OT process, from critical reflexivity to advocacy, each with practical strategies and assessment tools to try
- Bryden's free resources and the book Neurodiversity-Affirming Occupational Therapy
Bryden's full article on the EMPOWER Model is free to read at neurodivergentnexus.com/empower-model.
Bryden Carlson-Giving, OTD, OTR/L
Bryden Carlson-Giving, OTD, OTR/L is a Neurodivergent and Disabled occupational therapy practitioner (OTP) with experience in pediatric outpatient, inpatient, and school-based settings. Bryden earned his post-professional doctorate from Boston University, where his research focused on creating a toolkit to support OTPs in challenging ableism within the OT profession. This work led to the development of the first neurodiversity-affirming occupational therapy model, the EMPOWER model. He received the 2024 Emerging Leader Award from Boston University and the 2026 Gustavus Adolphus First Decade Award. He is the editor of "Neurodiversity-Affirming Occupational Therapy: Empowering Approaches to Foster Neurodivergent Participation", published in 2026.
The transcript is included with the All-Access Pass.
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