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Course Begins February 25, 2027
Rethink How We Connect Across Neurotypes, Starting with the Nervous System
This live online training series explores Polyvagal Theory through a neurodiversity-affirming lens, integrating nervous system science, sensory processing, autistic lived experience, and relationship-based and embodied approaches into our practice.
A central theme throughout is that understanding neuroception, safety, connection, and nervous system flexibility can help us thoughtfully disrupt "care as usual", moving away from a model that treats neurodivergence as something to diagnose or correct, and toward understanding those we work with and ourselves in our wholeness, constantly shaped by and in conversation with our bodies, environments, and cultural contexts. This course offers a neurodiversity paradigm shift where identities are honored rather than pathologized.
This is a new course from the Polyvagal Institute! This page will feature additional information as we move closer to the start date.
Enroll at $1,297 Payment Plans
- Over 15 Hours of Content
- Provides a Practice Companion Map - based in Niki Elliott's Embodied Inclusion 360 and Tracy Stackhouse's Polyvagal Portals - that students can carry into their work long after the course ends
- Includes prerecorded interviews with guest contributors
- Access course materials and recordings for one year
Who is this course for?
This training is built for practitioners who work with autistic and neurodivergent people and want a nervous system-informed alternative to compliance-based approaches.
- Occupational Therapists
- Educators
- Caregivers
- Parent Advocates
Course Description
This course offers a nervous-system-informed alternative to compliance-based approaches, built around both individual and systems-level transformation.
Practical and embodied, each instructor offers concrete tools for reading the nervous system and supporting the people you work with, and yourself, to honor the body's wisdom and access strengths. This course brings the conversation out of the professional silos we tend to work within, making the case that neurodiversity-affirming care has to be interdisciplinary, with clinicians, educators, families and caregivers, and neurodivergent people themselves all in dialogue.
The course includes 5 live teaching modules and 5 application and practice sessions, and ends with a panel discussion and whole faculty Q&A, combining a mix of live teaching, case discussion, breakout and application work, and prerecorded interviews with guest contributors.
Course Schedule
Classes are held Thursdays at 12:00 pm ET (time zone converter)
| Date | Session | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| February 25, 2027 | Session 1A | Introduction to Polyvagal Theory and the Neurodiversity Paradigm(Tracy Stackhouse + Niki Elliott)2 hours |
| March 4, 2027 | Session 1B | Practice/Application Session1 hour |
| March 11, 2027 | Session 2A | Understanding Nervous System States in Autistic Individuals(Tracy Stackhouse)90 minutes |
| March 18, 2027 | Session 2B | Practice/Application Session1 hour |
| March 25, 2027 | Session 3A | Sensory Experience and Embodied Regulation through a PVT Lens(Kelly Beins)90 minutes |
| April 1, 2027 | Session 3B | Practice/Application Session1 hour |
| April 8, 2027 | Session 4A | Expanding Connection, Co-Regulation, and Play(Kim Barthel)90 minutes |
| April 15, 2027 | Session 4B | Practice/Application Session1 hour |
| April 22, 2027 | Session 5A | Navigating Relationships Across Neurotypes(Niki Elliott)90 minutes |
| April 29, 2027 | Session 5B | Practice/Application Session1 hour |
| May 6, 2027 | Session 6A | Neurodiversity and Communities + Neurodivergent Wisdom Panel90 minutes |
| May 13, 2027 | Session 6B | Final Integration / Q&A Session1 hour |
Your Instructors
Tracy Stackhouse, MA, OTR, is an internationally recognized occupational therapist, author, educator, and thought leader whose work has contributed to contemporary approaches to neurodevelopmental disorders, sensory integration, developmental trauma, and Polyvagal-informed practice.
As Co-Founder and Director of Innovation at Developmental FX (DFX), a nonprofit organization dedicated to engaging and elevating pediatric therapeutic practice, Tracy leads initiatives that advance clinical excellence through education, mentorship, research translation, and interdisciplinary collaboration. For more than four decades, she has specialized in supporting neurodivergent individuals, particularly those with Fragile X syndrome, autism, sensory processing differences, and complex developmental challenges.
Tracy is the creator and lead author of the SpIRiT and S.T.E.P.P.S.I. Clinical Reasoning Frameworks, innovative models used internationally to guide individualized, relationship-based intervention planning. She is the host of the Spirited Conversations podcast, where she explores the intersections of neuroscience, therapeutic practice, and human connection.
Dr. Niki Elliott is a clinical professor and director of the Center for Embodied Equity and Neurodiversity at the University of San Diego SOLES. A leading voice in neurodiversity and trauma-informed education, she has trained thousands of teachers, school counselors, and helping professionals worldwide to better support students with learning differences, mental health diagnoses, trauma histories, and behavioral challenges.
Her work integrates educational neuroscience, polyvagal theory, mind-body practices and embodied equity to build emotionally safe, neuroinclusive learning environments. Dr. Elliott also serves on the Board of Directors and teaching faculty of the Polyvagal Institute and is the author of the book Heart-Centered Connection: 7 Essential Skills for Helping Neurodiverse and Marginalized Children Thrive.
Kim Barthel is a Canadian occupational therapist, multi-disciplinary speaker, mentor and best-selling author who is active in supporting people in many contexts globally. She is passionate about integrating neurobiology, complex behavior, trauma-sensitive and neurodiverse-affirming practice, sensory processing, movement, attachment and mental health. Kim was honored to win the Award of Merit from the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapy in 2019, and in 2025 received an award from the international ATTACh Association for innovation in treatment of children with unique needs. With 42+ years of practice in helping people to be their best selves, Kim's overall mission is to support the conscious evolution of the human spirit and she is still learning every day.
Kelly Beins is a Clinical Educator at Unyte Health an Occupational Therapist & Certified Yoga Instructor, with over 31 years of clinical experience spanning mental health, pediatrics, and complex care settings. She partners with providers and organizations to bring neuroscience & evidence--informed interventions
into real-world clinical practice. An international speaker and author of two children’s books, Kelly was named Autism Parenting Magazine - Top 0T for two consecutive years. Kelly is known for helping clinicians make sense of complex clinical concepts and move toward more human-centered, nervous system-informed practice. As a parent of a sensory child, her professional work is deeply informed by lived experience, bringing both insight and authenticity to her approach.
