This five-day workshop is intended for young professionals from varied backgrounds with a keen interest in and commitment to those on the autism spectrum. Topics will include current insights on the developmental neurobiology of autism from brain imaging to behavioural neuroscience, casting autistic behaviour as a normal adaptive response to the abnormal perceptual and cognitive environment conferred by an autistic brain, and unifying sensory, motor and cognitive aspects of autism across social and non-social domains of functioning. The presentations will also illustrate how current therapies within the developmental framework, such as the Communication DEALL Early Intervention programme, can alter the course of development by working with instead of against these efforts of the autistic person to adapt and to learn. Therapeutic and pedagogic strategies discussed will include asynchronous modes of communication, the use of single-channel rather than multi-sensory or integrative modalities, delivery of communicative and educational content coincident with physically rather than socially salient prompts, and use of student-centred tasks and rewards tailored to the individual's skills and motivations.