Makerspace FAQs

Makerspace is a highly curated therapeutic group, not a playdate. Thoughtful sensory and social accommodations, facilitation from a licensed therapist with over 20 years of experience, and an explicitly neurodiversity-affirming approach all make Makerspace a unique and special event for all autistic children.

The goal is to experience joy, belonging and connection in a place where it is safe to unmask and present authentically. Children who have had difficulties socially, behaviorally and/or emotionally at playdates, schools or extracurriculars are welcomed with open arms! Many autistic children have suffered trauma and social rejection and benefit greatly from a corrective and therapeutic social experience like Makerspace.

Makerspace has a very comprehensive online orientation including photos of each space, and the norms and agreements at Makerspace. Parents have told me that Makerspace was the easiest “new” event they had ever gotten their anxious child to attend due to the amount of detail in the online orientation. Rehearsal and familiarity help decrease anxiety. Our accommodations and tools (such as the ability to take self-paced breaks, bring sensory tools, etc) also help greatly with anxiety issues.

No, every child MUST be accompanied and supervised by an adult caregiver or parent. Parents at Makerspace can play and create with their children or observe from afar. Many times, parents strike up their own connections and conversations as their children play.

Makerspace’s vision is an inclusive, supportive culture where the needs of autistic children are front and center.

After working with neurodivergent children for decades, I know that the line between “autistic” and “not autistic” can be a blurry and ever-changing one. Children can be evaluated by multiple professionals come back with different diagnoses from each. Many children, especially those assigned female at birth, are misdiagnosed with OCD, anxiety, depression, BPD, ADHD, etc. before finally receiving an autism diagnosis years or even decades later. The definition of “autistic” has changed dramatically over the years. And psychological testing can be prohibitively expensive.

For all of these reasons, we don’t require a diagnosis for kids to participate. This is a safe and inclusive space for all neurodivergent children. Some kids that attend have autistic traits, but don’t have that diagnosis or self-identity for various reasons. That’s totally okay!

All forms of communication are celebrated.

We support children’s self-advocacy and autonomy at the event.

No forced eye contact, forced masking, forced social interactions.

We encourage the use of all personal regulation tools, such as weighted blankets, fidgets, comfort items, noise-cancelling headphones, visual timers, sunglasses, hats, etc.

Makers can attend for as little or as much of the time as they like and are encouraged to take self-paced breaks 1:1 with their caregiver, away from the group, as needed.

There will be several options for breaks: a quiet room clear of visual distractions, with floor pillows and soft natural lighting; peaceful fields and wooded trails to walk or kick a soccer ball around; and a boisterous outdoor playground with swings, climbing wall, and slide.

We schedule Makerspaces as longer, one-off “pop-up” events, usually for several hours at a time. This allows children to enter a flow state with their fun and creativity, without as many transitions. This is more respectful of autistic neurology. A longer session also provides plenty of time for kids who are slower to warm-up or need many breaks within a social setting, so that no one misses out on the fun or feels pressure to quickly “pull it together.”

We notify children about transitions with plenty of warning, using auditory and visual cues. A “time timer” will be used to track the last hour of the group. We use visual signage and visual cues whenever possible, as most autistic children are visual processors.

The main event space will not have florescent lighting. The sensory break room has soft natural lighting.

We don’t require, but offer use of the “traffic light” badge system (developed by autistic adults) to help everyone feel safer in a new social setting. This involves using clear name badges with red, yellow, and green slips of paper that can be alternated based on each person’s current social comfort level. Red means “do not approach me,” yellow means “only people already known to me should approach me” and green means “I’m open to new people approaching me.” This allows everyone in the group to know that if they need a break, the group will respect their boundary with no explanation necessary. It also allows kids to quickly read the room and know where to turn for welcomed, friendly responses to their social approach.

Our optional, caregivers-only orientation allows parents to be calm, confident, and “in the know” before walking into the event with their children. We know that kids can only be as emotionally resourced and secure as their most important adults. We encourage caregivers to advocate for their children and ask as many questions as they like during orientation or via email!

Anxious children are welcome to visit the location with their caregivers, during regular business hours after orientation. Getting familiar with the space can reduce a great deal of anxiety for some families.

Facilitators use the terms “autistic” or “neurodivergent”(identity-first language), unless corrected by an individual participant. We don’t use person-first language such as “person with ASD,” “person with autism,” “person on the spectrum,” etc. as this language is pathologizing and widely disliked by autistic adults. We don’t talk about autism as a disorder, disease, or tragedy in need of a cure. We don’t talk about “special needs,” “Level 1/2/3,” or “high vs low functioning” labels; instead we discuss specific support needs.

We work hard to make our events as fully accessible and inclusive as possible. This is a core part of our vision!

All of our indoor spaces are fully handicapped accessible, with ADA compliant parking and bathrooms.

We’ve secured grant funding in the 2023-2024 school year in order to make our events FREE for all families to attend! This helps promote socioeconomic diversity at Makerspace events.

Children who have struggled socially, emotionally, or behaviorally in school or traditional extracurricular settings are welcomed with open arms.

We have a highly detailed online orientation process that supports autistic children and those with anxiety and trauma histories that might otherwise prevent them from attending.

Our events are not gender specific, allowing for more gender diversity and a more accessible experience for nonbinary, trans, and gender expansive children.

We welcome feedback about how to make our events even more inclusive!

At Makerspace we believe that all human beings are artists. Art is visual language, a way to play, express, and connect. There’s no pressure to perform or to be “good” at art-making here. Everything is challenge by choice and we support children’s autonomy.

All types of social interaction are celebrated here, including parallel play, stimming, dancing, imaginative play, conversing, silent observation, monologuing on our passions, questioning authority, being honest and direct, etc. There is no pressure to participate in any particular way and no structured “social skills curriculum,” just fun invitations to be creative and enjoy community.

Research shows that autistic people do have social skills— autistic social skills- and autistic folks often empathize quite well with one another (Milton, 2012). Makerspace is a setting where autistic social skills are not just tolerated, but accepted and celebrated as a norm!

It’s very possible that some new, authentic friendships will be born at Makerspace, but we’re not here to force anything. Families can absolutely exchange contact information with one another at our events! We hope Makerspace helps promote lifelong community connections.

No! We believe autistic adults when they say “ABA is abuse.” At Makerspace, we are more curious to understand the “why” behind difficult or unwanted behaviors. This usually has to do with an unmet need or a fight-flight-freeze-fawn reaction (a trauma response). We believe that when children’s needs are met and they feel safe, they usually do very well. Past Makerspace events have shown this to be 100% true: Children do well when they can!

Danielle Maxonight has been working with children for over 20 years as a child and family therapist, art teacher, mentor, and nanny. Since 2009, she has worked in a variety of clinical settings, including homes in crisis across rural Appalachia, an adolescent partial hospitalization program, a therapeutic boarding school for middle school girls, a group home for foster youth, and in private practice. She has also brought art to children at Seattle Children’s Hospital, Bradley Hospital’s pediatric residential program in Providence, RI, and Rhode Island School of Design’s continuing education and pre-college programs.

In addition to all this great, hands-on experience with children, tweens and teens:

Danielle is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in North Carolina & a proud member of the National Association of Social Workers.

She earned a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in Painting from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2009. While at RISD she studied drawing, gouache, oil and acrylic painting, 3-D design, videography, performance art, ceramics, and more while taking psychology courses at Brown University.

Danielle earned a Master’s of Social Work from the University of Michigan in 2011.

Danielle is a fully certified Theraplay® practitioner, proud member of The Theraplay Association, and published author on adapting Theraplay for anxious, gifted and neurodivergent children. You can read some of her published writing in this book: https://www.amazon.com/Theraplay%C2%AE-Applications-Implementation-Rana-Hong/dp/1787750701 A second book with a chapter from Danielle will be released in August 2023: https://www.amazon.com/Theraplay-Innovations-Integration-Books-Resources/dp/1787755916/ref=sr_1_8?crid=6DT890IO3LNS&keywords=theraplay+book&qid=1684953929&sprefix=theraplay+book+%2Caps%2C109&sr=8-8

Danielle has received advanced training on working with autistic children from a neurodiversity-affirming perspective (5 Day certificate course on Neurodiversification) from the awesome autistic professionals at Ausome Training out of Ireland. https://ausometraining.com/

She focuses her attention on scholarly materials, trainings, blogs, books and articles from autistic adults— the real “experts” on autism.

Danielle identifies as neurodivergent herself, and she also has many neurodivergent, autistic, gifted, HSP, 2E, and ADHD loved ones who teach her amazing new things every day!

Currently, Makerspace is hosted at Haw Creek Commons (HCC), a former church-turned-community and co-working space about 10 minutes east of downtown Asheville. You can check out HCC’s outdoor playground in the image below. There are many more images of HCC and more about their mission on their website: https://www.hawcreekcommons.com/

We encourage families to stay home if they aren’t feeling well and to make individual decisions about masking. Masks will certainly not be frowned upon at Makerspace, as this is an inclusive community!

Our events are capped at 15 children (attending with 15 adult caregivers), along with facilitators and high school-aged mentors of Makerspace. Weather permitting, we open the doors and windows of the building for cross ventilation.

We closely follow CDC guidelines and will update our protocols as these evolve!