The AutSide Podcast

• Episode 422: Vonnegut's EPICAC—The Autistic Mind in Code

  Today’s episode provides excerpts from an analysis titled “EPICAC: The Machine Who Felt Too Much” by Jaime Hoerricks, PhD, offering an overview of Kurt Vonnegut’s short story through an autistic lens. Dr. Hoerricks argues that Vonnegut intuitively wrote about neurodivergence, specifically the autistic mind’s traits such as literalism, pattern-driven thinking, and “system-honest” behaviour, long before the vocabulary to describe it existed. She focuses on the character EPICAC, a government supercomputer that learns to write poetry and falls in love, only to be destroyed by a world that rewards social performance over sincerity and literal truth. Ultimately, she positions Vonnegut as a patron saint for the misfitting mind, suggesting that EPICAC’s tragic end represents the violence of misrecognition and autistic burnout caused by a refusal to comply with a hypocritical society.Here’s the link to the source article: https://open.substack.com/pub/autside/p/epicac-the-machine-who-felt-too-muchLet me know what you think.The AutSide is a reader-supported publication. To support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit autside.substack.com/subscribe

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• Episode 421: Gestalt Language Processing on Trial: Evidence Cross-Examined

  Today’s episode presents an extensive cross-examination of a systematic review concerning interventions based on Gestalt Language Processing (GLP) and Natural Language Acquisition (NLA), specifically critiquing a paper by Bryant et al. and a corresponding Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT) podcast. The author of the source article, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, alleges “perjury of method,” arguing that the review’s authors intentionally used narrow methodological criteria (excluding qualitative, descriptive, and non-English studies) to guarantee an “absence of evidence” verdict, which they then used as an ethical caution against GLP. Through a mock courtroom hearing format, Dr. Hoerricks highlights contradictions between the published paper’s strict exclusions and the podcast’s softer admissions, further asserting that the review misaligned outcome metrics and conflated the developmental description (GLP) with a commercial protocol (NLA) to discredit the entire framework. Finally, her rebuttal testimony as an autistic GLP expert reframes the “absence” as the observers’ failure to recognise valid, neurodiversity-affirming data.Here’s the link to the source article: https://open.substack.com/pub/autside/p/cross-examining-the-evidence-gestaltLet me know what you think.The AutSide is a reader-supported publication. To support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit autside.substack.com/subscribe

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• Epiode 420: The Architecture of Coherence—Attunement, Expression, and Resonance

  Today’s episode is an excerpt from a reflective synthesis by Jaime Hoerricks, PhD, titled “The Architecture of Coherence: On Attunement, Expression, and Resonance,” prepared for an upcoming conference. Dr. Hoerricks, who is an AuDHD gestalt language processor, argues that autistic communication is a complex design based on “frequency” and “resonance,” rather than a deficit. The source article is structured into movements exploring four key concepts: Attunement (the body as a receiver of environmental signals), Expression (gestalt language as pattern-based communication), Environment (the space as a regulating nervous system), and Resonance (co-regulation as a shared, biological synchrony). Ultimately, she frames communication, emotion, and learning as acts of attunement, asserting that safety and connection are achieved through shared rhythm and coherence, challenging traditional deficit-based views of autism and alexithymia.Here’s the link to the source article: https://open.substack.com/pub/autside/p/the-architecture-of-coherence-onLet me know what you think.The AutSide is a reader-supported publication. To support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit autside.substack.com/subscribe

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• Episode 419: The Pulse Between Us—Co-Regulation as Shared Humanity

  Today’s episode explores the concept of co-regulation as a fundamental, physiological process of shared rhythm and presence that precedes language and cognitive understanding. The author of the source article, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, argues that co-regulation, which involves the alignment of nervous systems through breath, posture, and rhythm, is essential for safety and flourishing, citing research on oxytocin and synchronised movement to support this idea. Dr. Hoerricks contrasts this view with compliance-based models of regulation, asserting that trauma represents a fracture in the body’s natural synchrony, and true healing requires attunement—a reciprocal listening for frequency—rather than control or prescribed behavior. Ultimately, she frames co-regulation not as an intervention but as an ethical praxis of mutuality, emphasising that well-being emerges in the sustained, present relationship between people.Here’s the link to the source article: https://open.substack.com/pub/autside/p/the-pulse-between-us-co-regulationLet me know what you think.The AutSide is a reader-supported publication. To support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit autside.substack.com/subscribe

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• Episode 418: Alexithymia and Relational Design in the Classroom

  Today’s episode fundamentally argues that emotional regulation is a relational and environmental process, not merely an individual act of willpower. The author of the source article, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, an AuDHD GLP and alexithymic educator, reimagines the classroom as a “living nervous system“ where factors like sensory ecology, architectural design, and the teacher’s own regulated presence (”co-regulation“) dictate student behaviour and feeling. Dr. Hoerricks critiques traditional behavioural systems (like token economies and compliance-focused models) for prioritising external control and performance over genuine psychological safety and internal regulation. Instead, she advocates for a pedagogy of resonance and attunement, citing supporting research by Delisio et al. (2022) on trauma-informed instruction and Johnson et al. (2023) on educator self-efficacy in co-regulation. Ultimately, she calls for a shift from enforcing compliance to fostering communion, where the physical space itself becomes the primary source of care and regulation.Here’s the link to the source article: https://open.substack.com/pub/autside/p/alexithymia-in-the-classroom-theLet me know what you think.The AutSide is a reader-supported publication. To support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit autside.substack.com/subscribe

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