Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast Mother's Guide Through Autism
Plongez dans la liste complète des épisodes de Mother's Guide Through Autism. Chaque épisode est catalogué accompagné de descriptions détaillées, ce qui facilite la recherche et l'exploration de sujets spécifiques. Suivez tous les épisodes de votre podcast préféré et ne manquez aucun contenu pertinent.
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Titre
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Boost Your Bond: Expert Advice For Connecting With Your Autistic Child | Dr. Ali Perkinson
28 Sep 2024
00:32:25
Dr. Ali Perkinson is a licensed educational psychologist, speech-language pathologist, board-certified behavior analyst, and neurodiverse couples counselor.
Dr. Ali offers social communication therapy and helps people increase connections in neurodiverse romantic relationships, friendships, or parent-child dynamics.
In this episode, she shares:
- 3 tips on how to boost your bond with your autistic child - dating advice for autistic individuals - how to use your child’s motivation to increase social skills - and more!
Theme song: "Look at the clouds" by Tristan Lohengrin tristanlohengrin.bandcamp.com
Embracing Autism - A Mother's Journey of Finding Joy and Purpose with Kari A. Baker
20 Sep 2024
00:42:26
Kari A. Baker is an author, speaker, and podcaster who is the founder of KIND Families. Kari shares her story of struggling to accept the autism diagnosis of her son Brady and eventually finding peace and purpose through it.
In this episode, she shares:
- how she shifted from struggling with her son’s diagnosis to embracing it - how she found the gifts and purpose in the unexpected journey of autism parenting - what changed her perspective - and more!
Theme song: "Look at the clouds" by Tristan Lohengrin tristanlohengrin.bandcamp.com
Kids Not Sleeping? Try These Strategies with Melissa Doman
18 Apr 2024
00:47:00
Melissa Doman is a sleep coach exclusively for children with special needs. She is back on Mother's Guide to dive deeper into the strategies and how-to’s of sleep for your kids!
In this episode, she shares:
- the important prep work to set you and your kids up for success - the one-change-at-a-time approach to ensure long-term success - troubleshoots for when things don’t go as planned - and more!
The Spectrum Girl’s Survival Guide: How To Grow Up Awesome and Autistic with Siena Castellon
24 Jun 2021
00:46:17
In this week’s insightful and enlightening episode, Brigitte interviews Siena, an 18-year-old multi-award-winning neurodiversity advocate, bestselling author, and UN Young Leader for the SDGs, to talk about bullying and how to grow up awesome and autistic.
Siena recalls being different at a young age and how she struggled to make friends. She was constantly bullied and had to change schools 11 times over the course of her secondary school career. She was beaten with sticks, shoved in lockers, held out a window, called robotic, cold, freaky, weird, and psycho in every school she went to.
When she was diagnosed with autism at 12, everything made sense to her and she realized all of the bullying she experienced wasn’t her fault but it was the prejudices and stereotypes that people had and it was the problems people had in their own lives that they were taking out on her.
She says that the biggest thing we have to do is to hold bullies accountable. Although all the schools had a zero-tolerance policy, none of the bullies were held accountable even when the bullies admitted to it.
Siena doesn't see being autistic as having deficits and instead, she sees it as a strength. “My autism is a difference, not a disability," she says.
Siena says that the biggest misconception people have about autism is that they are all are alike. A lot of people don’t see autistic people as leaders and see them as people who have communication struggles or who would be quiet in the corner. She hears of a lot of people who don’t get job promotions or don’t get the leadership roles they deserve because of the misconception.
She says that another misconception is that more males have autism. She explains that autism presents differently for girls and women and they are great at masking and pretending to be neurotypical.
Siena started Quantum Leap Mentoring when she was 13 because there was a lack of resources for neurodiverse individuals who are going through school. This website offers many articles on autism and how to thrive in school.
She talks about her book The Spectrum Girl’s Survival Guide: How To Grow Up Awesome and Autisticwhich offers resources and practical advice for autistic girls. She almost didn’t write this book due to her busy schedule but she knew she had to write it when she realized that there wasn’t any book available for autistic girls that was written by an autistic girl.
Siena offers this advice to autistic individuals: Learn as much about yourself as possible and see your autism as a strength and focus on the positive areas and learn how autism really affects you.
Her advice to mothers of kids with autism: Broaden your idea of what happiness is. Know that your child might have different preferences and ways they can be happy.
Sabita Finds Her Voice - One Mom’s Journey to Help Her Autistic Daughter and Others Alike with Dr. Stephanie Vavilala
02 Jun 2021
01:07:40
In this week's amazing episode, Brigitte interviews Dr. Stephanie Vavilala, a licensed mental health counselor, the founder of Awetism Wonderland, and a mother of a 9-year-old girl who has autism and is nonverbal. Dr. Stephanie has a mission to provide support for children on the spectrum, as well as their families.
Dr. Stephanie shares her story of struggling to conceive for 5 years with 6 rounds of IVF treatment and 3 miscarriages, and finally giving birth to Sabita who was her miracle child and an absolute joy to her.
Sabita was diagnosed to be on the spectrum after she turned one. Wanting to find solutions to help her daughter, Dr. Stephanie went back to school and became a Board Certified Behavioral Therapist.
Realizing how hard it was for parents to find services for their children in her county, she decided to add ABA Therapy to her existing company Therapeutic Expressions which offered mental health services.
She immersed herself in the work of helping other kids like Sabita, and that became her life focus for many years. Although she loved it, she lost herself along the way from neglecting to take care of herself. That is when she realized that she needed to create a community for special needs moms.
She then created Flamingle, a local support group for special needs moms to have fun and play and to support each other.
She is now very passionate about making life easier for special needs families through the use of technologies and with resources and support that she herself has found helpful in empowering her own daughter to unleash her full potential.
Dr. Stephanie recently pulled Sabita out of school to get her homeschooled because Sabita was not getting what she needed from the current school curriculums.
Knowing the needs of other children like Sabita, Dr. Stephanie decided to create Awetism Wonderland, which is an autism therapy center opening up this fall in St. Augustine, FL.
Awetism Wonderland is a comprehensive center with everything for autism therapy--OT, PT, ABA, Art Therapy, Music Therapy, Play Therapy, Baking Therapy, and many more.
The center was created to give kids like Sabita a place of different types of learning environments with a strength-based approach that provides social interaction as well as functional academic skills and life vocational skills. This center will provide support for kids on the spectrum as well as their parents, siblings, and peers.
Dr. Stephanie has also recently published a beautiful children's book called Sabita Finds Her Voice which is about her daughter finding her voice through technology. She shares two of the communication apps that have been helpful for Sabita.
She leaves us with this advice: Trust your gut, take care of yourself, reach out to a community, and advocate wherever you go and educate others!
Things I Learned About Becoming an Adult on the Autism Spectrum with Joseph Shipman
20 May 2021
00:25:47
In this special episode of Mother's Guide Through Autism, Brigitte's son Joseph Shipman takes the mic to share what he's learned in the last 29 years of living on the autism spectrum.
This episode is for mother guides, father guides, guardians, and young people living on the autism spectrum who want to gain knowledge and insight about living an authentic, meaningful, and fulfilling life.
Joseph shares 7 important things for parents and autistic people to remember to create an authentic, meaningful, and fulfilling life including taking risks, having life responsibility, figuring out who you are and what you want, making mistakes, and more.
Help Your Autistic Child Build Resilience with Yenn Purkis
12 May 2021
00:47:06
In this week’s inspiring episode, Brigitte interviews Yenn Pukis, an autistic and non-binary author, advocate, public speaker, and community leader, to talk about building resilience for preteens and teens on the autism spectrum.
Yenn was one of the first people to be diagnosed as adult with autism in Australia back in 1994 when it was called Asperger Syndrome.
They recall being bullied a lot in school and struggling socially although they did well academically. They ended up getting into trouble with the law and life became extremely difficult for them. They developed a mental illness at 21 called Schizoaffective disorder due to self-medicating and drugs.
At 25, no longer wanting their life to be negative and chaotic, they set about to change their world. “I want to put things in the world to make it better, not worse. And when I leave it, I want to leave it in a better way than it was,“ Yenn says passionately.
They went on to university and earned three degrees including a Master’s in Visual Art and obtained a highly sought-after job in the Australian public service 14 years ago. They became an autism employment success story.
They became a passionate autism advocate after meeting a 21-year old autistic man she would call Adam whom she met in the psychiatric ward when she was there for her mental illness.
Adam had been told all that he couldn’t do and he was so limited by other people’s negative expectations that he spent the past 6 years sitting in his room playing computer games and not engaged in anything. He had no confidence in himself and had no understanding that he had anything to offer in the world. Moved to do something about this, Yenn published a book called The Wonderful World of Work, and shortly after, she was asked to give a TED Talk.
Yenn has written more books that are focused on positive self-knowledge of autistic people to help individuals like Adam.
They are now one of the most visible autistic advocates in the world and they feel that they are living proof of what people can achieve and what strengths autistic people can bring to the world with motivation and passion.
They share some of the biggest struggles young autistic people face and keys to help them build resilience during difficult times.
They also give great advice to parents on how to help their autistic kids navigate through high school and employment.
Finally, Yenn tells us to have the neurodiversity lens, listen to autistic people to understand autistic people, be an ally, and encourage our kids to ask questions.
Disconnected Kids - Balance the Brain for Extraordinary Results with Dr. Robert Melillo
05 May 2021
01:01:25
In this week's highly informative and inspiring episode, Brigitte interviews Dr. Robert Melillo, one of the world’s most sought after and respected experts on neurobehavioral disorders and learning disabilities, to talk about the primary issue that he says is behind many of the neurological disorders including autism and ADHD.
Dr. Melillo has written 5 best-selling books including Disconnected Kids which has been translated into 8 languages. He also created Brain Balance Achievement Centers which has approximately 150 centers and has helped tens of thousands of families.
He shares his journey of diving deep into research on various neurological conditions when his wife sought his help for a friend who had a child with autism and discovered that his own son had ADHD shortly after.
Not knowing how to help and not finding much help from his colleagues either, he spent 10 years researching to find the answers he was looking for and finally developed a brain balancing program to help the friend's son, his own son, and many other children.
He explains that functional dysfunction--a developmental imbalance that makes two hemispheres of the brain not communicate properly--is behind most of the neurological disorders we see today and in autism, there is usually a developmental delay in the right hemisphere of the brain whereas it's the left hemisphere of the brain in dyslexia. He says that it’s all about the functional connection and functional disconnectivity, however the specific condition presents itself as.
He further explains the functions of the right brain and the left brain and how they develop in our early years and why people with autism typically don’t hear the tone and inflection of voice and have difficulty forming attachment and personal relationships with others and maintaining them.
He goes on to explain what is causing it all and how we can reverse the skyrocketing increase in these conditions.
He talks about his at-home brain balance program, which is offered in his book Disconnected Kids, that can help parents understand what’s happening in their child’s brain and help them do things using different types of stimulation including exercises to get rid of retained primitive reflexes and stimulate one side of the brain or the other as well as incorporating diet and nutrition.
He also shares some inspiring success stories where children had remarkable improvement in their conditions from participating in his program.
He tells parents not to listen to people who tell them there is nothing they can do about their child’s condition. He says that in most cases, the conditions can completely go away or be significantly improved.
He also offers some wise advice to parents on improving and maintaining the well-being of their children.
Finally, he leaves us with this message for parents with adults children with autism, "it's never too late."
A Year of Self-Compassion - Nurture Your Mind, Body, and Spirit with Brigitte Shipman
22 Apr 2021
00:23:04
In this week's episode, Brigitte talks about having and cultivating self-compassion to be more forgiving, loving, compassionate, understanding, and kinder as a human being to ourselves and to others.
Brigitte explains what self-compassion means to her and what it might look like, and talks about the 3 areas she is focusing on to cultivate self-compassion:
- Paying attention to self-talk - Being kinder to herself when she falls short - Nurture mind, body, and spirit in the form of self-care
She also talks about rest and "adult recess" as forms of self-care.
She is starting a year of self-compassion and inviting you to join her on this journey.
She ends with one question to ask yourself to reflect on where you are as you begin this journey to self-love and self-compassion.
Words from My Son on World Autism Awareness Day with Brigitte Shipman
07 Apr 2021
00:17:41
In this week's episode, Brigitte shares what her son Joseph wrote on World Autism Awareness Day to bring more awareness and understanding to autism.
Brigitte says that awareness is the beginning of understanding that brings us all the ability to move forward with love and grace and that this applies in all the areas of our life that we are navigating to live authentically.
She shares that her awareness has grown deeper from the words of her son. His words inspire her to live with the intention of being kinder, notice the beauty in each person, and be the highest version of herself.
She hopes that his words will inspire you and that you take your own awareness with you and that you put it out into the world.
Don't Let Fear of the Future Sap Your Energy with Brigitte Shipman
02 Apr 2021
00:20:37
In this week's episode, Brigitte talks about the fear of the future for our children that often shows up strong for mothers of children with autism.
Brigitte is no stranger to fearful thoughts that weighed her down like a bag of rocks for decades. Her fearful thoughts ranged from "What if my son never talks?" to "He will never find love," to "What would happen to my son when I’m gone?" and many more.
To alleviate the fear of "What would happen to my son when I’m gone?" Brigitte had told herself, "I have to make sure I don’t die until I know my boys will be okay."
Fear was taking up so much of her energy that she didn't have much energy left.
The truth is, she knew she had no control over what their future was going to be but she still carried the heavyweight of fear for decades.
Later, as Joseph got older, she was able to see that he could be independent one day and the regrets came over her. What if I could’ve seen that possibility back when he was 3? What if I could’ve seen into the future and just realize that he was going to be okay?
She now knows that she could've been more present if she wasn't so occupied by her fear and wishes that she had a way to shift her fear the way she is able to now.
She shares her practice of calming her fear and urges you to take up this daily practice to shift your own fear of the future for your child.
Embracing Autism - Empowerment That Came with Adult Autism Diagnosis with Dr. Natalie Engelbrecht
28 Mar 2021
01:23:40
In this week's insightful episode, Brigitte interviews Dr. Natalie Engelbrecht about her experience of being diagnosed with autism at 48 and her perspective of living with autism.
Dr. Natalie is a late-diagnosed, registered psychotherapist practicing for over twenty-five years to help individuals with autism reach their potential.
She is also a founder and blogger at Embrace ASD which offers evidence-based articles on a variety of autism topics including the latest autism research, and resources to help individuals with autism.
She shares her experience of being diagnosed with autism at age 48 in 2017 and how her first reaction was joy because it gave her the much-needed understanding of who she was.
She tells how prior to being diagnosed, she felt a lot of shame and felt like she was always wrong and apologizing for who she was. It was difficult for her to maintain friendships and being in groups and she felt broken before the diagnosis. “I didn’t see myself as different. I saw myself as wrong,” Dr. Natalie says.
Once she understood that she had autism, everything started to change and things other people found peculiar in the past made sense to her.
She shares the beautiful and profound manifesto (which you can find on her website Embrace ASD) she wrote a few days after her diagnosis, in which she says she can choose to see herself as having superpowers and she chooses to embrace ASD.
She also offers new insight into the empathic capacity of autistic people and talks about the double empathy problem to help us bridge the gap in communication between neurotypical individuals and autistic individuals.
In addition, she explains 3 reasons symptoms are different in girls and women.
Finally, she gives advice on how to best support our loved ones with autism and encourages us to always approach with curiosity.
Self-Compassion Series with Dr. Michelle Trias - Part 4: Give Yourself the Sleep You Need
11 Mar 2021
00:30:47
In this fourth and final installment of the 4-part series Self Compassion, Brigitte and Dr. Michelle Trias discuss the importance of sleep and how we can establish a solid sleep routine for our wellbeing.
Dr. Michelle explains that during sleep, your brain stores new information and get rid of toxic waste, your body repairs cells, restores energy, and releases molecules like hormones and proteins, and you get a boost in your immune system so you get sick less often and have more energy throughout the day.
Dr. Michelles also says that sleep is a vital player in your ability to regulate hormones that control appetite and metabolism as well as to lower your stress and improve your mood, and to help you focus and think more creatively.
Brigitte and Dr. Michelle talk about the importance of getting into a good sleep routine, which can set you up for a great night’s sleep, which can set you up for a great morning, and therefore set you up for a great day.
They offer some Do's and Don'ts before bedtime and tips on how to go back to sleep should you wake up in the middle of the night.
Enjoy this episode!
Dr. Michelle Trias is a graduate from the University of Central Florida and completed her Doctorate in traditional naturopathy from the New Eden School of Natural Health and Herbal studies. Whether it's digestive discomfort, skin conditions, cholesterol, or fatigue, natural foods and herbs are the way back to better health. Dr. Michelle is on a mission to help you heal your gut and help you take control of your health and wellness.
The Common Misunderstandings Between Autistic and Neurotypical Individuals with Jaime A. Heidel
14 Apr 2024
00:27:35
Jaime A. Heidel, The Articulate Autistic, is a late-diagnosed autistic/ADHD writer, advocate, consultant, and communication translator.
In this revealing episode, Jaime shares:
- her struggles of growing up autistic and not knowing - the common misunderstandings that happen between autistic and neurotypical individuals - how she helps autistic and neurotypical couples/families to understand each other better - and more!
Self-Compassion Series with Dr. Michelle Trias - Part 3: Don't Put Your Self-Worth in Social Media
05 Mar 2021
00:38:36
In this third installment of the 4-part series Self Compassion, Brigitte and Dr. Michelle Trias discuss how our use of social media is causing many of us to have anxiety and depression and what we need to do to counter that.
Research shows that frequent social media users have been shown to have worse mental health than low or no social media users. Social media users that have negative interactions have higher levels of depression and people who use 3 more social media sites are more likely to have anxiety.
Dr. Michelles says that the negative interactions that we have on social media are having detrimental effects on our mental health and we are also often using social media to measure our self-worth, which can lead to anxiety and depression.
She also says that internal self-loathing begins to happen when you are exposed to hateful comments by others on social media.
They offer some simple social media strategies to counter the negative effects and lower anxiety and how to boost your self-worth.
"Remember that the opinion that matters the most is the opinion you have for yourself," Dr. Michelle says.
Enjoy this episode!
Dr. Michelle Trias is a graduate from the University of Central Florida and completed her Doctorate in traditional naturopathy from the New Eden School of Natural Health and Herbal studies. Whether it's digestive discomfort, skin conditions, cholesterol, or fatigue, natural foods and herbs are the way back to better health. Dr. Michelle is on a mission to help you heal your gut and help you take control of your health and wellness.
Dr. Michelle's Face Mask Recipe:
1 teaspoon of honey 1 teaspoon of coconut oil 1/4 ripe avocado 2 drops of lavender oil
Self-Compassion Series with Dr. Michelle Trias - Part 2: You Are Enough
25 Feb 2021
00:28:36
In this second installment of the 4-part series Self Compassion, Brigitte Shipman and Dr. Michelle Trias discuss how healing the emotional aspects of ourselves is key to healing whatever condition we may have, and how loving ourselves is an important component of that process.
Dr. Michelle explains that in order to achieve optimal health and wellbeing, we have to look at the whole person including past history, traumas, relationships, and heartbreaks to get to the "why" of illnesses.
She tells us that the number one killer for women is heart disease, which she believes is intricately linked to emotions in many cases.
She shares a story where she started crying when she kept hearing "You are enough" from an instructor in a yoga class. She says that many of us consciously or unconsciously carry the belief that we are not good enough moms, we are not doing enough, or in some way "not enough" and that we need to incorporate daily practices to love ourselves.
They talk about the importance of positive self-talk which can release the happiness hormone in the body and remembering that "we are not our thoughts" when negative self-talk pops up in our head.
Enjoy this episode!
Dr. Michelle Trias is a graduate from the University of Central Florida and completed her Doctorate in traditional naturopathy from the New Eden School of Natural Health and Herbal studies. Whether it's digestive discomfort, skin conditions, cholesterol, or fatigue, natural foods and herbs are the way back to better health. Dr. Michelle is on a mission to help you heal your gut and help you take control of your health and wellness.
Self-Compassion Series with Dr. Michelle Trias - Part 1: Why We Need to Reduce Stress
19 Feb 2021
00:31:52
In this first installment of the 4-part series Self Compassion, Brigitte and Dr. Michelle Trias discuss how chronic stress can contribute to numerous illnesses and the importance of adopting practices to reduce stress in our daily lives as mothers.
Dr. Michelle explains what happens physiologically when we are experiencing stress and the possible consequences that can result from chronic stress including hair loss, hypertension, poor digestion, adrenal fatigue.
"Stress can literally kill you because it starts to wear down on your body," Dr. Michelle says.
She shares 3 simple practices that she uses to reduce stress in her own life and offers them to you to start incorporating into your life. These practices will help to calm and relax the mind, handle pressure and unmet expectations, and recover when we fall into the "pool."
Enjoy this episode!
Dr. Michelle Trias is a graduate from the University of Central Florida and completed her Doctorate in traditional naturopathy from the New Eden School of Natural Health and Herbal studies. Whether it's digestive discomfort, skin conditions, cholesterol, or fatigue, natural foods and herbs are the way back to better health. Dr. Michelle is on a mission to help you heal your gut and help you take control of your health and wellness.
Could Vision Problems Be Causing Difficulties in Your Child’s Learning? With Dr. Sarah Lane
13 Feb 2021
00:45:40
In this week's episode, Brigitte interviews Dr. Sarah Lane, a Developmental Optometrist who specializes in working with children who struggle with the development of their visual skills and visual processing abilities.
Dr. Lane offers Vision Therapy and Rehabilitation to children and adults in her community and is a creator of Meaningful Moves which are a collection of exercises designed for parents and caregivers to easily use with babies to help optimize the development of sensory and motor skills.
She tells how Developmental Optometry found her when she started developing vision problems in 2nd grade. She struggled with reading and learning but she somehow made it through doing things differently from her classmates and sister and always making the high honor roll.
When she got to optometry school, she had frequent headaches that resulted from switching from looking at a board far away to looking at her notes. She was diagnosed with a vision problem—problem with focusing and two-eye coordination—and was recommended to do vision therapy, which she had never heard of. She changed her career path to help others who had vision problems that could be helped with vision therapy.
Along the way, she became a student of yoga and movement and as her vision improved with vision therapy, yoga, and movement, she started to ponder the question of how does the organization and movement of the body impact the visual system.
She brings a lot of learning to her optometry session with her clients including MNRI, Feldenkrais Method, Pilate, and Yoga as she believes in the importance of having a holistic approach and putting a lot of different pieces together that over time allow us to create the shift we desire.
She shares a success story of a boy in 7th grade who struggled to do what teachers wanted him to do exactly in the way they wanted. When he came to see her, she discovered that he was seeing double pretty much all the time and that double vision was related to the stress within his body. She brought in different modalities and body movement to balance the nervous system and now moving into high school, he is no longer seeing double and able to articulate what’s happening because of the tools he gained.
Dr. Lane's goal is to teach a person how their visual system works and to teach them tools to continuously maintain organization within the visual system. She helps them to have an experience that gets them more connected with how their eyes and visual system works.
She also talks about Meaningfull Moves, a program of exercises that parents can do with their children that set the foundation for sensory, motor, and visual development that include 5 areas of movement--Hand, Feet, Side to Side, Up and Down, and Upside Down.
Finally, she gives us this advice, “Take a deep breath and pay attention to your child and pay attention to yourself. Take one step at a time to make sure that each movement or each step gets you to a better place mind, body, and spirit.”
Transforming Power of Guiding Relationship with Sarah Wayland
06 Feb 2021
01:07:20
In this week's insightful episode, Brigitte interviews Sarah Wayland, Parent Coach, Certified Relationship Development Intervention (RDI®) Consultant, and Special Needs Care Navigator who helps parents learn how to confidently and effectively help their children with ADHD, autism, learning disabilities, and other brain-based differences at home, at school, and in the community.
Sarah is a mom of two young adult sons who are on the spectrum and shares her journey of raising kids with autism.
She tells how different their diagnoses came and how differently they expressed themselves when they encountered difficulties; the older son would shut down whereas the younger son would let her know in a very conspicuous manner.
She also tells a story of how she could not sit with her son for 10 minutes without doing anything because her grief was so great in the first few years of her autism journey. She got cognitive behavioral therapy with a counselor to manage her own anxiety so she didn’t bring her own “stuff” to her interactions with her son. Once she got through, she was able to sit with him for however long she wanted to.
She now feels that she was giving him the wrong message that he wasn’t perfect and that she had to fix him, and wishes that she had enjoyed every moment she had with him and loved him for exactly who he was in those early interactions.
Sarah also shares how RDI or Relationship Development Intervention has hugely helped her to confidently and effectively help her children develop the skills they need to navigate the world. It has helped her so much that she became an RDI consultant herself.
She talks about the four core challenges of autism--co-regulation, joint attention, self-regulation, executive functioning skills--and how to use the RDI curriculum to improve these areas of functioning.
RDI helps to establish a Guiding Relationship between parents and children, which means that parents are there to be their guide and to help their children navigate life so that they can be the best version of themselves.
In RDI, parents take the guiding role in the day to day life with their kids at home to teach them the skills they need in the areas of core challenges. She gives us the example of helping her son develop joint attention by using their playtime with Pokemon toys.
One of the strategies in RDI that she found useful was to slow down. She realized that she needed to give her son time to process things and give him the chance to think through things for himself before she jumped in to help him.
Sarah likes to give parents she works with the education piece but also the strategies to help them help their children develop a sense of self-competence and self-efficacy.
In addition, she talks about the importance of allowing our kids to go at the right pace for them as opposed to going at a pace society says they need to go, as she recalls her son having anxiety in college until he was able to go at the right pace for him.
Finally, she tells you to trust yourself and listen to your child because you know better than any experts and your intuition will guide you.
My Mom with Autism - What I Learned Growing Up with Dr. Jeni Weis
30 Jan 2021
00:54:32
In this week's episode, Brigitte interviews Dr. Jeni Weis about her experience of growing up with her mother and brother both on the autism spectrum.
Dr. Jeni holds her doctorate degree in Traditional Naturopathy, and she is board certified through the American Alternative Medical Association. Her practice focuses on Autoimmune Disease, Thyroid Disorders, and finding the Root Cause of her patient's symptoms. She operates a virtual telehealth practice, seeing patients from all over the world.
Dr. Jeni recalls her childhood where she thought her mother was very different and strange compared to her friends' moms until she was about 11.
Dr. Jeni tells us how she and her mom traded roles of teacher and student and at times, it was a source of incredible frustration for Dr. Jeni. But as an adult, she is so grateful for her experiences, patience she developed, cooking skills, and for the loving, supportive mother she had, and realizes she had a wonderful and blessed childhood.
She also talks about overcoming serious health challenges through diet and lifestyle changes, which made her decide to become a doctor in Traditional Naturopathy.
She is currently in the process of creating a virtual holistic wellness center called "Eat, Move, Think" where top experts in the field of natural medicine are able to offer their knowledge and expertise in the areas of nutrition, movement, and mindset.
Finally, she reminds us of the importance of diet for our kids with autism and tells us to keep a food journal so as to avoid foods that are inflammatory for them.
Toxic Factor in Autism and Working with Homotoxicology with Mary Coyle
16 Jan 2021
00:53:00
***Please note there is some background noise in parts of the recording.***
In this week's insightful and informative episode, Brigitte interviews Mary Coyle, an autism mom and homeopath who has been working with individuals with ASD, ADHD, and SPD for over 25 years to help them stimulate the self-healing mechanism.
Mary began her journey into health when her 2-year-old son was constipated and fretful and started having recurring ear infections and was put on an antibiotic repeatedly.
Shortly after that, he started losing eye contact, stopped waving and looking, and was diagnosed with ASD. He also had terrible rashes, temper tantrums, and throwups.
After making some progress with some protocols but not satisfied with the results, Mary started to wonder about the connection between toxicity and autism.
Mary was at the time working in the chemical industry and was exposed to a lot of heavy metals and chemicals and was also at a lot of construction sites. She then started reading a book on toxicology on what happens when people are exposed to too much pesticides or heavy metals.
She realized that her son had the same exact symptoms as people who were exposed to too much toxins--IQ decrement, behavioral issues, sleep problems, mood issues, cognitive decline, picky eating, pale skin, circles under the eyes. She decided to take the word autism out and replace it with the word toxicity.
She then started to put her son on a homeopathic detoxifying program and saw incredible results and she ended up becoming a homeopath because a lot of parents called her up to find out what she was doing.
Mary explains that the homeopathic detoxifying program helps mitochondria function better so that the body can repair itself. She also talks about the connection between under-functioning mitochondria and microbial overgrowth that can be prevalent in our kids.
She goes on to explain the philosophy of Homotoxicology which uses "like cures like" to move toxins out from the body while supporting the functioning of the body.
She shares some success stories of her clients who started developing expressive language after being on her protocol, and reminds parents to never give up. She says to keep finding methods to destress them and keep encouraging rehab and allowing them to be the best that they can be.
"I'm looking forward to the day when we can celebrate these sentient beings and honor them with the gifts that they have. And they should be leading us, not us leading them with how the future of the world should go," Mary tells us wisely.
Providing a Roadmap for Neurodevelopmental Disorders with Maria Rickert Hong
07 Jan 2021
01:02:33
In this week's highly informative and eye-opening episode, Brigitte interviews Maria Rickert Hong, Certified Holistic Health Counselor and author of Almost Autism and Brain Under Attack, who has recovered her son from Sensory Processing Disorder along with a host of other health conditions.
Maria Rickert Hong is a former Wall Street equity research analyst who is now a Certified Holistic Health Counselor. She helps parents recover their children from neurodevelopmental disorders including autism, almost autism, ADHD, ADD, PDD-NOS through diet and lifestyle changes.
Her journey into health began when her first son started developing symptoms of diseases at 3 months old. As time went on he had numerous health conditions including asthma, sensory issues, constipation, and more, and was on about 10 different medications by the time he was 18 months old.
By the time he was 3 and Maria had her second son, Maria developed severe adrenal fatigue, uterine fibroids, ovarian cysts, bronchitis, and shingles when she wasn’t getting enough sleep from her son waking up 6 times a night. Maria ended up taking Zoloft and Ambien for insomnia but they didn’t help.
Frustrated with not getting help for her son nor herself from her conventional, western doctors, she started doing research and found nutritionist Ann Louise Gittleman and her books which led her to try out magnesium for her insomnia, which solved her sleep problem immediately.
After working with a naturopath for herself and her son and seeing significant improvement in their health, Maria decided to pay it forward and become a Holistic Health Coach.
Maria is also the Education and Media Director for Epidemic Answers, a 501(c)3 non-profit that lets parents know that recovery is possible and is the sponsoring non-profit of The Documenting Hope Project.
She lays out the roadmap for the recovery process for many disorders which includes proper nutrition and lifestyle, finding the right practitioner, and finding therapies that incorporate reflex integration. She emphasizes the importance of getting to the root causes of the issues.
"No one thing caused your child’s autism. It’s a multitude of factors. It’s a perfect storm. And because of that, there’s no one thing that will undo it. And it’s always a journey," Maria says.
She tells us it's never too late and that some adults with autism have turned things around. She also reminds moms to take good care of themselves because if they don't they can't take care of their child either.
Autism Comes in Layers - Get to the Root of the Issues with Teresa Badillo
18 Dec 2020
00:59:56
In this week's information-packed episode, Brigitte interviews Teresa Badillo who is a mom of an adult son with autism and a writer for The Autism Exchange and Epidemic Answers about getting to the root of the issues in autism at the biomedical level.
Teresa embarked on a mission to find alternative non-invasive biomedical, therapeutic, sensory, and educational solutions for autism after the diagnosis of her son in the early 90s. She has served on several Boards of Director: Foundation for Children with Developmental Disabilities (FCDD); The Autoimmunity Project (TAAP), Developmental Delay Resources (DDR) and currently Epidemic Answers (EA).
She has been researching and writing articles for The Autism Exchange and Epidemic Answers’ websites and consult and advise parents on biomedical protocols to autism spectrum disorders.
She shares her journey of struggling to find the answers and right therapies for her son in the '90s when there wasn't much awareness, information, or resources for autism. She recalls the story of being told that her son was going to be institutionalized and how not many doctors wanted to work with kids with autism back then.
She took whatever therapy that was available at the time, including oxygen therapy among other things, and saw improvement gradually over time. She says that autism is like peeling the layers of an onion and many layers have to be addressed at the biomedical level as well as behavioral and sensory levels.
She talks about how comorbidity is common in autism and how her son started having seizures when he entered puberty. Seizure can develop in 1 in 4 kids with autism at puberty because of the hormones that kick in around that time, she says.
She shares some of the therapeutic protocols that parents can look into to reduce the symptoms of autism.
She advises autism moms to look into the gut-brain connection and find the right help and support they need to make this journey a little easier.
She tells autism moms to never give up no matter where they are on this journey. "Body is the great healer, we just have to figure out what it needs," Teresa says.
She also tells autism moms to not dismiss their intuition even if their doctor doesn’t see what they see. "You know your child best. Find the right doctor who will work with you. Follow your gut!"
Growing an In-Sync Child - Meet Your Child Where He Is with Joye Newman
11 Dec 2020
00:46:26
In this week's informative and insightful episode, Brigitte interviews Joye Newman, author of Growing an In-Sync Child, about the importance of movement for children to become more confident and competent in everything they do.
Joye Newman is the co-author (with Carol Kranowitz) of the best-selling book, Growing an In-Sync Child: Simple, Fun Activities to Help Every Child Develop, Learn, and Grow and an expert in Perceptual Motor Development. She earned her M.A. in Education and Human Development from The George Washington University.
She integrates behavioral optometry, occupational therapy, movement, and psychology to help kids feel more comfortable in their own bodies so that they’re in control of their bodies and their bodies work for them.
She explains that children on the spectrum tend to be clumsy and not comfortable in their bodies because they are often not comfortable in their sensory or visual systems, which causes them to receive information haphazardly and react accordingly.
She talks about the importance of understanding the underlying causes of a child's inability to do certain activities and address those things first before he or she can learn to do the actual activities. She tells us that behaviors are not things we have to act against or change but what we have to learn is to understand what the behavior is saying.
She says that children are too often taught to do things when they’re not ready to learn them and if you try to get your child to do what he’s not developmentally ready to do, it becomes a splinter skill. She urges parents to meet their kids where they are and stay with them until they're comfortable and ready to move on to a new skill or activity.
Instead of thinking about how we can get these autistic children to function in the “normal” world, Joye asks us to change our perspective and concentrate on getting our kids comfortable in their own bodies. Joye says that when they're comfortable in their bodies, they’ll be able to navigate through the world just fine. But if they're not comfortable in their bodies, they can’t be expected to navigate. "Try to forget what someone else told you and let your child guide you," Joye says.
She also offers simple activities like "Hold Up the Wall" and "Paperballs" you can do with your kids at home from her In-Sync Activity Cards that incorporate "push, pull, lift, or carry" that are so important for your kid's development.
And finally, Joye leaves us with these wise words: There is no norm. Your child is not wrong. There is nothing wrong with your child. There is something different with your child. Find a way to embrace it.
Learn to Bridge the Gap Between Autistic & Neurotypical People with Jeremy and Charity Rochford
04 Apr 2024
00:49:10
Jeremy and Charity Rochford are Certified Life Coaches who specialize in helping Neurodivergent and Neurodiverse Families understand communication, culture, and their own unique family dynamic.
They are a Neurodivergent/Neurotypical couple who have been happily married for over 20 years and have two Neurodivergent children.
In this episode, Jeremy and Charity share:
- advice on how to work through differences in “mixed-neurotype” relationships - Jeremy’s autism diagnosis and how it helped to bridge the gap for their kids - tips on how to help your autistic kids harness the benefits of their uniqueness - and more!
Why Every Child with Autism Needs a Vision Exam with Patricia Lemer
27 Nov 2020
01:12:20
In this week's highly informative and powerfully enlightening episode, Brigitte speaks to Patricia Lemer, author of Outsmarting Autism, about the power of vision, which might be the missing link for the structural issues many children and adults with autism have.
Patricia Lemer is a Licensed Professional Counselor, and practiced as an educational diagnostician in the Washington, DC area for over 40 years. She was a co-founder and served as Executive Director of Developmental Delay Resources (DDR), an international, non-profit organization for 20 years.
Ms. Lemer has served as a bridge between optometry and the public for over 30 years. She is the author of many articles and podcasts on Vision Issues in Autism and ADHD.
She explains what vision is and how it's different from eyesight, which is about the clarity of seeing. She tells us that vision is about what we do with what we see and the interaction between the eyes and the brain—conceptual, organizational, imagination—that helps us to move through space without having trouble with coordination and other essential functions, which many people with autism lack.
People with autism are often having a binocular problem, she explains, where the two eyes may not be sending the brain the same message simultaneously which leads to information not being processed by the brain properly.
Lack of eye contact, which is traditionally considered psychological, may actually be the result of having double vision or inefficient vision, and cross eyes might be due to a brain-eye coordination problem although it’s often considered to be a muscle problem, Ms. Lemer says.
She also says that kids with autism are often limited in visual flexibility and inflexible behavior is a sign or symptom of inflexible vision and as we loosen up the vision, we loosen up the behavior as well.
She recommends every child with autism have a developmental vision exam with a qualified optometrist so that the underlying issues with visual processing can be addressed with vision therapy.
In addition, she goes over the 5 important steps you can take to help your child with autism function better and be the best version of himself.
And finally, she offers 3 crucial things to remember when your child gets diagnosed with autism.
Functional Medicine Approach to Autism with Dr. Will Cole
20 Nov 2020
00:51:19
In this week's information-packed episode, Brigitte interviews Dr. Will Cole about the functional medicine approach to autism.
Dr. Will Cole, IFMCP, DNM, DC, is a leading functional medicine expert who consults people around the world via webcam and locally in Pittsburgh. Named one of the top 50 functional medicine and integrative doctors in the nation, Dr. Cole specializes in clinically investigating underlying factors of chronic disease and customizing a functional medicine approach for thyroid issues, autoimmune conditions, hormonal imbalances, digestive disorders, and brain problems.
He is the bestselling author of Ketotarian and The Inflammation Spectrum. Dr. Cole has also cohosted the popular podcasts goodfellas and Keto Talk and will be hosting the new podcast, The Art of Being Well, which launches in early 2021.
Dr. Cole grew up in a household where health and wellness and adaptogenic tonics were the norms of the family and he soon went into the field of integrative medicine to further pursue his passion in health and wellness.
He explains how functional medicine is different from mainstream medicine in that it combines the best of conventional and alternative medicine where it's strongly evidence-based and at the same time getting to the root cause of the problem.
He discusses the alarmingly increasing rate of autism along with conditions like Hashimoto's, autoimmune conditions, digestive disorders, and many more, and believes that there's "genetic epigenetic mismatch" where our genes have not adapted to the fast-changing environment around us, resulting in many dysfunctions we see today.
He believes that each patient is unique and requires a highly individualized approach to achieving their optimized health but he also believes that inflammation is the commonality in most cases.
He talks about the connection between gut inflammation and the dysfunction of the brain and reveals the 4 foods that are most likely to disrupt your child's microbiome and raise inflammation in their brain.
He also talks about the importance of intuition and says to not let your intuition be delegitimized even by your doctors when it comes to your health and your child's health.
Furthermore, he gently reminds moms to take good care of themselves because they simply cannot afford not to and they can only give what they have.
Out-of-Sync to In-Sync Child: What You Should Know About SPD with Carol Stock Kranowitz
12 Nov 2020
01:04:58
In this week's highly informative episode, Brigitte interviews Carol Stock Kranowitz who is an author of a groundbreaking book The Out-of-Sync Child about Sensory Processing Disorder.
They discuss what Sensory Processing Disorder is, how it affects children in different ways, and which therapies can help them manage their sensory issues.
Carol, a former teacher, introduced Sensory Processing Disorder to parents and educators around the world through her “Sync” series books. Carol speaks internationally about SPD's effect on learning and behavior and how families, teachers, and professionals can offer “In-Sync” experiences to support children and adolescents — at home, at school, and out and about.
She shares her unexpected journey of becoming an expert on SPD while she was working as a movement teacher at her sons’ preschool and observing kids who seemed to be "out of sync."
She worked closely with the occupational therapist who came to give a workshop at the school and started organizing the information she received to help herself and her colleagues about sensory issues, which she later turned into her first book The Out-of-Sync Child.
Carol breaks down the 8 sensory systems and tells us how sensory processing issues can affect children in many different ways. She shares with us some examples of over-responsivity, under-responsivity, sensory craving, and the combination of all. She says that there are more than 29 million ways people can exhibit sensory processing disorder.
She talks about the therapies parents should look into to help their kids manage their sensory issues as well as activities they can do at home.
Finally, Carol offers parents the most important thing to remember about SPD.
Why You Should Spend Time Loving Yourself with Dr. Michelle Trias
07 Nov 2020
00:38:39
In this week's episode, Brigitte Shipman interviews Dr. Michelle Trias to talk about the importance of self-care for all mothers but especially for autism moms.
Dr. Michelle Trias is a graduate from the University of Central Florida and completed her Doctorate in traditional naturopathy from the New Eden School of Natural Health and Herbal studies. She is passionate about helping people find their way back to health through natural foods and herbs.
Dr. Michelle defines self-care as taking steps each day to help your mind, body, and spirit so that you feel regenerated and rejuvenated and ready to take on the next part of the day.
She tells how easy it is for autism moms to end up in a place of upset and resentment because they keep giving to other people without getting their own cup refilled--they keep giving from a depleted place.
She says that your ability to be present in the moment is hampered unless you spent time loving yourself doing self-care on a regular basis.
She shares her own experience with her children when she lacked patience and understanding because her self-care tank was empty. She makes sure to fill her own cup daily so that she is able to have more patience and understanding in difficult situations. "More I love myself, the more patience, the more understanding I have," Dr. Michelle says.
She urges autism moms to nurture themselves the way they nurture their children because when there is no love in the tank, there is no love to give and the person who is ultimately responsible for the love that is in their cup is them.
She offers tips on how to implement self-care even when you think you don't have time and what foods to eat to relieve stress and anxiety.
She reminds moms that they are the heartbeat of their house and what happens to them will affect everyone else in every way, emotionally and physically.
Transitioning to Postsecondary Life Part 2 with Joseph Shipman
31 Oct 2020
00:31:36
Brigitte Shipman and her son Joseph continue the conversation on Joseph's postsecondary life and share their lessons and insight they gained from the experience.
Joseph is a 28-year old who is an adult on the autism spectrum and offers his perspective on what the transition into adulthood was like.
He talks about "Indecision Paralysis" that he often found himself in, faced with a myriad of choices about what to do with his life.
Tune in to this candid conversation between mother and son to peak into their life of living with autism.
Transitioning to Postsecondary Life Part 1 with Joseph Shipman
24 Oct 2020
00:33:58
In this week's episode, Brigitte Shipman and her son Joseph candidly talk about the life after postsecondary education.
Joseph who is a 28-year old living with autism shares his experience of going through a period of trial and error trying to figure out what he wanted to do with his life.
He talks about being put on academic probation at a community college from failing classes he was not interested in, having a 6-month period of doing "nothing", and having a sense of not even knowing what the problem was.
Brigitte and Joseph both look back at this period in his life and offer mother's and son's perspectives about the process of transitioning into adulthood.
Know Your Child's Sensory Needs with Sarah Kennedy
02 Oct 2020
00:28:45
In this week's informative episode, Brigitte interviews Sarah Kennedy who is a certified life coach for parents and supporters of LGBTQIA+ youth as well as an occupational therapist specializing in sensory integration.
In addition to having two children on the autism spectrum, Sarah herself was diagnosed with autism as an adult and has sensory processing challenges and brings a unique lens to the individual experiences we each have within the world.
She works with many parents to help them create a suitable home sensory environment for their children on the spectrum or with sensory challenges.
She offers some strategies to implement at home as many parents are homeschooling during these challenging times. She encourages parents to take care of themselves first and then try to identify if their child is a sensory seeker or a sensory avoider. That would in turn help them to find ways to help their child regulate their sensory processing.
She reminds us to know that our child is perfect for this world and there is a hole in this world exactly the size of our child that our child is going to fit and that their purpose is so amazing.
Celebrating One Year Anniversary: Reflection, Insight & Hope with Joseph Shipman
21 Sep 2020
00:30:38
In this special episode of Mother's Guide Through Autism, Brigitte Shipman and her son Joseph Shipman celebrate the one year anniversary of the podcast.
They share their reflection and insight they gained in the last year from creating and producing this podcast together as well as their hope for the future.
Make sure to tune in till the end to learn how to enter the FREE giveaway for the first edition, signed copy of Thinking in Pictures by Temple Grandin.
Calm and Connected Kids with Meditation - Lorraine Murray
13 Sep 2020
01:08:12
In this week's insightful episode, Brigitte Shipman interviews Lorraine Murray, the founder of the Connected Kids program, who has been practicing meditation for over 30 years and has been teaching it since 2003.
She started teaching meditation to kids and teens to give young people skills to reduce stress, anxiety, and to build their self-esteem. She is the author of two bestselling books, Calm Kids and Connected Kids: Help Kids with Special Needs Shine with Mindful, Heartfelt Activities.
She shares her own journey of starting a meditation practice as an adult to cope with difficult feelings that arose from challenging childhood and how it helped her move through the grief of losing her mother.
She is passionate about sharing the practice of meditation with both mothers and their children since whatever the mother is feeling is easily felt by her child--especially the ones on the spectrum--and the grounded and calm energy she cultivates through meditation can have positive effects on her child.
She says that practicing meditation doesn’t mean that you won’t ever be stressed but the ability for recovery and self-regulation will be stronger with meditation. It can also be a calming and connecting activity for both you and your child to do together. Meditation can offer both you and your child a toolkit to reduce stress and anxiety, she tells.
She talks about the importance of self-compassion and how to turn inward to bring acceptance to our feelings instead of avoiding them and reminds us to not rush and cultivate for ourselves a sense of wonder and curiosity kids have.
Empty Your Child's Cup to Manage Meltdowns with Nancy Kling
07 Sep 2020
00:49:04
In this week's informative episode, Brigitte Shipman interviews Nancy Kling, the founder and director of Behavior Plus who has worked with children with challenging behavior since 1992.
Nancy has extensive training and experience with autism spectrum disorders and a wide variety of behavior issues. She is an author of the book The Cup Kid: Parenting a Child with Meltdowns.
She explains what's happening with a child with a tantrum using an analogy of a cup where their cup becomes full of sensory and emotional overload. A lot of kids don’t realize that their cup is getting too full so they don’t step away and the cup runs over.
She tells us that If we can figure out what’s going in the cup and what empties their cup, we can do whatever we need to do to help them chill out before it runs over.
She advises parents to come up with a list of cup fillers as much as they can and to also pay attention to what kids do when they have time on their own because what they do will be a cup emptier for them.
Understanding what goes on in situations where a cup kid tends to have a meltdown will help to make necessary changes to prevent meltdowns before they happen.
She shares a success story where they incorporated the strategy of jumping to help a boy on the spectrum manage his meltdowns in school and at home.
Finally, she offers advice to autism moms to stand strong and help their child find their “thing” that they like and they’re good at and cultivate that because their self-esteem comes from doing things they like and that they’re good at.
She emphasizes the importance of focusing more on what they can do than what they can’t do. "It’s important to focus on the strengths they have and to continue to develop those skills," Nancy says.
Give Your Special Needs Kids a Stage to SHINE with Nicole DeWard
27 Mar 2024
00:46:29
Nicole DeWard is a wife and mom of 4 amazing kids. She started RISE coffee & tea in 2020 for those like her daughter, Bekah, who has Down Syndrome. She wanted to create a safe work environment for adults with special needs and to give them a bigger stage to SHINE their light.
In this episode, Nicole talks about:
- what it’s like to have a daughter with Down Syndrome, a son with autism, a neurotypical son, and an adopted daughter - how her daughter Bekah’s perspective brings more joy to her family - what we can learn from having special needs individuals in our lives - and more!
Give Yourself Grace for Your Autism Journey with Alicia Trautwein
30 Aug 2020
01:03:08
In this week's episode of Mother's Guide Through Autism, Brigitte Shipman interviews Alicia Trautwein who is the creator of The Mom Kind, writer, advocate, motivational speaker, and mom of three autistic children.
On her blog The Mom Kind, she shares the ups and downs of raising three autistic children while being on the autism spectrum herself, along with providing valuable resources to autism parents.
She shares her personal journey of growing up with autism but not knowing she had it and being diagnosed after her children's diagnoses of autism at the age of 33.
Her autism diagnosis as an adult has helped her to bring more self-acceptance and understanding to her childhood as well as her current challenges.
She shares what it might be like to have three children on the spectrum and how everybody’s sensory needs are clashing at times. One could be needing quiet and one might be needing to scream.
She emphasizes the importance of creating her own space to make time for herself to decompress, and urges other autism moms to get the care they need for themselves.
"You have to take care of you first. You can’t take care of everyone if you’re falling apart," Alicia tells us.
She also talks about the difficulty of getting her daughters diagnosed since autism was not considered common among girls and how that needs to change.
In addition, she offers advice for this difficult time of covid and for the autism journey in general. She reminds parents to ask for services their children are entitled to whether they're attending school or not and to provide stability and structure as well as a space to decompress.
Finally, she tells parents to give themselves grace for the regression that might take place and the difficult things that will come up, and to remember to let the small things go and enjoy spending time with their children.
Positive Parenting with Applied Behavior Analysis - Victoria Boone
06 Aug 2020
00:27:37
In this week's informative episode, Brigitte interviews Victoria Boone, a Board Certified Behavior Analyst, best selling author, and behavior consultant for families of children with various special needs including autism.
Victoria is also the founder and Executive Director of The Hamilton Center, an ABA agency dedicated to helping individuals improve the quality of their lives throughout California and Nevada.
She explains that ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) is a science-based intervention that's used to change behavior and it can be used to build independent living skills and social skills.
She recalls an experience of helping a 6-year old boy develop a shoe tying skill over a 6-month period and how great it was to see how proud he was of his accomplishment. She also loves helping kids develop social skills to make friends and carry conversations.
She also offers a simple strategy from her book Positive Parenting with Autism that parents can start using with their child at home right away.
In addition, she addresses the controversy around ABA of how it can be tough on the children and how it may not be honoring of neurodiversity.
She emphasizes the importance of finding the right ABA agency for your unique child and to remember to ask for their approach as well as their credentials.
Finally, Victoria reminds autism moms to take one day at a time and remember that they need self-care too since parents that have kids on the spectrum are 4 times more likely to be diagnosed with various mental health diagnoses than parents who have kids who are neurotypical.
3 Mom Guilt Myths You Need to Debunk with Madeleine Woolgar
22 Jul 2020
01:09:34
In this week's wonderfully enlightening episode, Brigitte interviews Madeleine Woolgar, a speaker and coach, who helps moms go from burned-out to energized and clear.
Madeleine began to work with families over ten years ago and has worked internationally in home-based play therapy programs. While having the honor of living with these tenacious, loving families, she saw that the best way to help these children was to support the parents (who are doing so much supporting themselves).
Madeleine empowers and supports parents through both mindset work and self-care so that they are really able to be deeply loving and effective in helping their child.
Her work has been focused on shifting the moms' mindset so they can go from guilt-ridden and stressed out to creative and clear-thinking and become better able to take care of all that they need to for their child.
She talks about how much of their mindset can contribute to draining their energy or creating more energy and how guilt can play a huge role in moms feeling burned out.
She reveals 3 common "Mom Guilt Myths" that you are likely engaged in and how they can sabotage your wellbeing and lead to burnout, and shares a new mindset that you can implement instead so that you can feel clear and revitalized.
She emphasizes the importance of giving ourselves grace and allowing ourselves to be human and practicing the new mindset.
Listen to this episode and start shifting your mindset so you can be your most loving, revitalized self to your child.
Is Music Therapy Right for Your Child? with Marissa Scott
15 Jul 2020
00:51:57
In this week's episode, Brigitte Shipman had the pleasure of speaking with Marissa Scott who is a Board Certified Music Therapist, Certified Labor Doula, Owner & Executive Director at The Sonatina Center for Creative Arts Therapy in New Hampshire.
Marissa shares her journey of becoming a music therapist after realizing that she could combine her love of music with working with children with special needs.
She has ten years of experience working with clients with Autism, Downs Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, Expressive Language Disorders, Sensory Processing Disorders, and more.
She specializes in helping infants and young children of all abilities build communication, social, motor, and cognitive skills necessary to thrive through music and play.
They discuss why music therapy might be very effective for children with autism for a wide range of benefits that include enhanced motor skills, social/emotional development, expressive and receptive communication, and cognitive/sensory behavioral improvement.
Marissa also offers simple tips you can incorporate at home such as adding a melody to social stories and playing music that matches your desired atmosphere to soothe or energize your child.
Tune in to this informative episode and see if music therapy might be beneficial for your child.
Autism Logistics - How to Work with Challenging Behaviors with Kate Wilde
17 Jun 2020
00:53:46
2In this week's episode, Brigitte interviews Kate Wilde, the Director of Global Outreach for The Autism Treatment Center of America who has spent the last 28 years working with children and adults on the autism spectrum and their families as well as therapists, educators, and schools.
She is the author of Autistic Logistics and The Autism Language Launcher and she shares some of the effective methods and techniques she used in working with over 1,500 children to help them with learning, behaviors, and communication.
This episode is full of practical advice about how to toilet train, how to handle hitting as well as insight into why they do what they do in the daily challenges.
She also discusses how to facilitate verbal communication by using a step-by-step guide she has used effectively with children with autism.
Her techniques are simple and every mom can do it. If you're struggling with the difficult behaviors of your child or want to understand why they do what they do, this is a must-listen!
Tune in and learn how to work with your kids more easily.
How to Use Self-Compassion to Work Through Judgment from Others
10 Jun 2020
00:19:13
In this week's episode, Brigitte Shipman talks about the difficulty of dealing with judgment from others and how to use self-compassion to work through it.
Brigitte knows from her own experience and hearing from other mother guides that judgment is something you deal with on a regular basis. You might feel it at the supermarket when your child is having a tantrum or from a friend or family member at a gathering or at a restaurant. She's been there and it's hard.
It's hard enough to deal with the daily challenges of raising a child with autism but add the judgmental stares at the supermarket, stress mounts even more for mother guides.
That's why she wants to help you incorporate the practices of self-compassion so that you can soften the judgment you feel from others and feel more grounded and calm even when you're going through tough times.
Tune in and learn how to start incorporating self-compassion into your daily life. You'll thank yourself for it.
Equine Therapy to Empower Your Child and Yourself with Kristy Newstrom
28 May 2020
00:40:19
In this week's inspiring episode, Brigitte Shimpan interviews Kristy Newstrom who offers therapeutic riding for children and adults with special needs (or functional diversity) and is a founder of Divine Equine Assisted Therapy Center and PATH certified instructor.
Kristy shares her deep passion for working with horses and children with functional diversity. She has worked professionally with children for 20+ years earning the nickname, "The Child Whisperer" and now offers Equine Assisted Therapy to improve human physical, mental, and emotional health.
She talks about why Equine Assisted Therapy is so effective with children with autism and how movement in general (in this case the horse) can help turn off a meltdown within 30 seconds.
She tears up speaking about how wonderful it is to witness the magic that unfolds when functionally diverse children start working with horses. She loves how horses meet the child where he or she is and provide acceptance and a safe place to be himself.
Kristy also passionately speaks about the importance of functional diversity, acceptance, and inclusion. She created her non-profit Divine Equine Assisted Therapy Center in Santa Cruz to provide a space to empower people through experience with horses as well as a place of acceptance and belonging for all people.
Tune in to find out more about Equine Therapy and be inspired for what's possible for your child.
In this week's highly informative episode, Brigitte Shipman interviews Dr. Jed Baker who is a clinical psychologist and director of the Social Skills Training Project, a private organization serving individuals with autism and social communication problems.
Dr. Baker is an award-winning author of eight books including The Social Skills Picture Book, The Social Skills Picture Book for High School and Beyond, and No More Meltdowns. His work has also been featured on ABC World News, Nightline, the CBS Early Show, and the Discovery Health Channel.
Dr. Baker shares his story of how The Social Skills Picture Book came to be and why it was so effective in helping children with autism do better in different social situations and how you can create your own picture book to help your children.
Dr. Baker offers 3 steps to tackling meltdowns which include 3 categories of calming distracters and 7 categories of triggers that can cause meltdowns. These categories can provide a map for you in handling your child's meltdowns more effectively by understanding why the meltdowns are happening in the first place.
He also discusses how to set the right mind-frame for your children about learning and making mistakes and how to make it easier for them to tackle difficult tasks by using the 80/20 rule to build confidence.
Brigitte and Dr. Baker also talk about how to handle anxiety and stress we are experiencing during this COVID19 pandemic.
Tune in to this useful episode and learn how to help your children more effectively.
3 Powerful Practices to Feel Lighter, Inspired, and Present for Your Child
01 May 2020
00:42:21
In this week's episode, Brigitte Shipman offers you 3 powerful practices you can do for self-connection and social connection so that you can start to feel lighter, inspired, and be more present for your child with autism.
When there's a lot of stress going on with the challenges and reality of being an autism mom along with what's going on with COVID19, it's easy to focus on what's not going right in our lives.
That's why Brigitte wants to offer you these 3 simple and powerful practices to help you shift your focus and start feeling better in your daily life.
These practices help Brigitte to stay present, change negative thoughts to positive thoughts, live a happier life, and have the focus, clarity, and vision of where she wants her life to go. They will help you do the same if you start using them.
Tune in, learn, and start using these practices for your life. You'll thank yourself for it.
Get Moving to Have Better Moods and Focus with Your Kids
23 Apr 2020
00:23:18
In this week's episode, Brigitte Shipman gives you tools to move through the resistance that you may be having to exercise so that you can have better moods, better focus, better attention span, and better care for your child during this uncertain time.
We all know exercise is good for us but it's so easy for us to sit on a couch, eat potato chips, and binge-watch Netflix when we're feeling stressed at a time like we're experiencing now with the pandemic.
It’s especially hard for you moms out there to find the time to move when you’re taking care of your child with autism so Brigitte offers you a couple of tools to overcome the obstacles so that you can actually start moving and gain the benefits of exercise.
Brigitte talks about the importance of finding what you love, being where you are at, and sometimes just simply showing up.
Being a fitness instructor and life coach, Brigitte knows a thing or two about working through resistance and she wants to share her tips and tools with you.
Tune in and get excited to move for yourself and your child!
Changing the Hospitality Industry to Support the Families with Autism with Becky Large
21 Mar 2024
00:34:33
Becky Large is nationally and internationally recognized for her support of people and families living with autism and the creation of the innovative Autism Travel Club program and Autism Traveler app.
Becky was instrumental in having the Town of Surfside Beach declared The First Autism Friendly Travel Destination, anywhere, in 2016.
In this episode, Becky talks about:
- the adjustment she had to make about college to improve her son’s mental health - how Autism Travel Club is changing the hospitality industry and supporting families with autism - practical travel tips - and more!
Use These Mindfulness Tools to Stay Calm and Release Anxiety
17 Apr 2020
00:47:51
In this week's episode, Brigitte Shipman shares 3 simple but powerful tools to help you stay calm and release anxiety during these uncertain times of Coronavirus.
Living through this time of Coronavirus pandemic is challenging for all of us but it is even more difficult and challenging for mothers raising children with autism.
Life was already pretty challenging for autism moms and now there's an added stress of homeschooling a child who doesn't quite understand what's going on.
Brigitte offers you 3 super simple but powerful tools to help you reduce stress and overwhelm, feel confident and lighter so that you can be the solid rock and show up for your child strong and fully present.
Brigitte talks about the importance of "giving yourself oxygen" first by taking care of yourself so that you can help your child the best way you can.
Tune in and learn these tools to use in your daily life so that you can start feeling better right away!
Creating Your Temporary New Normal: Tools to Help You and Your Kids with Autism
10 Apr 2020
00:41:56
In this week's episode, Brigitte Shipman shares 3 tools she used to help her son Joseph on the spectrum when he was younger so that you can apply and benefit from these tools as you are adjusting to the new reality and creating a new routine for your child with autism and for your whole family.
We are all struggling right now and even more so for families living with autism. Brigitte wants to share her knowledge to make your day a little easier.
Brigitte explains how to utilize calendar for yourself and your child to establish a solid, new routine that feels safe especially for a child with autism who relies on a solid routine.
She also talks about using visual cues to make communication easier between you and your child as well as social stories to help your child understand what you're trying to have him or her accomplish in a given situation.
Tune in and make your day a little easier with these tools.
Transcending the Pain & Suffering of Autism with Lisa Joyce Goes
19 Mar 2020
01:06:55
In this week's heartwarming episode, Brigitte Shipman interviews Lisa Joyce Goes who is an autism mom, editor, and writer for The Thinking Moms' Revolution and The Age of Autism.
Lisa Joyce Goes is the mom of three wildly gifted children Mads, Noah, and Liam. Noah was diagnosed with autism in 2008.
Noah was nonverbal for quite a while and didn’t potty train until he was 7. Noah also had terrible rashes all over his body as well as up to 20 diarrhea filled diapers a day. His body was on fire and was uncomfortable and a lot of his behaviors had so much to do with his metabolic, gastrointestinal, and methylation issues that needed to be addressed.
Noah, now in puberty, is doing much better and greets Lisa in the morning with "Good morning, Princess" which brings Lisa so much joy.
Lisa candidly talks about the feeling of isolation, emotional eating, and the pain and suffering that resulted from the autism diagnosis and the end of her marriage. She was angry, reactive, and heartbroken.
At one point during a neurofeedback session, Lisa was asked if she had been a soldier because her brain scan showed signs of PTSD. She answered, "No, I'm an autism mom."
Lisa and Brigitte also talk about judgment autism moms experience from other people who don't understand autism and the importance of educating others and doing advocacy work.
Lisa says that challenges are real and difficult but she considers Noah 110% a blessing.
Lisa urges other autism moms listening out there to be as compassionate with themselves as they would with their closest friend or their children.
Tune in to this heartwarming episode and be filled with hope and solidarity.