Mother's Guide Through Autism – Details, episodes & analysis

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!

Enjoy!

Connection Squared:
https://www.connection-squared.com/

Purchase my book A Mother's Guide Through Autism:
https://amzn.to/3mO1fmS

Sign up to get news and updates from me: https://www.mothersguidethroughautism.com

Theme song: "Look at the clouds" by Tristan Lohengrin
tristanlohengrin.bandcamp.com

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!

Enjoy!

Kari's Website:
https://kariabaker.com/

KIND Families:
https://kindfamilies.com/

Purchase my book A Mother's Guide Through Autism:
https://amzn.to/3mO1fmS

Sign up to get news and updates from me: https://www.mothersguidethroughautism.com

Theme song: "Look at the clouds" by Tristan Lohengrin
tristanlohengrin.bandcamp.com

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!

Enjoy!

Melissa Doman Sleep Consulting
https://www.melissadomansleepconsulting.com/

Purchase my book A Mother's Guide Through Autism:
https://amothersguidethroughautismbook.com/book

Sign up to get news and updates from me: https://www.mothersguidethroughautism.com

Theme song: "Look at the clouds" by Tristan Lohengrin
tristanlohengrin.bandcamp.com

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 Autistic which 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. 

Enjoy this episode!

Resources/Links:

Siena's Website
https://www.sienacastellon.com/

Quantum Leap Mentoring
https://www.qlmentoring.com/

Twitter
https://twitter.com/qlmentoring?lang=en

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/qlmentoring/

The Spectrum Girl's Survival Guide
https://amzn.to/3xIa1pH

Mother's Guide Through Autism Private FB Group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/mothersguidethroughautism

Brigitte Website
https://bmvlifecoach.com/

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!

Resources/Links:

Dr. Stephanie Website
https://stephanievavilala.com/

Therapeutic Expressions
https://therapeuticexpressions.com/

Awetism Wonderland
https://awetismwonderland.com/

Sabita Speaks
https://www.sabitaspeaks.org/

Sabita Finds Her Voice
https://amzn.to/34ws0mp

Verbal Victor
https://bit.ly/3oYGd57

Proloquo2go
https://apple.co/3vyn24O

Mother's Guide FB Group
https://bit.ly/2R4J5kA

Brigitte Website
https://bmvlifecoach.com/

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.

Enjoy this episode!

Resources/Links:

Mother's Guide Through Autism Facebook Group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/mothersguidethroughautism

Brigitte Website
https://bmvlifecoach.com/

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 has published 9 books including The Parents’ Practical Guide to Resilience for Preteens and Teenagers on the Autism Spectrum and The Guide to Good Mental Health on the Autism Spectrum and has presented as a speaker at a range of events including TEDx Canberra. 

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. 

Enjoy this episode!

Resources and Links:

Yenn Website
http://jeanettepurkis.com/

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/yennpurkisbooks

Twitter
https://twitter.com/yennpurkis

Mother's Guide Through Autism Facebook Group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/mothersguidethroughautism

Brigitte Website
https://bmvlifecoach.com/

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."

Enjoy this Episode!

Resources/Links:

Dr. Robert Melillo Website
https://www.drrobertmelillo.com/

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/DrRobertMelillo/

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/DrRobertMelillo/

Mother's Guide Through Autism Private Facebook Page
https://www.facebook.com/groups/mothersguidethroughautism

Brigitte's Website:
https://bmvlifecoach.com/

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.

Enjoy this episode!

Resources/Links:

Mother's Guide Through Autism Private Facebook Page
https://www.facebook.com/groups/mothersguidethroughautism

Brigitte's Website:
https://bmvlifecoach.com/

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.

Enjoy this episode!

Resources/Links:

Mother's Guide Through Autism Private Facebook Page
https://www.facebook.com/groups/mothersguidethroughautism

Brigitte's Website:
https://bmvlifecoach.com/