Shining on the Spectrum

Last week we visited a biomedical doctor specializing in the biomedical treatment of autism and related disorders. In this week's podcast I'm sharing why I made the decision to take her, our experience, the information we learned and next steps.

Here's some information I noted in the podcast:

If you've ever dreaded taking your child with autism out into the community, then this episode is for you. Depending on your child's specific needs, going out into community can be challenging - but you can't let that stop you from doing what's necessary to get the work done. 

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Shining on the Spectrum: The Club is now open! Get ready for the resources, community and coaching you've been looking for to make this autism parenting journey more joyful and less stressful. If you're ready to shine on the spectrum along with myself and other parents raising children with autism, then I invite you to join us in the club. 

Many children with autism struggle with getting to sleep at night and that problem didn't escape my daughter. But over the last 6 months or so we've developed some routines and introduced supplements that allow her to sleep through the night, in her room, ever night! It's such a blessing so I'm sharing what we do in our home in hopes that it might help you too. 

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When you're raising a child with autism you'll often discover there are certain behaviors you want to encourage and others you want to discourage. That's where implementing strategic behavior strategies come into play. 

In this week's episode I'm share 5 simple behavior strategies you can use to decrease the behaviors you won't want to see. 

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No, I'm not mentioning speech therapy, ABA therapy, occupational therapy or feeding therapy. I'm not talking about strategies to improve speech or decrease problem behaviors. This also isn't about IEP meetings, sensory toys or any of the other typical autism topics we address. Today, I'm diving into the things that no one likes to talk about, but that have such a massive impact on your child's life and on your autism parenting journey. Trust me, you definitely don't want to miss this episode. 

Resources Mentioned:

IEPs are common when you have a child on the Autism spectrum. As a former elementary school teacher who participated in tons of IEP meetings, I will say the process feels different going through it as a parent. With my daughter recently transitioning from homeschool to public school, I went through the IEP process and I have some tips to share that I'm sure will help all parents and guardians who have to go through this process as well. 

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One common misconception about children with autism is if they're not making progress it's solely due to the autism diagnosis. I think blaming everything on autism is simply an excuse - but the excuse does nothing but hold your child back. Instead of blaming autism for everything, sometimes we have to take a look at their therapy providers being part of the reason why they're not progressing. I've found several times over the years that changing my daughter's therapists led to amazing progress because for whatever reason who she was working with was no longer serving her the way she needed. This didn't always mean the provider was bad or incompetent, but simply that my daughter needed a new approach in order to move to the next level. 

On today's episode I'm discussing...

•  3 times when I changed her providers and saw her make progress
• How to know when it's time to switch provider
• How to go about changing providers

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Your mindset has a massive impact on your journey when raising a child with autism. As we all know, being a parent of a child with special needs can come with a unique set of challenges which requires that you prioritize your mental and emotional health daily. Adding positive affirmations to your routine can improve and completely transform your mindset and beliefs related to how you feel on this journey. 

In today's episode I'm sharing 25 positive affirmations you can repeat daily as you begin this practice. As you become more comfortable feel free to add your own to the list. Affirmations are personal to you and should reflect the areas you want to improve. 

Also, I mentioned the song I'm Not Afraid by Fred Hammond at the end of the episode as an additional "resource." This song helps me immensely when going through challenging times so I hope it serves as an inspiration for you as well. 

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It's time to add some joy to the autism parenting journey! On the first episode of Shining on the Spectrum I'm sharing a bit about who I am, what Shining on the Spectrum means, the 4 core areas of focus for my holistic approach to raising a child with autism and more. 

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