Today's episode answers all your questions about Speech Therapy. My guest is Mckell Smith, a special needs mom and Speech/Language Pathologist. We talk about her parenting journey before diving into a conversation about what Speech Therapy is, how it works, who benefits, and how to navigate the system. Guest Bio: Mckell Smith is a Speech & Language Therapist, mom of four (three with special needs), advocate, and business owner. Mckell is passionate about helping kids, and their families. You can find here at the links below: www.childchampions.net www.instagram.com/im.mckell Host Bio: Rob Gorski is a single Dad to three amazing autistic boys as well as Found and CEO of The Autism Dad, LLC. Multiple award-winning blogger, podcaster, content creator, digital marketer, social media influencer, and respected public figure for well over a decade. Connect with Rob Gorski: https://listen.theautismdad.com Mentioned in this episode: Learn More About Bened Life Bened Life supports a neuroinclusive community with education and science-backed probiotics that promote mental and physical health. Bened Life prides itself on hiring neurodivergent staff that helps to run multiple facets of their business. Their medical probiotic, Neuralli, featuring the probiotic PS128, has already helped thousands of neurotypical and neurodivergent people worldwide. Learn more by going to benedlife.com. Use the code "theautismdad" at checkout for 20% off your first order. Visit Bened Life Learn More About Mightier Mightier is a clinically proven mobile gaming app that was developed at Boston Children’s Hospital. It’s already helped more than 100,000 kids, including my crew here at home. Kids play on a tablet or a phone while wearing a heart rate monitor. And Mightier incorporates breathing exercises and other calming techniques as part of the game. Kids get to see when it’s time to cool down and learn how to do it themselves. And parents get to track their progress. Visit mightier.com and use the promo code "theautismdad22" at checkout to save 10%. Visit Mightier Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you're a parent, you probably already know this, but even the best-laid plans can fall apart unexpectedly. It's important that as parents, we're flexible and meet our kids where they are. I had to make sudden changes to my kid's education this past week. Here's what happened and the lessons I gleaned from this experience. Topics: 1) The importance of parents being flexible 2) Meeting our kids where that are Here's the link to the previous episode, mentioned in today's release: https://listen.theautismdad.com/2022/08/29/chatting-with-my-autistic-son-feat-emmett-gorski-s5e31/ Host Bio: Rob Gorski is a single Dad to three amazing autistic boys as well as Found and CEO of The Autism Dad, LLC. Multiple award-winning blogger, podcaster, content creator, digital marketer, social media influencer, and respected public figure for well over a decade. Connect with Rob Gorski: https://listen.theautismdad.com Mentioned in this episode: Learn More About Mightier Mightier is a clinically proven mobile gaming app that was developed at Boston Children’s Hospital. It’s already helped more than 100,000 kids, including my crew here at home. Kids play on a tablet or a phone while wearing a heart rate monitor. And Mightier incorporates breathing exercises and other calming techniques as part of the game. Kids get to see when it’s time to cool down and learn how to do it themselves. And parents get to track their progress. Visit mightier.com and use the promo code "theautismdad22" at checkout to save 10%. Visit Mightier Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have you ever found yourself thinking about mainstreaming your autistic child? Is it the right thing to do? Will they be okay? While every child, parent, family, and situation is different, I want to share my experience. My 14 year old Emmett, is on the show to talk about his experience being mainstreamed this year. We talk about the pros and cons for him personally. Emmett also has advice for parents facing this decision. I hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as I enjoyed recording it. Guest Bio: Emmett is 14 years old and was diagnosed with autism at age 3. He was nonverbal until 4 or 5, and battled a rare fever disorder for most of his life. He's currently starting his freshmen year at a mainstream high school and doing amazingly well. Emmett loves everything about science, math, and Funko-Pops. Host Bio: Rob Gorski is a single Dad to three amazing autistic boys as well as Found and CEO of The Autism Dad, LLC. Multiple award-winning blogger, podcaster, content creator, digital marketer, social media influencer, and respected public figure for well over a decade. Connect with Rob Gorski: https://listen.theautismdad.com Mentioned in this episode: Learn More About Mightier Mightier is a clinically proven mobile gaming app that was developed at Boston Children’s Hospital. It’s already helped more than 100,000 kids, including my crew here at home. Kids play on a tablet or a phone while wearing a heart rate monitor. And Mightier incorporates breathing exercises and other calming techniques as part of the game. Kids get to see when it’s time to cool down and learn how to do it themselves. And parents get to track their progress. Visit mightier.com and use the promo code "theautismdad22" at checkout to save 10%. Visit Mightier Learn More About Sense-ational You I don’t know about you, but in my house, we tend to struggle with sensory-related challenges more than just about anything else. Between sensory-related feeding difficulties and finding clothes that are comfortable for my kids, it can be incredibly overwhelming. Thankfully Sense-ational You is here to help in the clothing department. Founded by Julia DeNey, Sense-ational You creates sensory-friendly, adaptive clothing for kids, sizes xs to xl. The Spring 2022 collection features adjustable, compression-lined tee shirts and sensory-friendly joggers. My personal favorite is the stimuli-reducing hoodie. This hoodie is not only stylish, but the hood itself is sound dampening, has a weighted feel, and is fine motor friendly with magnetic closures, to promote independent dressing. An autistic graphic designer created the hoodie’s constellation print. All pieces are sensory-friendly with flat seams and no tags. To learn more or to place an order for the kiddo in your life, visit shopsenseationalyou.com and be sure to use the code “theautismdad” at check out to save 10% when you order 2 or more items. Visit Sense-ational You Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My guest today is Paul Cimins. Paul is an autism Dad, Founder of Autism Radio, and host of the Hope Saves The Day Podcast. We have a conversation about his parenting journey, how raising his amazing autistic son impacted him, and changed the course of his life. Guest Bio: Paul Cimins is the father of an autistic child, host of the Hope Saves The Day Podcast, and is the CEO and founder of Autism Radio™. Started in 2007, Autism Radio™ is dedicated to raising public awareness about autism, as well as helping individuals, and families, within the autism. Their mission is to provide physical, emotional, and financial support to families in need within the autism community. Connect with Paul Cimins: Autism Radio Hope Saves The Day Podcast Listen to Paul interview me Host Bio: Rob Gorski is a single Dad to three amazing autistic boys as well as Found and CEO of The Autism Dad, LLC. Multiple award-winning blogger, podcaster, content creator, digital marketer, social media influencer, and respected public figure for well over a decade. Connect with Rob Gorski: https://listen.theautismdad.com Mentioned in this episode: Learn More About Mightier Mightier is a clinically proven mobile gaming app that was developed at Boston Children’s Hospital. It’s already helped more than 100,000 kids, including my crew here at home. Kids play on a tablet or a phone while wearing a heart rate monitor. And Mightier incorporates breathing exercises and other calming techniques as part of the game. Kids get to see when it’s time to cool down and learn how to do it themselves. And parents get to track their progress. Visit mightier.com and use the promo code "theautismdad22" at checkout to save 10%. Visit Mightier Learn More About Bened Life Bened Life supports a neuroinclusive community with education and science-backed probiotics that promote mental and physical health. Bened Life prides itself on hiring neurodivergent staff that helps to run multiple facets of their business. Their medical probiotic, Neuralli, featuring the probiotic PS128, has already helped thousands of neurotypical and neurodivergent people worldwide. Learn more by going to benedlife.com. Use the code "theautismdad" at checkout for 20% off your first order. Visit Bened Life Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Jason Kahn from Mightier is back to help me announce the winner of the Mightier 1 year subscription giveaway and talk about what they can expect as their child begins using Mightier for the first time. Thank you to everyone for entering and making this giveaway a success. Thank you to Jason and the whole Mightier team for supporting this giveaway and giving back to the community. Guest Bio: Dr. Jason Kahn is a developmental psychologist and researcher from Boston Children’s Hospital, an instructor at Harvard, and co-founder, as well as, Chief Science Officer of Mightier. Find Mightier at https://mightier.com Use the code "theautismdad" to save 10% of Mightier Host Bio: Rob Gorski is a single Dad to three amazing autistic boys as well as Found and CEO of The Autism Dad, LLC. Multiple award-winning blogger, podcaster, content creator, digital marketer, social media influencer, and respected public figure for well over a decade. Connect with Rob Gorski: https://listen.theautismdad.com You can learn more about Mightier by visiting mightier.com and remember to use the code "theautismdad" to save 10%. Mentioned in this episode: Learn More About Bened Life Bened Life supports a neuroinclusive community with education and science-backed probiotics that promote mental and physical health. Bened Life prides itself on hiring neurodivergent staff that helps to run multiple facets of their business. Their medical probiotic, Neuralli, featuring the probiotic PS128, has already helped thousands of neurotypical and neurodivergent people worldwide. Learn more by going to benedlife.com. Use the code "theautismdad" at checkout for 20% off your first order. Visit Bened Life Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices