Tips for traveling with your autistic kids (feat. Dawn M. Barclay) S5E11

Join my new community and discuss this and other episodes of The Autism Dad Podcast with others. It's totally free, and I'd love your feedback. Join Now. My guest today is Dawn Barclay, and she's here to share tips and tricks to make traveling with our autistic kids safe, fun, and enjoyable. She wrote a new book called Traveling Different: Vacation Strategies for Parents of the Anxious, the Inflexible, and the Neurodiverse (will release Aug 15th). Dawn and I have a conversation about some common challenges families face when trying to travel with their autistic, anxious, or otherwise neurodiverse child. She provides no-nonsense solutions, ideas, and advice to help make travel a rewarding experience for the whole family. She also talks about how to evaluate hotels, theme parks, and other…

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My Conversation with Temple Grandin (feat. Dr. Temple Grandin) S5E10

*** Join my free online community to discuss this episode: click here *** Dr. Temple Grandin is here today to help parents prepare their autistic kids for the workforce. This is so important as our kids get older. Temple has a ton of very specific advice, insight, and experience that she will share over the next 30 minutes. We also talk about helping to manage our kid’s sensory needs. Temple is an amazing human being, and I was lucky enough to sit down with her at The National Converge Autism Summit by Springbrook Autism Behavioral Health in Greenville, South Carolina. It was such an honor to meet her, and I learned so much from our time together. You can find more information about Temple Grandin by clicking here As mentioned,…

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The Truth About Vaccines (Feat. Heather Brandt, Ph.D, St. Jude Comprehensive Cancer Center) S4E16

My guest today is Heather Brandt, Ph.D. Heather is the Director, HPV Cancer Prevention Program, Co-associate Director for Outreach, St. Jude Comprehensive Cancer Center, Member, Department of Epidemiology and Cancer Control - St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Vaccines are a hot topic once again because of COVID. There is so much misinformation floating around about vaccines and Heather is the perfect guest to answer the tough questions surrounding the safety and efficacy of vaccines. We also talk about the importance of the HPV vaccine and how it protects our kids from numerous different HPV related cancers in the future. This is so important, so please pay attention, and share this with your family and friends. Vaccine related information and resources: The CDC vaccination information for parents is excellent. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/parents/index.html If…

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The Working Mom Blueprint (feat. Dr. Whitney Casares) S4E12

All my information and relevant links are here Support this podcast: venmo.com/theautismdad My guest today is Whitney Casares, MD, MPH, FAAP, pediatrician, special needs Mom, and author of The Working Mom Blueprint: Winning at Parenting without Losing Yourself (American Academy of Pediatrics; May 11, 2021). We’re having a very important discussion about finding a balance between work, kids, relationships, home, and yourself. We’re also going to talk about burnout and the importance of self-care. Stick around because this is a really important episode.  Buy her book: The Working Mom Blueprint: Winning at Parenting without Losing Yourself (American Academy of Pediatrics; May 11, 2021). Check out her website: https://modernmommydoc.com/ Sponsors The presenting sponsor of this episode of The Autism Dad Podcast is Afluencer. Afluencer was created to help influencers and merchants find each other. If you’re someone who’s looking to…

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Diagnosis Delayed (feat. Dr. Jeff Selman) S4E4

My guest today is Dr. Jeff Selman. He’s VP of Clinical Services over at First Children Services. He’s here to talk about how COVID is creating additional delays in kids getting evaluated for autism. This is a huge problem because we know that early intervention is absolutely vital for kids with autism and delays interfere with that. We talk about what is happening and the impact it’s having on kids. We also discuss remote learning and some challenges that we’re not talking about as we prepare to return to in person learning. There’s lots to learn here and I’d love to get your feedback. Leave a comment on the blog post or hit me up on Twitter. About Dr. Jeff Selman: Dr. Jeff Selman is a New York and South…

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Parent to Parent (feat. Amy Nielsen) S3E36

In this week’s episode, my friend Amy Nielsen is back on the show. Amy is an autism Mom and was on a few months back. We were talking about her journey as an autism parent. We discussed how COVID was impacting their lives at the time. We also talked about what she and her husband were going to do for the upcoming school year. Since that episode, her youngest tested positive for COVID. Her husband tested positive for COVID as well. She’s back to share their story, raise awareness, and talk about her family’s experience with COVID. Can you imagine trying to isolate a very young autistic child? We also talk about some other issues impacting the autism community. This is a very important episode and I ask that you…

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Parent to Parent (feat. Lynn Esparo) S3E35

In this week’s Parent to Parent episode, I have the pleasure of meeting Lynn Esparo. Lynn is a single Mom to a little boy with autism. She has an amazing story and she takes us through her journey with the foster care system. Likewise, she takes us through the adoption process as well. Ours is a colorful conversation about all things autism parenting and it’s both hilarious and inspirational. We talk about the ups and downs we both experience. I don’t doubt that many of you will be able to relate. I can’t wait for you to meet Lynn and hear her amazing story.  Please remember to subscribe and share. Now sit back and enjoy the ride. About Lynn Esparo: Lynn Esparo: (Lynn sent me this bio and I thought it was…

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A Basket of Impossibles (feat. Carew Papritz) S3E27

Let’s get honest here for a minute. We all want our kids to return to school. No one is saying that’s a bad idea. It’s important that our kids get back into the classroom. The issue is whether or not it can be done safely and the answer in most cases is a resounding no. We are handing our teachers a basket of impossible. As of 8/14/2020, a few schools have begun to open in the United States, and already, there are well over 2,100 students/teachers in quarantine due to COVID19 across several states. This is insane. We are putting our kid’s lives, the lives of teachers, school staff, bus drivers, and frankly, everyone else at risk. For what? My guest this week is Carew Papritz. Carew is an accomplished…

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Talking to Your Kids About COVID19 (feat. Kristin Canavera from St. Jude) S3E21

If you’re a parent who’s trying to discuss COVID19 with your children, this show is definitely for you. Kristin Canavera is a child psychologist at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and she’s on the pod today to discuss the St. Jude COVID19 resource kits for kids, tweens, adolescents, and parents. These are free downloadable resource kits and can be found at the link below. We discuss talking to kids about COVID19 in a way that’s developmentally appropriate. Please take a listen and pass this along because COVID19 is here and it isn’t going away anytime soon. I know that’s scary but it’s very important to deal with the facts and St. Jude is here to help us talk with our kids about COVID19. You can find Kristin: https://www.stjude.org/directory/c/kristin-canavera.html St. Jude COVID19…

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Stronger In The Broken Places (feat. Laurie Nadel, Ph.D.) S3E20

We have never experienced anything like COVID-19 in our lifetime and people are scared, myself included. Many of us are dealing with high levels of acute stress, irritability, and sleep disruption. My guest today is Laurie Nadel, Ph.D. Dr. Laurie is a very well-known author, psychotherapist, disaster stress expert and is considered a thought leader in the emerging field of acute stress and PTSD. Dr. Laurie has been a guest on Oprah, CNN, Coast to Coast AM with Art Bell and George Noory, and numerous TV and radio shows in the U.S. and Europe. She has been interviewed about her work with PTSD populations in such major news media as the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Newsday, Reuters News Service, and other publications around the world. Dr. Laurie, is uniquely qualified to help us find the calm…

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