Latest / OneLegUpAlex Media / Adapting With Jeanne Beard ,Founder and CEO of the National Autism Academy 10-16-26 POWERED by Podmatch

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Adapting With Jeanne Beard ,Founder and CEO of the National Autism Academy 10-16-26 POWERED by Podmatch · OneLegUpAlex Media

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Here's your host, Alex Garrett.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: All right, back here at One Leg Up Alex Media.
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: I got a very important conversation now. And also, I
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: should say on Adapting with Alex Garrett, it is Disability
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: Employment Awareness Month, so I'm sure we'll get to that
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: maybe in this segment with my next guest, Jeannie Beard.
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: Jeannie, first of all, thanks for joining me at One
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: Leg Up Alex Media.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: You are?
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: The director at the National Academy of Autism. Thanks for
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: joining me.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Thanks for having me. Glad to be here.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: The National Autism Academy, I was very intrigued by what
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: you do and how you've taken your experience as a
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: mom with kids with autism and turned it into a
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: role as founder and CEO. So first of all, the
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: journey as a mom, let's go there to start out
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: because obviously you start there and then you become the CEO.
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: So let's start at the very beginning.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Well, it started when one of my sons was in
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: first grade. I have three sons. My middle son, when
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: he went into first grade, his anxiety level was off
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: the charts. He would go to school with a nice
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: clean new t-shirt on and come home with it wet
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: to his belly button and all kinds of holes chewed
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: in it. And so he just wasn't able to manage
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: when he took the step up from kindergarten to first grade.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: sitting in a desk, being around all those kids, having
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: things asked of him was very challenging for him and
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: it was causing him a great deal of anxiety. So we,
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: you know, we started like every other parent, is it
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: his hearing? Is he having a reading problem? Is he,
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: you know, we started checking off the boxes and finding
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: out that no, really it was anxiety. So at first
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: he was diagnosed with anxiety, then he was diagnosed with ADHD.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: And then when he went into junior high school. And
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: that's the point, of course, where you go from having
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: one classroom and one desk to having a locker and
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: changing classrooms and different kids in the class. That level
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: of responsibility challenged him even further. And he started getting
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: in trouble. Kids were bullying him and he threatened them
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: and say, I'm going to kill you if you say
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: that to me again. And of course, zero tolerance. So
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: he was getting suspended and having all kinds of trouble.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: This is a kid that I always knew was a
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: sweet kid. I mean, when he was little, if a
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: kid on the soccer field fell down, he'd stop to
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: help him up. So this was not a bad kid
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: or a mean kid. And the pieces didn't fit together
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: and I couldn't figure out what to do. We saw
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: therapist after therapist. We tried everything. We tried medication. We
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: tried so much. And then in 2006, we were introduced
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: to Dr. Tim Wahlberg, who is a clinical and child
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: psychologist in St. Charles, Illinois. And from the very first
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: time we saw him, life started getting better. I did
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: not understand how autism impacted the thinking of someone on
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: the spectrum. And as he was working with Kyle and
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: I was in every session, always there with him. And
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: then he would send Kyle out for the last 10
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: minutes and he would explain things to me and he
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: would explain how, uh, how the autism works and how it,
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: the linear nature of the brain neurology and how it,
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: how it, uh, creates specific thinking patterns and specific, uh,
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: ways of viewing the world. And the more I knew,
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: the more I wanted to know. So I said, well,
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: you know, give me a book. I need a book.
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: Can I? And he said, well, I'm trying to write
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: a book, but I I don't have time because he
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: was very busy. He's he sees kids. He sees like
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: 60 kids a week, 60 kids a week. That's a lot.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: So anyway, I he had a stack of notes on
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: his desk and I said, let me have the notes.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: I want to read them. No, no. For two months,
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: he said, no, no. Finally, I took them. And I
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: read them and I made an outline. And from there,
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: I started asking him questions and filling in the outline.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: And eventually he published that as his book called Finding
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: the Gray. And as a result of that, I got
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: a first class education in the subtleties of autism. My
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: kids are higher functioning, all three of them. They all drive,
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: they all have jobs, they have romantic relationships, they live independently,
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: they can manage their own medications, They're all, you know,
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: they're grown adults now. They're 28, 30, and 33.
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: Well, I mean, as a mom who's been through it
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: with them, to just say that has to be very,
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: you know, proud of them for being able to be
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: independent like that.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: It's rewarding. It's very rewarding. And I owe it all
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: to what I learned from Dr. Wahlberg, which is the
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: linear autism method. That's the name of his methodology, the
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: linear autism method.
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: Doctor's notes tend to... Sorry.
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: Go ahead. No, doctors don't tend to be very confusing.
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: So how are you able to, as it says on PodMatch,
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: translate it? Was it like in doctor speak and you
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: had to like research terms?
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: How did you do that?
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: It was actually transcripts from several talks that he gave.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: And so there was enough. It was basic enough that
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: I could understand the fundamentals and But then I started
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: filling in the pieces from a parent's perspective. I didn't
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: put it down as a clinical perspective. It was from
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: a parent's perspective. And it was so helpful that from
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: the minute I began to understand my son, his anxiety
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: level decreased. I began to see the signs of autism
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: in other members of my family, my other two sons,
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: my ex-husband, my father, my brother. And I could see
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: that I have lived in a in a world where
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: most people were on the spectrum and we didn't know it.
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: And that's interesting because I'm sure that's generational, right? So
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: your father probably didn't want to get checked out. Your
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: brother didn't want to get checked out. I mean, that's
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: the only thing I want to ask you is parents
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: are afraid to get their kids checked out. So are
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: you seeing more rates of, all right, well, maybe he
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: has something we got to go to the doctor or
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: is there still a stigma to having your kid diagnosed
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: with autism?
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: There still is a stigma, which I'm trying to change
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: because autism is not bad or broken or sick or wrong.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: It's different. It's a different way of processing, neurological processing.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: And when you understand how it's different and how it
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: influences the thinking of the person with a different brain neurology,
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: everything changes. That takes it from being out of control
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: to being predictable. And life gets better because parenting a
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: child on the autism spectrum is a different experience than
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: parenting a child. That's not on the spectrum or having
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: a relationship with someone is different.
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: Jeannie tell me about the patients that you've had, uh, with,
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: I guess, because I'm sure that there were behaviors that
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: you didn't understand with your brother and your father.
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: And then translating with.
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: Your sons, I guess, at that point, you kind of
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: got the signs, but talk about your patient's level as
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: you went through all of this.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: It was incredibly frustrating as a parent. It was incredibly
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: frustrating because, and still today, that was 2006. So it
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: was 20 years ago. Still today, there's a horrific lack
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: of education about autism in the professional space. kids, people
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: graduating with social work, masters in social work, only know
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: the very basics. They don't have the tools to really
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: support these, especially the high-functioning kids, to really support them
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: in becoming everything that they can be, in becoming independent
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: and in becoming able to function and be happy in
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: the world.
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: Wonderful.
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: So because of the lack of education, it's been incredibly frustrating.
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: It's still very difficult to find a therapist that knows
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: anything really about autism.
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: My cousin got herself diagnosed at a very later in
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: life age, and I'm sure it was a bit of
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: a shock to her, but she's been adjusting to it.
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: But I want to say, lack of attention, it can
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: be conflated with ADHD, but is that autistic as well,
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: or is there a big difference here?
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: I have heard clinical experts say that they think that
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: ADHD is basically, you know, like a really high functioning
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: form of autism. I know people don't like that word
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: high functioning anymore. But so most people, most parents, most
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: people that I talk to, their loved one on the
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: spectrum does display ADHD qualities. It's kind of part and
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: parcel with autism because the brain neurology is so caught
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: up in managing the information. For example, a kid in
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: a classroom might hear the buzzing of the lights, a
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: kid on the spectrum, and that could totally distract him.
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: One of my sons says he can hear the electricity
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: in the walls. And that neurological input becomes so distracting
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: that they... have very ADHD behaviors because they're so distracted.
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: We always have awareness months and awareness games and all
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: these different things for autism, but I feel like that's
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: never enough. Where does the National Autism Academy.
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: Come in and say. Well let's take this beyond an
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: awareness day. Let's keep. Bringing home the advocacy. You know
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: what I'm trying to say.
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: Let's keep driving home the point. Beyond just the different days.
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: It's all about education. Education. Because I can do therapy
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: with my kids. All of us as parents that have
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: kids on the spectrum can work with them and we
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: can bring them so far. But we may never be
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: able to teach them certain things like reading the context
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: of a room. That just doesn't come naturally to someone
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: on the spectrum. And some people can do it and
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: some people never will do it. So what we need
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: to do now is to educate the world around our
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: children with autism. We can bring them so far and
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: then the world needs to meet them where they are.
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: and accept their neurodiversity for what it is and not
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: have such a stigma about it and not say, oh, well,
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: there's something wrong with you. There's nothing wrong with any
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: of my sons. They're all awesome and they're wonderful people.
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: But when they go out into the world, usually the
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: autism shows first. And so people judge them or have
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: an opinion about them before they even give them a chance.
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: And so the real answer is education, education of the
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: masses and, and getting the word out.
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: Dr.
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: Wahlberg's methodology is, is so unique and it's so groundbreaking
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: and it, and it changes everything. That's why I do
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: what I do.
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: Gina, I want to ask you this.
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: I mean, there've been some high powered celebrities who probably
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: have autism. I mean, Elon, I'm thinking of, and, yet
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: they become brilliant business owners.
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: And it is Disability Employment Awareness Month.
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: So where can we change the narrative of, oh, look,
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: we're hiring this autistic kid to do something.
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: Like, why can't it just be, he has autism.
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: Autism, but he could still do it. Like, I wish
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: the narrative would change, especially during months like this.
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: Totally agree. I totally agree. I wish it would change too.
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: You know, my son, one of my sons always says,
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: I have to work twice as hard to get to
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: the starting line. So in other words, in order to
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: be on even footing with other people, he has to
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: work very hard to get there. But people with autism
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: make awesome employees. You need to, especially if you understand
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: how their mind works, you can, how do I say that?
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: I don't want to say take advantage or leverage, but
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: you can provide for them the type of work that
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: is suitable to them and that makes them happy and
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: that feels good to them. and they do an awesome job.
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: Most of them are very routine-driven, so they're dependable. Many
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: of them are incredibly bright, off the charts, like Elon Musk,
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: off the charts bright. Bill Gates, another one who's off
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: the charts smart. And they can be very successful when
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: the world around them doesn't prejudge them. I can appreciate
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: your message. That would be the same message I would
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: want to share.
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: I find that kids today and all that, and even
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: in just regular speak, people say on the subways or
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: all that, oh, or even online, just the word tisming
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: is like a big phrase now. Is that offensive to
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: you that like any weird behavior is known as now tisming?
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: Is that weird to you or offensive?
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: A little bit, a little bit, because I think it's
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: indicative of an ignorant personality. It's someone who doesn't know
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: what it's like to live with someone on the autism spectrum,
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: someone who doesn't know what it takes to have a relationship,
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: what it takes to raise a child that's functional and
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: happy and able to manage life. And, and so that
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: can be really frustrating to me.
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: Um, but also socially they've got, they've gotten rid of
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: the word, the R word, right? We used to just
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: every throw a word around the R word, but I
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: feel like it's good.
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: We've gotten rid of that word, right?
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely. Anytime, anything we can do to, to normalize,
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: I hate to even use the word normal, but to,
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: to make, to, to create better understanding. so that individuals
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: on the autism spectrum can be appreciated for the incredible
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: minds they have instead of judged or boxed into a
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: corner somehow. And I see it over and over and
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: over again. They have social difficulties that keep them from
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: growing in their careers, which is unfortunate because if the
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: people around them, surrounding them understood that their social skills
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: and their social abilities are different, that they're logical and
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: they're not judging, basing the world and their decisions on
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: the same social information that the rest of us are.
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: When the world understands that, we can work with them
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: in a way that is more helpful. Let me give
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: you an example. In school, in high school, if you
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: were in math class and your math teacher said, get
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: your book out and open it to page 50. Most
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: of the kids will do it, but a kid on
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: the spectrum might go, I don't want to do math.
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: I don't like math. I don't like you. Why would
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: I do that? The difference is the kids that are
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: not on the spectrum are thinking, I don't want the
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: teacher to get mad. I don't want to get in trouble.
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: I don't want to go to the principal. Don't want
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: my mom to ground me because I got kicked out
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: of class. Those are all social motivations. And my sons
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: are thinking, I hate math. I don't want to do this.
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: Why should I have to do something I don't like?
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: And that's, it's very linear thinking. It's very non-social. And
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: that is what's the root of their behavior. But when
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: you understand that as a teacher, if I was the
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: teacher in that classroom, I could say to my son,
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: you know, Kyle, if you do your math problems, if
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: you get half of them done before the end of class,
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: the last 10 minutes, you can play your video game,
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: play with your video game. Now he's got a reason
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: that makes sense to him. Okay, I want to play
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: my video game, so I'll do what I have to
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: do in order to get my video game. But that's
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: because his motivation is different. It's not social. And that
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: has to do with the way his brain has developed,
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: the linear nature of his mind. And you can work
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: with that and you can actually support the individual in
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: being successful without... demanding that they see the world the
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: same way that the rest of us see it.
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: When you say linear, I kind of think of like, okay,
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: and my brain sees an inconsistency. I'm going to go
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: after that and try and correct that inconsistency or something
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: like that.
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: Is that what you're referring to?
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: That we, that people with autism and even ADHD, we
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: love consistency.
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. And Temple Grandin is the one who
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: talks a lot about the linear nature of the brain.
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: She says, um, when she hears the word dog, she,
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: one picture comes to her mind. It's linear. It just,
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: she goes right to one picture, one thought. When I
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: hear the word dog, I think my dogs, I think
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: my dog's barking. I need to get dog food. I,
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: you know, I can have 30 thoughts around my dog. Um,
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: but that's because my mind is able to, is not linear.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: It's able to be abstract and to, uh, take in
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: a lot of abstract information all at one time. Someone
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: on the spectrum, their brain doesn't work that way. It's
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: not broken. It doesn't need to be fixed, but if
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: it's understood, the person can be supported and be successful.
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: And you say that at the same time, I feel
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: like we've seen instances of like autistic people remembering everything
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: under the sun. So how does that work if they're linear,
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: but they also have a great memory and can just
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: bring out or spit out any facts, you know, that
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: come to mind.
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Oh, they, they are, they are incredibly bright and
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: they can, they can, any fact that's important to them,
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: they can remember it forever. You know, they can go
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: into a room and one thing can be moved out
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: of place and they can say, you were in my room,
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: you know, I go in and pick up my son's
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: room and I take the markers that were on the
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: table and put them on the, in a cup and
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: you'll say, you moved all the markers in my room.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: They have very, very good minds and most of them
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: are incredibly bright. And there is no direct correlation between
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: intelligence and autism. So it's not like someone with autism
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: has a certain level IQ. There are many that are
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: very bright and think outside the box as history has shown,
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: but there are also people who have cognitive difficulties and
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: have lower IQs. And there's plenty of help for those people.
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: Those are the kids that struggle from the very beginning.
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: And there's a lot of support for people who are
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: impacted greatly by autism. It's this new growing population, like
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: your sister, who gets diagnosed late in life. That's where
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: we help. That's what the National Autism Academy focuses on
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: is helping people who are flying under the radar, living
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: in mainstream society and struggling or suffering or hurting or confused.
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: Those are the people that we're helping.
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: I see a couple of interesting things here.
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: Normally I don't script my questions because I like the
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: flowing combo, but there are a couple of things I
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: really am intrigued by. One of them is about the
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: homeless population. Are we raising a generation of homeless people?
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: Is that to say those with autism end up homeless?
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: What are you trying to get across with that question?
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I have. I have said that many times that
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: sometimes I think we're raising a generation of homeless people.
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: And what that means is if the world around our
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: children don't understand them and support them, when the parents
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: like me are gone, they may not have the kind
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: of support that they need to be able to be
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: functional enough to manage a household, a family. You know,
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: a lot of people on the spectrum don't drive or
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: don't drive till much later. My None of my sons
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: got their driver's license until their early 20s because they
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: just didn't, they weren't ready. They couldn't deal with it. So,
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: you know, certainly I'm not saying autism is the cause
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: of homelessness. I'm saying that homelessness could be the result
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: of not having the proper support. And unless we do,
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: unless we work on it now, 20 years from now,
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: it's going to become a bigger problem.
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: I want to ask you about the behaviors that each
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: of your sons, so you had your first son, then
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: when did you recognize in your second son and your
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: third son?
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: Like, well, what behavior showed up in the other, in
• 21:41
  Speaker 3: the others?
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: The more I learned, the, the easier it was to
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: see my youngest son, who's 28 now is a very
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: high functioning, but he still, he melts down. His anxiety
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: overwhelms him and he melts out and he'll, he'll be
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: banging his head on the floor. And, you know, and, and,
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: if anyone met him, they would never know he's on
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: the spectrum. You never know, but certain things I can
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: see that he is, he's fighting to compensate. He's always
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: mad at the world. Anger is a very, um, the,
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: the most highly developed emotion, according to Dr. Wahlberg of
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: that people on the spectrum experience because the world never
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: goes the way they think it should. You know, it, it, it,
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: it's never perfect. Right. So, um, I, you know, I
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: can see meltdowns in my younger son, my oldest son
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: who recently moved. I I'm in Chicago. He's, he recently
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: moved to Tacoma, Washington and he, he moved back home
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: after he was out in the world for a while himself.
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: He moved back home and he lived at home for
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: six years. And one day a, um, uh, U-Haul pulled
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: up in front of the house and my youngest son
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: said to me, mom, what's the U-Haul for? I said,
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: I don't know. Someone in the neighborhood must be moving.
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: There was someone in the neighborhood. It was my son,
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: but he had made all these plans to move across
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: the country and didn't talk to me about it. That
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: would be a behavior that would upset most parents, but
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: I took it in stride because I understand what the
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: motivation was, what the, what the what the reason behind
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: it was. So it, it changes everything when you understand
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: he's not thinking socially, a social kid would say, I
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: got to talk to my mom. You know, she's going
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: to be upset. I better talk to her and explain
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: and make sure she knows and give her time. But
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: that none of that occurred to him because that's not
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: how his mind works. So I see, you know, I mean, I,
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: I see different behaviors in all of them. They all
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: have some sensory issues. Um, my oldest son is, is smell. My, uh,
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: middle son is mostly, um, sounds and, and my youngest son,
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: he doesn't have as much, um, sensory issues, but he's
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: always hot or too, too hot or too cold or,
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: you know, or, um, you know, wants to take a shower.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: I mean, he likes to be clean and, you know, so, um,
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: it's different and it changes from day to day too.
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: You know, that's one of the things that's so confounding
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: about the whole thing is that it's very elusive. It
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: can be.
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: So with this Academy you have and learning all the signs,
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: are you feeling like, cause you've mentioned generations after, you know,
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: us after you, are you feeling like you're setting up.
• 24:45
  Speaker 3: The kids of today?
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: The right way through this Academy and the parents of
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: today with, with the kids with autism?
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we don't work with directly with any children, um,
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: because my expertise is in being a parent and being
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: in relationship with people. And I, I wrote a book.
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: I don't know if you know, autism and the rest
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: of us, which is, uh, you can get it on Amazon.
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: But it's really, in my opinion, the quintessential description of
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: what it means to be in a relationship with someone
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: on the autism spectrum. And, you know, I am doing
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: what I can to change the world around my children,
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: to educate people and to create the understanding for them
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: that will allow them to reach their highest level of success.
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: That's the mission.
• 25:40
  Speaker 3: I absolutely love that. And I love the time we've
• 25:42
  Speaker 3: had today. I feel like we can go on and on.
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: But for those who may not have caught on earlier
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: about the linear autism method itself, explain it in layman's terms,
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: I guess. Is it just there so if you're a
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: parent and you see the signs, don't be in denial,
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: get it addressed right away type of thing?
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: The linear autism method is a tool that helps. It
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: helps my children because they understand it. It helps them
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: understand their own thinking. And they instinctively know that they
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: don't think in social abstract terms. And so, for example,
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: if I say to one of my sons, what do
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: you want for dinner? Their way to self-advocate is to say,
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: what are my choices? Because that abstract question is too
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: big for them. They can't Their mind is very linear.
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: So if I say, do you want spaghetti or chicken?
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: They can say, I want spaghetti or I want chicken.
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: But if I say, what do you want for dinner?
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: It's too big a question. So I have learned to
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: tailor the questions to help them become more successful. And
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: if I can teach that to the rest of the world,
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: that one thing, everything will get easier for them. They
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: will not be ridiculed for being for not responding to something.
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: Jeannie, you sound very stoic now, but have you had
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: the meltdowns of your own dealing with this over, I
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: believe the last, what, 18, 20 years or so?
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah, of course.
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: Of course. I mean, I, that's one of the reasons
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: I love working with parents because I can say when I,
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: you know, my experience is this and they go, how'd
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: you know? I think that, you know, my experience, When
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: I first was dealing with this, I thought my kids
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: will never be able to live independently. I thought they're
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: going to end up living under a bridge. That's always
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: where my mind went, right from they can't keep their
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: room clean to they're going to live under a bridge.
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: Because I was so afraid that I would let them
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: down as a parent and not train them the way
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: they needed to be trained. And I was doing it
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: not correctly. when I was trying to use traditional parenting strategies.
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: Traditional parenting strategies don't work with the kid on the spectrum,
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: or at least they're not as effective as they could be.
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: They create anger, hostility, frustration, meltdowns, difficulties, refusal to do things.
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: And when you work with the linear autism method, you
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: understand we have seven specific thinking patterns. For example, one
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: is black and white thinking. And when you see an
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: extreme swing in behavior, you know that the black and
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: white thinking is going and you can say, wait a minute,
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: wait a minute. It's not all or not at all.
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: Here are some options in the middle and you can
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: support them in create, actually creating more neuroplasticity by giving
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: them other options because they're linear. They're either, it's either,
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: is it on or is it off? Is it yes
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: or is it no? And maybe doesn't compute. So, so we,
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: can learn to teach our children with autism the maybes
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: in the world, the in-betweens. And that makes them more functional,
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: more able to perform in a job situation, more able
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: to drive a car, do a banking transaction, order in
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: a restaurant. These are all social activities that require social skills.
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: Tell me about, are the three boys married with kids?
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: Dating now, what's their dating lives been since all of this?
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: One is engaged. Just got my older son, who lives
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: in Washington, just got engaged in April. My youngest son lives...
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: with his significant other his girlfriend and they just bought
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: a house and they're there he's 28 and he's a
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: homeowner already and my middle son lives in an apartment
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: that is attached to my house and He lives independently.
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: He's an overnight supervisor in a drugstore. So he holds
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: a job, manages his own money, manages his own medication,
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: gets himself showered and dressed enough to work every day
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: on time. He's a great employee. He's been there for,
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: I think, seven years now, going on seven years. And
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: he's saving for his retirement. And I see him maybe
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: sometimes once a day, sometimes not at all. But a
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: lot of times I'll get a call, mom, what's for dinner? So,
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: you know, he still likes to take advantage of being
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: close enough that he can have dinner with me. So
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: that's our biggest share point right now.
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: That's great. They're on their own and they have their lives.
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: That's amazing. And it gives hope, right? So if someone
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: with autism is watching this, and they don't know the adaptations,
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: what would you advise them? Like what adaptations have you
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: seen your kids make that you can pass on to
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: others and say, yeah, here's what my kids did.
• 31:03
  Speaker 3: Here's what I want you to do.
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: Really, it's been about understanding those seven thinking patterns and
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: being able to manage them in the moment. So it's
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: recognizing the neurodiversity, recognizing the difference, and then being willing
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: to make a little bit of adjustment. I'm not saying
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: stop being who you are, but be who you are
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: with the understanding that people around you may not get it.
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: And then you can explain it to them. And that
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: makes all the difference. That makes all the difference. So
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: it starts with acceptance and the recognition.
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: That- And it almost sounds like self-acceptance too, because I
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: find that people who have a disability of any kind
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: it's very tough for themselves to accept themselves. And that's
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: why it's hard to show because like, there's so many
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: out there who are adapting to something.
• 31:58
  Speaker 3: If they hear stories, they'll be able to do it easier.
• 32:01
  Speaker 3: Cause like, Hey, I'm not alone in this.
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely. It is about self-acceptance and it's about helping
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: the world understand that autism is not bad or broken
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: or sick or wrong. I, I, our, our government talks
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: about it like it's something that has to be cured.
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: I don't think it's something that has to be cured.
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: I think it's something that has to be understood. There's
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: nothing wrong with the way my kids think. It's just different.
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: And that makes them like, it's like they're left-handed in
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: a right-handed world, you know? So they need to adapt.
• 32:36
  Speaker 2: I feel like you're very blessed that they are very
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: high functioning because there are some that are not. And
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: how do you work with those parents that maybe have
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: a kid that's nonverbal for a very long time? Or-
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: That does get aggressive, you know, because they don't have
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: that thing to like, I don't know if the words
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: calm down or whatever you want to say, but they
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: get aggressive. They start hitting back and all that. What's
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: your message to those parents?
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: It's the same message. Learn to understand how their mind
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: works because when they feel understood, they're less frustrated. They're
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: less angry. They're more able to comply with requests. You're
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: able to communicate with them in a way that they
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: understand the requests. I heard one psychiatrist in some article
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: I read, he said that the number one cause of
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: anxiety and frustration in individuals with neurodiversity is that they
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: don't know what's expected of them in the moment. And
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: I see that play out over and over again with
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: my kids. One of my sons calls me three times
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: a day. Mom, this happened. What does that mean? How
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: do I deal with that? And now as an adult,
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: he's becoming more able to manage it. but um yeah
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: i if they if you can understand those thinking patterns
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: you can learn to navigate the world with your autism
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: rather than fight against the way you think and we're
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: not trying to change the way anyone thinks we're trying
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: to understand it so we can adapt around them that makes.
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: Sense it does because i still try to understand my
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: own things like if terminology doesn't make sense, I've never
• 34:17
  Speaker 2: been diagnosed with anything really.
• 34:19
  Speaker 3: I've always unofficially diagnosed.
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: Myself with ADHD, but if terminology feels off to us,
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: like if something's worded a certain way, why does that
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: bother me so much?
• 34:29
  Speaker 3: Like I'm kind of leaning in here because I want
• 34:31
  Speaker 3: to figure out why that might be.
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: Well, because you don't understand it then, right? You don't,
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: it's an uncertainty and that uncertainty is, is, can be
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: very unsettling for all of us, not just for people
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: on the spectrum, for everyone. If you don't know what's
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: going on, it's frightening. And you don't know how to respond.
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: And half the time when you do respond, you know,
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: someone saying, you can't do that, or you can't say that,
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: or that's wrong, that behavior is wrong. You know how
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: often kids on the spectrum get punished and corrected, especially
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: before the parents understand how their mind works. You know,
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: I mean, You asked me a little bit ago, and
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: I just wanted to reinforce that the net outcome of
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: learning the linear autism method is that everyone's stress level
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: goes down. Everyone's anxiety level goes down. Everyone seems to
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: be more comfortable in their own skin. And that's... That's everything.
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: You're muted. Interesting.
• 35:50
  Speaker 3: Well, this has been fascinating. And I'm going.
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: To share out your link. It's called LinearAutismMethod.com. LinearAutismMethod.com. And
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: I'd love to have you on more as there's more progress,
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: you know, more. There is Awareness Month. There is different
• 36:06
  Speaker 2: things I'm sure you're up to and projects you're doing.
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: So I'd love to have you back on and tell
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: us more what's going on at the National Autism Academy.
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: I would love to. Anytime. Let me know.
• 36:17
  Speaker 3: All right. Jeannie Beard.
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: Oh, and thanks for joining me through PodMatch.
• 36:20
  Speaker 3: I'm sure you love PodMatch. It's a great site to
• 36:23
  Speaker 3: connect people.
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: And I often find that PodMatch helps us connect people
• 36:27
  Speaker 2: with disability in the disability space. I don't know what
• 36:30
  Speaker 2: it is, but that's where a lot of people seem
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: to be connecting with each other.
• 36:33
  Speaker 3: It is.
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: Thanks for having me.
• 36:37
  Speaker 3: Thank you, Jeannie Beard. And we'll talk to you soon
• 36:39
  Speaker 3: at the One Look Up Alex Media.