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SEASON 2 DA CREW PODCAST_BONUS EPISODE _ HOST BLAQUE DIAMOND · DA CREW Podcast

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Hey, Hey, welcome to another episode of the Proof Podcast. I am
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your visionary Queen Angel And if you are a diva that's looking to amplify your
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nursing nurse, All things ain't what things do? Stupid? Where in all
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the Blue Sky's Boys, blue Bump the North through something wrong person. At
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Wings of Transformation Publishing, we are admitted to helping our authors reach their goals
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and pursue their dreams of becoming published authors. We work closely with each author
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to ensure a successful publishing experience, and we are dedicated to helping them tell
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their stories in the most meaningful and impactful ways. We look forward to putting
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you on the path to writing your book. Basic Black after Dark the Dall
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Lou podcast show with your host Black Diamond Love. Hello. Hello, I
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am Black Diamond from the Crew Network, and you're listening to Basic Black after
2:24
Dark to show that meets you where you are and gives you what you ask
2:29
for. You know, when babies are born, the doctor will tell you
2:32
whether you have a boy or a girl. And they will also tell you
2:36
your baby's wait or what they cannot tell you is that your baby is on
2:40
the spectrum autism, spectrum disorders, what it's called. We are here talking
2:47
about autism. Now. Some people believe autism is a mental illness, but
2:53
I'm here to tell you that autism is not a mental illness. I believe
2:59
it is a condition related to brain development. Tonight's guest is here to shed
3:04
some light on autism spectrum disorder. Please welcome Joe Linderman, the Basic Black
3:10
afterdog Hull. Hey, Joe, Hey, how you doing fine? Thank
3:17
you for being here tonight and sharing your experience with autism. Thank you for
3:22
giving me the opportunity. You worked in the field for over twenty five years
3:27
with a focus on special education, particularly autism. Some people don't understand autism.
3:34
Can you tell us what autism is? What I'm gonna do is I'm
3:38
gonna read the definition straight out of the Center for Disease Control. Autism is
3:43
a spectrum disorder which refers to a broad range and conditions characterized by challenges with
3:49
social skills, repetitive behavior, speech, and nonverbal communication. Wow, and
3:55
the definition is really kind of simplified because of the fact that it's a spectrum
4:02
disorder. The easiest way to describe it is kids have commonalities under the autism
4:09
label, but each one is individual. So is that way the spectrum comes
4:14
in that, Yes, some kids are above average and intelligence. Other kids
4:19
are severely limited by lack of verbal skills and inability to communicate what's going internally
4:27
to other people because of a practice. How's it diagnosed? Well, I
4:35
think it's diagnosed because the typical definition of autism is typically a normal development in
4:44
early childhood, and then around the age between two and three, you start
4:48
seeing signs of a deterioration of social skills, a lack of looking at the
4:56
parents, a lack of responding to the child's name. Uh. All of
5:00
a sudden, you'll see atypical kind of behavior patterns where the child might do
5:04
some stemming, flapping, UH, spinning in circles, spinning tops, lining
5:11
toys up in a row, those kind of things, and and and then
5:15
that's when UH. Parents typically get concerned and what we'll seek a diagnosis or
5:21
some type of explanation of what's going on. The Other thing that's going on
5:26
too is remember, autism has really become the the new poster child of developmental
5:35
disability. When I was a young teacher, uh, the down syndrome population
5:42
kind of was the poster child. But now there's so much, uh,
5:46
there's so many people with autism, and there's so much focus on it that
5:53
if you get a diagnosis of autism, there are services immediately available to you,
5:59
and so, you know, people kind of push the label. Okay,
6:03
So those are some of the things that the family should look for,
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you know, because I know sometimes you see young parents who don't have any
6:12
idea about autism. The child will be sitting there, playing and looking away
6:15
from them and you know, maybe flapping the hand. Say it's a eighteen
6:19
or nineteen year old young parent, maybe even fifteen to sixteen. They're missing
6:23
those things because they don't know. And I think when they take them to
6:28
the doctors the pediatrician, they should educate them a little bit more than what
6:32
they are because these young parents, as long as that child is sitting there
6:34
quiet and not getting it into other things, they're thinking that they're okay,
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you have Alma says that her nephew has autism. Alma, how old is
6:46
your nephew? When once he diagnosed. So what are some of the that's
6:56
some of the signs that you said, But there's a wide range of autom
7:00
like Asperger syndrome, childhood disintegrated disorder, and unspecified forms of pervasive development to
7:08
disorder. How can we tell Aspergers from autism? Again, Asperger's is as
7:15
AH and it's now been disassociated from autism. It's its own, it's its
7:23
own UH condition because Asperger people are typically UH when when tested or test above
7:30
normal in most areas of development, whereas high functioning autistic could have some some
7:39
high levels of functioning and also some some limit more severe involvements in other areas
7:45
such as communication. UH. Now, Alma, if your nephew is diagnosed
7:50
as autistic, then my first question to you would be where does your where
7:58
does his family reside and and have they reached out to the school, Because
8:01
if he's been labeled as autistic, he's entitled the school from birth to age
8:07
twenty one. He doesn't have to wait like a neurotypical child to reach kindergarten
8:13
age, so he should be receiving early intervention services as of the day he
8:18
is labeled. So I would suggest that the parents reach out to the local
8:24
school. The local school would be the school closest to their home, and
8:30
identify the child as being newly diagnosed as autistic and find out what services are
8:35
available. The other thing I would strongly recommend is that you go to the
8:41
state Department of Education. You go to the special Ed section, and you
8:46
look for what's called the Autism Waiver Registry in the state of Maryland. There
8:52
are services available in home, services available to families that can get on this
8:56
waiver. And so the early you can put your child on the waiver,
9:01
the better off you are. I have a cousin who is twenty two and
9:05
was diagnosially after birth. His dad is a high school principal and pastor.
9:09
He communicates with me and others will, but he is nonverbal. Do you
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think they needed too late not to do anything about it or was it never
9:20
too No, Now I would the person who's talking about their twenty two year
9:24
old cousin, I've been I have a thirty one year old nonverbal autistic son.
9:33
Around four years ago, I found a therapy that's called spelling to communicate,
9:41
which accesses the child's brain from a different part of the brain where not
9:48
typically associated with language. But with communication. It's called the way Nikki part
9:52
of the brain, and under this strategy they have been able to teach my
9:58
son to share what he's thinking by spelling on this board and it's been a
10:05
life saver for us. So at age twenty two, although he's nonverbal,
10:11
he's not non intelligent. So I would recommend you look into this service.
10:16
It's called Growing Kids Therapy out of Herne in Virginia. Who knows other stuff
10:24
on the right, I know about children who are autistic. They're very smart
10:26
in what areas that others may think that they're limited. They are beyond what
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some who are not living with autism are, he says, he knows how
10:37
efficient other stuff. And that's one of the things that I know I've experienced
10:41
when I was working with some children who are autistic, that we may think
10:45
that they're delayed, and what society will say that is normal, but nothing
10:50
today is normal in society. But they excel in so much more in ways
10:54
that I couldn't even think. I remember working with a young man and you
11:00
can put a math problem on the border, he can stand it in just
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get to it, and I'm still standing there trying to figure it out and
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he knew it. Dylan can do three digital math additions of traction and by
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the time you read him the problem, he's pointing to the answer, spelling
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the answer. And when I make him do it, when we do like
11:18
multiplication or word problems, I make him break down his answer so he can
11:22
give me the step by step of how he arrived at the answer, and
11:26
he does that. So I'm just saying, for this particular family, I
11:31
would definitely recommend that they look into Growing Kids Therapy out of Herndon, Virginia.
11:35
Okay, I got that commercial out of the way early. This was
11:41
my son. They'll say, Hi, all right, go watch your iPad
11:48
that he's working. All right, cool? Thanks. So you know I
11:52
heard that the symptoms of autism have been exaggerated and incorrectly portrayed in the media.
11:58
What are some of the common mints about autism. Well, I don't
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know if it's a myth as much as right now, we have two major
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uh uh, two major philosophies that kind of run the field of special ed.
12:20
You have BCBA Board Certified Behavior analysts, and then you have speech,
12:24
you language and and uh you know, they they have a way of presenting
12:31
autism. Like the behavioral people will tell you that, you know, our
12:37
kids are sometimes non compliant, and you have to be you know, you
12:43
have to set up consequences and rewards. And what I've looked at over my
12:48
career and observed is they don't choose to be non compliant or purpose but they're
12:56
they're in conflict with their body quite often. You know, there's no human
13:03
being I've ever worked with, labeled autistic or not that did not wish to
13:07
be successful. But if you look at schools, especially special ed schools,
13:13
all they typically do is wood are down regular curriculum. If my son could
13:20
have been successfully doing regular curriculum, why would he need to go into a
13:26
special type of classroom. And then if all you do in that classroom is
13:30
wood are down the complexity of the word problems or the math problems, you
13:35
haven't changed the style in which you try to get to these kids to demonstrate
13:43
knowledge or understanding. And so, you know, I think though, the
13:48
good thing is for families. Now there's so much information out there on the
13:52
Internet that you know, it's not that hard to find Facebook groups with like
14:01
interests who have family members that are under the spectrum that you can create a
14:09
new voice and a new direction. I think unfortunately right now, schools are
14:15
kind of stuck where they are because, like most businesses, their number one
14:20
priority is to stay in business. And if things are going well and they've
14:26
been doing it the same way for thirty years, you know, if Johnny
14:30
or Mary come in and they don't fit the bill, we don't look at
14:33
ourselves and try to change. We say, Johnny and Mary are the problem
14:39
and we need to quit. No kind is it inherited. It's it's that's
14:48
all up in the air on research. You know. The other thing with
14:52
the Internet, there's some good advice out there and there's some sketchy advice out
14:56
there, you know, and it goes back to the old theory, if
14:58
enough people believe it becomes the truth. So I would say it's not so
15:05
much where it came from. But the frequency of autism is growing. It's
15:11
one in thirty six at this time. But it can also be because remember
15:16
there's more services available to someone labeled as autistic. And if I'm a parent
15:22
who my advice to young families would be this, If you have a young
15:28
child that you're concerned there might be some differences in their development. Then the
15:33
neurotypical children. You see, there's no shame or loss to go and talk
15:41
to someone. And if they say your child has a label such as autism,
15:48
it may not be a lifetime label. There are high functioning autistic people
15:54
in this world that you would never know are autistic, but they got early
15:58
intervention. Language can come. It can come as late as you know,
16:03
six seven eight. But so my point is, get the service, forget
16:10
the label right now. The label's not the important thing. If sometimes we
16:15
find these kids are just language delayed and they get this intensive speech support and
16:22
their language comes. You know, there are some people that are a social
16:26
they'll always be a social and it doesn't mean they're autistic, you know.
16:33
But the problem is we kind of use these global concepts like you know,
16:38
lack of communication, lack of social skills. That brings in a lot of
16:44
people in that umbrella. And because it's a spectrum disorder, sometimes they belong
16:49
in the group and sometimes they don't. My grandson is ten and he's been
16:53
receiving assistants since he was kindergot he's now fifty percent especially d good. There
16:59
you go, so he's moving towards more inclusion. Yeah, and I would
17:03
push more and more of that for him. Another thing I would always shay
17:07
to parents, don't have your son or daughter in a classroom where they're the
17:14
highest child in the class. You want them in a class where they're struggling,
17:18
because struggling means they're learning. And if he's the highest child in the
17:22
class, he's bored because they're teaching down to the lowest jib in the class.
17:29
There's a question here. Well, Steven says, you are so right.
17:32
I know a young lady that quit a job and worked with a son.
17:34
He now works and holds a job and has a baby. One of
17:40
the things I have noticed with some people who have children who are living with
17:44
autism, these young parents, they feel guilty and I often tell them you
17:49
did nothing wrong. You know, it's something that has happened, and it's
17:53
something that's within your child and your child is living with But it's nothing that
17:57
you did wrong. Nothing through you carrying a child, nothing that you know,
18:02
your appointments, whatever food you was eating, nothing is showing that that's
18:04
the way that it came. It's just something that's had came much later in
18:11
the life when he was twenty five, so that's a wonderful thing. But
18:15
again that refers back to the words spectrum. No, two guys are like
18:22
you know, they stem differently, they communicate differently. Some kids community,
18:26
Some kids are very passive in their personalities. I was unfortunate. My son
18:30
is very volatile. When he's not feeling good, his behaviors go up.
18:36
You know, so every every personal in the spectrum responds differently. And my
18:41
my thought to parents would be you have to be their strongest advocate. Never
18:47
believe that they're not capable. They are capable, but you'll have a lot
18:52
of supposed experts tell you otherwise. Believe your child conditions are the other conditions
18:59
that have this same symptoms as autism, like Tobet syndrome. Is it now
19:04
Thrett has nothing to do with autism? No, it's just you know,
19:07
they're they're both brain based. His orders But no, no, another word.
19:12
You know, in my journey with my son, and the latest part
19:19
of my journey has been with these spelling boards, that's given us much more
19:25
insight into him because he is he is able to tell us a lot of
19:30
things going on inside. He never used to be able to and The nice
19:34
thing with this system, you really have to see it to believe it.
19:41
Dylan spells thousands of words and we never tard him to spell a single one.
19:45
We're not teaching them how to spell. We're teaching them how to coordinate
19:51
his body and brain so that he can get his body to do what his
19:55
brain is asking or wanting him them to do. And with that he becomes
20:00
very efficient. And I'm telling you it changed. He actually was able to
20:07
pinpoint where pain was. And we had lapiscopic surgery done, lapiscopic exploratory surgery,
20:17
and they found he has part of his lower intestines has floated up behind
20:22
his rib cage and in his liver. It causes him discomfort. It's a
20:27
very rare thing. I didn't realize your intestines free float in your body.
20:33
They're not attached to anything. So when the child is school age, their
20:38
family should go through the special education services for their child. How do they
20:42
choose an educational plan for their school age children? And I heard that there's
20:48
a term called transition once. What does that mean? Because I think that's
20:52
around what's fourteen years old that they no transition. The big term for transition
20:56
is when you transition from school to adults services. The other thing I would
21:02
recommend all parents do is to look into d DA and put their child on
21:06
the DDA registry because DDA, which is a Department of Developmental Administration developer will,
21:12
is the agency that provides funding for adults, and not all adults with
21:18
disabilities end up getting the service. So you have to apply, and I
21:23
would apply early because there's a long waiting line, okay, and if if
21:29
your job are you they'll tell you to call back whenever, but you want
21:33
to apply. And the other thing is when you apply online, you're not
21:37
automatically registered unless someone from DDA calls you. So if you don't get a
21:41
call, even though you filled out the application, it fell through the cracks
21:45
and you got to repeat yourself. But those are the two things I recommend
21:48
you do. Get on the autism waiver and also get on dda's waiting lisk.
21:53
Yah. Yeah, it's the DDA program is a wonderful program, the
21:57
Autism waver it's so much supporting and that's where a lot of what you had
22:03
said already the support group. So you go online. You can see some
22:07
support groups on Facebook. There's a lot of support groups there as well.
22:11
For some parents, traveling with their children can be difficult. What would you
22:15
recommend making traveling and going out easier Because you see in stores and places kids
22:22
are hollering and screaming, and some people thinking those are just braddy kids,
22:26
but they could be a child with autism or maybe something else another type of
22:30
behavior, and they're thinking that, oh, that child is spoiled. I
22:33
would take them in the bathroom, I would do this, that and the
22:34
other. But you just don't know. Well, one of the big things
22:40
parents have to look at and reflect on I call it the suitcase. We
22:45
typically take our kids out in the community and we drag them around because we
22:48
have to do things. If a child has a difference in being able to
22:55
process information and engage with their world, if you're dragging them from store A
23:00
to store B to store C and you're in a rush, that anxiety can
23:06
reflect onto them. So I would do things like maybe do an autism trip,
23:15
or the whole purpose of the trip is just to take your child out
23:18
in the community and go wherever you're go and say, if it's Walmart,
23:23
but explore the store at a slower pace, talk about what's in the food
23:29
aisles, talk about what's in the you know, the office supply, talk
23:34
about the clothing. But do it at a pace that they can get something
23:38
out of it, because so many times we're rushing them through and we're just
23:45
dragging them along because we couldn't leave them home. Another thing we do for
23:48
Dylan and we tart early on. Restaurants are difficult for our kids because you
23:56
get there and there's a long wait, then you get your food, then
23:59
there's a another long wait. So Dylan likes movies, so we have an
24:04
iPad that we take along because he's not good at waiting, So he gets
24:10
his iPad until dinner comes. And if he's really being calm that day,
24:15
I'll even let him listen to his iPad while he eats. Sometimes he gets
24:19
too distracted and stops eating. But do things like that. If your child
24:23
likes moods, if your child likes fidgets, take fidgets to the to the
24:29
restaurant so you can anticipate that that wait, time be to order and to
24:33
pay aren't easy for you, they're not easy for them. So have things
24:38
that are they have that are comfortable to them, that can come along,
24:42
almost like the old security blanket we talk about for children, if you can
24:47
identify some of those. The other thing is for kids who don't do trips
24:51
at all, I would do trips short at first. So again, don't
24:55
drag him out as a suitcase because you got to go shopping, but do
24:57
a separate trip where maybe it's only for ten or fifteen minutes, and they
25:03
earn a reward for tolerating. Because the other thing you have to look at
25:07
some kids have century issues. You know, they're overwhelmed visually, they're overwhelmed
25:11
auditorily. You know, you'll see some kids on the spectrum that where like
25:18
the the head here, the no the headsets that for sound, you know,
25:26
like you'd see someone cutting the grass put on their ears right that that
25:30
limits the sound. There are other kids who will you know, pull their
25:34
hoodies up to kind of limit their vision. If those are kind of things
25:40
your child's experiencing, then the other thing you have to look at is can
25:44
there be something going on with their vision and you might want to have that
25:47
checked out. What exactly is steming and why does it happen? Right?
25:52
Everyone stems latoria. The difference is our kids do more overt kind of stemming.
26:00
You'll see a neurotypical tapping their pencil. They might flip their bang their
26:04
knee up and down and not even realize they're doing that. You know,
26:08
they might bite their fingernails. That's all stem The difference is our kids have
26:12
more overt type of stemming. And one of the things that I'm beginning to
26:18
discover from this program that I'm in for my son's communication, some of these
26:26
some of the non verbal autistics have going on to write books. Again,
26:30
they don't write them, they spell them out on a board and someone else
26:34
translates, and they talk about their stemming as things they can't control. It's
26:41
like an part of their autonomic system. So it's not cognitive, and it
26:48
can be anxiety based. It can be again to help them soothe. It
26:52
could be a variety of reasons. But the kids really aren't aware of it,
26:56
and it makes sense. I mean, think about someone flapping their hands
27:00
for hours. Who would really want to do that. It's got to be
27:03
exhausted. Well, we're gonna go to another question before we go for a
27:10
break. Josiah does it like loud noise? So that question stating that there
27:15
are some children who doesn't like it. They put their hands over exactly.
27:18
Yep. Yeah. And and the thought process is they take in auditory sounds
27:26
differently than we do, so maybe it's a bigger sound, is more of
27:30
a distraction. I would work or in trying to get the the headsets that
27:37
that muffle sound, but you're going to have to teach your son or daughter
27:42
to slowly accept those. The big mistake we make will bring like the headset,
27:48
will stick it on their head and you know after twenty minutes he rips
27:52
it off because when you put those on, the way your ears receive century
27:59
is completely different because it's muffled, and that after a while can become annoying.
28:04
So you want you don't want him to wear it the first time.
28:08
You want him to be successful for a short period of time so he doesn't
28:12
find it as an abversive. If it becomes adversive, he'll never wear it.
28:18
So you might want to put him on his ears and go one,
28:19
two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine,
28:22
ten, great job, and take them off and build over time how
28:26
long you have him wear it, and it won't be ten seconds to twenty
28:30
minutes every time for over a tense they get comfortable after a while. The
28:36
bigger thing is he needs to understand what the heck are you doing and how
28:40
long are you going to do it for? So make it short, sweet
28:42
and give him a reward, and over time he'll learn to accept that we're
28:48
going to take a commercial break right now already, bet we're going to continue
28:52
with Joe in regards to autism. So he's going to give us a little
28:56
bit more insight answering break. Do you know who Bayard Rustin was? He
29:03
mentored doctor Martin Luther King Jr. Working closely with him organizing the nineteen sixty
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three March on Washington. He also happened to be gay. Do you know
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that Fanny Louhamer was the co founder and vice chair of the Freedom Democratic Party,
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which she represented at the nineteen sixty four Democratic National Convention, Or that
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Tamika Mallory was one of the leading organizers of the Women's March in twenty seventeen.
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I didn't until a few short years ago, and that's why I created
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school. In fact, it was not until college, where I took my
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first Black Studies course that I learned about anybody black besides Doctor King and Harriet
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Tupman. And that's a tremendous disservice to our children. Representation matters, and
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it fosters self worth and pride in oneself. Each style features a collectible hangtag
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a chance to receive free school supplies and other prizes. Wow, that's a
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wonderful program, b Brave. As a matter of fact, I have some
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of those books, those book bags. I bought them for my children and
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I love them and they love them. We're back now. We're talking to
31:47
Joe Linderman in regards to autism, and he's given us so much information in
31:53
the first half, so I'm quite sure this second half is gonna be just
31:57
as powerful and informative. So do you believe that the number of children with
32:01
autism has been increasing ever since the MMR vaccine has been in use. I
32:14
don't. I don't really feel as though I'm an expert in that area.
32:17
I would say, again, if you go on the internet, you'll get
32:21
mixed messages. There is a large consensus of people who believe that the immunity
32:27
immunity immunization shots have been impactful, and then there are those groups of people
32:35
who don't feel that it's it's a connection in the world of autism. I
32:42
would say, you know, what I'm comfortable sharing is I do think that
32:45
there are environmental factors that are influencing the rate of autism, because if you
32:52
look back, you know, one hundred years ago, the rate of autism
32:59
was hardly measured measure. So something's going on, you know, and that
33:02
kind of simulates the Industrial Revolution and a few other major changes that's happened to
33:09
mankind. And so I mean, we see all the time, you know,
33:14
things pop up as a carcinogenic or this or that. So I would
33:19
think that these kids immunity systems or maybe the parents' immunity systems have been compromised.
33:24
That you know, recessive traits are occurring more frequently, and I would
33:30
say that most likely autism is in that recessive pull of possibilities, you know.
33:36
And then the other thing is that children with autism, what people living
33:40
with autisms? Do you think they're gone to? What illnesses? I would
33:45
say, again it's a spectrum disorder, that it's not an absolute rule,
33:51
But I would say probably there is a subgroup of autistics that do have a
33:57
significant react action to medications and to other things in the environment that their immunities
34:06
have been compromised, you know, And I live it. My son has
34:10
paradoxical responses to more medications than anyone I've ever seen in my life. And
34:19
we're giving them a medication based on what the doctor's telling us, and we're
34:22
finding out it's actually cars are more harm than good. And it takes me
34:27
a while of documenting what I'm observing before I can reach that analysis, and
34:31
then I'll go online and I'll find somewhere, hidden somewhere, there's a report
34:37
that says people on the autism spectrum are more likely to have paradoxical responses to
34:45
medications than neurotypicals. But it doesn't mean that everyone on the spectrum will have
34:51
issues with medications. And more importantly, we live in the world of no
34:55
good choices because a lot of these kids are orn medications to help deal with
35:01
their anxieties, which come out and very hostile and aggravated and aggressive ways.
35:08
And so you know, it's damned if you do and damned if you don't,
35:13
and so it's a constant monitory. You know, the question was are
35:19
or just the child control the other illnesses? And I think Robbie maybe saying
35:22
yes to that question. But one of the things that I want to I
35:27
understand that they are therapy is useful in the treatment of behavioral symptoms and autistic
35:31
children. Can you tell me about some of the therapies that they offer.
35:39
Again, the under the umbrella of bc BA Board Certified Behavior Analysis, people
35:47
with those degrees have within the state of Maryland, the ability to write behavior
35:52
plans, but for a large array of people on the spectrum and outside the
36:00
spectrum. Uh, you know, it's it's a behavioral model and I'm really
36:05
making it very basic. It's much more sophisticated, but it's a it's a
36:09
model based on the fact that you know, by earning rewards and consequences and
36:15
being consistent, you can modify kids behaviors that are are I'm under the umbrella
36:25
of non compliant. What's another word, I'm looking for difficult, And my
36:37
evolution has taken me to a different place. I'm more believing that these kids
36:43
are all affected by a praxia, which is a disconnect between the brain and
36:46
the body. And you know, these kids want to maybe be compliant,
36:52
but for one reason or another, their body is just not allowing them to
36:58
be as efficient as they need to be. And we we in the education
37:02
arena, really judge everything. We observe with people in the spectrum from a
37:09
behavioral perspective. It's not always behavior, it's communication or the lack of being
37:15
able to communicate. The cause is the frustration. So Joe, children who
37:19
show signs of ADHD are often treated with written in medications usual in treating the
37:24
behaviorstic children. Just like in the neurotypical population. There are very good successful
37:35
medication outcomes for people on the spectrum, but there are also some very horrific
37:42
outcomes for people on the spectrum. Uh And it really medication. It's not
37:50
what to do before medications. It's don't think that a medication is a cure.
37:54
All you have to be a due, diligent observer. Give you an
38:00
example, my son is on tlanazepin because of his aggressive behavior. Tlanazepin is
38:06
supposed to help with anxiety. What we found, what we were given advice
38:10
from a psycho license psychiatrist very rippable and I don't hold it against him.
38:16
He was giving clanazepin three times a day, and in addition, when he
38:21
would have a meltdown is the term used, we were to give him additional
38:25
tanazipin. Well after almost a year of my son looking canatonic and still biting
38:34
his hands multiple times a day, attacking staff and myself multiple times a day.
38:40
It became very apparent that drugging him with tanazepin wasn't getting us a result
38:47
we were looking for. So again I went online and I found a study
38:52
that said tanazepin given to people on the autism spectrum at a high dose can
38:59
have a paradoxyl reaction. Paradoxy means opposite, so it's actually causing him to
39:06
have more rage and more biting and attacking and all the things we were seeing.
39:10
So we take We took him off seventy percent of the tlanazepin. He's
39:15
on a very low dose and it's now doing its job. So do you
39:19
say don't do tlanazapin. No, but you have to see how much your
39:25
child's going and is it. Every drug has a reason for being on the
39:31
market. Tanazepin was to reduce anxiety. His anxiety was going up. So
39:38
the answer is give him more of something. The answer is looks, look
39:44
into and find out why your son's or daughter's particular immunity system is responding in
39:50
an opposite way than the medication is supposed to be, you know, and
39:54
then you go to advocate for your children. You know, there's no miracle
39:59
drug anything. Even when you get a common headache. It just because you
40:02
take tal and noill doesn't mean that it's just going to get rid of.
40:06
It's just lightening and maybe bringing it around and breaking it up, but it's
40:08
still there. So you really advocate for your children. And the other thing
40:14
is and this is the unique quality that a parent with an autistic child needs
40:22
to have. Don't take a break. When things are going well, that's
40:29
the time for you to be observing because with autism it's a spectrum response.
40:35
Things will come back, so you need to be paying attention. So when
40:39
you introduce a new med, don't go we're done. No monitor how that
40:45
med is working with your child. And if you're not seeing what the doctor's
40:50
saying you should be seeing, then it's not always the correct thing to double
40:57
down on it. It might be that's the problem with spectrum, but parents
41:01
have to do their due diligence. You can't take days off, I just
41:06
can't. The biggest advocates for their children a diagnosis of autism usually qualify as
41:13
a disability. Yes, are they ask for Medicaid and medicaia difficult. Yes,
41:21
well, well not just because you're autistic. If you get on the
41:23
autism spectrum, if you can get on the autism waiver that comes with Medicaid,
41:30
Medicare or Medicaid, which one is for seniors medici seeing because I heard
41:37
of that, it doesn't mean the okay, but yeah, so then it's
41:45
it's Medicaid okay, and so that comes with the wave. But wait a
41:50
minute, medica is not just for seniors. If a person has a disability,
41:53
sometimes the Medicia can kick in. Exactly, everyone is different because that's
41:59
what you But once you get into that game, they'll tell they'll help you
42:02
with those anomalies. Yep, yeah, Roberta says, Hi, Joe,
42:08
that is how the meltdown's pot communication. So in other words, she's saying
42:13
that when they have a meltdown, that's the way of communicate. Well,
42:15
see, look think about it. If your mouth doesn't work, what do
42:21
you have left to communicate with? And the problem the disservice we do in
42:25
education is we call that behavior, but we do it for a very specific
42:30
reason. If we called it communication, it would be the responsibility of the
42:36
school to figure out ways for Johnny or Mary to be more appropriate in their
42:42
communication. If we call it behavior, it's not my fault, it's Johnny
42:46
Mary's fault, because if they just didn't have these behaviors, things would be
42:50
going really well here, Okay, So it's it's it's kind of a quandary
42:54
because we overuse the word, we oversimplify what we're seeing, and we call
43:00
it behavior and then we're gonna give it a reward or a consequence, and
43:04
we're gonna break the skill down and we're gonna give them a you know,
43:07
an eminem or a touchy pop or a sticker or whatever. And it's it's
43:12
it's how if I cannot use my words, how do I communicate? And
43:17
all people need to communicate. There's no one in this world doesn't need to
43:22
communicate, so they have nothing left with their body. And that's what parents
43:29
need to go to schools and say, no, this is not behavior,
43:32
this is communication. What are you doing in the area of communication? And
43:37
then you're gonna have to look at growing kids therapy, what health care services
43:43
or autism programs are available for children living with autism. Again at the state
43:51
level, and everything is specific to the situation that the family finds themselves in.
44:00
But there are state services. You'd have to go through your county or
44:05
your city's health department to find out what those were. The big thing the
44:09
state offers is the Autism Waiver and that is a wonderful service. You can
44:15
get as much as twenty five hours a week of someone coming into your home
44:20
working with your child or an individual needs that your child has okay. And
44:24
then you can also get respit where someone would come in and babysit your child
44:30
while you and your significant other go out for a meal and get a little
44:36
break from autism. And we all need that a lot to deal with.
44:42
When you have a child that has autism in any other disability, it weighs
44:46
a lot on the parent. To have that break is just like almost hitting
44:53
a lot on just to even get out for an hour or two. You
44:57
know somebody's capably at home to get child, but for you just to get
45:01
that even if you're just taking the stroll through the park or walking through the
45:05
mall, is just a few minutes that it just means the world. And
45:08
then when you come back, sometimes that break between you and the child or
45:14
the children, you can see a different connection. Then they happen, they
45:16
see you. They may be at a different level. You're at a different
45:20
level. So it depends on what's going on before, but then it's what
45:23
you're bringing back and bringing together after it. So those programs, they're just
45:28
wonderful. Well. The other thing, a lot of my neurotypical peers will
45:34
say, wow, man, you got so much help, And my response
45:37
is, think about having the term I use and I hope he doesn't hear
45:43
me, is a forever infant. Think about the first you know, six
45:49
or seven months home from the hospital with your brand new baby. Try that
45:53
for thirty one years. My son, he needs helping everything he does.
46:00
I do not own my brain. My brain is always wondering what Dylan's up
46:04
to, what's he doing, how's he acting? Is he okay? Is
46:07
he having a meltdown? Is he safe? And so to get that when
46:14
we have a technician in the home that we can trust and I can step
46:17
out for a meal all by myself, it's a very unusual feeling because as
46:25
you see the guy in the background, he's taken care of, but even
46:31
then it's hard to not wonder what he's doing, what he's up to and
46:36
so that's what we deal with as parents of children on the spectrum. We
46:40
deal with that in forever infant. This is a touchy subject for most families,
46:46
and those families that's planning. How should a family with the child living
46:51
with autism prepare for their child's life after they're gone the lawyer leave money in
46:58
the child's name or leave a will, okay, One of the things they
47:01
have to be very aware of. In order to receive DDA services, your
47:07
child cannot have a lot of money left in his name or her name.
47:10
That will disqualify them. So what I recommend is what's called a special needs
47:16
trust. You can get it if you're financially able, I would hire a
47:22
lawyer. If you're not financially able, I would try to go through one
47:25
of the free lawyer services, okay, and and get a special needs trust
47:32
set up in your child's name. I'm going to butcher the legality of what
47:39
a special needs trust is, so ask your lawyer. But in a layman's
47:45
term, it is a It is a document that has its own identity.
47:52
So Dylan has one. It's called a Dylan A Lindeman trust. But it's
47:58
it's it has his name, but legally it's its own entity. So whatever's
48:02
in there doesn't go against Dylan the person. You see what I'm saying,
48:08
because Dylan person would be disqualified from adult services if he has too much money
48:14
in the bank. What that new limit is, I'm not sure they changed
48:17
it several years ago. It used to be extremely low, but I think
48:22
they've moved it up to a more manageable level. But parents need to find
48:27
that. All you have to do is go on the internet and say how
48:30
much money can a special can someone on which developmental disabilities have in their personal
48:38
accounts before they're disqualified from DBA services? And that should pop up, Hi,
48:45
Joe, that is happening. We go ahead. What if a child
48:51
is an adult child, should guardianship be established? Guardian chip is a is
48:58
a is a two sided sword. What guardianship is is you're saying, from
49:04
this day forward, then the eyes of the law, your child is not
49:07
capable of meeting his social, his personal, his health, and his financial
49:15
needs. So you're taking you're stripping him of that right. So you really
49:22
have to look at that seriously, but in a practical way. The easiest
49:28
way, if you took your child to the emergency room. Do you feel
49:31
your child could advocate for themselves in an emergency situation and and have the doctors
49:37
be able to perform what needs to be done. If the answers know,
49:43
you know, then that that's a that's a one on the side for taking
49:47
guardianship. Can your child go to a bank and do basic banking? If
49:52
not, there's another one on the side for guardianship. And in our case,
49:59
we do have gardian ship for my son. But again it wasn't done
50:04
easy most and families, I know that it weighs a lot on the parents,
50:10
but sometimes there's others in the family, like siblings. How does that
50:15
weigh on those siblings that living with a brother or sister who has who's living
50:22
with autism, it changes them forever for the most part, you know,
50:28
think about it. In a typical family where there is autism involved, the
50:34
parents are so involved with the needs of the autistic child that obviously the neurotypical
50:43
kids may end up being ignored. If you don't do your due diligence in
50:50
establishing a relationship between the autistic child and their siblings, that becomes a scenario
50:59
where there's a stranger living in my house, but I really don't have much
51:01
to do with them. There's all kinds of scenarios. So again it gets
51:07
back to you have to look at how can you address those And one of
51:13
my thoughts would be you have to have open and honest conversations with the peers
51:17
with the autistic child if they're able to at least sit in the room and
51:22
don't think they're not paying attention because they're not looking. These kids are paying
51:28
attention all the time, okay, And create boundaries. You know, what
51:34
is it did you want from your sibling? Would you like to learn to
51:37
interact with them? And if so, how can you do that. We're
51:40
not gonna go ound and play catch and play baseball, or maybe we might,
51:44
but I would look at how you can foster, you know, a
51:47
beginning relationship and let it bloom from there. The nice thing is kids are
51:52
much more curious about their autistic peers then we give them credit for. They
52:00
get scared away, you know, because they're like you, the mom and
52:04
dad. We don't know what to do with autism. All we have is
52:07
a label and it's all on eggshells. I want to let the viewers know
52:13
that this man, Joe, He's unbelievable. He introduced me to some amazing
52:17
families, so children whose children are living with autism. He taught me how
52:21
to work with children's abilities and empathize with the families. In other words,
52:25
he showed me how to identify their strength and meet them where they are.
52:30
I tell you to live in their world is to live in a place where
52:32
all things are possible and all obstacles surmountable. I want to thank you,
52:37
Joe for being so instrumental in the world of autism and introducing me to it,
52:43
because it has been an unbelievable education for me. How could you Our
52:49
view is connect with him. They can connect with me through a variety of
52:57
means. I can give you my phone number and they can contact me there.
53:06
Because first and foremost I am a parent, I will always give you
53:09
my ideas or suggestions. Doesn't mean they're right. I always told parents I
53:15
had an autism waiver company for twenty years. It's now run by my daughter,
53:20
who's a very capable young woman. And I would tell people, give
53:24
me six months to work with your child, and if your child's making not
53:28
making progress, kick me out the door. Believe in your child, and
53:32
that's what parents need to understand. My phone number is four four three,
53:37
eight oh one, nine to five oh one. You'll just have to say
53:39
who you are and where you got the number from. I will answer any
53:45
question I possibly can for you. Your lasting company she runs Endless Options,
53:53
which is an autism waiver program. We do do the autism waiver that I
53:58
spoke about earlier. And if you notice, instead of my name, I
54:01
have Amplified Voice Therapy Center. That is a company that we run where we're
54:07
teaching nonverbal autistics to use the spelling system that my son had. I want
54:13
to quickly read you a poem written by my not spelled by my nonverbal son.
54:20
It was a story we would dorn about a famous poet and at the
54:24
end the question was, if you were going to write a poem, what
54:29
would you choose to write about the beach, the city, or the mountains.
54:34
That's all I said. What I'm reading now comes from him without any
54:38
Revision's first time throw the beach. I liked the beach, and the beach
54:45
likes me. The oceans roar constantly and keep me on my toes. The
54:50
waves play games with me. They try to knock me down. The winds
54:52
are always strong and blow things around. I smell the saltwater as the waves
54:58
envelop me under the water, I go splashing and bobbing like a fish on
55:00
a pole, only to stand again and play in my ocean, a game
55:06
I've played so many times before since I was three, A game that never
55:09
ends. It just waits for my return, and return I must for the
55:13
beach is like a friend who I cannot wait to see and understand. Ladies
55:17
and gentlemen, my autistic son is no different than yours. He attacks himself,
55:22
he bites, He's completely nonverbal, yet this came out of him.
55:28
Believe in your children. It's so unbelievable. I met Dylan Gosh, she
55:35
was in elementary school and then yeah, a thirty one year old man.
55:37
And when you told me that almost broke down crime because I remember and to
55:42
notice that it's coming out of him through amplified voice. It's just wonderful.
55:46
It's unbelievable. You have to have known him prior to this, but the
55:52
work of his parents and his family and his support system. He's a remarkable
55:59
young man. You've seen it and walk through heavy once in a while,
56:00
and it's just it's unbelievable, it really is. I also want to thank
56:07
our viewers for tuning in to another great episode of Basic Black after Dark.
56:14
The number of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder is rising. It's not clear
56:19
whether this is due to better detection and reporting, or real increase in a
56:23
number of cases, or both. Autism spectrum disorder affects children of all races
56:30
and nationalities, but certain factors increase a child's risk. As children living with
56:35
autism mature, some become more engaged with others and show fewer disturbances and behavior.
56:40
Some, usually those with the least severe problems, eventually may lead normal
56:46
or near normal lives. Others, however, continue to have difficulty with language
56:52
or social skills, and the teen years can bring on additional behavior and emotional
56:58
problems. Into Basic Black after Dark on Friday May third, we are talking
57:04
about human immunal deficiency virus. That's right, we're talking about HIV. My
57:09
guests are living testimonies, advocates and activists for HIV awareness. After eighth after
57:17
Dog, Thanks LaToya, thanks, thanks thanks to close down, but stick
57:27
around. I want to talk to you after because I remember the young lady's
57:29
name. It was killing me, wasn't it? To you? In a
57:31
minute, Okay, to you after I don't want to say your name on
57:36
Thanks Latoria for you comment poem. Yeah it was. It was a beautiful
57:40
poem. You you had to actually read it because I got a chance to
57:43
read this on one of the lucky ones. But thank you everybody for tuning
57:46
in. I truly appreciate you. All. Call if you need help.
57:51
Oh now, ware did all the blue sky's but boys in his those many blows