A 25 Year Look Across the Spectrum with Kelly Bermingham & Jen Lucero

Kelly and Jen speak with frequent guest Susan Senator about her recent article, "The Secret to Connecting with My Autistic Son." Is it something learned, or do you have to be taught? Why will some people work with the more severely impacted children and adults on the autism spectrum and why won't others? What's the secret to connecting with this group of people? 

Susan Senator is the author of numerous autism books; her writing has appeared in the New York Times, and The Washington Post, among others. She is a contributing author to Psychology Today. The Secret to Connecting With My Autistic Son | Psychology Today

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Kelly & Jen talk about the role of ABA, strength-based assessments, and the ethical considerations when assessing and treating people with autism across the varying levels of severity of autism, with considerations of consent and assent. 

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Parenting a child on the spectrum, being a BCBA supporting that parent, is all hard work! Even after over 20 years, we don't always know what to do and feel lost!  We talk through how we both had a week feeling like frauds, and how we brought ourselves out of it (again) to continue marching on! 

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Kelly is joined by Amanda Ralston, founder of Non-binary Solutions. Home | NonBinary Solutions.  Kelly has been certified by the BACB for over 20 years, and Amanda since the turn of the century! They discuss their journey in the field including the changes that have happened in the field; working without any formal code of ethics until 2014 and being 2 women in a field dominated by men. The future indicates that while we are still a young field with much to accomplish, technology, compassionate care, and quality-of-life indicators seem to be leading the way.  

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Kelly is joined again with Kelly Haysley, mom to 3 children, 2 on opposite ends of the spectrum to talk about the REAL tips for getting through the holidays, beyond the fluffy memes you see out there posted this time of year. They talk about individualizing the holidays for each child and family, including how to find joy in the season, the unschool time, and the non-therapy therapy. (Jen was out sick! She will be back next week!)

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Kelly & Jen are joined by mom and advocate Kelly Haysley, mom to three children, two diagnosed on the autism spectrum. We discuss Kubler-Ross cycle of grief, and how this cycle repeats and repeats, adding guilt and stress, and how embracing the joyful times are worth it, even if it means not "running the program and taking data". They have specific tips for BCBAs to know.  Five Stages Of Grief - Understanding the Kubler-Ross Model (psycom.net)

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Sleep problems are among the most urgent concerns for families grappling with autism. Nearly 80% of toddlers with ASD have disrupted sleep. Issues related to falling asleep, and more importantly staying asleep result in those living with ASD being in REM sleep 15% of the time, vs 23% of their neurotypical counterparts.  But what about the caregivers? How does this affect them, and what can we do as BCBAs to help? Kelly & Jen talk all things strategy they have learned over the last 25 years. Find the article on sleep here: Sleep problems in autism, explained | Spectrum | Autism Research News (spectrumnews.org)

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Kelly & Jen speak with Melissa Saunders, Ed. D, BCBA-D about her, and others recently published paper, A Call for a Discussion on Stereotypic Behavior. This topic has become a very decisive topic and the three break down the topic in a way BCBAs and caregivers can relate to.  Find the paper here: Full article: A call for discussion on stereotypic behavior (tandfonline.com).  We are proudly sponsored by Cite Pro

Taylor, Leblanc & Nosik wrote about the need for training for BCBAs and compassionate care. Their survey of caregivers found that many caregivers feel their BCBA is distracted and too focused on solving the problem. Kelly & Jen discuss what this looks like and talk about how the medical issues for those living with autism, like Dylan, can be so stressful and impactful on the family, compassion is key. Compassionate Care in Behavior Analytic Treatment: Can Outcomes be Enhanced by Attending to Relationships with Caregivers? - PMC (nih.gov). Sponsored by Cite Pro

Most BCBA training programs don't discuss caregiver perspectives, yet caregivers are the ones raising their children with autism. Caregivers often meet up to 10 different BCBA's in their journey. Listen to Kelly & Jen talk about the good and the not-so-good things a BCBA can do when meeting and working with families with children with autism. Kelly references her favorite article on this compassionate care model, written by Dr. Taylor, Dr. LeBlanc, and Dr. Nosic.  

Compassionate Care in Behavior Analytic Treatment: Can Outcomes be Enhanced by Attending to Relationships with Caregivers? - PubMed (nih.gov)

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