Beyond the Spectrum.. every age, every need

October 13, 2021 | Episode  60

Shawn & Brian are visited by Jill Asher & Olenka Villareal the founders of the Magical Bridge Foundation.

Olenka Villarreal is the Founder of Magical Bridge Playground in Palo Alto, Magical Bridge Foundation and former Silicon Valley leader. In 2008, Olenka brought together an effective team of experts, city officials and volunteers to design and develop the groundbreaking Magical Bridge Playground in Palo Alto, CA. Once open to the public in 2015, she emerged as a respected thought-leader and advocate for playgrounds which reflect the play needs of everyone in a community. As co-inventor and patent-holder of several playground components, she frequently guest teaches at Stanford University and is thrilled about how the foundation's work is extending and inspiring a much-needed and truly magical play movement to include every“body” in a community. Olenka holds a B.A. in Economics and Public Policy from Pomona College and M.B.A. in Marketing from Golden Gate University.

Jill is part of the founding team of Magical Bridge Playground in Palo Alto and co-founder of Magical Bridge Foundation. A seasoned public relations and marketing executive, Jill left a successful high tech career to run the Magical Bridge Foundation and lead administration, community engagement, development, public relations and marketing. Jill actively engages with communities to promote inclusive play and kindness through a full spectrum of communications and fundraising programs. She is instrumental in promoting the values and principles of Magical Bridge to the media and the global community. She holds degrees in Economics and English from Rutgers University.

Website: https://magicalbridge.org/

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#justTwoDads #SpecialNeedsParenting #MagicalBridgeFoundation

October 6, 2021 | Episode  59

Seth Kanor visits with Shawn & Brian to discuss how his company, Enabling Devices, makes toys for ALL children, neurotypical & neurodiverse.

At the age of 13, Seth Kanor was working a few hours a week on the machines that lined his father's basement. At first, he helped to make medical devices for cancer research, but one afternoon he was given a new task. His father, Steven Kanor, had gone that week to consult with United Cerebral Palsy on Long Island and had come back to the basement shop with an idea. He was going to make toys for kids with special needs. Throughout high school, Seth watched as his father worked to bring joy, independence and possibility into the lives of children who so needed his inventiveness, compassion and deep commitment. Later, Toys For Special Children blossomed into Enabling Devices: a company devoted to enriching the lives of all people with special needs. Seth worked for many years in many different jobs before returning to the company his father founded over forty years ago; and he is extremely grateful to be a part of a group of people who are devoted to serving the community to which his father was so dedicated.

Website: https://enablingdevices.com/

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#justTwoDads #SpecialNeedsParenting #EnablingDevicesCEO

September 29, 2021 | Episode  58

Shawn & Brian are joined by Dr. El Brown, Educator, Family Engagement Advocate, Mom, and Founder & CEO of KinderJam an Early Learning System.

Dr. El Brown is the Founder of KinderJam and host of the podcast Straight Talk with Dr. El. She is also a faculty member in the Early Childhood Education Master of Arts in Teaching Program in the American University, in Washington DC. Early in her career, Dr. El served as an Elementary and Early Childhood educator in the United States, Japan, and South Korea. Upon her return to the US, Dr. El founded KinderJam, an Early Childhood Education care, enrichment, and training agency that has serviced young children and their families 11 countries and 16 states. Dr. El believes that families and service providers deserve to be exposed to high-quality skills and strategies needed to assist them in helping children maximize their personal potential. Above all, she is the proud mother of a 15-year-old son on the autism spectrum, affectionately known as SuperDuperYoungMan (SDYM).

Website: https://www.kinderjam.com/

Resource: 

  https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/milestones/index.html

  https://sites.ed.gov/idea/regs/b/b/300.111

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#justTwoDads #SpecialNeedsParenting #KinderJamEarlyLearningSystem

September 22, 2021 | Episode  57

Shawn & Brian pay homage to special education educators.

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#justTwoDads #SpecialNeedsParenting #SpecialEducationTeachers

September 15, 2021 | Episode  56

Susanna Peace Lovell joins Shawn & Brian to discuss their first special needs summit.

Susanna is a repeat guest that provides so much value and is just a fierce mother and warrior in the special needs community.

Website: https://www.susannapeacelovell.com/

Event Registration: https://bit.ly/3A270T1

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#justTwoDads #SpecialNeedsParenting #SumDayisTodaySummit2021

September 8, 2021 | Episode  55

Personal Organizer & Special needs warrior, Wendy Zanders visits Shawn & Brian to share her story & the solutions she offers to help special needs families.

Wendy Zanders is a Professional Organizer and Your Declutter Coach who is passionate about helping special needs families take their homes and papers FROM Overwhelmed TO Simplified. An underperformer in grade school due to undiagnosed attention deficit disorder (ADD), Wendy worked hard and surpassed the expectations of everyone around her. Early in her career, she found that she had a knack for systems and organizing, but found herself living in a totally disorganized home after several episodes of depression. She helps special needs families get organized by helping them identify what has created the disorder in their lives, and by helping them create systems so they can get back in control of their possessions and homes. 

Website: https://www.wendyzanders.com/

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/YourDeclutterCoach/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendyzanders/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourdecluttercoach/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjEG5ROupONWoJs6qSl3AvQ

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#justTwoDads #SpecialNeedsParenting #YourDeclutterCoach

September 1, 2021 | Episode  54

Brian  & Shawn are joined by Natashia Kletter to tell us about her story, the communication system she designed & uses to help children in general & about her journey as a mom to a child with special needs.

After discovering gaps in the assistive communication systems for young children with speech delays and/or Autism Spectrum Disorder, Natashia Kletter from I Want to Tell You books designed a communication system that looks like a toy but functions like a communication device. Using her observations of her own special needs son and neurotypical daughter, she designed soundboard communication books that feature core communication words using photos, sign language, sight words, and audio buttons. Words like “more,” “all done,” “help,” “eat,” and “I love you” give young children greater self-advocacy, independence and reduce frustration.

Website: https://iwanttotellyoubooks.com/

Other Resources:

  https://www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/aac

  https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/diagnosis/pda

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#justTwoDads #SpecialNeedsParenting #AugmentativeandAlternativeCommunication

August 25, 2021 | Episode  53

Moira Cleary is a mindfulness practitioner, certified Life Coach, & mom to 2 daughters with debilitating conditions. She visits with Shawn & Brian to share her story.

Moira Cleary (more-a), is a mom of two awesome daughters who live with over 17 conditions. She is a Certified and Accredited Professional Coach as well as a Mindfulness Practitioner. 

Through her holistic approach, Moira helps moms of kids with medical + special needs with their ‘stuff’ so they can help Their kids with their ‘stuff.’

When not coaching, she tries to be a resource for others by hosting the Surviving The Waiting Room Podcast, as well as the latest edition of the Parent + Caregiver Summit.

Website: https://survivingthewaitingroom.co/

Parent + Caregiver Summit: https://parentcaregiversummit.com/

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Sum~Day is Today Summit 2021: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sumday-is-today-summit-2021-tickets-166472667229

#justTwoDads #SpecialNeedsParenting #MindfulnessPractitioner

August 18, 2021 | Episode  52

Learning disability & ADHD Coach Alex Gilbert joins Shawn & Brian for a chat.

Alex Gilbert is a New Yorker, a Mets fan, a yogi, and a brunch enthusiast. She also has dyslexia and ADHD.

After spending her career working in leadership development, she decided to start a consulting and coaching business that will help adults with learning disabilities and/or ADHD like herself who have been struggling in their careers. Her business, Cape-Able Consulting, was created to help them navigate their day-to-day workloads so that they feel supported and are able to reach their highest potential.

Her biggest goal in creating Cape-Able Consulting is to change the stigma surrounding learning disabilities/ ADHD by reminding people what they Cape-able of.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamcapeable

Website: https://www.capeableconsulting.com/

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#justTwoDads #SpecialNeedsParenting #CapeAbleConsulting

August 11, 2021 | Episode  51

Michelle Hobgood visits Shawn & Brian to discuss her experience as a single parent to a son with autism, finding love that lead to an interracial marriage where she is happy & thriving, the value of finding someone who accepts it all & creating a business & source of income on her own terms.

Michelle Hobgood is a fitness & wellness professional with a Master’s in Exercise Science & Health Promotion. She’s proudly served her industry for more than 18 years and has a uniquely diversified background in non-profit and corporate wellness, commercial/residential fitness, and web-based fitness programming.  In addition to being a program manager, she’s a wellness coach, group exercise instructor, and personal trainer with specialties in corrective exercise and injury prevention.

Michelle is also a wife in a multicultural marriage, mom to an awesome non-verbal 26-year-old on the autism spectrum and a fierce advocate for the special needs community. Although she was initially devastated by her son’s autism diagnosis, she chose to focus on celebrating his life rather than allowing it to feel like a death sentence. When she’s not empowering women to reach their level of healthy, you can find the transparent musings of her unique life on Instagram and how she juggles it all with a smile (most of the time).

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/its.m.hobgood

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#justTwoDads #SpecialNeedsParenting #FitnessandWelnessProfessional