Mother's Guide Through Autism

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In this week's episode, Brigitte Shipman and her son Joseph candidly talk about the life after postsecondary education.

Joseph who is a 28-year old living with autism shares his experience of going through a period of trial and error trying to figure out what he wanted to do with his life.

He talks about being put on academic probation at a community college from failing classes he was not interested in,  having a 6-month period of doing "nothing", and having a sense of not even knowing what the problem was.

Brigitte and Joseph both look back at this period in his life and offer mother's and son's perspectives about the process of transitioning into adulthood.

Enjoy this episode!

BMV Life Coach Website
https://bmvlifecoach.com/

BMV Life Coach Facebook Live Coaching & Q&A (2pm Central Wednesday)
https://www.facebook.com/BMVlifecoach/

Private Mother's Guide Through Autism Facebook Group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/mothersguidethroughautism/

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In this week's informative episode, Brigitte interviews Sarah Kennedy who is a certified life coach for parents and supporters of LGBTQIA+ youth as well as an occupational therapist specializing in sensory integration.

In addition to having two children on the autism spectrum, Sarah herself was diagnosed with autism as an adult and has sensory processing challenges and brings a unique lens to the individual experiences we each have within the world.

She works with many parents to help them create a suitable home sensory environment for their children on the spectrum or with sensory challenges.

She offers some strategies to implement at home as many parents are homeschooling during these challenging times. She encourages parents to take care of themselves first and then try to identify if their child is a sensory seeker or a sensory avoider. That would in turn help them to find ways to help their child regulate their sensory processing.

She reminds us to know that our child is perfect for this world and there is a hole in this world exactly the size of our child that our child is going to fit and that their purpose is so amazing.

Enjoy this episode!

Resources/Links:

Sarah Kennedy Coaching
https://sarahkennedycoaching.com/

Sarah Email
[email protected]

Out of Synch Child
https://out-of-sync-child.com/

BMV Life Coach Website
https://bmvlifecoach.com/

BMV Life Coach Facebook Live Coaching & Q&A (2pm Central Wednesday)
https://www.facebook.com/BMVlifecoach/

Private Mother's Guide Through Autism Facebook Group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/mothersguidethroughautism/

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In this special episode of Mother's Guide Through Autism, Brigitte Shipman and her son Joseph Shipman celebrate the one year anniversary of the podcast.

They share their reflection and insight they gained in the last year from creating and producing this podcast together as well as their hope for the future.

Make sure to tune in till the end to learn how to enter the FREE giveaway for the first edition, signed copy of Thinking in Pictures by Temple Grandin.

Enjoy!

Resources/Links:

BMV Life Coach Website
https://bmvlifecoach.com/

BMV Life Coach Facebook Live Coaching & Q&A (2pm Central Wednesday)
https://www.facebook.com/BMVlifecoach/

Private Mother's Guide Through Autism Facebook Group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/mothersguidethroughautism/

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In this week's insightful episode, Brigitte Shipman interviews Lorraine Murray, the founder of the Connected Kids program, who has been practicing meditation for over 30 years and has been teaching it since 2003.

She started teaching meditation to kids and teens to give young people skills to reduce stress, anxiety, and to build their self-esteem. She is the author of two bestselling books, Calm Kids and Connected Kids: Help Kids with Special Needs Shine with Mindful, Heartfelt Activities.

She shares her own journey of starting a meditation practice as an adult to cope with difficult feelings that arose from challenging childhood and how it helped her move through the grief of losing her mother.

She is passionate about sharing the practice of meditation with both mothers and their children since whatever the mother is feeling is easily felt by her child--especially the ones on the spectrum--and the grounded and calm energy she cultivates through meditation can have positive effects on her child.

She says that practicing meditation doesn’t mean that you won’t ever be stressed but the ability for recovery and self-regulation will be stronger with meditation. It can also be a calming and connecting activity for both you and your child to do together. Meditation can offer both you and your child a toolkit to reduce stress and anxiety, she tells.

She talks about the importance of self-compassion and how to turn inward to bring acceptance to our feelings instead of avoiding them and reminds us to not rush and cultivate for ourselves a sense of wonder and curiosity kids have.

Enjoy this episode!

Resources/Links:

Teach Children Meditation
https://teachchildrenmeditation.com/

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/teachchildrenmeditation/

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/connectedkids/?hl=en

Twitter
https://twitter.com/meditation4kids

Insight Timer App
https://insighttimer.com/

Self-Compassion Meditation
https://self-compassion.org/

BMV Life Coach Website
https://bmvlifecoach.com/

BMV Life Coach Facebook Live Coaching & Q&A (2pm Central Wednesday)
https://www.facebook.com/BMVlifecoach/

Private Mother's Guide Through Autism Facebook Group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/mothersguidethroughautism/

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In this week's informative episode, Brigitte Shipman interviews Nancy Kling, the founder and director of Behavior Plus who has worked with children with challenging behavior since 1992.

Nancy has extensive training and experience with autism spectrum disorders and a wide variety of behavior issues. She is an author of the book The Cup Kid: Parenting a Child with Meltdowns.

She explains what's happening with a child with a tantrum using an analogy of a cup where their cup becomes full of sensory and emotional overload. A lot of kids don’t realize that their cup is getting too full so they don’t step away and the cup runs over.

She tells us that If we can figure out what’s going in the cup and what empties their cup, we can do whatever we need to do to help them chill out before it runs over.

She advises parents to come up with a list of cup fillers as much as they can and to also pay attention to what kids do when they have time on their own because what they do will be a cup emptier for them.

Understanding what goes on in situations where a cup kid tends to have a meltdown will help to make necessary changes to prevent meltdowns before they happen.

She shares a success story where they incorporated the strategy of jumping to help a boy on the spectrum manage his meltdowns in school and at home.

Finally, she offers advice to autism moms to stand strong and help their child find their “thing” that they like and they’re good at and cultivate that because their self-esteem comes from doing things they like and that they’re good at.

She emphasizes the importance of focusing more on what they can do than what they can’t do. "It’s important to focus on the strengths they have and to continue to develop those skills," Nancy says.

Enjoy this episode!

Resources/Links:

Behavior Plus
http://behaviorplus.com/

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/Behavior-Plus-206325446056498/

Email
[email protected]

Visual Timer
https://www.timetimer.com/

BMV Life Coach Website
https://bmvlifecoach.com/

BMV Life Coach Facebook Live Coaching & Q&A (2pm Central Wednesday)
https://www.facebook.com/BMVlifecoach/

Private Mother's Guide Through Autism Facebook Group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/mothersguidethroughautism/

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

In this week's episode of Mother's Guide Through Autism, Brigitte Shipman interviews Alicia Trautwein who is the creator of The Mom Kind, writer, advocate, motivational speaker, and mom of three autistic children.

On her blog The Mom Kind, she shares the ups and downs of raising three autistic children while being on the autism spectrum herself, along with providing valuable resources to autism parents.

She shares her personal journey of growing up with autism but not knowing she had it and being diagnosed after her children's diagnoses of autism at the age of 33.

Her autism diagnosis as an adult has helped her to bring more self-acceptance and understanding to her childhood as well as her current challenges.

She shares what it might be like to have three children on the spectrum and how everybody’s sensory needs are clashing at times. One could be needing quiet and one might be needing to scream.

She emphasizes the importance of creating her own space to make time for herself to decompress, and urges other autism moms to get the care they need for themselves. 

"You have to take care of you first. You can’t take care of everyone if you’re falling apart," Alicia tells us.

She also talks about the difficulty of getting her daughters diagnosed since autism was not considered common among girls and how that needs to change.

In addition, she offers advice for this difficult time of covid and for the autism journey in general. She reminds parents to ask for services their children are entitled to whether they're attending school or not and to provide stability and structure as well as a space to decompress.

Finally, she tells parents to give themselves grace for the regression that might take place and the difficult things that will come up, and to remember to let the small things go and enjoy spending time with their children.

Enjoy this episode!

Resources/Links:

The Mom Kind
https://www.themomkind.com/

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/themomkind

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

Twitter
https://twitter.com/themomkind

Pinterest
https://www.pinterest.com/themomkind/

BMV Life Coach Website
https://bmvlifecoach.com/

BMV Life Coach Facebook Live Coaching & Q&A (2pm Central Wednesday)
https://www.facebook.com/BMVlifecoach/

Private Mother's Guide Through Autism Facebook Group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/mothersguidethroughautism/

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

In this week's informative episode, Brigitte interviews Victoria Boone, a Board Certified Behavior Analyst, best selling author, and behavior consultant for families of children with various special needs including autism.

Victoria is also the founder and Executive Director of The Hamilton Center, an ABA agency dedicated to helping individuals improve the quality of their lives throughout California and Nevada.

She explains that ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) is a science-based intervention that's used to change behavior and it can be used to build independent living skills and social skills.

She recalls an experience of helping a 6-year old boy develop a shoe tying skill over a 6-month period and how great it was to see how proud he was of his accomplishment. She also loves helping kids develop social skills to make friends and carry conversations.

She also offers a simple strategy from her book Positive Parenting with Autism that parents can start using with their child at home right away.

In addition, she addresses the controversy around ABA of how it can be tough on the children and how it may not be honoring of neurodiversity.

She emphasizes the importance of finding the right ABA agency for your unique child and to remember to ask for their approach as well as their credentials.

Finally, Victoria reminds autism moms to take one day at a time and remember that they need self-care too since parents that have kids on the spectrum are 4 times more likely to be diagnosed with various mental health diagnoses than parents who have kids who are neurotypical.

Enjoy this episode!

Resources/Links:

Victoria's Website
https://www.vbconsultingandcoaching.com/

The Hamilton Center
https://www.thehamiltonctr.com/

Positive Parenting for Autism
https://amzn.to/33LiDQJ

BMV Life Coach
https://bmvlifecoach.com/

BMV Life Coach Facebook Live Coaching & Q&A (2pm Central Wednesday)
https://www.facebook.com/BMVlifecoach/

Private Mother's Guide Through Autism Facebook Group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/mothersguidethroughautism/

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

In this week's wonderfully enlightening episode, Brigitte interviews Madeleine Woolgar, a speaker and coach, who helps moms go from burned-out to energized and clear.

Madeleine began to work with families over ten years ago and has worked internationally in home-based play therapy programs. While having the honor of living with these tenacious, loving families, she saw that the best way to help these children was to support the parents (who are doing so much supporting themselves).

Madeleine empowers and supports parents through both mindset work and self-care so that they are really able to be deeply loving and effective in helping their child.

Her work has been focused on shifting the moms' mindset so they can go from guilt-ridden and stressed out to creative and clear-thinking and become better able to take care of all that they need to for their child.

She talks about how much of their mindset can contribute to draining their energy or creating more energy and how guilt can play a huge role in moms feeling burned out.

She reveals 3 common "Mom Guilt Myths" that you are likely engaged in and how they can sabotage your wellbeing and lead to burnout, and shares a new mindset that you can implement instead so that you can feel clear and revitalized.

She emphasizes the importance of giving ourselves grace and allowing ourselves to be human and practicing the new mindset.

Listen to this episode and start shifting your mindset so you can be your most loving, revitalized self to your child.

Enjoy!

Resources/Links:

Madeleine's Website
https://www.mumswhothrive.com/

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/mentormadeleine

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

BMV Life Coach
https://bmvlifecoach.com/

BMV Life Coach Facebook Live Coaching & Q&A (2pm Central Wednesday)
https://www.facebook.com/BMVlifecoach/

Private Mother's Guide Through Autism Facebook Group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/mothersguidethroughautism/

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

In this week's episode, Brigitte Shipman had the pleasure of speaking with Marissa Scott who is a Board Certified Music Therapist, Certified Labor Doula, Owner & Executive Director at The Sonatina Center for Creative Arts Therapy in New Hampshire. 

Marissa shares her journey of becoming a music therapist after realizing that she could combine her love of music with working with children with special needs. 

She has ten years of experience working with clients with Autism, Downs Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, Expressive Language Disorders, Sensory Processing Disorders, and more. 

She specializes in helping infants and young children of all abilities build communication, social, motor, and cognitive skills necessary to thrive through music and play.

They discuss why music therapy might be very effective for children with autism for a wide range of benefits that include enhanced motor skills, social/emotional development, expressive and receptive communication, and cognitive/sensory behavioral improvement.

Marissa also offers simple tips you can incorporate at home such as adding a melody to social stories and playing music that matches your desired atmosphere to soothe or energize your child.

Tune in to this informative episode and see if music therapy might be beneficial for your child.

Enjoy!

Resources/Links:

The Sonatina Center
https://www.thesonatinacenter.com/

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/thesonatinacenter/

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

Twitter
https://twitter.com/sonatinacenter

Certified Board for Music Therapists
https://www.cbmt.org/

American Music Therapy Association
https://www.musictherapy.org/

BMV Life Coach
https://bmvlifecoach.com/

BMV Life Coach Facebook Live Coaching & Q&A (2pm Central Wednesday)
https://www.facebook.com/BMVlifecoach/

Private Mother's Guide Through Autism Facebook Group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/mothersguidethroughautism/

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

2In this week's episode, Brigitte interviews Kate Wilde, the Director of Global Outreach for The Autism Treatment Center of America who has spent the last 28 years working with children and adults on the autism spectrum and their families as well as therapists, educators, and schools.

She is the author of Autistic Logistics and The Autism Language Launcher and she shares some of the effective methods and techniques she used in working with over 1,500 children to help them with learning, behaviors, and communication.

This episode is full of practical advice about how to toilet train, how to handle hitting as well as insight into why they do what they do in the daily challenges.

She also discusses how to facilitate verbal communication by using a step-by-step guide she has used effectively with children with autism.

Her techniques are simple and every mom can do it. If you're struggling with the difficult behaviors of your child or want to understand why they do what they do, this is a must-listen!

Tune in and learn how to work with your kids more easily.

Enjoy!

Resources/Links:

Kate Wilde
https://katecwilde.com/

BMV Life Coach
https://bmvlifecoach.com/

BMV Life Coach Facebook Live Coaching & Q&A (2pm Central Wednesday)
https://www.facebook.com/BMVlifecoach/

Private Mother's Guide Through Autism Facebook Group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/mothersguidethroughautism/

Support the show