Mother's Guide Through Autism

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In this episode of Mother's Guide Through Autism, Brigitte Shipman interviews Marcela Guimoye, an autism mom and founder and executive director of EndlessBrain.

EndlessBrain is a not-for-profit organization that serves the special needs children and offers them musical learning opportunities to promote essential skills, self-esteem, and inclusion.

Marcela created EndlessBrain a few years ago after successfully implementing therapies that included musical learning, ABA, and mindfulness to her daughter Camila who was nonverbal until age 6.

Camila was diagnosed with autism at age 2.5 and had intense behavior problems including self-injury and was told by her pediatrician that she may never be able to hold a job or be independent.

After much research around the country for possible treatment for Camila, Marcela began implementing a home-based therapy program utilizing various modalities.

Within a year, Camila went from hitting her head on the floor, scratching and biting herself about 30 times per hour to saying “I want juice” for the first time.

After seeing the improvements Camila made through music, Marcela wanted to provide an opportunity for musical learning to other children with autism, and she founded EndlessBrain which offers free summer music camp and after school programs in Naples, Florida.

Marcela talks about the importance of giving our children with autism an outlet for expression such as music, dance, and art. She also encourages parents to incorporate mindfulness into their children's learning and their daily life.

Marcela works as an independent healthcare consultant and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Healthcare Administration and a Master’s Degree in Applied Behavior Analysis. 

Marcela is a life-long musician and she is currently working on completing her debut album.

Tune in to this inspiring episode and find out how musical learning can benefit your child with autism.

Enjoy!


Resources:

BMV Life Coach
https://bmvlifecoach.com/

EndlessBrain
http://endlessbrain.org/

Keller’s Personalized System of Instruction:
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/1820/ca372ea4ede5d74316765ce3aa288b11c5ea.pdf

Information on ABA:
https://www.autismspeaks.org/applied-behavior-analysis-aba-0

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In this week's episode, Brigitte Shipman continues the conversation on stress management with her son Joseph Shipman. Joseph shares his perspective on how he experienced stress growing up with autism and as an adult living with autism. 

Brigitte shares her memory of how easily Joseph got overly stimulated and cried constantly as a child. She recalls creating a cassette recording of the white noise that the vacuum cleaner produced to soothe and calm Joseph when he was crying. 

As a child on the spectrum, the world was full of external stimuli that were extremely stress-inducing and fear-provoking. Joseph shares how deviating from routines was often a big trigger for him to experience stress and fear.   

They discussed the importance of keeping solid routines but also of introducing the child on the spectrum new experiences so they can "file" them away in their brain to refer back to in the future. 

Joseph also shares how mindfulness practices have helped him manage stress as an adult and suggests introducing them to autistic children and their moms to manage their stress. 

Enjoy the show!

Resources:

BMV Life Coach
https://bmvlifecoach.com/

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In this episode of Mother's Guide Through Autism, Brigitte Shipman offers her top three stress management tools. She takes you through these tools and teaches you how to apply them into your daily life. You will learn how to feel lighter even on your most stressful days.

Brigitte shares how she used to think that self-care was a waste of time and she simply did not have the time for it. Her priority was to take care of everything else and everyone else first. She went on fine for a while but then this way of being eventually caught up with her.

She thought she was being a good mom because she was putting her children first. She thought she was being a good wife because she was putting her husband first. She put her job first, her family first, everything before herself.

Stress was mounting with a rocky marriage, shaky finances, work, and raising a child with autism.

Brigitte didn’t manage stress well at all. In fact, she didn’t manage it and she paid for it with her health. Her thyroid stopped functioning and she ended up in the hospital with a diabetic coma. And on another occasion, she broke out in hives from head to toes.

Brigitte had many signs along the way that things needed to change but she did not make those changes. Her body kept talking to her but it was when it was finally screaming at the top of its lungs that she started making some changes.

Brigitte urges mother guides to not wait till their health breaks down but to start taking care of themselves now.

She tells mother guides that they can be outstanding mother guides, warriors, advocates without the expense of their health and without the expense of not taking care of themselves.

Brigitte shares 3 simple tools you can start using today to start taking better care of yourself so you can be your best for your child and yourself.

Tune in now to find out how these simple tools can help you today.

Resources:

BMV Life Coach
https://bmvlifecoach.com/

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In this week’s week’s episode, Dr. Laurell Matthews, ND and Brigitte Shipman discuss the naturopathic approach to helping our kids with autism.

Dr. Laurell herself was diagnosed with autism a few years ago as an adult and it gave her a greater understanding of herself and helped her to make sense of some the things she had struggled with. 

She talks about how genetics, environment, gut health, hidden infections, and many different factors may be contributing to the disorder. 

Dr. Laurell shares her personal experience as someone on the autism spectrum as well as her experience of working with children and adults on the spectrum and how simple changes made a huge difference in helping them be more functional. 

Dr. Laurell offers mother guides suggestions for key supplements that kids on the spectrum should take. She also explains why Magnesium and B6 taken together are so important for many on the spectrum.

Dr. Laurell Matthews, ND received her Bachelors in Science in Biochemistry from the University of Kansas and her Doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine from Bastyr University in Seattle.

Now, she serves as a product designer for Liddell Laboratories and Energique, Inc., which manufactures homeopathic remedies, herbal products, and dietary supplements.

She also offers individualized consultations with a focus on healthy lifestyle, women’s health, and detoxification. Always a lover of science and natural medicine, she blogs at drlaurell.com as The Natural Nerd where she explains natural health concepts in terms that anyone can easily understand.

Dr. Laurell recognizes that every person is unique and needs their own individualized plan to fit their needs and be practical for their life.

Enjoy this episode!

Resources:

BMV Life Coach
https://bmvlifecoach.com/

Dr. Laurell's website
https://drlaurell.com/

Autism Research Institute
autism.org

Autism Speaks
https://www.autismspeaks.org/

Energique
https://www.energiquepro.com/

Supplements:

N-acetyl-cysteine
Magnesium and B6

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In this powerfully moving episode, Tulika Prasad shares her journey of raising her 10-year old son Vedant who is severely speech delayed and non-verbal, and how his autism has made her a better human being and appreciate many more things in life.

Tulika is a blogger at Braindroplets.com and a contributing writer for the Autism Parenting Magazine. She is a passionate advocate for individuals with different abilities in general and autism in particular.

Tulika shares her beautiful journey of moving from “fixing” to accepting and appreciating her son Vedant just as he is.

A few years after his diagnosis, Tulika realized, he did not need fixing but she did and the world around him did, as the world is anxious around people who are different and that we have to be more inclusive and appreciate difference rather than being scared of it.

Tulika’s son’s autism has totally changed her. What she now wants from her life is so different from what she wanted a few years back. Little things she had not noticed earlier—like her son enjoying the wind on his face—gives her joy right now.

“It’s like miracles happening right in front of our eyes,” Tulika explains.

Every once in a while, frustration would creep into Tulika and she feels very defeated but one look at her son and how happy and content he seems—that smile, that laughter, that playfulness, and that extraordinary courage to get up each day and navigate the world, the fight of the sensory overloads—that challenges her to fight for him every day and stand up for him, advocate for him, and do what she does every day no matter what for him and many more like him.

Tulika shares her powerful insight and lessons form her life, including “Top 8 Mistakes She Made as a Mom of a Child with Autism.”

Tulika tells all the autism mothers out there, “Enjoy your child. Also, be kind to yourself. You’re doing more than enough so be kind to yourself. Love your child and love yourself.”

Tune in to this beautiful episode and be powerfully moved!

Enjoy!

Resources/Links:

BMV Life Coach: https://bmvlifecoach.com/
Braindroplets: http://www.braindroplets.com/
Autism Speaks Advocacy Ambassador Program:
https://www.autismspeaks.org/volunteer-advocacy-ambassador-program
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/braindroplets/
The Mighty: https://themighty.com/u/tulika_prasad/

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In this episode of Mother’s Guide Through Autism, Brigitte Shipman and Joseph Shipman discuss together the 5 Things that Joseph was glad that his mother did raising him with autism.

They reflect their journey through these 5 points that Joseph felt helped him the most throughout his childhood. They offer insight for mothers raising children with autism as well as for those on the spectrum.

Joseph talks about how encouraging peculiar interests and obsessions of an autistic child can be used as a tool to learn new skills and how curiosity should be encouraged and pursued to expand the child's mind instead of looking at it as a symptom or a negative aspect of autism.

Joseph encourages mothers to not protect their children with autism from every discomfort (unless in the case of sensory issues) and to include them in social functions as much as they can.

Joseph also discusses the importance of giving a child an opportunity to have some kind of autonomy and choice even if they're on the spectrum where they need more assistance.

In his own experience, it was always encouraged for him to not default to ask somebody else to help when he couldn’t figure it out. He had to sit there and figure it out, though of course, his shoulder was looked over a lot. It was in the effort to make him more independent in the future.

Joseph is also glad that his mom did not blindly take the word of medical professionals. He was given a fighting chance to be included in the regular classroom even when he was assessed as mentally deficient by an IQ test. Brigitte fought for him to be included.

Joseph gives this message to all mother guides and caregivers out there: Living a happy and fulfilling life is always possible wherever you are on the spectrum. And it doesn’t have to look or behave or sound a certain way.

Enjoy this episode!

More information: https://www.bmvlifecoach.com/

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In this episode of Mother’s Guide Through Autism podcast, Brigitte Shipman discusses with her son Joseph the 5 things he wished she would have known raising him with autism. It is a discussion with a mother and her son reflecting the life lessons that they both have learned together.

Life can be pretty confusing and complicated as it is for neurotypical kids growing up but it can be even more confusing and complicated when you are a kid on the spectrum. Joseph shares his experience of growing up with autism and talks about topics such as independence, bullying, conflict resolution, and developing intuition.

For more information, you can go to:
https://www.bmvlifecoach.com/

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In this episode of Mother’s Guide Through Autism Podcast, Brigitte Shipman discusses the 5 things she is glad that she knew raising her son Joseph with autism. 

Brigitte discusses each of the 5 life lessons that she applied in her own experience of raising Joseph. She explains how she followed her inner mother's voice to help guide her in every situation she encountered.  

Brigitte shares the story of following her intuition and saying no when she was advised to drug her son in order to enroll him in regular kindergarten. She gently and firmly persisted in her intuition and was able to enroll Joseph and get the support of the teachers in the end. 

Brigitte also recounts the story of walking Joseph through his fear of getting on the plane by staying calm, reassuring him, and reminding him of times that he got through his fears. Even when she was doubtful and unsure, she guided Joseph (and herself) by being grounded in courage and love. 

Tune in and see how you can use Brigitte's 5 lessons in your own life. 

To download the free guide, go to:
https://bmvlifecoach.com/free-guide/

For more resources and to connect with Brigitte, go to:
https://bmvlifecoach.com/

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In this week's powerfully inspiring episode, Brigitte Shipman interviews Stella Spanakos who is a co-founder of Spectrum Designs and The Nicholas Center.

Stella tells her story of how she started a t-shirt business that employs people with autism because she didn’t see a lot of employment opportunities for adults with autism like her son and she was concerned about her son's future.

Stella started Spectrum Designs in the barn of her backyard on Long Island, NY shortly after the tragic death of her husband Paul. After the success of Spectrum Designs, she created Spectrum Bakes and Spectrum Suds to provide more employment opportunities for adults with autism.

Stella's goal is that she should never have to see a parent come in her office, begging with tears in their eyes, for an opportunity for their child to volunteer or to be employed there. She wants to do everything in her power to keep growing businesses and coming up with ideas so that she can offer vocational training and employment opportunities to young adults with disabilities, on the autism spectrum in particular.

Stella is a firm believer in seeing the glass half full. She shares how she keeps going as a warrior mama even when things seem extremely difficult and challenging because she knows she's already halfway to her goal.

Stella encourages all the warrior mamas out there struggling. Her passion, compassion, tenacity, and love will inspire all of us to believe in the impossible.

Tune in to this episode and be inspired by her powerful story!

Enjoy!

Resources/Links:

App “Speak It”: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/speak-it/amcnjejmdfilapnnfgnhnidhkififadk?hl=en

Welcome to Holland: https://www.pdx.edu/students-with-children/sites/www.pdx.edu.students-with-children/files/Welcome%20to%20Holland.pdf

This Business of Autism: https://thisbusinessofautism.com/

Spectrum Designs: https://www.spectrumdesigns.org/

Spectrum Bakes: https://www.spectrumbakes.org/

Spectrum Suds: https://www.spectrumsuds.org/

The Nicholas Center: http://www.nicholascenterusa.org/

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

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From her 27-year experience of raising her son with autism, Brigitte Shipman brings you the 5 most important lessons she learned in her journey. She's had her share of freaking out, being stressed out, and not knowing what to do, and by sharing her wisdom, she hopes to alleviate any fear and undue stress mothers out there might be experiencing right now. 

She shares how she's spent most of her life making life harder than it needs to be. She's a pro at freaking out. When her son Joseph was 3, she was spinning frantically trying to find a way to save him so that he would be able to live a happy life without her one day. “How was I going to save him NOW?!”

But she's acquired tools to live in peace and letting go of what she thinks life should look like rather than what life is. 

She also talks about how she thought she had to be fighting for her son 24/7, didn’t take a breath, didn’t enjoy most things, and didn’t sleep very good for years. She now realizes that she had a belief that If she wasn’t living like that, if she didn’t feel like that, then she wasn’t doing enough for her son. It was a belief that just wasn't true. 

Now, she advocates self-care without guilt for mothers out there. She emphasizes how important it is to find the time to care for yourself. When we are stressed, our kids are stressed. Find the time for yourself. That's her message. 

Tune in to this episode and learn from the 5 heartfelt lessons she shares. 

Go to https://www.bmvlifecoach.com/ for more resources and information.

Enjoy the show! 

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