Katrina Tarke-Karge is a Clinical Child and Adolescent therapist at Evidence Based Counseling Solutions in New Berlin, Wisconsin. She has worked with autistic individuals in a variety of capacities from young children to adults for almost 20 years. She has recently taken on a new role as the Director of Child and Adolescent Services and hopes to expand access to mental health treatment for neurodivergent kids, teens, young adults and their families.

While puberty is a biological process, the neurochemistry component is especially influential in autistic adolescents’ behavior. In this episode, Chelsea shares how her family’s lived experience has prompted her to instruct parents of tween autistic children to “buckle up”. Katrina prepares us to do just that.

The following topics and terms, in order of their appearance in the podcast, might evoke some curiosity:

• Explaining the difference between a psychiatrist and a psychologist (YouTube)
• Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (The OCD & Anxiety Center)
• comorbid diagnoses: simultaneous presence of two or more medical conditions in a patient. See “What Disorders Are Related to Autism?” (PsychCentral)

Resources: Books

• Taking Care of Myself: A Hygiene, Puberty and Personal Curriculum for Young People with Autism, by Mary Wrobel (Future Horizons, 2003).
• Taking Care of Myself2: for Teenagers and Young Adults with ASD, by Mary Wrobel (Future Horizons, 2017).
• "Tom" book series, by Kate E. Reynolds with illustrations by Jonathon Powell (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2014)
  • What's Happening to Tom?: A book about puberty for boys and young men with autism and related conditions
  • Things Tom Likes: A book about sexuality and masturbation for boys and young men with autism and related conditions
  • Tom Needs to Go: A book about how to use public toilets safely for boys and young men with autism and related conditions
• American Girl® Wellbeing books (American Girl Publishing, 2024)
  • The Care and Keeping of You 1: The Body Book for Younger Girls, by Valorie Schaefer
  • The Care and Keeping of You 2, by Dr. Cara Natterson

Resources: Supports

• LOCAL
  • Waukesha County Crisis Intervention: daytime hours, 262-548-7666 / nights, weekends, holidays, 262-547-3388
  • NAMI Family Support Group near you
• NATIONAL
  • 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
  • National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)
  • 211 for referral to community-based services

Podcast includes an introduction for episodes 6 and following at the beginning. Transition music, "Taking a Vocation", by Noey Budde.

Closing narration for episodes 6 and following.