A fun and short episode talking dinosaurs with Colten. I hope it brings a smile to your face. 

Episode 10 | Sheehan, School Principal

I loved talking with Colten's principal. She has a beautiful perspective on welcoming all children into the school just the way they are and she strives to support her staff and build up the children. I have been impressed with everyone in the Special Education department and love working with them to create a successful plan for Colten. It truly is a team effort when you have a child with learning differences and behavior challenges. I hope you all enjoy this episode. 

Sheehan mentions that her staff is trained in Restorative Practice, which I wish I would've asked more questions about, but here are the questions the teachers are trained to ask when there are behavior challenges: 

I love how this makes the child slow down, look at what happened, evaluate how they are feeling and how they reacted, and how can they correct the problem and make better choices in the future. 

Episode 9 | Becky + Cash

"I'm excited that God is laying out the foundation for my future life and I'm following His plan; I'm just sticking to His schedule" Cash 16 years old

On this episode, I talk with Becky and Cash. Cash is an amazing 16 year old young man who loves working on planes, building and creating, swimming, hunting, and hiking. He recently won Reserve Champion with his goat at the county fair and has a full-time job helping his Grandpa Bill on the farm. 

Cash was never formally diagnosed because he didn't meet enough of the markers for autism, but thankfully his mom was introduced to a friend who was an occupational therapist and believed Cash had Sensory Processing Disorder. Due to not having a diagnosis, Cash didn't qualify for formal intervention, but Becky's friend gave her exercises to do with Cash. They created an environment at home that would help Cash to be successful outside of the home. Becky has homeschooled Cash the entire time and it has really helped him to learn in ways that work best for him. 

I hope you will enjoy this episode, and if you're in the beginning years of working with your child, Becky wants to encourage you, that your hard work will pay off and things will get easier. 

Episode 8 | Jen Hills | MS Deaf Education, BCBA, PhD student of Special Education with emphasis in deafness and autism

I know I say it every week, but I am truly excited every time I have a guest on. I appreciate everyone's time and unique story! 

Jen Hills has been a big part of our lives since Colten's pre-school days. She was his Deaf+ teacher and helped us to find Sheri at Springs Learning Community for Colten's ABA after his autism diagnosis. Jen was also an advocate for us when we struggled during Colten's Kindergarten year to get the services and accommodations he needed. She has a huge heart and loves kids! She strives to make life amazing for multiple underserved groups of children. 

She is currently a doctoral student in special education at the University of Northern Colorado with research interests in Deafness and autism. Her hope is to create a school that serves Deaf autistic children. Currently, she is working at Springs Learning Community building a program for children who are Deaf with autism and other disabilities. Springs Learning has hired Deaf adults and other therapists proficient in ASL to work with their clients. This allows for clients to be immersed in ASL and Deaf culture while learning new skills through applied behavior analysis in a natural and play-based learning environment.

I hope you enjoy Jen as much as I do! She is full of knowledge and is amazing resource for parents and really anyone interested in learning more about the deaf/autistic community. 

Episode 7 | Christina Jones | Teacher of the Deaf with Masters in Special Education and Deaf Education

Mrs. Jones is Colten's Teacher of the Deaf. He adores her--he also keeps her on her toes! I was so happy to have her on to talk about what she does as a teacher and how parents can work with schools to get what they need for their children. Mrs. Jones is an amazing advocate for her students, but her powers can be limited sometimes. Parents must educate themselves on what their child needs and work with the school to gain those accommodations. The process can sometimes be hard and overwhelming and an advocate is a great resource for parents. 

A couple of parent advocate programs we recommend are: 

Hands and Voices 

The Arc

Episode 6 | Christina Jones + Family

(We had a rough connection for a bit at first, please hang with us, it does clear up.)

I'm so grateful for the time I was able to talk with Christina. She and her wife have fostered 15 children and adopted 2. The boys they have adopted have several diagnosis between the two of them. We mainly spoke today about FASD (Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders). FASD can be hard to diagnose because it looks like lots of other diagnoses. Christina talks about some ways to tell the difference and resources that have helped their family. 

We talked about how having children with impulse control can be very exhausting for the caretakers. It's a 24/7 job and we have to find ways to take care of ourselves. Working out and finding reliable respite care are two things we talked about. 

I hope you enjoy learning more about FASD. 

Resources:

The Resource Exchange

https://www.instagram.com/eileen.devine_brain.first/

https://www.instagram.com/fasdunited/

https://www.instagram.com/shannon.iacobacci/

https://www.facebook.com/fasdfamilies

In this week's episode, I talk to my friend Erin. She and I met several years ago because we are both wedding florists. We were talking about how "busy" our boys were and found out they were very similar. Her son, Bryce, was diagnosed when he was three with Sensory Processing Disorder. I hope you enjoy listening to our conversation. 

Books that helped Erin through this journey: 

The Highly Sensitive Child

No-Drama Discipline

The Highly Intuitive Child

Raising a Sensory Smart Child

Freeing Your Child from Anxiety

Episode 4 | Heather Matheny

I met Heather about 10 years ago. We both love nutrition and formed a lasting friendship. I'm so thankful for her expertise and knowledge that she brings to families. I hope you will enjoy this episode as we talk about nutrition, gut/brain connection, ABA, and much more! 

Heather holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Mercyhurst University and an Education Specialist Degree (Ed.S.) in School Psychology from University of Colorado at Denver in which she is licensed ages birth to 21. Heather obtained her certification in Applied Behavior Analysis from the accredited programs at Florida Institute of Technology; she had been practicing & was trained in principles of behavior analysis under supervision years prior to completion of her BCBA certification. She maintains current status as a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) & Nationally Certified School Psychologist. Throughout her career, Heather has developed behavior change interventions for staff, teachers, parents and children with disabilities. Heather is certified in ADOS (Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule) and STAT (Screening Tool for Autism Spectrum Disorders in Toddlers).

Heather’s experience includes 10+ years of practice with children, families and schools. Former work includes clinic work, private practice and in public schools developing and supporting autism program development, behavioral change, and staff; including direct intervention work with students with Social-Emotional/Behavioral and Autism Spectrum Disabilities. Heather was initially trained in The Denver Model and Natural Environment Teaching, Discrete Trial Training, TEACCH; more recently over the past 3 years her area of emphasis has been in Verbal Behavior. The majority of her practice involves Verbal Behavior Training within the Natural Environment utilizing materials within the child’s environment, MOs (motivational operations) and the fundamental principles of behavior within a developmental scope.

To get more information on therapy options or nutritional help you can look at her website or email her: 

Peak Interventions

Or email her at [email protected]

Lacey and Isla | Welcome to Episode 3. I was so excited to talk with Lacey. We have known each other for 4 years because our children go to the same ABA clinic Springs Learning Community. Isla is a spunky 8 year old little girl who loves playing with her friends, swimming and dressing up with makeup. Isla was born deaf. When she was born, her family lived in Alabama and did not have access to many resources. They moved to Colorado shortly after and was so grateful for the resources Colorado Springs provided. At 15 months old, she had a cochlear implant surgery. She did well with them for a while, but at about 3.5 years old she was having a really difficult time and her parents were referred to Children's hospital for an evaluation. After the evaluation, it was determined that Isla was autistic. This began a new journey for her and her parents. Join me as Lacey gives a little peek into the last 8 years of Isla's life. 

Resources that helped Isla and her family: 

The Resource Exchange

The Arc- Advocacy

Peak with District 49

Disclaimer:

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of the Wait and See Podcast employees. The information provided is for educational purposes only, and does not substitute professional medical advice or consultations with healthcare professionals.

Episode 2 | Meet Jami

Jami is the mom of two boys in Northern Colorado. Her youngest, Nathan, was born premature at 34 weeks with a virus called congenital Cytomegalovirus (cCMV). After he lost his hearing from the virus she started working with Colorado Hands & Voices as a Parent Guide, to guide new parents through the hearing journey.

Today she is the Director of Colorado Hands and Voices and an advocate for cCMV education and awareness. She works alongside multiple organizations to attempt to change how cCMV is viewed, diagnosed and treated in the state of Colorado.

I hope you enjoy this episode and learn more about cCMV and how to educate and protect yourself if you’re in your childbearing years.

Resources for education:

Contact Jami directly [email protected]

Colorado Hands and Voices www.co-hv.org

American Academy of Pediatrics (Colorado) www.aapcolorado.org

National CMV www.natuonalcmv.org