This episode I’m speaking with autistic self-advocate, Mickey Rowe, who has had a prolific and varied career as an actor, director, consultant, and public speaker. He is autistic and legally blind. He believes that our differences are our strengths and wrote about it in his book Fearlessly Different. Mickey was our keynote speaker at the 27th annual DIR® conference last month in New York City and he blew me away with his nuggets of wisdom and inspiration. I’m thrilled for you to get to know him a bit on this podcast!

Link to the full blog post with links to key discussion points and other ways to view or hear the podcast here:https://affectautism.com/2023/03/31/strengths/

Caregivers: Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network for support from a like-minded community of Floortimers here:https://www.icdl.com/parents

We’re back this week with Dr. Joshua Feder, a child and family psychiatrist in Solana Beach, California. We did a podcast on autism and medication a few years back and this is part 2 because there is a new Child Medication Fact Book for Psychiatric Practice, Second Edition that just came out. Dr. Feder is here to tell us the purpose of the book and to walk us through the medication algorithms in it.

Link to the full blog post with links to key discussion points and other ways to view or hear the podcast here:https://affectautism.com/2023/03/18/medication-2/

Caregivers: Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network for support from a like-minded community of Floortimers here:https://www.icdl.com/parents

Dr. Gordon Neufeld is a developmental psychologist from Vancouver, British Columbia. He is the founder of the Neufeld Institute based in Vancouver, which provides education and training for parents and professionals based on his theories, where I've taken countless courses. He's here this week to discuss two topics: Emotional well-being versus "mental health" and emotional playgrounds versus just "play".

Link to the full blog post with links to key discussion points and other ways to view or hear the podcast here: https://affectautism.com/2023/03/04/well-being/

Caregivers: Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network for support from a like-minded community of Floortimers here: https://www.icdl.com/parents

In our last podcast together, back in 2019, Dave Nelson and I discussed puberty and how we can best support our kids in a respectful way using a developmental approach. In this episode, we want to continue on that topic by touching on the developmental way to support our adolescents in taboo areas. Dave Nelson is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), a DIRFloortime® Expert Training Leader, and the Executive Administrative Director of the Threshold Community Program in Atlanta, Georgia.

Link to the full blog post with links to key discussion points and other ways to view or hear the podcast here: https://affectautism.com/2023/02/18/adolescence/

Caregivers: Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network for support from a like-minded community of Floortimers here: https://www.icdl.com/parents

This week I welcome Eric Goll, the creator of Empowering Ability. I regularly watch Eric’s weekly 5-minute video tips, attended his free life plan workshop and took his online course, realizing it was what I needed for where I was at with my son entering adolescence. I still do almost everything for my child and it’s time to begin fostering his independence! I was happy to see that many of Eric’s principles are completely in line with those of the Developmental, Individual differences, Relationship-based (DIR) Floortime approach.

Link to the full blog post with links to key discussion points and other ways to view or hear the podcast here:

http://affectautism.com/2023/02/04/empowering-ability

Caregivers: Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network for support from a like-minded community of Floortimers here: https://www.icdl.com/parents

This episode I’m pleased to welcome new DIRFloortime® Expert Training Leader, Helen Groth, as my guest to discuss the dynamic process of transitions in autism. Helen gave a fabulous presentation on transitions at the 2022 International DIRFloortime® Conference that I took so much away from and I am so excited to welcome her this week to share her presentation material with us!

Link to the full blog post with links to key discussion points and other ways to view or hear the podcast here:

https://affectautism.com/2023/01/21/transitions/

Caregivers: Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network for support from a like-minded community of Floortimers here: https://www.icdl.com/parents

On this episode I’m speaking with Marla Cable, the Resource and Training Centre Coordinator at Giant Steps School. Giant Steps is a bilingual, developmental approach, individualized private school in the public interest in Montréal, Québec with 93 students aged 4 to 21 with an autism diagnosis. They have both English and French instruction and students are grouped by age clusters. Their school was visited by DIRFloortime® creator, Dr. Stanley Greenspan, in their early days and recently had Dr. Gil Tippy speak at their professional development day. They are now in the process of building their new facility that will open in the summer of 2023.

Link to the full blog post with links to key discussion points and other ways to view or hear the podcast here: https://affectautism.com/2023/01/07/giant-steps/

Caregivers: Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network for support from a like-minded community of Floortimers here: https://www.icdl.com/parents

This episode, in Part 2, Kieran Rose and I will discuss late autism diagnosis and what it means. In Part 1, we discussed a number of topics around neurodiversity including who to listen to as parents when our child is diagnosed with so many opinions out there, and the balance between what we want as parents for our children and what our kids actually need.

Link to the full blog post with links to key discussion points and other ways to view or hear the podcast here: https://affectautism.com/2022/12/17/diagnosis/

Caregivers: Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network for support from a like-minded community of Floortimers here: https://www.icdl.com/parents

In this episode, part 1, Kieran Rose and I will discuss a number of topics around neurodiversity including who to listen to as parents when our child is diagnosed with so many opinions out there, and the balance between what we want as parents for our children and what our kids actually need. In Part 2 next week, we’ll discuss late diagnosis and what it means.

Link to the full blog post with links to key discussion points and other ways to view or hear the podcast here: https://affectautism.com/2022/12/10/advice/

Caregivers: Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network for support from a like-minded community of Floortimers here: https://www.icdl.com/parents

This episode we’re discussing the parenting process, the intersection of the parenting experience and Nicole Mank’s professional world, and how one shaped the other. Nicole, who is a  Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Certified Child Life Specialist in Davis, California discovered the book Engaging Autism when her son was seven which shaped how she parented her autistic child.

Link to the full blog post with links to key discussion points and other ways to view or hear the podcast here: https://affectautism.com/2022/11/26/parenting/

Caregivers: Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network for support from a like-minded community of Floortimers here: https://www.icdl.com/parents