Evidence is evidence, right? Binary. Black and white on paper. Well, not really. “Evidence-based” isn’t as simple as people would like to make it out to be. And, if you truly want to be objective and find real answers, you must be open to the idea that your assumptions may not hold up while simultaneously maintaining an openness to learn.

Prolific researcher Micheal Sandbank, Ph.D., joins Lindsey to discuss what “evidence-based” really means. They examine what makes a good study, what quality research entails and ask, “evidence for what exactly?”

The two talk about how evidence is being used as ammunition in the autism care industry and how people’s strong, unchanging convictions are creating camps in the field – a schism that is hurting kids and families in need.

Dr. Sandbank is a professor at the University of North Carolina and the lead of Project AIM, a comprehensive meta-analysis of all non-pharmacological interventions designed for young autistic children, which was selected as one of the ‘Top Advances in Autism Research’ by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. You can find her research here.

For decades, autism science has failed women.

Lindsey talks with internationally renowned British cognitive neuroscientist Dr. Gina Rippon, whose latest book “Off the Spectrum” (titled “The Lost Girls of Autism” in the UK) details how autism research and diagnostic models have historically overlooked women and girls. For far too long, autism was considered “a boys’ disorder,” and misguided stereotypes persist to this day.

Dr. Rippon shares how societal expectations, harmful assumptions and masking behaviors have contributed to the underdiagnosis and misdiagnosis of autistic girls and women as Lindsey conveys her own experiences as a diagnostician – going 5 years to start her career without ever seeing an autistic female patient to now when females seeking her diagnosis far outnumber males. The conversation challenges long-held ideas about brains, gender and neurodiversity while asking how science can do better.

This episode marks the What’s Up With Catalight! one-year anniversary — thank you to all our listeners for joining us on this journey!

“Off the Spectrum/The Lost Girls of Autism” by Dr. Gina Rippon: https://www.ginarippon.com/the-lost-girls-of-autism

Host Lindsey Sneed was unfamiliar with the term 'polyvagal theory' until recently.  After reading “Autism in Polyvagal Terms,” however, she saw how guest and author Sean Inderbitzen is using the body-based approach and lived experience to conceptualize autism in a brand-new way.  

The polyvagal theory – centered around how vagal nerve branches control unconscious behaviors – has been prominent topic in the self-help section of bookstores since the ‘90s, but Dr. Inderbitzen posits that we can also use it to better understand the challenges of autism and look at nearly all mental health diagnoses along with the full human condition through the theory’s lens. In doing so, he came up with analogy that, in response to feelings of safety or threat, the vagus nerve triggers one of three brains: the owl (when we’re curious and open), the cheetah (fight or flight) and the possum (shutting down).  

He and Dr. Sneed discuss the novel concept, Sean’s motivation to increase access to mental health services and how demonstrating kindness is one of the most important themes of the book. 

"Autism in Polyvagal Terms" by Sean Inderbitzen: https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324053217 

To learn more about Sean, hear him speak or book a consultation: https://linktr.ee/seaninderbitzen 

In an extremely topical episode, Dr. Peter Hotez, one of the world’s most preeminent experts on vaccines and Nobel Peace Prize nominee, joins host Lindsey Sneed to talk about the all too widespread and modern misconception that vaccines cause autism. While he’s saved hundreds of thousands of lives with the low-cost vaccines that he’s helped create over his illustrious career, Peter tells Lindsey that his recent work defending vaccines may ultimately prove to be as important as making the vaccines themselves.  

The father of a daughter with autism, Peter wrote the book “Vaccines Did Not Cause Rachel’s Autism” in 2018 – mixing his personal and professional life in a way that explains the causes of autism and how parents can be duped into simplistic fallacies in search of understanding. Modifying ‘tikkun olam,’ the Jewish concept of “repairing the world,” Peter says his own ‘science tikkun’ has become the meaningful framework of his life’s work – even when his life is being threatened by anti-vaxxers.  

Peter Hotez is a pediatrician, public health advocate, dean of the Baylor College School of Tropical Medicine and co-director of the Texas Center for Vaccine Development who’s appeared on CNN, MSNBC, BBC, Fox News, the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, USA Today and the Joe Rogan Experience. A nine-time author, Peter is finishing up his next book due out in the fall – a collaboration with famed geophysicist Michael Mann entitled “Science Under Siege,” an examination of the overlap between the attacks on climate science and biomedicine.   

How do you explain someone’s brain? Dr. Liz Angoff does it through strength-based neurodiversity affirming approaches. A former school psychologist who noticed students shined when the environment fit, Liz made it her life’s work to ensure children with developmental disabilities understand that their brains aren’t broken – they’re just different. In finding that some practitioners struggled to explain autism and other diagnoses to children, she wrote two books to help: “The Brain Building Book” and “Brain Building 101.”

Host Lindsey Sneed found her “highway” metaphor most impactful: An idea that the brain is made up of highways (a person’s strengths) and road that’s under construction (challenges that a person can work on and improve).

In a What’s Up With Catalight! first, Lindsey and Liz talk in person about positive framing, ways diagnosticians and clinicians can shape the way children and their families understand a diagnosis, and how the highway metaphor can be used for any person to help them better understand themselves and others.

Specifically for parents, Dr. Angoff’s third book, “Our Brains: A Guide For Understanding What Neurodiversity Means For You,” is set to release this spring. Check out her website, www.explainingbrains.com, to order or for free resources, strategies and interactive tools that help caregivers.

After his son’s autism diagnosis and undergoing the long wait times typical with the process, distinguished tech entrepreneur Amol Deshpande embarked on a new career – to build game-changing innovation for early childhood conditions, starting with autism. He has invested millions in supporting others in pursuit of better care. This week, he launched Frontera Health as the founder and CEO in the business of “impacting humans.” He talks with host Lindsey Sneed about how Frontera’s tools use AI and technology advances to transform precision in therapy and give clinics and clinicians tools to leverage their scarce skill set. 

After years of research and development built by leading computer vision researchers and clinicians, the company is set to release its groundbreaking, first-of-its-kind digital phenotyping platform in mental health. Providing hundreds of data points from interactions, the platform will aid clinicians during assessments and treatments, provide parents with key insights and bring precision of care to autism – all without natural human biases. Frontera's goal is to be non-incremental in its technological approach as it considers how to bring vast change to the field both in the data and workflow.  

Driven by his experience, Amol is dedicating his expertise as an entrepreneur and parent to tackle key problems that he deems solvable by supporting clinicians and empowering parents.

The “intact mind” is an old idea still common in discourse that inside every autistic child – even those with the most severe presentations – is a typical child with a high intellect waiting to be liberated. Author, University of Pennsylvania historian of medicine and mother of a 25-year-old profoundly autistic son, Dr. Amy Lutz joins to discuss her newest book, “Chasing the Intact Mind.” She and Lindsey talk about how the insidious idea of the intact mind gives false hope to parents while marginalizing individuals with profound autism and their caregivers at the greatest levels. Disability service systems are still being predicated on the idea rather than being designed to serve the full spectrum – including the different needs of people with legitimate intellectual disabilities. Intact mind related practices and movements like facilitated communication, “nothing about us without us” and anti-subminimum wage, are leaving the stories of those with profound autism untold and their needs unmet.

Autistic self-advocate and dungeon master Peter Jung is back for part two of the Dungeons & Dragons series to talk with Lindsey about the importance of representation in social skills groups and elsewhere. Over the years, he’s found that autism social skill groups are far too often led by neurotypical people. While a leader with ‘lived experience’ is tremendously beneficial for autistic social group members who may not feel as comfortable being themselves around neurotypical people, he calls for more – ‘lived expertise.’ Someone with lived expertise, he says, is a person who has a sense of agency, knows how to utilize accommodations and, most importantly, employs “autistic rizz.” Whereas groups led by neurotypical people often take on a classroom setting with a misguided focus on correcting deficiencies, those with a charismatic autistic guide normalize behaviors in a fun way and create a safe space. In the case with Peter’s Dungeons & Dragons group, teens and young adults are taught teamwork, conflict resolution and myriad other social skills through the filter of a low-pressure fantasy game where it’s OK to make mistakes. 

By masking in fantasy, you can learn a lot about becoming your true self in reality.

Peter Jung’s games have been dubbed “maximum autism” and a young player once called him “the most reasonable adult” they know – two compliments Peter regards in high esteem. Peter is an autistic self-advocate who holds a master’s degree in educational psychology. He’s also a…Therapeutic Dungeon Master – as certified by Geek Therapeutics – who, for 11 years, has been running sessions of Dungeons & Dragons, a tabletop fantasy roleplaying game popular in “geek culture,” as social skills groups for people with autism in Washington state. He and host Lindsey Sneed, Ph.D., BCBA, talk in this first part of a two-part series about how games like D&D increase communication skills, self-advocacy, problem solving, assertiveness, confidence, pride, resilience, flexibility, ethics and relationship building all while normalizing autistic traits and creating a greater sense of community.

Check out Peter’s website, www.rollforkindness.com, for more information. 

In the pursuit of wellbeing, we shouldn’t seek to make children less autistic – our mission should be to help them become autistically happy. Internationally renowned Belgian lecturer, researcher and author Peter Vermeulen, Ph.D., joins Lindsey to discuss his newest book, “What Really Works for Children with Autism.” The book takes a slightly more non-traditional angle in explaining that autism shouldn’t overshadow children’s needs. The need to be understood is universal for all humans; neurotypical caregivers can support autistic children by helping them draw a road map for life occurrences. Lindsey and Peter talk about predictability, consistency, planning and how making small changes can have negative or positive impacts.