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Welcome to the Special Needs Kids are People Too! Podcast with Amy Bodkin, EdS. Amy is an Autistic adult who also happens to be a School Psychologist turned Special Needs Consultant and Public Speaker! Amy is an Advocate for seeing every child as a person, not a diagnosis because a special needs kid is just like any other child, just more so! You can find out more about Amy’s advocacy work at AmyBodkin.com.
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Today's episode is about Building a Life You Love... or what we typically call Transitional Planning when talking about teenagers! The timing of this episode is perfect because I have a new Boost Packet coming out soon called Transitional Planning: Testing, IEPs, and Transcripts! One of the things that I think is most important when it comes to Building a Life You Love is self-knowledge!! Self-knowledge keeps us from making a lot of unnecessary mistakes. But how do we magically gain this self...
Today we are talking all about Neurodivergent Homeschooling!! Given that kids with disabilities in the United States are bullied 2-3 TIMES MORE than neurotypical kids, I'm not shocked that so many neurodivergent parents choose to homeschool their own neurodivergent children! And honestly, given those numbers... no one has ANY place to tell you that you shouldn't homeschool your neurodivergent child. That's on all of the people who choose to either bully or turn a blind eye to bullying in scho...
How to Keep House While Drowning is a book by KC Davis that I am currently reading with the young adults in my membership! We already had a book club for parents and a book club for kids, but our kids that are becoming young adults felt a little left out. And I couldn't think of a better book to start with because "adulting" can be really hard when you are a young neurodivergent adult! Actually it can still be hard if you consider yourself an old neurodivergent adult! But it is much har...
Today's episode is all about Advocacy: The Road Less Traveled! There is nothing that will protect you more in life than learning self-advocacy skills. Unfortunately, we often sabotage children in developing self-advocacy by insisting on compliance training because compliance is the anti-thesis of self-advocacy! It is often taking the road less traveled that makes all the difference in outcomes for ourselves and our children! And we should not be afraid step out from conventional wisdom....
Today's episode is all about Dyslexia & Hyperlexia! You may have heard of dyslexia, but you might be wondering exactly what hyperlexia is. In the context we are talking about them today, they are both opposing strengths and weaknesses in working memory. As I have watched my children grow up, I have gotten to observe up close what hyperlexia and dyslexia look like, as I have one of each. But does this really impact us as neurodivergent adults? Turns out, it has a HUGE imp...
Today's episode is all about Executive Functioning! Executive functioning skills are tools we use every day to get things done, but for a lot of neurodivergent people, some of these skills are lacking. Personally, out of 12 executive functioning skills, I have about 3 that work really well (and that's on a good day). The rest have varied levels of deficiency. Given that I am now in my 40s, I seriously doubt that I will be gaining any new strengths in executive functioning, but that does...
Today's episode is Neurodivergent Parenthood, which seems appropriate after our previous episode, Neurodiverent Love & Marriage. Doesn't the saying go, "First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the baby in the baby carriage?" One of the best things about being a neurodivergent parent is that often neurodivergent parents create neurodivergent kids, and that means you get to create an entire community where it is normal to be neurodivergent!! That is something I would have loved to...
Welcome back to Season 5 of Special Needs Kids Are People Too, and our first episode: Neurodivergent Love and Marriage! In this season we are going to be talking about Neurodivergent Adulthood! Parents often ask me about Neurodivergent Adulthood, whether it is because they want to know why kind of life they are preparing their child for or because they are only just now grappling with their own neurodivergence! I decided the best place to start was with what I consider to be the most impactfu...
One of the biggest problems plaguing parents of children with some sort of special need is: affording the care your child needs. There are seemingly endless supports your child needs when development takes a detour for whatever reason. And affording medical equipment, special foods, therapies, adaptive equipment, sensory inputs, tailored social opportunities, etc can get overwhelming FAST! Ordinarily our first thought is, "What costs can I cut?" But, Michael Pereira says that is not going to ...
In today's episode, I am joined by Raj Khedun, as we talk about how important it is to just breathe! All of us have lived through some tough times over the last 5 years. Even if everything else went perfectly in your life, you still lived through a worldwide pandemic. Stressors can cause not only anxiety but also Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. You can also experience medically induced PTSD from difficult experiences with getting medical care for yourself or someone close to you. Whe...
In today's episode, I am joined by Dr. Gwendolynn Diaz, as we talk about the importance of embracing the set of cards life deals you. Everyone comes into this life with a set of cards. Sometimes we look at that set of cards and assume that we have been dealt a bad hand. But, the set of cards you come into the world with is not something to turn away from. It is something embrace because those cards are a part of you, and you are a beautiful part of this world! Dr. Gwendolynn Diaz is a d...
In today's episode, I am joined by Dr. Erin Attaway, and we are talking all about the chemistry of your life: your blood! Dr. Erin Attaway is a doctor of Chinese medicine and acupuncture, and so she has a different way of looking at our traditional blood test results! I, personally, find her approach to be anxiety reducing and empowering! Join us today to hear about a different way of looking at your labs! Check out the Show Notes for link a link to Dr. Erin Attaway's website, Five Points Hea...
Today's show is all about PANDAS: The Fight Against Chronic Inflammation! Check out the show to find out what PANDAS is and more broadly what PANS is! My guest, Ethan Pompeo, not only shares his story of living with PANDAS and reaching a place of acceptance and proactive positivity, but he also shares with us his 3 step plan to living with chronic inflammation well: Stop, Start, and Smile! The things that Ethan has found to help him live with his chronic inflammation will be helpful not just ...
Autism, Vaccines, and Diets are words that have caused much controversy over the years. Everyone has an opinion, and people often feel threatened when people have different opinions from them. I hope that this episode will be a breath of fresh air that allows us to consider some possibilities that might not always be considered. But mostly, I hope this episode encourages you to see each child as an individual and to let that guide you! Check out the Show Notes for links to more re...
Mast Cell Activation Syndrome: when your body is a Mercedes living in a Ford pick-up world. Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS) is a common comorbidity for both Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and Dysautonomia. It is often described as "being allergic to the universe." But perhaps it is best described as a Mercedes living in a Ford pick-up world. People with MCAS have bodies that need a lot of extra TLC! Avoidance of triggers is one of the most important things in supporting someone with MCAS, b...
You've got the power! In this week's episode, we talk with Geralyn Spiesz about Epigenetics, Neuroplasticity, Down Syndrome, Autism, and more! Geralyn Spiesz is an Occupational Therapist, author of Redefining the Reality of Down Syndrome: The Power of an Integrative Mindset, and founder of The Down Syndrome Action Plan Community. What I hope you take away from this conversation is that thanks to epigenetics and neuroplasticity, you've got the power! No matter what genes you might have been ...
In this week's episode, we talk with Dr. Andrew Maxwell all about Dysautonomia, Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), and even Pediatric Acute-onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome (PANS)! Dr. Maxwell is a Board Certified Pediatric Cardiologist and Pediatrician who takes a particular interest in Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Dysautonomia, POTS, Mast Cell Activation Syndrome, and all the many other comorbidities so commonly seen in his "Pentad Super-Syndrome." Dr. Maxwell also wrote the cha...
This week's episode is all about Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome! If you have read Fourth Wing, this is what Violet has, and it also happens to be what I and my children have! We are joined today by Dr. Kaydee Zimmern, a physical therapist specializing in pelvic floor health and Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. I bet you didn't know those two things were so closely related! This is a great time to have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome as there are now so many resources available that we didn't have before. And we are ...
In this special episode, Freedom Pancakes for Ukraine, we are breaking from our focus on Neurodivergent Healthcare in honor of the holidays! I am joined by Dr. Janice Cohn, author of The Christmas Menorahs, and Paolo Volpati-Kedra, who features prominently in Freedome Pancakes for Ukraine! At the end of the episode, I recommend that you make a tradition in your home of reading a new story about someone who was an upstander every year during the holidays! It is a great time when we ar...
In No Patient Left Behind, our second episode of Season 4: Neurodivergent Healthcare, I am joined by Angela Gehrt. Angela is an Occupational Therapist working on her capstone project for her doctoral work, and the focus of her research is on improving Neurodivergent Healthcare! She had some very interesting statistics to share with us such as: - Autistic life expectancy is reduced by 16-30 years, and Autistics are more likely to die in every disease category than their non-Autistic counterpar...
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