The Autism Dad

My guest today is Dennis Procopio. Dennis is a life coach for men and an autism Dad. He's been on the show a few times and he's here today to talk about Dad stuff and share some autism parenting stories. This is a great conversation and ends up going to a place I hadn't seen coming. Dennis opens up about his personal journey raising his son and learning more about himself. ☺ Find Dennis: MAN-UP! L...

I'm excited to bring you another episode about empowering parents to better help their autistic children. My guest today is Mitch Leppicello. Mitch is a social worker who's spent decades working with autistic kids and their families. Mitch has used his experience to create a program called The Calm Compass. The Calm Compass is an online resource for parents of autistic children, helping them to be...

My guest today is Dolly Lowery. Dolly is the CEO and Founder of a company called Kinuu. She's here to talk about their program called BrainyAct and how it's literally changing the lives of autistic kiddos and adults. This is a perfect example of technology being used to improve quality of life. This is so cool and I can't wait for you to hear this. I love bringing information to you that can help...

I'm so excited about this week's episode. I was recently able to screen the upcoming film Tyson's Run. It's an inspirational family film about an autistic boy named Tyson, who decided he wants to run a marathon in order to repair his family. It's such a good, family film and it releases in theaters nationwide on March 11th. My guests today are Major Dodson, who plays Tyson, and Kim Bass. who wrote...

My guests today are Herman Lintvelt and Michael (Fox) van der Linde of Augmental Technologies (Pty) Ltd. They created a FREE app called Tracto that is empowering parents to better support their autistic kids. I love bringing you resources that can help improve your families the quality of life. It's even more satisfying for me when something is as affordable as free. Check out this episode and let...

My guest this week is Amy Jacobs Schroeder, mom of five, and Founder of Happy Ladders. Happy Ladders is a play-based skills curriculum, community, and coaching platform created to empower parents of children with developmental needs, including autism. Amy spent the last two decades providing in-home autism services to families, the latter half focused solely on a parent-led model through her own a...

I recently discovered my autistic kids are having to do active shooter and lockdown drills at school. I was caught off guard because my kids are in a school for autistic kids and kids with other learning disabilities. I had no idea this was happening and I wanted to learn more. I found so many stories about how traumatizing these drills are for kids in general. Concerned, I wanted to speak to some...

IEP or individualized education plan are oftentimes considered a four-letter word in the autism and special needs community. In this episode, I briefly explain what an IEP is and why they're important, before hearing from my guest today. Dennis Procopio is back and this time he's sharing stories from the recent IEP meeting for his son. Sometimes it's helpful to listen to people's real-life experie...

How many special needs parents worry about their child having interactions with first responders (police/EMS) and being misunderstood, or worse, seriously injured. The answer is far too many. Far too many parents worry about their autistic kids having encounters with police, EMS, or other first responders, that don't go well. My guest this week is Janeé Harteau, President and CEO of Vital Aware Se...

My guest today is Emily Bruce. Mother, as well as, Board Certified and Licensed Behavior Analyst (BCBA, LBA) in the State of Tennessee with an M.S., in Psychology. She’s also the CEO and Founder of Determinism, LLC, and the creator of PeerKnect. Emily has seen firsthand the struggles special needs families face when trying to find playdates and other social activities for our kids. I cannot stress...

Slight format change beginning today because I’m moving to a different server. My good friend Dennis Procopio is here today. Dennis is the founder of Man-UP! Life Coaching (MULC) and has been on the show a few times to talk about various topics. Dennis is also a special needs Dad and he’s here today to share a situation he recently had to deal with in regards to his son being seriously injured whi...

My guest today is Heather Brandt, Ph. D. Heather is the Director, HPV Cancer Prevention Program, Co-associate Director for Outreach, St. Jude Comprehensive Cancer Center, Member, Department of Epidemiology and Cancer Control - St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Vaccines are a hot topic once again because of COVID. There is so much misinformation floating around about vaccines and Heather is the...

My good friend and male life coach, Dennis Procopio is back. Dennis is the man behind MAN-UP! Life Coaching and over the last decade, he's helped hundreds and hundreds of guys get unstuck and become better versions of themselves. He's here today to discuss how men and women communicate, experience emotions, and approach relationships in different ways. This will not only help the guys out there bu...

My guest today is Corrie Duryee. Corrie is an autism mom, an amazing human being, and a filmmaker. Corrie is here to talk about her latest film, Language Arts, as well as women and representation in film. The topic of equality is really important and we're going to talk about some of the many obstacles that women face in the film industry. Corrie is an absolute pleasure to speak with and you can't...

This was a really challenging episode for me to edit for a couple of reasons and I’ll explain in a minute. My guest is Dennis Procopio, founder of Man-Up! Life Coaching, and fellow autism Dad. He’s here as a resource for men and helps them to become the best version of themselves. This episode didn’t go as planned but that’s okay. The whole point was to highlight what Dennis is doing because wheth...

All my information and relevant links are here Support this podcast: venmo.com/theautismdad My guest today is Whitney Casares, MD, MPH, FAAP, pediatrician, special needs Mom, and author of The Working Mom Blueprint: Winning at Parenting without Losing Yourself (American Academy of Pediatrics; May 11, 2021). We’re having a very important discussion about finding a balance between work, kids, relati...

I get so many questions about Mightier and today I’m talking to Angela Gotz, a Mom to 2 autistic kiddos, who’s been using Mightier for a couple of years. I talk about her life and experience as an autism parent and how Mightier has impacted their lives. Then I speak with Jessie Ragnio, the Associate Clinical Director at MIghiter. We talk about the science behind Mightier and why it works so well....

This was a really challenging episode for me to edit for a couple of reasons and I’ll explain in a minute. My guest is Dennis Procopio, founder of Man-Up! Life Coaching, and fellow autism Dad. He’s here as a resource for men and helps them to become the best version of themselves. This episode didn’t go as planned but that’s okay. The whole point was to highlight what Dennis is doing because wheth...

My guest today is Alan Winnikoff. Alan is not only an autism Dad but also the author of the new book called “Not Sleeping”. Learn about Alan’s journey while parenting 2 autistic kids, as well as the inspiration behind his book. “Not Sleeping” is a fictional story about a married couple raising an autistic daughter. About the book: It is said that over 70% of special needs marriages fail. This is t...

In this week’s episode, I speak with Caleb Frankel, COO, and co-founder of the financial technology and gifting platform called EarlyBird. EarlyBird has made saving for your child’s financial future, accessible to everyone. Special needs families are often forgotten when it comes to things like financial planning because we can have unique needs that go unaddressed or the cost of admission is unat...

I’ve been wanting to do this episode FOREVER and it finally happened. My guest today is Dr. Emilee Valler. She’s a pediatric psychologist with the Cleveland Clinic’s Children’s Center for Autism. Dr. Valler is here to talk about what autism is and what it’s not. We talk about what parents should look for when to be concerned, where to go for help, the diagnostic process, what to expect, early inte...

I’ve been wanting to do this episode for a while. Dr. Richard Webby is on the show today to discuss all things COVID and vaccine-related. Dr. Webby is a Member of the Department of Infectious diseases at St Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Studies on the Ecology of Influenza in Animals. This is an incredibly important conversa...

My guest today is Harma Hartouni. Harma just happens to be an absolutely amazing human being with one of the most inspiring stories, I’ve ever heard. He just released his new book called Getting Back Up: A Story of Resilience, Self-Acceptance and Success. He’s here to talk about his amazing life from growing up in Iran during the war, learning to walk again after surviving a devastating car accide...

My guest today is Dr. Jeff Selman. He’s VP of Clinical Services over at First Children Services. He’s here to talk about how COVID is creating additional delays in kids getting evaluated for autism. This is a huge problem because we know that early intervention is absolutely vital for kids with autism and delays interfere with that. We talk about what is happening and the impact it’s having on kid...

My guest today is Eric Rittenhouse. He’s the father of 2 amazing autistic kids and he’s here to talk about his journey as a special needs parent. Eric has a fantastic outlook on life and an inspiring approach to parenting. I hope you find this conversation about the ups, downs, challenges, and victories of being an autism parent meaningful. It’s so important to share our stories because we’re all...