The Autism Helper

In this episode, I’m joined by Lauren Haas, an elementary student-support professional, educator, author, and doctoral student from Bend, Oregon, whose work helps children feel seen, safe, and supported. We […]

In this episode, I’m joined by Dr. Annie McLaughlin, PhD, BCBA-D, LBA, a behavior analyst and owner of Annie McLaughlin Consulting, who blends contemporary ABA with positive behavior supports to […]

In this episode, Dr. Becca Tagg discuss comorbid or co-occurring conditions in autistic students, what they are, and how things like poor sleep, GI issues, anxiety, and ADHD can act […]

Executive function is one of those terms we hear all the time, but what does it actually look like in the classroom? In this episode, Dr. Nicole Tibbits breaks down […]

If your class fell apart this week and September felt fine, you’re not doing anything wrong – this is the week it always happens. Novelty wears off around week four […]

In this episode, we’re talking about prompt fading and why the start of the school year is the perfect time to plan for it. Those first weeks are naturally full […]

Sometimes the off-task behavior, the wandering, the “he just won’t listen” moment isn’t defiance at all – it’s confusion. When a direction is unclear, students don’t know what we expect, […]

When is the last time your data actually changed a decision you made? In this episode, we’re getting honest about the difference between data collection and data use – and […]

Name a student who crushed your social skills curriculum and still eats alone at lunch. In this episode, we’re asking why – and the answer has a lot to do […]

We have calm-down kits for our students, co-regulation protocols, and zones of regulation posters on the wall. But nobody talks about what happens when the teacher is the dysregulated one. […]

A behavior plan without a strong skill-building component isn’t a plan – it’s a patch. In this episode, we talk about why so many BIPs are heavy on consequences and […]

Inclusion is one of the most important values in special education – and one of the most misunderstood placement decisions. In this episode, we’re unpacking the difference between inclusion as […]

Token boards are everywhere in autism classrooms – but how many of them are actually working? In this episode, we’re getting into what makes a token economy effective vs. what […]

Prompting is one of the most powerful tools we have – and one of the easiest to misuse. In this episode, we’re talking about prompt dependency: what it is, how […]

We spend hours building visual systems for our students and almost no time building them for ourselves. In this episode, we’re talking about the irony of being the most scheduled, […]