Autismfamilystory podcast

We are living in unprecedented times amid the pandemic for the past 2 years. Schools have offered the option to go to school in person or opt-in for virtual learning. We chose online learning for our son.  I  have been helping my son with online learning for the past 18 months. Our son has made so much progress over the past 18 months. Some countries have gone back to online learning due...

Parenting is hard. It can be challenging when you are parenting a child with autism or any kind of disability. It can both be overwhelming and isolating at the same time. I have been on this autism journey for over a decade. I am going to share some tips for parenting a child with autism which has helped me personally in my journey which will help you in your autism journey. I have a blog www.auti...

Children with autism struggle with skill generalization. We want to teach our children functional skills. Generalization is when children with autism can demonstrate skills they have learned in a structured setting in new settings, with new people and in new situations. Generalization has to be planned for children with autism from the beginning. In this episode, I talk about some strategies which...

Toilet training is one of the most important functional life skills we can teach our children with autism. In this episode, I am going to share some strategies which you can use to Toilet train your child with autism. I have a blog www.autismfamilystory.com which I started to help parents of children with special needs with helpful tips and strategies they can use to help their child with autism....

Children with autism struggle with sensory processing which creates difficulty in self-regulation as they don't feel regulated. This might cause challenging behaviours in children with autism. We have 8 senses in total. In addition to our 5 senses, we have 3 hidden senses, vestibular sense, proprioceptive sense and interoceptive sense. Many children with autism struggle with these 3 senses. I have...

All Behaviour is communication. Our children with autism are communicating with us through their behaviours. All behaviours have a function. There are 4 main functions of Behaviour which are Sensory, Escape, Attention and Access to Tangibles. The acronym to remember this is called SEAT. In this episode, I talk about 5 reasons why your child might be engaging in challenging behaviours and some stra...

Autism is a spectrum disorder. 1 in 54 children today are diagnosed with autism. No 2 children on the spectrum are alike. The first signs of autism start showing when the child turns 18 months of age.  Early Intervention is very crucial for children with autism. There are many myths about Autism In this episode I will be busting  10 common Autism Myths. I have a blog www.autismfamilystor...

ABA is short for Applied Behavioral Analysis. It is the science of Behaviour. It is a gold standard treatment for autism. It is an evidence-based and Data-based intervention. ABA focuses on teaching children skills acquisition in which includes social skills, communication skills, self-care skills, motor skills and imitation skills. There are many ABA myths. In this episode, I will be debunking 8...

Token Boards are easy visual tool to reward your child for positive behaviors. In this episode I talk about what is a token board,why it is important to use one,some things to consider while using Token Economy. It is a visual tool which we need to teach our child with autism to use. I have a blog www.autismfamilystory.com which I started to help parents of children with special needs with helpful...

In this episode, I am going to give you some tips to prepare your resources at home for your child with autism. Preparing your resources at home will save you a lot of money as buying premade resources can get very expensive. It also helps our children to practice various skills which in turn helps with skill generalization. There are a few materials you will need on hand to get started on prepari...

Sleep issues are very common in children with autism. 80% of children with autism suffer from sleep issues. I have personally experienced this with our son over the years. Children with autism might struggle with sleep due to sensory issues, gastrointestinal issues or due to anxiety. If your child is not sleeping well the whole family suffers which can lead to fatigue and burnout. In this episode,...

We all have dreams and aspirations when our child is born. The whole dynamic changes when we have a child with autism or any other special need. There are many challenges a family has to face when you have a child with special needs. In this episode i talk about different struggles parents of children with autism or other special needs face. I have a blog www.autismfamilystory.com where I share lo...

Autism is a spectrum disorder. 40% of the children are nonverbal even though they have average to above-average intelligence. Parents are the best and only advocates for their children on the spectrum as they are experts on their children.  They know them the best and are familiar with their strengths and needs. In this episode, I discuss how I advocated for our son over the years. I hope thi...

Our son got diagnosed with autism at 3 years of age. By the time he got the diagnosis, he had regressed a lot. As parents, we found it very difficult to connect with him.  I took it up as my mission to help my son have a good meaningful life and to do everything in my power to help him. In this episode, I discuss how I was on a mission to help my son. I have a blog www.autismfamilystory.com w...

when you have a child with autism every waking hour our child is spent in some kind of therapy. we don't need to provide our children with some kind of intervention every waking hour, we must enroll our children in extracurricular activities which are outside of therapy. it helps in their overall development. It helps in developing their social skills, motor skills, helps them with inclusion. We n...

Parent Teacher collaboration is critical for student's success. Collaboration has many benefits as both parents ad teachers are working towards a common goal of improving student's lives and preparing them for the future. In this episode I will talk about a few strategies which can help with parent teacher collaboration. I have a blog www.autismfamilystory.com where I share lots of helpful informa...

Getting a diagnosis of any kind is hard for everyone. Getting an autism diagnosis for your child is hard as it not only affects the child but affects the whole family. In this episode I am going to tell you some things you can do after you receive an autism diagnosis for your child. Accepting the diagnosis is the first thing you can do to help your child. Listen to the episode to find out other th...

We don't give much thought to self care. It is very important when you are raising a child on the spectrum. It is important for us to understand we do not need to provide our child with therapy every waking hour. In this episode I give you 5 tips which you can use for self care so you will be in a better position to handle challenges in raising a child on the spectrum. I have a blog www.autismfami...

Summer is over. It's back to school time for kids. It may be back to school in person, remote or virtual or even hybrid. This year back to school is unlike the past years. We are still living in the midst of the Covid -19 pandemic.  It has become our new normal. We have to take many precautions like wearing a mask, social distancing, hand washing to keep ourselves and our children safe. Our childr...

Picky eating is very common in children with autism. It is difficult to feed them a nutritionally balanced diet. This occurs due to sensory issues and the way certain types of foods feel in their mouths. I personally struggled with this as our son is a picky eater to this day. In this episode I talk about different strategies for helping children with autism with picky eating.  I have a blog...

ABA stands for Applied Behavioral Analysis. It is the most promising and evidence based intervention for teaching children with autism. It is also data based intervention. ABA programs use data to make decisions to evaluate progress. If the data does not show progress the Behavior Analyst will change treatment plan. It helps to improve and increase children's language skills,communication skills ,...

It is very common once our children get an autism diagnosis we are told of all the limitations and the things our children our children wont be able to do. We must take this with a grain of salt. Our children are capable of making progress and learning. We need to have a growth mindset as parents .We need to believe our children are capable of learning. In this episode I am talking about things wh...

IEP is an individualized education plan which is a legal document developed for each public school for a child who needs special education. It is created with the help of child's parents and school professionals who are knowledgeable of child's needs. Parents are expert on their child and know them the best. In today's episode I will give you a few tips for a successful IEP meeting.  I have a blog...

In this episode I talk about our son's second diagnosis. Most children with autism have a secondary diagnosis. Our son got diagnosed with a second diagnosis of seizures called Landau Kleffner Syndrome . They are also called sleep seizures. They are very rare . One in 200 thousand kids get diagnosed with landau Kleffner syndrome. In this episode I talk about how we discovered our son's second diagn...

Independence is a important functional life skill which is a common goal for all children on the spectrum be it in terms of self help skills or working independently for a few minutes without adult assistance at home or in classroom. In this episode I give you few strategies you can use to teach your children to work independently. I have a blog www.autismfamilystory.com wherein I share lots of st...