Born to Be Free: Supporting Neurodivergent Clients to Learn, Play, & Thrive

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Lyric Holmans is an autistic self-advocate from Texas who runs the neurodiversity lifestyle blog Neurodivergent Rebel. In episode 22, you’ll learn about Lyric’s own experience as a gender fluid autistic person. And we’ll tie this into authenticity in general, including what we can all be doing in our sessions to support positive identity around gender and sexuality. Please note that this episode w...

Zosia Zaks is a certified rehabilitation counselor, author, and autistic self-advocate. He manages the Towson University's Hussman Center for Adults with Autism, where he teaches service-learning courses that examine autism through a social justice lens. Listen to episode 21 where we explore: How diversity education can truly shift the paradigm to make disability inclusion more effective and empow...

Jacklyn Googins is the cofounder of the OTs for Neurodiversity social media movement and the founder of B3 Coffee, an inclusive pop-up coffee stand in Chapel Hill, NC. Greg Boheler, who is autistic, is the cofounder of OTs for Neurodiversity and a board member for B3 Coffee.  Join us in Episode 21 where we: Explore the practical changes that OTs for Neurodiversity strives to make in the field of o...

Damian Milton is an autistic researcher whose idea spawned a huge shift in how we think about autism.  In this episode, listen in as we explore:   - How Damian developed his hypothesis that the trouble with empathy and social skills is a two-way street between autistic and non-autistic people, not a deficit of autistic people   - What early research Damian did to confirm this hypothesis   - One th...

Jacquelyn Fede is a developmental psychologist and autistic self-advocate and Amy Laurent is a developmental psychologist and pediatric occupational therapist. They are the co-founders of Autism Level Up, where they push people who support and care for autistic people to take our work to the next level. This talk is an edited replay of their interview for the Neurodiversity in the New Year summit....

Sarah McCulloch is an autistic occupational therapist based in London, the senior OT in a school for autistic kids, and the founder of  The Autistic Empire .  Listen in to episode 17 as we explore: The question we should all be asking ourselves before we start any intervention Why the best approaches to therapy require the perspective of both autistic and non-autistic therapists The important shif...

Dr. Winnie Dunn is a distinguished professor of occupational therapy at the University of Missouri, the author of the Sensory Profile, and a trailblazer in occupational therapy research and practice. Dr. Dunn’s latest research focuses on parent coaching and occupations in everyday life.  Listen in to episode 16 as we explore: How to understand sensory processing differences using a strengths-based...

Sarah Selvaggi Hernandez is an occupational therapist and educator working to promote an intentional identity-first approach to autism and OT. Listen in to the episode as we dive deep into: - Why we should be focused on the development of positive identity for our autistic clients, and what might be getting in our way - Concrete strategies we can use to help our clients flourish, inspired by the o...

Dr. Matt Braun is a speech language pathologist who owns a private practice in the Kansas City area. His doctoral thesis examined whether OTs and SLPs write our goals and evaluations from a strengths or deficits-based perspective. This episode is the third in a three-part series. First check out episodes 4 and 12, then join Dr. Braun in this episode we: - Explore what real, strengths-based, in-con...

Elizabeth is an autistic adult and licensed occupational therapist who specializes in trauma-sensitive practices. Elizabeth is a lifelong learner with an innovative OT practice informed by so many areas of study.  Listen in to this episode as we explore: - Why trauma-sensitive practices are essential for our work with autistic people - What Trauma Center Trauma Sensitive yoga is, and how Elizabeth...

Dr. Evan Dean, PhD, OTR/L, is Assistant Research Professor at the University of Kansas and Associate Director at the Kansas University Center on Developmental Disabilities.  His research focuses on promoting community participation for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities through enhancing self-determination, supported decision making and career design.   Dr. Scott Tomchek, PhD,...

Emily Lees is an autistic speech and language therapist and an advocate for pro-neurodiversity approaches.  Listen to the interview with Emily as we explore: - The unique challenges and strengths that being autistic presents to girls, and Emily’s own journey of being misdiagnosed in her adolescence - Emily’s experience with job interviews and work, and the types of supports we should consider for...

Jen Schonger is the Program Manager at the New Jersey Autism Center of Excellence and the mom to two daughters, one of whom is autistic. She is so insightful and is an incredible advocate for parents and for autistic children.  Listen to this episode as we: - Explore the surprising blindspots many OTs have when working with parents - Learn about the concrete things that helped Jen develop a positi...

Ido Kedar is an autistic-self advocate and the author of a two books. He is a non-speaking autistic person who uses a voice-output typing device to communicate. Listen to my interview with Ido as we discuss: - His experience with OT, speech, and ABA before he had a way to communicate when no one was presuming his competence - How learning to communicate changed everything, and why learning to spel...

Deirdre Azzopardi is an occupational therapist with over 25 years of experience who has invested years into continuing education related to social and emotional learning for kids with disabilities. Join into the conversation as we explore: - How we are missing out on a huge opportunity for our autistic clients by overlooking exercise in favor of non-aerobic “sensory processing” activities. - Why t...

Jacquelyn Fede is a developmental psychologist and autistic self-advocate and Amy Laurent is a developmental psychologist and pediatric occupational therapist. They are the co-founders of Autism Level Up! where they challenge OTs to listen to autistic voices and level up our work with people on the spectrum. Join in the conversation as we:  - Explore why the emotional model of regulation may not c...

Joy F. Johnson is a black, autistic behavioral therapist who runs Spectrum Support Services. She brings a new perspective to the podcast in so many ways. Join into the conversation as we discuss: - How joy uses her behavioral training to help keep black autistic kids safe when interacting with the police, and what strategies we all should be using to do the same - Joy’s take on behavioral strategi...

Greg is a pediatric occupational therapist who presents workshops nationally on topics related to sensory processing, challenging behaviors, and improving school-based therapy services.  Greg is a huge advocate for best practice in OT. Join us as we discuss: - Why OTs already have the skills we need to work effectively and respectfully with our autistic clients, but often don't use them - How beha...

Kristie Patten is the chair of the Department of Occupational Therapy at New York University whose cutting-edge work focuses on using strength-based approaches in autism. Join us in this episode as we delve into: - How most OTs wound up using a deficits-based model with autistic kids and why this is not serving our clients well - Why we should move away from withholding kids' interests from them....

Lydia X. Z. Brown is an autistic attorney and disability justice advocate who specifically focuses on violence against multiply-marginalized disabled people. In this episode, join us as we: - Dive deep into how white supremacy and white privilege play out for autistic kids - Learn how systematic racism and trauma impact the diagnosis and treatment of autistic kids, including the unexamined racism...

Damian Milton is an autistic researcher whose idea spawned a huge shift in how we think about autism.  In this episode, listen in as we explore: - How Damian  developed his hypothesis that the trouble with empathy and social  skills is a two-way street between autistic and non-autistic people, not a deficit of autistic people - What early research Damian did to confirm this hypothesis - One thing...

Welcome to episode 1! In this episode Sarah and I dive deep into how our OT practices can better reflect our respect for autistic voices and our autistic clients. Join us while we: - Revisit how the podcast idea was born and named - Explore the most pressing reasons not to use hand-over-hand assistance with autistic kids (I'll also talk about why we say "autistic" not "kids with autism") - Discuss...