Living the Sky Life - Our Autism Journey

Corey and Andrea Landreth are the parents of 4 grown children. They moved to El Dorado, Kansas to begin Real Life Christian Church in 2006 where Corey is the lead pastor. Andrea is a school psychologist in the public school system. They began the Drawings by Trent business in 2015 for their son with the goals of encouraging families, educating communities and inspiring everyone through Trent's art and their story. There were many difficult years, but seeing Trent's raw joy and incredible ability brings hope to families going through the struggles of raising a child on the spectrum.

You can connect with the Landreth family in the following ways:

To purchase my book “Welcome to My Life – A Personal Parenting Journey Through Autism” click HERE or visit Amazon.com!

You can easily stay connected to the Living the Sky Life podcast and me in various ways. Please visit my website www.lauriehellmann.com for all the links.

I'd love to hear what you think, so if listening on the Apple platform, please leave a written review and rating of the podcast! If you are interested in being a guest on an episode of Living the Sky Life, please contact me!

Caryn Culver is a life long Tennessean and currently resides in Knoxville with her husband Chad and 3 children. Caryn's middle child, Peyton, was diagnosed with autism in 2010 at the age of two.

Since this time, their family has been on a journey to help Peyton reach his best potential. After visiting doctors and specialists around the country and trying numerous therapies, Peyton has finally found his voice with Spelling to Communicate (S2C).

Peyton, now 14 years old, has made it his mission to help other non-speakers have access to communication programs like S2C. Please visit ThePeytonproject.com for more details.

*To hear my first discussion with Caryn back in 2020 where we discuss parenting and how they found the S2C program, listen to podcast episode 44.

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To purchase my book “Welcome to My Life – A Personal Parenting Journey Through Autism” click HERE or visit Amazon.com!

You can easily stay connected to the Living the Sky Life podcast and me in various ways. Please visit my website www.lauriehellmann.com for all the links.

I'd love to hear what you think, so if listening on the Apple platform, please leave a written review and rating of the podcast! If you are interested in being a guest on an episode of Living the Sky Life, please contact me!

Heather Grimaldi, MS is the Founder of Proof Positive ABA Therapies. As a behavior analyst and Clinical Director, Heather’s focus was on supporting families and team members tasked with implementing behavior-analytic interventions. In late 2016, the long-running Autism Learning Partners created one of the largest Autism therapy platforms in the U.S. with its acquisition of Proof Positive. Heather knows the benefits of high-end supplements from her firsthand experience in the Autism space.

Dr. Kristin Shay, DC, MS, Functional Medicine, is an experienced healthcare professional and educator who carries a deeply personal passion for functional medicine and the latest developments in the science behind “nutraceuticals” – dietary supplements demonstrated to have physiological benefits. Dr. Shay holds a Doctor of Chiropractic from Southern California University of Health Sciences; a Masters of Science in Clinical Exercise Physiology, and a Bachelors of Science in Kinesiology.

Simple Spectrum was designed with our kids with sensory needs in mind and is an unflavored dissolvable powder without gluten, casein, added sugar, soy, binding agents, artificial colors, preservatives, GMOs and dairy. The highest quality vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients in the most bioavailable forms - It really is quite simple. Our mission was to create the kind of nutraceutical supplement we wanted to see available, based on the latest scientific research and free from the extraneous additives packed into so many similar products on the market. As a parent of one child with sensory processing disorders and another with ketotic hypoglycemia, responsible for implementing food programs her self Heather knows how hard it can be to get kids to eat the right foods and that includes her own.

**Be sure to listen closely for the generous discount code SS provided to my listeners!**

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To purchase my book “Welcome to My Life – A Personal Parenting Journey Through Autism” click HERE or visit Amazon.com!

You can easily stay connected to the Living the Sky Life podcast and me in various ways. Please visit my website www.lauriehellmann.com for all the links.

I'd love to hear what you think, so if listening on the Apple or Audible platforms, please leave a written review and rating of the podcast! If you are interested in being a guest on an episode of Living the Sky Life, please contact me!

Dr. Karen Kelly is a graduate of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) where she earned her BS and MS in nursing and a doctoral degree in education. She is a retired associate professor in the School of Nursing at SIUE. She taught leadership, health policy, and health care finance at both the graduate level and doctoral level. Karen is active in several nursing organizations at the local, state, and national level. She is the founding president of ANA-Illinois and past president of the Illinois Nurses Association. She has held elected and appointed positions in these and other nursing organizations at the state and national level.

She has published multiple book chapters and peer reviewed articles, in addition to other publications, including op-ed pieces on health policy issues. She has given presentations in over 70 local, regional, and national educational programs. She has provided expert testimony on the needs of developmentally disabled persons in Illinois to committees of the Illinois General Assembly, hearings by legislators and state agencies, and in federal court as a member of a class action lawsuit against the Illinois Department of Human Services.

Karen is the mother and guardian of Eric Adam, the Big Dude, and author of the blog on Facebook---The Big Dude: Life With Autism After 40. She is a volunteer advocate for those with autism and other disabilities. She shares life with the Big Dude with his amazing stepfather, better known as Dad in their blog.

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To purchase my book “Welcome to My Life – A Personal Parenting Journey Through Autism” click HERE or visit Amazon.com!

You can easily stay connected to the Living the Sky Life podcast and me in various ways. Please visit my website www.lauriehellmann.com for all the links.

I'd love to hear what you think, so if listening on the Apple platform, please leave a written review and rating of the podcast! If you are interested in being a guest on an episode of Living the Sky Life, please contact me!

Dawnmarie Gaivin is the Founder & Executive Director at Spellers Center San Diego, located in Oceanside, CA. Before her career moved into the world of nonspeaking autism, Dawnmarie worked for over 11 years as a trauma & transplant RN. In 2005 her first son regressed and was diagnosed with autism. A year later, her second son followed the same path. Today her eldest, Evan (20) is a nonspeaker and fluent letterboard communicator. Her younger son, Trey (18) is a minimal speaker who uses multiple modalities for effective communication.

Dawnmarie is a former DIR/Floortime® provider, cofounder of the Spellers Method, and an Assistive Technology Specialist (AT-ACP).

In March 2021, Jamison Handley, a fluent speller, and his dad JB wrote a book entitled “Underestimated" about their journey learning how to spell for communication with her. In 2023 their award-winning documentary SPELLERS was released, showcasing how spelling and typing as a method of communication has liberated many nonspeakers from a lifetime of silence. Dawnmarie also currently serves as the interim co-director of Spellers Freedom Foundation, a nonprofit run by a board made up mostly of nonspeakers, who give scholarships and help create community for other spellers.

Dawnmarie's children inspired her specific passion to support all nonspeakers in the development of purposeful motor skills and a reliable form of communication. You can learn more about her and the programs offered through her team at www.spellers.com.