Mother's Guide Through Autism

Crystal Y. Sanford talks about how to support our autistic teens and tweens in transitioning into adulthood successfully.
Crystal is the owner and director of Sanford Autism Advocacy Group. She is an expert in the field of Autism and IEPs and she is also a mom to a teenage daughter who is on the spectrum.
Watch this episode to equip yourself with the knowledge to prepare your autistic child for employment and independence.
In this episode, she’s going to share:
- how to teach your autistic child the life skills they need for independence
- why observing your child is so important for future success
- steps you can take to prepare your child for employment
- and more!
Enjoy!
Sanford Autism Advocacy Group:
https://www.sdautismhelp.com/
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/sdautismhelp
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/sanford_autism_advocacy
Purchase my book A Mother's Guide Through Autism:
https://amzn.to/3mO1fmS
Sign up to get news and updates from me: https://www.mothersguidethroughautism.com
Theme song: "Look at the clouds" by Tristan Lohengrin
tristanlohengrin.bandcamp.com

In this week's heartwarming episode, Brigitte Shipman interviews Lisa Joyce Goes who is an autism mom, editor, and writer for The Thinking Moms' Revolution and The Age of Autism.
Lisa Joyce Goes is the mom of three wildly gifted children Mads, Noah, and Liam. Noah was diagnosed with autism in 2008.
Noah was nonverbal for quite a while and didn’t potty train until he was 7. Noah also had terrible rashes all over his body as well as up to 20 diarrhea filled diapers a day. His body was on fire and was uncomfortable and a lot of his behaviors had so much to do with his metabolic, gastrointestinal, and methylation issues that needed to be addressed.
Noah, now in puberty, is doing much better and greets Lisa in the morning with "Good morning, Princess" which brings Lisa so much joy.
Lisa candidly talks about the feeling of isolation, emotional eating, and the pain and suffering that resulted from the autism diagnosis and the end of her marriage. She was angry, reactive, and heartbroken.
At one point during a neurofeedback session, Lisa was asked if she had been a soldier because her brain scan showed signs of PTSD. She answered, "No, I'm an autism mom."
Lisa and Brigitte also talk about judgment autism moms experience from other people who don't understand autism and the importance of educating others and doing advocacy work.
Lisa says that challenges are real and difficult but she considers Noah 110% a blessing.
Lisa urges other autism moms listening out there to be as compassionate with themselves as they would with their closest friend or their children.
Tune in to this heartwarming episode and be filled with hope and solidarity.
Enjoy!
Resources/Links:
BMV Life Coach
https://bmvlifecoach.com/
BMV Life Coach Facebook Page
https://www.facebook.com/BMVlifecoach/
Mother's Guide Through Autism Private Facebook Page
https://www.facebook.com/groups/mothersguidethroughautism/
The Thinking Moms' Revolution
https://thinkingmomsrevolution.com/
Documenting Hope
https://documentinghope.com/
The Thinking Moms' Revolution Book
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CA15A7K/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
The Age of Autism
https://www.ageofautism.com/
TEAM TMR
https://teamtmr.org/

In this week's powerfully inspiring episode, Brigitte Shipman interviews Stella Spanakos who is a co-founder of Spectrum Designs and The Nicholas Center.
Stella tells her story of how she started a t-shirt business that employs people with autism because she didn’t see a lot of employment opportunities for adults with autism like her son and she was concerned about her son's future.
Stella started Spectrum Designs in the barn of her backyard on Long Island, NY shortly after the tragic death of her husband Paul. After the success of Spectrum Designs, she created Spectrum Bakes and Spectrum Suds to provide more employment opportunities for adults with autism.
Stella's goal is that she should never have to see a parent come in her office, begging with tears in their eyes, for an opportunity for their child to volunteer or to be employed there. She wants to do everything in her power to keep growing businesses and coming up with ideas so that she can offer vocational training and employment opportunities to young adults with disabilities, on the autism spectrum in particular.
Stella is a firm believer in seeing the glass half full. She shares how she keeps going as a warrior mama even when things seem extremely difficult and challenging because she knows she's already halfway to her goal.
Stella encourages all the warrior mamas out there struggling. Her passion, compassion, tenacity, and love will inspire all of us to believe in the impossible.
Tune in to this episode and be inspired by her powerful story!
Enjoy!
Resources/Links:
App “Speak It”: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/speak-it/amcnjejmdfilapnnfgnhnidhkififadk?hl=en
Welcome to Holland: https://www.pdx.edu/students-with-children/sites/www.pdx.edu.students-with-children/files/Welcome%20to%20Holland.pdf
This Business of Autism: https://thisbusinessofautism.com/

Spectrum Designs: https://www.spectrumdesigns.org/
Spectrum Bakes: https://www.spectrumbakes.org/
Spectrum Suds: https://www.spectrumsuds.org/
The Nicholas Center: http://www.nicholascenterusa.org/
BMV Life Coach: https://www.bmvlifecoach.com/

In this week's amazing episode, Brigitte interviews Dr. Stephanie Vavilala, a licensed mental health counselor, the founder of Awetism Wonderland, and a mother of a 9-year-old girl who has autism and is nonverbal. Dr. Stephanie has a mission to provide support for children on the spectrum, as well as their families.
Dr. Stephanie shares her story of struggling to conceive for 5 years with 6 rounds of IVF treatment and 3 miscarriages, and finally giving birth to Sabita who was her miracle child and an absolute joy to her.
Sabita was diagnosed to be on the spectrum after she turned one. Wanting to find solutions to help her daughter, Dr. Stephanie went back to school and became a Board Certified Behavioral Therapist.
Realizing how hard it was for parents to find services for their children in her county, she decided to add ABA Therapy to her existing company Therapeutic Expressions which offered mental health services.

She immersed herself in the work of helping other kids like Sabita, and that became her life focus for many years. Although she loved it, she lost herself along the way from neglecting to take care of herself. That is when she realized that she needed to create a community for special needs moms.
She then created Flamingle, a local support group for special needs moms to have fun and play and to support each other.
She is now very passionate about making life easier for special needs families through the use of technologies and with resources and support that she herself has found helpful in empowering her own daughter to unleash her full potential.
Dr. Stephanie recently pulled Sabita out of school to get her homeschooled because Sabita was not getting what she needed from the current school curriculums.

Knowing the needs of other children like Sabita, Dr. Stephanie decided to create Awetism Wonderland, which is an autism therapy center opening up this fall in St. Augustine, FL.

Awetism Wonderland is a comprehensive center with everything for autism therapy--OT, PT, ABA, Art Therapy, Music Therapy, Play Therapy, Baking Therapy, and many more.
The center was created to give kids like Sabita a place of different types of learning environments with a strength-based approach that provides social interaction as well as functional academic skills and life vocational skills. This center will provide support for kids on the spectrum as well as their parents, siblings, and peers.
Dr. Stephanie has also recently published a beautiful children's book called Sabita Finds Her Voice which is about her daughter finding her voice through technology. She shares two of the communication apps that have been helpful for Sabita.
She leaves us with this advice: Trust your gut, take care of yourself, reach out to a community, and advocate wherever you go and educate others!

Resources/Links:
Dr. Stephanie Website
https://stephanievavilala.com/

Therapeutic Expressions
https://therapeuticexpressions.com/

Awetism Wonderland
https://awetismwonderland.com/

Sabita Speaks
https://www.sabitaspeaks.org/
Sabita Finds Her Voice
https://amzn.to/34ws0mp
Verbal Victor
https://bit.ly/3oYGd57
Proloquo2go
https://apple.co/3vyn24O
Mother's Guide FB Group
https://bit.ly/2R4J5kA
Brigitte Website
https://bmvlifecoach.com/

In this week's wonderfully helpful episode, Brigitte interviews Madeleine Woolgar, a speaker and parent coach to talk about how parents can reduce daily battles with their children.

Madeleine began to work with families with children on the spectrum over ten years ago. Her work focuses on shifting the moms' mindset so they can go from guilt-ridden and stressed out to creative and clear-thinking and better able to take care of all that they need for their child.

Madeleine talks about the common daily battles that parents engage in with their children like tantrums and control battles and how important it is for us to understand why these battles occur in the first place. She urges us to get into the head of the child to understand what they need in the moment.
In addition to understanding our child's why in doing what they do, Madeleine says that it's important to understand why you’re having the kind of reaction you’re having to your child’s behavior so that you can uncover hidden thoughts and beliefs that may be causing you to be more reactive.
She explains why parenting strategies often don’t work and why working on your mindset is key to reducing battles with your child.
She tells us to become aware of our thoughts and ask, “What was I thinking about myself in the difficult moment?”

She also says that we need to give ourselves as much grace as we can in these moments of difficulty. She says to start with yourself in giving compassion because if you’re stressed, you cannot stay calm in challenging situations.
She leaves us with this advice: Reach out for help if you're struggling.

Enjoy!
Resources/Links
5 Ways to Reduce Daily Battles
www.mumswhothrive.com/dailybattles

Heartled Mums for Strong-Willed Children Facebook Group
www.facebook.com/groups/heartledmums
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/mentormadeleine
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/mentormadeleine/
Private Mother's Guide Through Autism Facebook Group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/mothersguidethroughautism/
Brigitte Website
https://bmvlifecoach.com/