Two Sides of the Spectrum, "Autism and Interoception" Interview with Kelly Mahler, Ep. 44 

• Podcast link: https://learnplaythrive.com/podcasts/44-autism-interoception-with-kelly-mahler/

• Transcript: https://learnplaythrive.com/transcript/episode-44/

• "So many of my clients are often blindsided by meltdowns and shutdowns. They don’t notice those subtle clues coming from their body, letting them know that like, 'Hey, something’s going on here.' And so, they’re just completely surprised many times by those intense emotions and feelings.[...] I think it’s important too that we always do this work in periods of regulation. Like, none of us are motivated to start noticing the way our body feels if we’re dysregulated. So, that’s the part I see very commonly skipped over. We don’t put a lot of emphasis or enough emphasis in the power of co-regulation, the power of stabilizing that nervous system — all of our nervous systems — so that our clients feel safe enough to attend to their body and how it feels."

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Two Sides of the Spectrum, "Lowering Adult Demands to Increase Autistic Joy" Interview with Amanda Diekman, Ep. 60

• Podcast Link: https://learnplaythrive.com/podcasts/60-how-to-reduce-adult-demands-to-increase-autistic-joy-with-amanda-diekman/

• Transcript: https://learnplaythrive.com/transcript/episode-60/

• "So, one of the kinds of low demand approaches that we’ve made is that we have various spaces in our home where you can retreat and various spaces where you can engage. And depending on how you are and how your body is doing, you can access those spaces, which takes the demands out of saying, 'I need a break,' verbally. It’s indicated by where your body is moving and the kinds of things you’re choosing in that space. We found that verbal demands are really hard for our kids to meet. And so, we do as many things non-verbally as possible. We do, along that same path, if we’re making a family decision, we’ll do, 'Jump if you want chocolate ice cream.' And that meets their sensory needs to jump. It communicates what they need without words. And it gets us all laughing, which helps get out of decision making, can be a really high anxiety time for our family dynamic. So, it also helps loosen things up. So, there’s all kinds of little, daily, structural ways that we dropped demands."

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Two Sides of the Spectrum, "The Power of Presuming Competence" Interview with Ido Kedar, Ep. 9 

• Podcast Link: https://learnplaythrive.com/podcasts/the-power-of-presuming-competence/ 

• Transcript: https://learnplaythrive.com/transcript/episode-9/

• "Obviously, once I began to be able to communicate and express my thoughts, there were huge changes at home. Everyone talked to me normally from that point. What a relief! I got normal lessons and books. Expectations rose. I was happier. [..]  My mind is high functioning but my motor disability is intense. Others may have more motor control but less intellectual acuity. Why do we pigeon hole people anyway? To label someone low functioning means that expectations do not exist. The label diminishes hope. The average so-called ‘low functioning’ individual has little hope of change because the label blinds people to his potential. You can see this vividly in Anthony’s story in my novel, ‘In Two Worlds’. It is important to know that every typing non-speaking autistic college student was once called ‘low functioning’, so what does it even mean?"