Today, Dr. Holmes talks with Jeremy and Ilana from mybestsociallife.com. We talk about belonging and learning the skills young adults on the spectrum need to create the social life they desire without getting overwhelmed. Podcast Description: Jeremy and Ilana Hamburgh are friendship and dating coaches who teach the strategies and skills that empower autistic and neurodivergent adults to find community, make friends, start dating, and build relationships. Ilana has over 16 years of experience as a special education teacher in New York City and is now the Director of Education for My Best Social Life. Jeremy has over 13 years of experience coaching autistic and neurodivergent adults on building the social lives they want and deserve. Jeremy and Ilana's passion is their first-of-its-kind strategy and skills program called Social Life 360. It's an innovative program that teaches its clients the strategies and skills to meet new people in new places confidently, and they do it by decoding the social world using formulas, diagrams, and step-by-step processes that make more sense to the neurodivergent brain. The Social Life 360 program also provides clients with a warm, inclusive, and exciting community that makes them feel embraced on their social journey. You can learn more about Jeremy, Ilana, and the Social Life 360 approach at MyBestSocialLife.com, and you can contact them about scheduling your family's Strategy Session at Jeremy@MyBestSocialLife.com. What they do: From their website- We teach our clients cutting-edge social techniques that really work for people whose brains are wired differently. The way we do that is by decoding social situations and then teaching them to our clients as formulas, diagrams, checklists, schematics, and step-by-step processes. We also give you world-class support so that we can help you every step of the way with who to meet, where to meet them, and how to win them over without feeling overwhelmed. We do all of this while giving you a warm, inclusive, and vibrant community of our clients and graduates so that you can spend time with other wonderful people who have the same goals.

Join Dr. Holmes and Meredith Sinclair of Life Behavior Consulting as they discuss the need for support and adaptive skills for adolescents and young adults on the spectrum. Life does not end when school ends; however, supports often do. Social skills are needed for job interviews and career development. Meredith and Life Behavior Consulting focus on these skills. It is located in Atlanta, GA, but is now available over Zoom outside of GA. You can find out more at https://lifebehaviorconsulting.com/ About Meredith Sinclair: Meredith Sinclair is the Executive Director/Founder of LIFE Behavior Consulting. Meredith holds a Master’s Degree in Rehabilitation Counseling from Georgia State University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Pennsylvania State University. She is a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor and a Certified PEERS (Program for the Enrichment and Education of Relational Skills) Provider. Meredith specializes in Behavior Consulting, Executive Functioning, Social Skills, and Career Development training. She has served a range of neurodiverse clients with a variety of cognitive verbal levels and support needs. She has had the pleasure of working with young adults, their families, and caregivers to teach them skills and provide tools that help them work toward their goals. Meredith built LIFE Behavior Consulting with the goal of empowering individuals through coaching, teaching, and support to gain tools that will improve their access to social opportunities, relationships, and interdependence in their home, community, school, and vocational settings. She strives to energize her clients and help them realize their inner strengths.

Talking about friends. Everything from high school to now.

Dan and Stephanie set this podcast up with their podcast on Jan 2nd and Jan 16th of 2023. You will want to review this podcast before you hear today's podcast on escaping enemy mode. We took questions from our listeners and those in our coaching courses based on Wilder's work. Some questions that came in: How is attachment and hesed related? How is attachment related to enemy mode? What is a fear bond, and if you have PTSD or have been damaged by a relationship, can you achieve a love bond? What parts of the brain have neuroplasticity? What can be learned for those on the spectrum? More questions answered! NDCCs are easily dragged into enemy mode- simple enemy mode, stupid enemy mode, and intellectual enemy mode. Our brains can unite or divide us. Join us for this discussion with Dr. Jim Wilder. You will want to go back and hear our podcast "Are you in your right mind?" which sets the stage for this conversation. Today we will talk about how those on the autism spectrum, due to neurological wiring, are more easily dragged into enemy mode. But we will also talk about JOY and how to escape enemy mode to re-friend and rebuild attachment/joy. About Dr. Wilder: Dr. Jim Wilder has been training leaders and counselors for over 30 years on five continents. Jim grew up in South America and is bilingual (English/Spanish). He is the author of nineteen books with a strong focus on maturity and relational skills. Dr. Wilder has served as a guest lecturer at Fuller Seminary, Biola, Talbot Seminary, Point Loma University, Montreat College, Tyndale Seminary, and elsewhere. Dr. Jim Wilder has extensive clinical counseling experience and is the chief neurotheologian of Life Model Works, a nonprofit working at the intersection of theology and brain science. Life Model Works builds on the fifty-year legacy of Shepherd’s House, which began in the 1970s as a ministry to street kids in Van Nuys, California. In those early days, Jim worked with the team of volunteer counselors and Fuller Seminary faculty to build a counseling center to help broken people recover from negative habits, addictions, abuse, and trauma. By the 1990s, Jim was Assistant Director and later Executive Director of Shepherd’s House, helping hundreds of pastors and churches with their toughest counseling cases. Jim was intimately involved in 1987 when Shepherd’s House conducted a careful review of why some people with the same level of trauma and treatment recovered, but others did not. The results of this case-by-case study became The Life Model, a new recovery model. The Life Model study findings were published in Living from the Heart Jesus Gave You.

Ron Sandison works full time in the mental health field. He is an advisory board member of the Art of Autism and the Els Center of Excellence. Sandison has a Master of Divinity from Oral Roberts University and is the author of A Parent’s Guide to Autism. He is the founder of Spectrum Inclusion which empowers young people with autism for employment. Sandison speaks at over 70 events a year including 20 plus education conferences. Ron and his wife, Kristen, reside in Rochester Hills, MI, with their daughter, Makayla. . sandison456@hotmail.com. https://www.spectruminclusion.com https://www.facebook.com/SpectrumRonSandison

Today, we have a bilingual podcast to connect Spanish speaking listeners to a Spanish special edition of Exceptional Needs Today magazine. www.exceptionalneedstoday.com Hoy, la Dra. Stephanie y sus invitados Erica y Luis les cuentan acerca de una revista de edición especial que estará disponible en español. A continuación se muestra una carta de la editora de Exceptional Needs Today, Amy Tobik. ¡Es gratis! ¡Visite www.excepcionalneedstoday.com! Desde el escritorio del editor Cuando publiqué la revista Exceptional Needs Today hace un par de años, mi objetivo era unir a una comunidad de defensores, familias, educadores, médicos y terapistas. Presenciar el cambio tan significativo que ocurre cuando gente dinámica trabaja junta ha sido un honor. Durante mi tiempo trabajando con niños de distintas habilidades, participando en conferencias en relaciones a las necesidades especiales, y conversado con terapistas y educadores, se ha vuelto evidente que los niños de la comunidad hispanohablante con el Trastorno de Espectro Autista (TEA) y otras necesidades especiales han sido pasadas por alto. Muy a menudo, estos niños no reciben diagnósticos ni el apoyo que necesitan. Estas situaciones pueden afectar individuos y sus familias de por vida. Esta disparidad no es aceptable. De acuerdo con el estudio Disparidades en el diagnóstico y tratamiento de Autismo en las comunidades Latinas y no Latinas, competencia en el inglés tiene un impacto en el acceso al diagnóstico y tratamiento del TEAdiagnóstico y tratamiento pueden ser reducidas mediante una mejoría en el conocimiento del TEA y confianza en su proveedor médico o doctor a cargo de su hijo. Cuando los niños son diagnosticados de manera errónea, su acceso a servicios se ve afectado de manera negativa. Esperamos dar el consejo y el apoyo necesario en español para llegar a reducir esta brecha entre el tratamiento recibido por niños hispanos y no hispanos. Esta edición especial de Exceptional Needs Today provee 15 artículos en español escrito por extraordinarios profesionales involucrados en la comunidad hispana. Dra. Joscelyn Ramos-Campell, una ganadora del premio nacional al mejor portavoz y consultora de discapacidades bilingües se encuentra en la portado junto con su hijo de ocho años, Joshua, quien fue diagnosticado con TEA. Estamos muy emocionados por publicar su artículo exclusivo, Guía de intervención temprana y cómo encontrar servicios en los 50 estados de Los Estados Unidos. dirección justo al alcance de sus manos. Esta versión también presenta un excelente artículo de la Dra. Mary Jones, pediatra que se mudó recientemente a la Republica Dominicana proveniente de los Estados Unidos con su familia de siete personas en busca de una vida más sencilla. No se pierdan de su artículo, Nuestro viaje con necesidades excepcionales: Cómo el traslado a otro país creó una vida más tranquila, donde discute como este cambio afectó de manera positiva a sus hijos con TEA y las modificaciones que pueden hacer en su vida diaria para fomentar la paz. Adicionalmente, estamos emocionados por compartir Entendiendo la disparidad de apoyo para las familias hispanas y cómo superarla, escrito por la Dra. Stephanie C. Holmes, BBCC, quien es una consejera profesional, educadora, autora y especialista certificada para tratar TEA. Una colección de artículos escritos por defensores como Temple Gradin, PhD. y Debra Moore, PhD, Siena Castellon, Noah Seback, J. Edwards Holt, Nicole Dauz, están orgullosamente incluidos en esta edición especial de Exceptional Needs Today. Cada uno de estos artículos ha sido traducido al español por estudiantes universitarios pertenecientes a una clase de nivel superior de traducción en Lee University, Tennessee. Nos gustaría agradecer a nuestro fantástico equipo de traductores, Erica Holmes, Cameron Hatcher, Julia Gambill, Kierstin Havens, Sarah Leab, y nuestros correctores Erica Holmes y Luis Eduardo De Paz Capobianco. También estamos muy agradecidos con nuestros contribuidores, anunciantes y subscriptores quienes continúan apoyándonos y son una parte integral de nuestra revista ganadora de premios. Nos encantaría pedirles que alienten a sus amigos y familiares a subscribirse a Exceptional Needs Today. Saludos cordials, Amy Sigamos promoviendo la conciencia, aceptación e inclusión de las comunidades con necesidades especiales mientras trabajamos por hacer un cambio significativo para el futuro – JUNTOS! 1 Zuckerman KE, Lindly OJ, Reyes NM, Chavez AE, Macias K, Smith KN, Reynolds A. Disparities in Diagnosis and Treatment of Autism in Latinx and Non-Latinx White Families. Pediatrics. 2017 May;139(5):e20163010. doi: 10.1542/peds.2016-3010. PMID: 2855 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28557734/7734; PMCID: PMC5404727

Join Dr. Holmes and Dr. Fisher as they discuss Dr. Fisher's model of medication for working with the spectrum population. Basics on types of medications and their functions are discussed as well as the dangers of stacking meds and drug-drug interactions often missed. Dr. Fisher completed his General Psychiatry residency at the University of Texas-Galveston and a Child/Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship at the University of South Carolina. He serves as the Medical leader of Springbrook Autism’s Residential and Outpatient Treatment Program (specializing in treating Autism Spectrum Disorders) and is an authority in the minimal medical management of ASD and ASD with comorbidities. Dr. Fisher speaks at Autism Conferences on Medical Overview of Autism Spectrum Disorders, Medication Management for Autism Spectrum Disorders, Myths and Misconceptions in Autism, Autism and Co-Morbid Conditions, and Helping Siblings and other Children Understand Autism.

The guys talk about how groups have changed their perspective on issues, themselves and others.

Dr. Stephanie and Abby talk about challenging and complex ND marriages and aspects such as rigidity and need for sameness that can make the NT family members feel trapped or controlled in a ND marriage or family. About today's Guest: "Abby" Abby has two decades of personal and professional experience with neurodiverse marriage, and autism-impacted family dynamics. She is the mother of three multiple neurodivergent children, and formerly married to an autistic spouse. Drawing from her extensive work with other couples, along with her own lived history, Abby writes about the complexities of neurodiverse marriage at http://www.asdmarriage.com/. Her intent is to provide an unfiltered voice to the anecdotal realities shared by many neurotypical spouses, specifically among those who navigate exceptionally challenging neurodiverse marriages. Abby works in private practice as a relationship coach for neurodiverse couples, parents, and families. From the Guest's Website: Because I am respectful of my children and former husband’s privacy, I do not identify my name on this website. In addition to over two decades spent in the field of autism, I very much attribute my family’s unique neurology, gifts, vulnerabilities and challenges as an irreplaceable element of why I am able to offer effective help and coping to others. Many fundamental challenges of neurodiverse marriage and family life can simply not be gleaned through direct client service, nor in a textbook, and certainly not (at this juncture) in a graduate school classroom. Thanks for your respect and understanding for my loved ones. You can read more and find out more at: https://asdmarriage.com/home/

Dr. Holmes and Tosha discuss what clinicians need to know about working with individuals on the autism spectrum. The importance of competency and training in working with the Autistic Community. Bio: Tosha Rollins is a Licensed Professional Counselor in South Carolina, owner of Rollins Counseling, LLC, autism advocate, public speaker, published author, and podcaster. She is dedicated to serving the autism community and teaching others how to navigate through the world of autism with ongoing education, collaboration, and consultation. She is wife to Travis and momma to three sons, Jason, Jacob,& Konnor, ages 9-23, and stepmom to Kaylee, who is now in college. She has two sons on the autism spectrum. She loves adventures, traveling, nature, and spending time with her family. Tosha also enjoys serving the community as a Lead with Love Safety Plan Coordinator. She started the Autism in Action Podcast to help families connect with autism resources, services, and support. When she is not working, she is spending quality time with her family and planning her next adventure. https://tosharollins.com/