{"href":"http://player.captivate.fm/services/oembed?url=http%3A%2F%2Fplayer.captivate.fm%2Fepisode%2F73d79cc8-f7d1-4b8e-b172-c3616f7ce245","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Captivate.FM","provider_url":"https://www.captivate.fm","width":600,"height":200,"type":"rich","html":"","title":"Autism Isn't About Patience","description":"Intro: Welcome back to another episode on \u201cwhat the AUTISM?!\u201d This podcast is for anyone who is struggling with understanding what autism is and how we can better empower our autism community through research proven methods. In each episode, I will be sharing with you ground-breaking research and how the diagnosis of autism can often be misunderstood. If you are a new listener to our podcast, I highly recommend you start from episode 1 to catch you up to speed on various terminology and concepts! Now let\u2019s get started\u2026\n\nI want to use today\u2019s episode as an opportunity for us to have an open dialogue with our listeners who have been impacted by the autism diagnosis. Today I\u2019ll be sharing with you a short snippet of my experience working with children and adults diagnosed with autism and provide you with an opportunity to share yours!\n\nLet me tell you, since 2013 when I first started working as a behavior therapist, it\u2019s been a long journey of learning for me and the learning never ends. When you think you know everything there is to possibly learn, a new learning opportunity arises. And I think that is what\u2019s most important in this whole conversation about autism awareness. No one expects you to know everything there is to this diagnosis. What would encourage and support this community of individuals is for the us, the community, to remain open-minded and curious to learn more about the diagnosis, so that we can help dissipate some of the discrimination towards individuals with learning disabilities.\n\nDuring the last 8 years of working with children and adults with autism, the biggest feedback I\u2019ve received from friends, relatives, random strangers is \u201cwow! You must be really patient.\u201d And they couldn\u2019t be any further from the truth. I\u2019m definitely not as patient as I would like to be. I don\u2019t like to wait in any sort of line for more than 5 minutes. I don\u2019t like drivers who take their time making a wide right turn instead of using their blinkers to cut closer to the curb. A new year\u2019s resolution that I miserably fail at since birth is \u201cbeing more patient.\u201d So why and exactly how did I continue working with the autistic community? You see, working with individuals with a learning disability isn\u2019t necessarily about patience...I\u2019ve learned that it\u2019s about urgency and envisioning a bigger future. Patience can only get you to a certain point before you race past your threshold and you completely burn out, and that was one of the first things I learned when I started off as a behavior therapist. Whenever I had a new bruise or a bite mark, or whenever I lost another t-shirt to an aggressive episode, patience without vision only made me exhausted and fearful heading into another day of work. So what do I mean by \u201curgency\u201d and \u201cvision?\u201d As a BCBA, I learned that a treatment program needs to be approached with urgency. Opportunities to maximize learning are limited. When I see a 2-year old, I get a sense of urgency...urgency to teach this child everything I possibly can to get them at their developmental milestone. The window of learning opportunities only grow narrower every year, and without a sense of urgency, there is no progress. This leads me to the topic of vision. As someone who works closely with families and individuals greatly affected by the autism diagnosis, it\u2019s extremely important that we stay focused on the goals and the bigger picture. I ask parents at the beginning of their child\u2019s treatment to start thinking about what they would like to see their child accomplish. I\u2019ve had parents cautiously tell me that they want to see their child go to college, but to them it feels like wishful thinking. I\u2019ve had a dad come to me and tell me that he just want his son to be able to play a game of catch with him. There are some 16-year-old clients that have told me that they want to own their cafe or their own nail shop. I\u2019ve also had a 17-year-old client tell me that he wanted to become a character designer at Disney. These are...","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300,"thumbnail_url":"https://artwork.captivate.fm/f02f73f3-4f44-4aad-b12c-6c6db09c439a/uxtznrdagt6y8gnzodxdeb7v.jpeg"}