How To Help Kids On The Autism Spectrum Build On Their Strengths & Interests

My guests this week are Dr. Temple Grandin and Dr. Debra Moore. Dr. Temple Grandin is a Professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University. She had no language until age four, and good teachers and her mother helped her develop her strengths. She has a successful career as both a designer of livestock handling systems and as a scientific researcher. She also lectures widely on her experiences with autism. She has written many books, some of them include Emergence, Labeled Autistic, Thinking In Pictures, and The Autistic Brain. Dr. Debra Moore is a psychologist with extensive experience helping children, teens, and adults on the autism spectrum. She practiced for over 30 years in the Greater Sacramento area. During that time, she served as president of the Sacramento Valley Psychology Association and Director of Fall Creek Counseling Associates. She co-authored The Loving Push: How Parents and Professionals Can Help Spectrum Kids Become Successful Adults with her co-author Temple Grandin. Their second book together is out right now and it’s called Navigating Autism: Nine Mindsets For Helping Kids On The Spectrum. In this episode, we discuss how parents and professionals can best support kids on the autism spectrum, specifically the mindsets that support positive outcomes for kids. Dr. Temple Grandin shares her perspective as an autistic adult, and Dr. Debra Moore shares her perspective as a psychologist who spent her career working with autistic kids and young adults. Learn more about Temple and Debra. Episode Highlights Counterproductive for kids on the spectrum - Parents are overprotective, especially when their children are making a transfer from teenagers to full adulthood - Not having as much work experience as past generations - Not being exposed to a wide variety of interests and trades - Too much attention being paid to the academic school work and performance itself versus real life skills * Do you know how to … take care of your hygiene? How to greet someone? How to ask for help? How to take turns? How to accept criticism? How to make a mistake and keep going, or do you freeze and stop and get anxious? Focusing on strengths - Building on and focusing on kids strengths and interests can be a real pathway towards helping them as they move forward in their lives - Strength is not the same as ability or interest. For instance a child may have a strength in math but an interest in cars and horses. Find a way to create math problems with cars and horses - Make sure that the interests and strengths are safe for the child of course. Video Games - A parent may say, video games are the only interest my child has - There is a difference between interest and addiction - Video games are created to be addictive * Research shows that if you look at a brain while a person is playing video games, it looks like an addicts brain - If all your child wants to do is sit and play video games, it is up to you to help broaden their interests. You don’t need to stop the games cold turkey, you just need to limit the time and provide other ideas or projects that might spark their interest - Get them outside! Study animals or stars or tinker in the garage What you learn in their newest book 9 Mindsets For Helping Kids On the Spectrum - Seeing your child as a whole person - Preparing the child for the adult world - Evaluating a whole child not just their mind * Geared not just toward a diagnosis, that’s a given, but they’re geared towards actionable results that parents can actually use, and that the whole team can actually use - How to get the whole TEAM on the same page – parent, teacher, practitioner, other school professionals, etc. - Developing strengths - Own and celebrate your distinct set of skills, different minds are complimentary RESOURCES & LINKS: ____________________________________________ Life Will Get Better [Book] - https://www.drbeurkens.com/book/ Dr. Nicole Beurkens [Website] - https://www.drbeurkens.com ____________________________________________ ►Blog: https://www.drbeurkens.com/blog/ ►Podcast: https://www.drbeurkens.com/podcasts/ ►Subscribe: http://bit.ly/2Z2lIaJ to learn more ►Find me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drnicolebeurkens ►On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drnicolebeurkens/ ►On Twitter: https://twitter.com/drbeurkens Check out my book ► LIFE WILL GET BETTER - Simple Solutions for Parents and Children with Attention, Anxiety, Mood, and Behavior Challenges https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOfWp-qkLCcrsMmGY8xZmoQ #autsimspectrum #buildingstrengths #parentingtips #raisingkids #specialneedskids