Shannon Penrod: Autism Advice for Parents

Dr Mary Barbera discusses how to the solve problem behavior of hitting and throwing in toddlers

Podcast host, author, comedian, and autism mom, Shannon Penrod wears many hats. Today, she joins me to share her journey of autism with her son Jem and offer advice for parents out there in the thick of it.

Shannon had her son Jem later in life, at the age of 40. Despite all of the doctor’s warnings and concerns throughout her pregnancy, Jem was born healthy and seemingly neurotypical. Around age 2 is when Shannon began to notice language regression, six months went by where Jem was continuously losing skills before a doctor agreed to evaluate Jem for autism. Another three months before he had that evaluation. Jem received his autism diagnosis at just after age 2 and a half. It would be several more months before Shannon met another autism family that changed her whole view and Jem soon began ABA. Shannon shares her denial, concerns, and other big feelings associated with her journey in an effort to help parents understand, IT’S OKAY. There is hope.

Whether you have a young child who is nonverbal or with lots of skill deficits, a teen or adult who requires 24/7 care, or a young adult assimilating into neurotypical society with milestones you’d never thought you’d see… What matters is the happiness and safety of your child and yourself. Every single autism journey is going to look different. Every single child and adult is going to have different needs.

Shannon, who has read my book, is the author of her own book, Autism Parent to Parent, Sanity Saving Advice for Every Parent with a Child on the Autism Spectrum. She names in this episode as a great companion to my books and courses, and I agree. While I go into the step by step, how-tos of early intervention, Autism Parent to Parent dives into the very real and important feelings of being a parent of a child with autism, and how to cope with them when you’re right in the middle of the hard stuff and even after.

See the show notes to this podcast episode here:

Subscribe on Facebook for more free resources:

You'll Learn:
- Advice for autism parents.
- Regressions, skill loss, and other concerns…does this mean autism?
- Finding a diagnosis and receiving treatment amidst long waitlists.
- How to cope with big feelings and guilt during autism diagnosis, treatment, and beyond.
- A journey of hope, Shannon and Jem’s autism story.
- Autism Parent to Parent, a companion book to Turn Autism Around.
- Transitioning to adulthood, important skills for young adults with autism.

If you enjoyed this video on keeping positive in autism, be sure to subscribe to the channel, like this video and visit my website below. If you have more questions, leave them down in the comments section, and I will do my best to answer you. Thanks for watching today's video about problem behavior, and let's #turnautismaround together!

Interested in learning more about teaching a child with autism, special needs parenting, or other autism and special needs topics in the mental health in children niche?

You can also connect with us at:

Dr. Mary Barbera. I fell into the autism world as an autism mom in 1999 when her first-born son, Lucas, was diagnosed with autism. Since then, she became a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst and best-selling author of The Verbal Behavior Approach. Since 2015, she’s created 3 autism online courses based on applied behavior analysis for professionals and "gung-ho" parents. Whether you’re looking for autism parenting strategies, working with development delays in children, or in search of autism help for professionals, I can encourage you to subscribe to the channel and join me on my journey. I’ll be providing weekly autism resources that you don’t want to miss.

#Autism #shorts

[jacobbornowsky]

We are starting this journey with my son he is 3

[jossj]

What can I deal with my teenager son's needs (hormones). How can I explain why his body is changing...its very hard situation...where I can find help for this?