12 Days of Giving Day 4: Understanding Autism Signs - A Mother's Journey from Uncertainty to Empowerment

What if the signs were there all along, but you weren't sure what they meant? In Day 4 of our "12 Days of Giving" series, we dive deep into a conversation that could change your family's journey forever. Join us as we sit down with Jessica, founder of New View Autism (www.newviewautism.com), who opens up about both her professional expertise and personal experience as a mother navigating the world of autism diagnosis.

This powerful episode pulls back the curtain on the early signs of autism that many parents might miss, the emotional rollercoaster of diagnosis, and the critical steps toward getting the support your child needs. Jessica shares invaluable insights from her years of experience in ABA therapy, offering hope and practical guidance for families feeling overwhelmed or uncertain about their next steps.

From understanding behavior patterns to exploring comprehensive ABA services (www.newviewautism.com/services), this conversation provides a roadmap for parents seeking answers. Whether you're just starting to notice differences in your child's development or you're already on this journey, you'll find comfort in knowing you're not alone and there are proven pathways to help your child thrive.

This episode isn't just about awareness – it's about empowerment. Learn why early intervention matters, what questions to ask potential service providers, and how to build a support system that works for your family. Jessica's unique perspective as both a professional and parent offers a compassionate, informed view of what's possible when families have the right resources and support.

Don't miss this essential conversation that could be the first step toward understanding and supporting your child's unique journey. Whether you're a parent, educator, or care provider, this episode provides the knowledge and hope you need to move forward with confidence.

As always we ask you to comment, DM, whatever it takes to have a conversation to help you take the next step in your journey, reach out on any platform!

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DISCLOSURE: Awards and rankings by third parties are not indicative of future performance or client investment success. Past performance does not guarantee future results. All investment strategies carry profit/loss potential and cannot eliminate investment risks. Information discussed may not reflect current positions/recommendations. While believed accurate, Black Mammoth does not guarantee information accuracy. This broadcast is not a solicitation for securities transactions or personalized investment advice. Tax/estate planning information is general - consult professionals for specific situations. Full disclosures at www.blackmammoth.com.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Autism and ABA Therapy
• 3:01 Understanding Early Signs of Autism
• 5:54 Navigating the Diagnosis Process
• 9:06 Resources and Support for Families
• 11:57 The Role of Parents in ABA Therapy
• 14:59 The Lifelong Journey of Learning
• 17:48 Encouragement and Community Support

Transcript

Stoy Hall, CFP® (00:00.814)
We're back another episode of 12 days of giving this time with a certified badass who has a certified badass shirt on by the way. Absolutely love it. Jessica market with new view autism. You'll hear more about her in depth on next year's episode when it comes out about her clinic specifically. But today we wanted to address issues that are going on in regards to an ABA clinic, autism, things that parents are going through that maybe

they don't know they're going through it and they need help. And then what that help process looks like as well. So Jess, happy holidays, by the way. And why don't you dive into kind of a little bit about your story and how you ended up wanting to help others specifically in this industry.

Jess (00:39.95)
Thank you. Thank you. You too.

Jess (00:55.256)
Sure. So I have always worked with kids. We've had some family friends who have had kids with autism and just kind of seen the lack of supports that they had growing up. And so it wasn't ever really in the forefront of my mind. You know, it's like a teenager, like young adult, that kind of stuff, right. But just through different experiences ended up here. So I taught in Head Start and they, there were a lot of kids there that

kind of fell through the cracks. was like, families didn't know, there wasn't the education given to them, they didn't know what supports were available, nor were there really supports available. And so, happened to have a family friend who they owned an ABA clinic and said, hey, this is something I think you'd be really great at, come out and check it out. And so I went, saw it, fell in love with it, signed up for grad school, like within a couple of weeks after that. And,

It's just been history from there. So here we are.

Stoy Hall, CFP® (01:56.27)
we are in. Can you talk us through a family that may or may not know that they have a kid on the spectrum or whatever but like, what do you typically find is that first interaction with a family? And how do you help them like immediately?

Jess (02:12.896)
Yeah, so kind of two different scenarios we'll see. we, one of them is that we work with some local preschools and so we'll get calls from them that they'll say, hey, we've got this kiddo, not really sure what's going on. We maybe see some signs. We'd like you to come in and just do an observation, just see. And so I'll go in, look, yeah, some of those signs, you know, are things that we see here.

with our kiddos and so then I can recommend for them to take specific screenings. How do they talk about that with their doctor? What are some different psychologists, psychiatrists who can help them, you know, get that diagnosis? So that's one way and a lot of times for those families they just don't know what the signs are.

So maybe this is their first child and so they don't really have experience with other kids to compare what is typical for that age range. Or they do have other kids and they're saying, okay, yeah, we see some things off too, but we're not exactly sure what to do about it. The other scenario, when I get families who just come straight to me, they've already been through the diagnostic process. So they've been told, you need to get ABA.

Sometimes ABAs explain to them, sometimes it's not. So then it's a matter of educating them on how ABA can help them, what benefits will they see from it, will their kids see from it, that kind of thing.

Stoy Hall, CFP® (03:44.032)
what's let's go through that. What are like the signs right for the ones that have no clue or may or may not be questioning it? What are some initial signs pre diagnosis?

Jess (03:54.988)
Yeah, so pre diagnosis, the big things that we're looking for our communication. So are they speaking some kids will just never develop language. And I shouldn't say never, they're slow to develop language. And then other kids will develop typically, and then they'll see a regression early on. And so that's kind of the signs in that area. And then we're also looking for social interaction.

Are they able to play with their peers? Are they able to not necessarily make eye contact, but engage with other people? Are they seeking out other people to play with them, to communicate with them? Or are they more, you know, standoffish and on their own? And that sometimes we have kids who are overly social. So you've got the kid who's like running up to every stranger and it's like, hey, you know, how's it going?

or grabbing their hands or giving strangers hugs in the middle of Sam's Club, you know? And so it's such a spectrum, but there's some kind of deficit there or an over, like an over abundance of it. And then the other one that is often a clue for families is the repetitive or like rigid behaviors. So you've got the kids who are lining things up.

maybe they're asking the same question over and over. So if you do have a verbal kid and they're always asking you, hey, what's your favorite color? How old are you? You know, they're just constantly asking that. So those are kind of like the early signs or the communication, social interaction, and then that repetitive or like rigid thinking.

Stoy Hall, CFP® (05:35.014)
And then they come in now from a diagnosis standpoint, everyone always, I'm an athlete, right? Former athlete. I've been through a lot of injuries, right? The diagnosis is totally different conversation, but what does that process look like when you're observating and they go get a diagnosis? What does that look like?

Jess (05:52.419)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, so I am not heavily involved in the diagnosing, but my daughter has autism. So I've seen what that process looks like from her side of things. And so it involves a lot of testing. Some of our doctors will do that all in one day. That's what my daughter went through. It was like an eight hour testing session. It's a lot.

Stoy Hall, CFP® (06:20.11)
It's a long day.

Jess (06:21.12)
And so they look at all kinds of things they're doing, hands-on activities with them, they're doing some standardized testing. They also do a lot of interviews with parents. And so they're really wanting to know from your experience, what are they seeing at home? If they're at daycare or at school, they're gonna ask the teachers there too, like what are their experiences with your child? And then oftentimes, then the doctors have to read through all those results and...

say yes, this is where they're at or no, this is not. so you go through all that testing and sometimes you find out an answer that day. Other times you have to wait a few weeks to a month to find out what may be going on. So it just kind of varies like doctor to doctor.

Stoy Hall, CFP® (07:07.506)
you've personally went through, what was like the emotions like knowing obviously something's going on with my child, right? As it as parents, and then like going through diagnosis, which eight hours, by the way, if I had to sit for eight hours testing, I'm in trouble, like, I don't matter what it is, I can't do it. That's a long time. But what were the emotions like, diagnosis wise, and then waiting, and then receiving the diagnosis?

Jess (07:13.284)
Mm-hmm.

Jess (07:22.734)
It was a lot of that. Yeah.

Jess (07:32.086)
Mm-hmm. Because I work in this field, it was a little easier for me, I feel like, to spot, to be able to see some of those nuances here. And I'll say she's very high functioning. So we have a very different experience for some of those kids where it's very obvious. We've got a lot of big behaviors. We've got a lot of spinning or rocking or self-injury, like those kinds of things. But there was just something in the back of my mind, like, OK, something's going on.

She's super smart, she's really fun, but there's just something off. She's having a hard time with emotions and when things change and transitions, those are all really hard and these huge behaviors would happen and we're like, what the heck's going on? And so there was always this nagging. so went, the doctor was great. They were really good at making us feel comfortable with the process. And so then afterwards,

once we received the diagnosis, for us it was like a relief of, okay, now we know what's going on, right? At least there's like a name to it. So now we can look at what type of resources are going to be helpful for her. And so I think that's a lot. Families feel a combination of relief and then they're overwhelmed.

Okay, well now I've got an answer, but now what the heck do I do? Like, where do I go? Who's going to be able to help my child? When am I going to be able to get help? I mean, that's always I think the biggest one is when are people going to be able to get help? So

Stoy Hall, CFP® (09:06.862)
Yeah, because getting help. mean, the schools aren't built that way. They're not really built for, I guess, the type of health that help that they really need from like a clinic like yours. Just schools just aren't they're not going to be built to stabilize that. But what let's get into that resources side of things, right? Now, obviously, you being my client, and I know you and I know more about ABA now than I ever did 18 months ago.

Jess (09:16.696)
Mm-hmm.

Jess (09:28.802)
I'm

Stoy Hall, CFP® (09:32.818)
I've seen and heard things from a perspective of a B, a B clinics and the connotations negative connotations towards them. And I am sure that a lot of families listening that have either been in or out or looking at it. I've seen things heard things and gone through all of that. Now.

you're a huge proponent of the industry in general and trying to make that better. But what are some things that these families either going to be going into need to look at, or ones that are currently in a clinic that maybe maybe they should think about or question in order to get better service for their kids.

Jess (09:53.645)
Uh-huh.

Jess (10:01.634)
huh.

Jess (10:10.294)
Yeah, I mean, there so many different types of resources available for families. Some of them are hard to access just because of location or limited number of providers. And so they can be directed to speech or OT or ABA or just traditional like play therapy, that kind of thing. And so regardless of that, though, I think it's really important to go in, like have a tour.

of the facility if they're able and willing to let you come in and what does that space look like? What do my staff look like when they're interacting with other kids? And then...

How much are they willing to have you involved in the goal setting, that kind of thing, like how often are they updating you? So much of the progress that we see in ABA depends on how involved the families are. And so if a ABA clinic or any provider is like, no, just kind of sit out here, like we'll take care of it. That would be a red flag for me. I want to know like what's going on with my kid. How are you managing behaviors?

Who's working with them? How often are supervisors seeing them? Because within ABA, we have BCBA who's writing programming and coming up with all of that. And then you have your behavior techs who are implementing it. Well, the behavior techs may be in there doing the work every day, but if the BCBA is not providing oversight and updating them on a regular basis, then you're not going to see the progress that you would hope for.

Just making sure that your service providers are really involved and they're involving you within that process.

Stoy Hall, CFP® (11:54.134)
Yeah, I mean, it's your child. Let's be let's be real point blank. It's your child. You should be in there knowing what's going on entirely. Talk us through kind of the development over a course of time and kind of, you know, some outcomes that you've seen throughout your career so far.

Jess (11:57.102)
No.

Jess (12:13.614)
Sure. So ABA is big into the behavior management side of things, behavior reduction. So a lot of times the goals for our families are to reduce these severe behaviors that they're seeing. Along with that though, we want to build up skills because it's super cool if I can reduce tantruming and aggression towards other people and property destruction. But if I'm not teaching skills of

to replace them, eventually those behaviors are gonna come back. And so that's something that you should expect is to see behaviors decreasing, new skills increasing to replace those. And it just varies like so much. So many of our kids that we see at least at our clinic are really young. So communication, language building, play skills, social skills, those are a really big part of what we work on. And so...

It's hard to say specifically, you know, how one child is going to end up after six months of ABA, but we hope that within that time, there is some progress towards meaningful goals that the families have outlined. so, I mean, specifically, like we've seen families who their kids have come in and they can't talk, their kids can't talk, they're...

hitting themselves in the head, they're crying and laying on the floor, know, 45 minute tantrums and parents are like, what do I even do? And so then we're able to go through and pinpoint, okay, what's causing the behaviors? What are some responses that are gonna be helpful? Because again, each kid's different. And then how can we help teach them language? Not everybody is going to communicate verbally.

you're gonna have some kids who are non-speaking and so they use communication devices or they use picture cards or you know, but being able to get them some type of system where they're able to advocate for themselves, like that's the biggest goal I think that a lot of families have.

Stoy Hall, CFP® (14:19.758)
How much of the development in this progress is dependent on the parents both being educated and understanding what the game plan is?

Jess (14:32.46)
Yeah, I mean, I think it's so, so, so, so dependent. We see progress. We will still see progress. It's often much slower. And a lot of times our kids struggle with what's considered generalization. So they may learn a skill in one setting with one person, but can they then use that skill with other people and in other settings? So that's really where the families come into it is.

cool, Jess taught my kid this really awesome skill at her clinic, but then now they're not doing it at home. Okay, well, let's look at why that is. Do we need more practice sessions? Do we need a different system for at home? Maybe, you know, what's going on at home is going to look a little different than what, you know, we have in the clinic. So there might be some tweaks that are needed there. So families really, really need to be involved if they're hoping to see that long-term and maintained progress.

Stoy Hall, CFP® (15:28.586)
you obviously you do with a lot of younger kids, but time, right? We talk, obviously, I talk about money all the time. I say it's a journey. We're all on a lifelong journey, specifically when it comes to wealth. How much of what you do is more of that, right? Like, we can adjust things now. But like, it's a journey, you're going to be learning through this, you're going to be building skills, ups and downs, how much of this is truly like a lifelong journey?

Jess (15:52.576)
Yeah, I mean, yeah, all of it. All of it is. So our kids are constantly, I mean, you look at babies, right? And they're, they're learning to walk and they're learning to talk and then they're learning to tell you no to everything. And then they're asking you why a 9 million times a day, right? Like they're always picking up on something else in the environment that, and then you're trying to teach them how to navigate that. And so that's the same thing with our kids. I mean,

they can learn how to manage certain situations, but they're gonna need that constant support from families, potentially other service providers throughout that. And so a lot of what we try to teach parents is kind of these principles of, when this happens, here are some ideas. So hopefully they can apply that as their child does interact.

encounter different situations so then that way families still feel prepared and able to handle that without feeling like they have to ask in every single situation. I mean I'm here if you if you do need that like I I don't want to sound like I don't want to do that but I want families to feel empowered that they can handle it.

Stoy Hall, CFP® (17:12.078)
Absolutely.

Well, as we get to the end of this, we always ask the same question, and it's holiday season. So we want people thinking that's the whole point of this series. What is one thing that you would say give as a guide, whatever it is to our listeners that are maybe dealing with this or have friends or someone that may or may not be dealing with this to help them on that next step, because we always talk about, you just need to take that next step in one direction. That way you can start to get better get help or whatever the scenario is. So what is

one thing that you would tell our listeners to help them on this on this journey.

Jess (17:48.11)
Yeah, I think just talk about it. Talk about what you're experiencing. Share it with family members, share it with friends, because somebody along the road is going to have a connection somewhere. They're going to have an experience and they're going to be able to say, hey, I know this really great person who might be able to help you. And even just talking about it can just help release some of that stress. know, having somebody.

Having a support system with other people who can say, yeah, man, that really stinks. Like, I don't know how to help you, but I can walk alongside of you, can be really helpful. And this process is so overwhelming for a lot of families. And so talk about it, make a friend, get connected with somebody so that way you're not in it alone.

Stoy Hall, CFP® (18:36.622)
I didn't tell her to say that answer. But it melts right into how we finish. And that is, we want you to communicate. I always say like, share, comment, all that crap, but it's not for the algorithm. I swear. It is because we want you to communicate whether that's publicly DM and us messengers email, whatever. I know this for sure that Jess loves to talk and loves to help you as much as possible, as do I. So if you are sitting there listening going, and I don't I don't know how to start. Yeah, I would love to talk to people. But who where

how obviously all her socials all of our stuff will be in this episode but ultimately we just ask reach out comment do something because that first conversation can lead you to a path of healing or at least a path of understanding to help you on your journey just appreciate you appreciate the shirt by the way I love the hell out of that and everything that you do and you have a happy holidays

Jess (19:27.256)
Thanks.

Jess (19:31.886)
Thanks, you too.