Uniquely Human: The Podcast

Echolalia has a very special place in Barry’s life. It became a topic of fascination and an enthusiasm in his very early work with a group of wonderful young autistic boys. His deep interest resulted in a federally funded dissertation that challenged and overturned misinformed and disrespectful views of echolalia disseminated by Ivar Lovaas, the father of ABA. Rather than seeing echolalia as meaningless parroting and psychotic speech that needed to be “extinguished”, Barry’s research demonstrated that it could serve multiple communicative functions and reflected a “gestalt style” of learning language, a different strategy of language acquisition closely tied to differences in cognitive development. Barry and Dave discuss this history and how echolalia must be considered when understanding language of autistic people. They are joined by Rebecca Rosenzweig, a young autistic woman who shares her experiences with echolalia.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Barry and Dave have a lively discussion with Yasmine White, music therapist, and Jonathan Chase, autistic professional musician and self advocate. Yasmine discusses her approach to music therapy and the VOICSSⓇ together model, and her new book focusing on helping parents connecting with their children through music. Jonathan talks about his journey as a person with autism, career as a professional musician, and his current career focus on providing supports in various ways to autistic individuals and their families.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Anlor Davin, an autistic Zen meditation practitioner discusses her journey to finding her authentic self from her upbringing in France, to her immigration, autistic diagnosis and life in the United States. Since she has found her calling, she shares how she now provides the gift of meditation to autistic individuals through online service and weekend retreats.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dr. Amy Laurent, a Development Psychologist and OT, and her autistic colleague, Dr. Jacquelyn Fede, a Developmental Psychologist discuss how their relationship led to the development and evolution of Autism Level Up, a joint venture that provides a variety of services and supports to the autism community nationally and internationally. As a SCERTS Model Collaborator, Amy describes how Dr. Jacquelyn’s perspective as an autistic self-advocate encouraged them to build on the foundation of SCERTS, with extensive input from autistic people, to develop progressive autistic driven initiatives and transactional supports with the goal of improving quality of life for all, autistic people, families and allies.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The holidays can be such a fun and spiritual time of year for a lot of us, but there are also challenges, especially if you or a family member is autistic. In this special throwback episode, Kristy Forbes joins us from Australia, and Dave’s wife Kristen spills the tea on their own family’s strategies for enjoying the holidays together. And, hear a special performance from our autistic friend, Conner.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

For 25 years, Barry and his colleagues have conducted a unique retreat weekend in a beautiful setting in New England in partnership with Dr. Elaine Meyer of Harvard University, and Barbara Domingue, founder and Executive Director of Community Autism Resources, a parent founded and run family support agency. The retreat welcomes 50-60 parents each year, to share experiences and wisdom, and to refuel in a “non-judgmental zone”. In this podcast, we discuss the philosophy, the goals, and the nuts and bolts of conducting a retreat. Dave shares his experience as an autistic person attending the retreat. For those interested in facilitating their own retreat experiences in their community, we also discuss a unique training experience that is available as part of the weekend.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Barry and Dave welcome Scott Steindorff, a highly accomplished international television and film producer and writer. In their riveting discussion, Scott shares the many challenges he faced in life resulting from his autism and ADHD, especially in the early years. He describes the torment he experienced as he was misunderstood and misdiagnosed by people who knew him well, as well as professionals. He also credits the many gifts and talents that being neurodivergent has brought to him, and how these gifts have helped him to overcome the very real challenges he has faced. Scott is now a tireless advocate to help increase awareness and understanding of neurodivergent individuals, hoping to help others by prevent the challenges that he has experienced, and to help the world build upon and celebrate the great potential of people who think differently.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Barry and Dave discuss human rights issues with their guests, Jordyn Zimmerman and Tauna Szymanski, from both a personal and policy perspective. Jordyn Zimmerman is a nonspeaking autistic woman who was denied access to an effective AAC system well into her teen years. She experienced misunderstandings, discrimination, and psychological abuse as she was not able to communicate her sense of self, her opinions, and her basic needs. She is now a passionate advocate for non-speaking people, and their right to have access to effective AAC. Tauna Szymanski, a lawyer with disabilities, discusses the mission of CommunicationFirst, an organization she co-founded, as protecting and assuring the rights non-speaking people to have access to effective AAC, and directions that must be taken to recognize communication as a human right for people with developmental and acquired conditions that limit speech development.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

An exploration of the life and career of award-winning autistic playwright Jody O'Neill, discussing her play 'What I (don't) know about Autism' and its impact on educating the public. The podcast also delves into the challenges and triumphs of the performing arts industry and the accessibility of the play through in-person and livestream options with various features for a diverse audience.

Shelly Christensen brings a vast amount of experience in helping various faith communities be more welcoming and inclusive. As a professional with deep experience and expertise in faith communities and disabilities, and as a parent of a young man on the autism spectrum, and as a person with a disability herself, she discusses her experiences as a parent-professional and the need to work with the leadership of faith communities to create opportunities to families and individuals that allow them to feel comfortable, respected and included. In our “Enthusiasm of the Week” segment, 8 year old Ryan and his mother discuss his enthusiasm for number blocks and how it has been of benefit in many different ways.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.