A Story of Raising and Working With Children With Autism

Are you looking for resources about autism spectrum disorders in the early years?In this episode of the Learn With Less podcast, Ayelet speaks with pediatric physical therapist, Leslie Hayden about her experience as both a professional working with children with autism spectrum disorders, as well as a parent of a child with an autism spectrum disorder.Ayelet and Leslie discuss Leslie’s personal journey into her son’s autism diagnosis, some of the basics about early indicators of autism spectrum disorders, the ways Leslie’s professional background influenced her journey as a parent of a child with autism. In addition, we discuss Leslie’s tips and resources that have been helpful in her navigation of the world of autism spectrum disorders and that she references as a professional working with children on the spectrum.For the last 29 years, Leslie’s first love has been early intervention, but she also works in schools, homes and in a clinic setting. She believes in celebrating each success and feels lucky to share these special moments with families.QUICK ACCESS TO LINKS FROM THIS EPISODE:Autism SpeaksSocial Thinking website (Michelle Garcia Winner and her “Zones of Regulation”)Social Stories by Carol GrayLearn With Less podcast episode, “Using Visual Supports for Early Learning”Text transcript of this episodeWelcome to episode 53 of the Learn With Less Podcast. Today, I’m speaking with Leslie Hayden, a pediatric physical therapist who works with children on the autism spectrum, and mom to an amazing 18-year old son, Wes, who also happens to have an autism spectrum disorder. For the last 29 years, her first love has been early intervention (working with infants and toddlers), but she also works in schools, homes, and in a clinic setting. With advanced training in sensory processing, she incorporates these principles in treatment and provides educational workshops to parents and teachers. Leslie enjoys working with multi-disciplinary teams and believes empowering parents is the best way for children to succeed. Leslie is proud to be part of All About Kids, an office she shares with pediatric speech and occupational therapists. She believes in celebrating each success and feels lucky to share these special moments with families.Welcome to Learn With Less – so glad to have you. So, I’ve asked you to come onto the show today to speak a bit about both your professional and very personal experience with autism spectrum disorders. So, first can you just tell us about your background professionally, and a bit about your personal journey into your own child’s autism diagnosis.Leslie: Well, I think you summed it up pretty well. I’ve been a physical therapist for 29 years, and work strictly with children (because I don’t get along with adults very well – they whine too much). And so, I had a lot of background when we adopted our child at 8 months. We certainly didn’t think we were gonna go down the autism road with him! In the prior years, I’d worked with lots of kids that were on the spectrum. Lots of different diagnoses, lots of sensory stuff. So, it was interesting to welcome a child into our child that had all these issues, but we didn’t know it at the time. He had a lot of medical issues early on, so we thought, ok, we can deal with the medical issues. And then over the years, it just kind of became a… I don’t know how you say it! We had a lot of different diagnoses, but he evolved into a diagnosis of autism – which wasn’t very shocking at the time, but looking back, we certainly didn’t expect it.Ayelet: Right. Well, I mean… I can’t imagine that any parent does! So,