Connect with Autism

05/08/2025

Looking forward to meeting lots of great people THIS SATURDAY at A Park Above!!!

05/02/2025

May is Mental Health Awareness Month 🌿🧠

Here’s a gentle reminder:
🌻 You are surrounded by love
🌱 It takes strength to ask for help
🫂 Reach out to your kin
🌊 Healing moves in waves, not straight lines
🌸 Honour your limits, rest is part of the journey
❤️‍🔥 Your voice, your story, and your spirit matter
🪶 Your resilience is powerful, you walk with your ancestors

If you need support, click the link: https://wemattercampaign.org to visit our website. If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text the 9-8-8 helpline.

05/02/2025

Great information!

05/02/2025

From a recent session with a nonspeaker.... client was given a choice of 3 pics to discuss. Word bank is the words in boxes; from there, the client could create a variety of possible sentences....and add their own words if they wished.

When a nonspeaker learns to spell and communicate what they REALLY think about a family member...Watch out. 😆🙃
If you would like to see what YOUR nonspeaker is truly capable of, book an intro session with us at connectwithautism.com

05/02/2025

When a nonspeaker learns to spell and communicate what they REALLY think about a family member...Watch out. 😆🙃

If you would like to see what YOUR nonspeaker is truly capable of, book an intro session with us at connectwithautism.com .

Inclusive recreational and speech therapy services to facilitate relationship, community, and unity in the Rio Rancho area.

04/30/2025

YES.

There are times in my life when I start feeling my own internal “defiance” increase—though I don’t usually call it by that word.

I start feeling resistant to having to answer people about the decisions I’m making. I bristle against having to respond to demands. I start feeling “touched out” by my kids touching my body, and annoyed by hearing my name called too many times.

I never feel this way when I’m by myself and no demands are placed on me. (Unless I'm placing too many demands on myself, but that's a different post.) I only feel this way when I’m in a state of stress and someone keeps needing something from me anyway, instead of just giving me time and space to work through my own distress.

I’m an adult, and on a good day, I can say all of these words. Even on a bad day, I can probably manage something “rude” like, “I don’t know, stop asking, I don’t want to talk about this right now, I need some space.” But I still have the capacity to respond (mostly) verbally.

When I imagine being five and feeling this way? And having no access to the internet or a support system of friends…and having no solid, clear memories of times when I *didn’t* feel this way so that I know it’s possible to not feel this way again…and having nobody in my life to lean on except the very people who are making me feel this level of stress? I think I’d be pretty irritable and meltdown-y and my behavior might be screaming for help, too.

But because I am an adult, there is very little I am expected to submit to. Because children are children, they are expected to submit to demands constantly.

[Image description: A blue sky with clouds on it. Text over the image reads, “What if oppositional defiance is not a disorder, but a signal that a child’s physiology is in a persistent state of stress?” The quote is by Delahooke, Ph.D. and tagged . End description.]

04/30/2025

No insurance access should not mean no therapy access.

We have solutions. Please ask.

04/27/2025

What does a Speech-Language Pathologist do?

- Evaluation and assessment to identify areas of strength and areas that need support in the areas of expressive/ receptive language, literacy, social use of language, voice, fluency, swallowing, speech sounds, grammar, cognition, alternative/augmentative communication methods;

-Treatment of areas needing support using areas of developmental strength, providing measurable goals personalized to each client;

-Support of family systems, providing counsel and motivation to all members in support of the client;

-Coaching of family and support personnel on how work together with the client in the home/community setting;

-Advocacy and working to decrease/remove the barriers to access to society, recreation, education, etc.

-Screening for co-occurring conditions and referral to appropriate professional services.

If you are struggling with any of these areas, I would love to partner with your family.... schedule a consultation or an assessment now at www.connectwithautism.com .

Inclusive recreational and speech therapy services to facilitate relationship, community, and unity in the Rio Rancho area.

04/25/2025

I consider myself lucky to witness barriers falling at the feet of my autistic-apraxic clients.... opening the door to more presumption of competence, more interests and thoughts being expressed, and whole new worlds opening up for families.

Going from simple words to whole sentences is a world of difference, if you didn't know!

Being a speech-language pathologist should never be "just a job." It should be a calling.

04/23/2025

Life and professional experience has deemed this important information.
Please know: this is accurate.

04/16/2025

When we discovered that most of the research on play development is normed on neurotypical kids, while most of the research on play intervention is aimed at autistic kids, we had to take a minute. (It’s troublesome, right?)

Once we shifted our lens from the medical model of disability (trying to “fix” deficits) to a social one (focusing on understanding and supporting people in living authentically), it all started to make sense.

In this review, we share how we can:
- use strengths-based principles and apply them to play intervention,
- differentiate three common types of play-based therapy, and
- individualize play-based therapy approaches to provide neuroaffirming intervention

Join us in celebrating Autism Acceptance Month by reading our research review “Teach, join in, play, or get out of the way” at https://www.theinformedslp.com/review/Teach-join-in-play-or-get-out-of-the-way, and earn 28 minutes of Ethics continuing education credit, too!

[Visual description: Cartoon of two children playing with blocks on the ground. One child is lining up blocks while the other is building a house. They are both smiling. Image text reads, "Autistic play is authentic play. Let's approach it in a neuroaffirming way."]

04/15/2025

Having a mental health condition should
**NEVER**
be conflated with criminal behavior.