12:03:49 names.

12:03:49  Ok, Jason. 
I will let you take it 
12:03:52 from here. 
JASON KLAZON:
12:03:55  Thank you Heather, and 
thank you everybody for 
12:03:58 joining us today.

12:04:03  I have been invited 
here to really try to 
12:04:07 give you some 
information about who I 
12:04:09 work with, UCF-CARD, as 
well as talk to you a 
12:04:13 little bit about what is 
autism
12:04:20 . 
Go over some of the 
12:04:23 specifics behind autism, 
and give you all a 
12:04:25 chance to maybe ask some 
questions, if you have 
12:04:29 some questions 
pertaining to any of the 
12:04:31 information that I go 
over today. I do have a 
12:04:35 PowerPoint I want to 
share just to kind of go 
12:04:38 over some of this 
information. I will stop 
12:04:41 a couple times,. 
We have a nice small 
12:04:44 group, looks like.

12:04:46  We will go over 
questions, but the best 
12:04:49 way to handle it will be 
if you have a question 
12:04:53 on your mind at the 
time, if you wouldn't 
12:04:56 mind putting it in the 
chat, that would be 
12:05:00 great. 
Otherwise, because we 
12:05:01 have such a small group, 
when we have those 
12:05:04 stopping points, if you 
go ahead and ask your 
12:05:08 questions then, if you 
want to open your my cup 
12:05:11 and you are able to do 
so, we can use that 
12:05:15 route 2. 
Once again, because we 
12:05:17 have this small group. 
With that said, I'm 
12:05:20 going to go ahead and 
start sharing with you.
12:05:23  Hopefully everybody can 
see this ok.
12:05:28  Are we get together?

12:05:32  HEATHER THEOBOLD: Yes.

12:05:36  JASON KLAZON: Alright. 
Once again, what I would 
12:05:39 like to talk about first 
is who we are at
12:05:43  card, and

12:05:51  UCF-CARD. 
And then we can move on 
12:05:53 to talk a little bit 
more about autism. What 
12:05:57 is this CARD

12:06:03  saying some of you have 
heard about before? We 
12:06:06 are the center for 
autism and related 
12:06:09 disabilities. 
We are funded through a 
12:06:11 discretionary grant. 
One of several
12:06:16  discretionary grant 
projects that receive 
12:06:18 funding through the 
Department of Education. 
12:06:20 And part of what that 
means to families and 
12:06:24 professionals who 
contact us, is that for 
12:06:26 consultative services, 
there is no charge.
12:06:30  We are all about 
answering questions you 
12:06:33 have pertaining to your 
child's ASD
12:06:49  or related disability, 
and all about trying to 
12:06:52 collaborate with 
communities out there as 
12:06:54 well to partner up with 
folks who are wonderful 
12:06:57 folks here at the 
Brevard public school 
12:07:00 system as well as our 
private providers out 
12:07:03 there. 
We feel that by doing 
12:07:05 that, it will build 
capacity. It will get 
12:07:08 information out to the 
people that it really 
12:07:11 needs to. 
We do our best to stay 
12:07:13 up on the latest and 
greatest in the world of 
12:07:17 autism spectrum 
disorders, but sometimes 
12:07:19 it is easier said than 
done, because this 
12:07:22 information can move 
really quickly at times. 
12:07:24 I will share some 
information coming up 
12:07:27 here. 
We are all about getting 
12:07:29 information out,, 
getting out programmatic 
12:07:31 gaps, and I

12:07:38  find it useful to do so 
as we are collaborating 
12:07:42 with some of our 
community-based 
12:07:44 partners. 
There are some really 
12:07:45 good ones out there. 
This is a breakdown 
12:07:48 of... 
We are one of seven 
12:07:51 discretionary projects 
through CARD, we are 
12:07:53 there UCF Center for 
autism and disability. 
12:07:55 Each CARD

12:07:58  offices is affiliated 
with a state-funded 
12:08:00 university out there.

12:08:08  The reason I show you 
this graphic is because 
12:08:11 we know that sometimes 
we have people who need 
12:08:14 to move around in 
Florida for one reason 
12:08:17 or another, so if, let's 
say you signed up with 
12:08:21 our center and your job 
may be to Q2 South 
12:08:24 Florida, I wanted to 
make sure that you are 
12:08:28 aware that there are 
CARD centers and those 
12:08:30 areas as well. 
You wouldn't necessarily 
12:08:33 be working with us, but 
with one of our sibling 
12:08:36 CARD centers. 
This is a breakdown of 
12:08:39 our region. 
We cover a seven county 
12:08:41 region

12:08:45 . 
Obviously, Brevard is my 
12:08:47 main county that I 
cover, I actually live 
12:08:49 in Brevard myself. 
I hope to cover a small 
12:08:53 portion

12:08:54  of the southeast of 
Volusia County. 
12:08:56 Throughout our seven 
county region you see 
12:08:59 here, we are coming up 
on almost 18,000 
12:09:02 constituents that

12:09:04  we are serving, and of 
course, their families 
12:09:07 and support systems. 
So our numbers continue 
12:09:09 to grow and have 
continued over the past 
12:09:12 several years.

12:09:18  These are the diagnoses 
that full under ASD, you 
12:09:21 will hear me refer to 
that a lot. Any of these 
12:09:25 particular

12:09:26  diagnoses that fall 
again under the autism 
12:09:28 spectrum disorder 
umbrella so to speak 
12:09:30 would qualify

12:09:31  for our services, but 
keep in mind, we are the 
12:09:35 center for autism and 
related disabilities
12:09:37  so under the related 
disabilities portion of 
12:09:40 our title,

12:09:42  we get some other 
diagnoses that fall 
12:09:45 under that. 
Diagnoses such as 
12:09:47 childhood

12:09:52  disintegrative 
disorder, rets syndrome 
12:09:54 and one that people are 
not really aware of. If
12:10:01  a child is considered 
to be clinically deaf 
12:10:04 and clinically blind, 
and there is information 
12:10:07 and reports to back that 
up, more than likely 
12:10:10 they will end up 
qualifying for the 
12:10:13 centers

12:10:15  services as well. 
Or, another little 
12:10:17 caveat here, let's say 
the child has been 
12:10:20 diagnosed as being 
clinically deaf, and 
12:10:22 they have a secondary 
developmental or 
12:10:24 neurologic based 
disability, does it
12:10:30  doesn't have to be 
related to autism, it 
12:10:33 could be Down syndrome 
or cerebral palsy to 
12:10:35 name a couple. 
But again, the key piece 
12:10:38 is going to be

12:10:40  for them to have that 
documentation that they 
12:10:43 are considered to be 
clinically deaf, 
12:10:45 clinically blind, and 
then have that secondary 
12:10:47 developmental or 
neurological disorder. 
12:10:49 Our center, and really 
all the CARD
12:10:51  centers across the 
state operate under what 
12:10:54 we like to call for main 
areas.
12:10:57  Starting at the far 
left, are
12:11:05  individual family 
assistance area. This is 
12:11:07 the one that, again, 
concerns most of our 
12:11:10 families. 
So if you are a family 
12:11:12 member signed on here, 
this is typically where 
12:11:15 families end up 
contacting our center, 
12:11:17 or they get signed up 
with us somehow. I will 
12:11:21 share that information 
towards the end, how to 
12:11:24 do so.

12:11:27  This is where we have 
probably the most direct 
12:11:31 contact with our 
families or our 
12:11:33 constituents, because we 
do serve all ages. At 
12:11:36 times, we have adults 
that sign up for center 
12:11:39 services so we can 
communicate directly 
12:11:41 with our adult 
constituents. We can do 
12:11:44 a variety of things. 
Obviously, phone 
12:11:46 consultation, Zoom 
consultation. 
12:11:47 Face-to-face – thank 
goodness we can do 
12:11:50 face-to-face stuff 
again. Most of us at our 
12:11:53 center were certainly 
missing that.
12:11:57  But things such as 
education seminars or 
12:11:59 Q&A type sessions like 
we are doing today, just 
12:12:03 to name a few things 
under that category. If 
12:12:06 we move to the right 
under perf
12:12:10  -- professional 
education. This is where 
12:12:12 we most often work with 
professionals who reach 
12:12:15 out to us. 
They might be seeking 
12:12:18 some classroom or school 
based training. They 
12:12:20 might also be looking at 
putting together some 
12:12:23 in-service based 
information. I have been 
12:12:26 out to several schools 
in the past where I have 
12:12:29 been part of their 
in-service process. 
12:12:31 Here's through CARD, we 
also have our annual
12:12:34  conference that takes

12:12:44  place, typically the 
second or third weekend 
12:12:47 in January. 
The last few years it's 
12:12:49 been in the third 
weekend. That has been 
12:12:52 going on... 
I think we are coming up 
12:12:55 on our 30th year, soon. 
Moving over to the 
12:12:58 technical assistance 
category, this is where 
12:13:01 we can work with you 
more directly with 
12:13:03 teachers or classrooms 
or maybe certain schools
12:13:09 , or exceptional student 
education department 
12:13:11 within a certain school. 
We narrow our focus
12:13:16  usually a bit more on 
technical assistance. 
12:13:19 And what we see here is 
as long as we can 
12:13:22 justify that we have 
some students in this 
12:13:25 case that have autism 
spectrum disorders
12:13:28 , they don't necessarily 
have to be signed up 
12:13:31 with our center, but we 
know that they have 
12:13:34 autism spectrum 
disorders are one of the 
12:13:37 other qualifying

12:13:39  related disabilities, 
we can usually justify 
12:13:41 going ahead and working 
with them through a 
12:13:44 technical assistance 
area or category
12:13:50 . 
The final far right 
12:13:52 quick category that we 
operate in, I will go to 
12:13:55 Volusia County tomorrow 
to a school to provide 
12:13:58 some public awareness, 
but what we are doing 
12:14:01 today is considered 
public awareness for us 
12:14:04 as well. 
It is where we get a 
12:14:07 chance to talk about CARD

12:14:09 , to talk about autism. 
We have a website I will 
12:14:13 share with you. 
Another way that we get 
12:14:16 the word out about us 
and autism
12:14:18 . 
But the way -- event I'm 
12:14:21 going to tomorrow in 
Volusia County will kind 
12:14:24 of be a fair style that 
is set up. I 
12:14:27 participated in the 
transition fair here in 
12:14:30 Brevard about a month 
and 1/2 ago. This is 
12:14:33 usually where we get to

12:14:37  they will have a table 
or a play set up for us, 
12:14:41 and this is where 
parents and other 
12:14:44 professionals get to 
come around and we get 
12:14:47 to talk to them and 
again spend a little 
12:14:50 one-on-one time with you 
and/or small group time. 
12:14:53 And once again, share 
information, or as much 
12:14:56 information as we can. 
Like I said, we are 
12:14:59 funded through the 
state, so we have some 
12:15:02 things we can

12:15:03  not do. 
One of the things we 
12:15:06 cannot do is we are not 
equipped to handle 
12:15:09 emergency crisis 
situations. Even things 
12:15:11 such as parents that 
will contact us and they 
12:15:14 will have something 
going on within the 
12:15:17 moment. 
To be truthful with you, 
12:15:19 it depends what our 
schedules look like
12:15:25  whether or not we will 
be able to talk to them 
12:15:29 about what is going on. 
We are not set up and 
12:15:33 equipped to handle that. 
We do not provide any 
12:15:36 direct therapies or case 
management services
12:15:50 . 
We really don't provide 
12:15:52 any types of direct 
services. We are more 
12:15:55 about education, 
consultation. We are 
12:15:57 definitely not legal or 
educational advocates, 
12:15:59 even though we do 
sometimes or this from 
12:16:02 individuals, and at 
times, again, depending 
12:16:04 on our schedule and the 
schedules flexibility, 
12:16:07 we can maybe come to 
school meetings, IEP 
12:16:10 meetings, stuff like 
that. Once again, it 
12:16:12 depends on our schedule, 
but we can act as -- we 
12:16:16 cannot act as a legal 
advocate if we attend 
12:16:19 that meeting. 
We are there for 
12:16:22 support. 
We do not provide 
12:16:23 medical advice or 
diagnoses, even though 
12:16:26 our director is

12:16:27  a psychologist and 
could in private 
12:16:29 practice, but under 
guidelines through the 
12:16:31 state, we are not able 
to do that. We work 
12:16:35 through the state, so 
financial assistance is 
12:16:38 off the table. 
In fact, every year, we 
12:16:40 are always keeping our 
fingers crossed to make 
12:16:43 sure we keep our funding 
up and going to the 
12:16:47 level that we needed. 
We are certainly not 
12:16:50 going to try and 
duplicate any types 
12:16:52 of... 
Whether it is 
12:16:54 state-funded services... 
Or... This is my 
12:16:56 personal preference, I 
will meet with families 
12:16:59 all the time and they 
will ask for advice on 
12:17:02 service or type of 
therapy, and I am always 
12:17:05 ready to let them know 
what I know about that 
12:17:09 type of therapy or 
service. However, if I 
12:17:12 feel things are going 
well, I will not try and 
12:17:16 trample on any toes 
there or trying to 
12:17:18 duplicate any of those 
services. So these are 
12:17:21 some of the things we 
can and cannot do. I 
12:17:25 just wanted to pause 
here really quick. I do 
12:17:28 not know if we have any 
questions. I can 
12:17:32 actually see the chat. 
HEATHER THEOBOLD: We had 
12:17:34 one, but it was a direct 
message. We are waiting 
12:17:38 to share... 
It was asking about, 
12:17:40 again, welcome to you 
that have joined us. But 
12:17:44 it was earlier, when you 
mentioned some of the 
12:17:47 services and they posted

12:17:51 , "I have been on a 
waiting list for a long 
12:17:55 time now. 
Do you know when I will 
12:17:58 be called?" JASON 
KLAZON: It depends what 
12:18:00 the waiting list is for. 
I will take a guess that 
12:18:04 maybe you are on the

12:18:07  (indiscernible) waiting 
list through the agency 
12:18:10 for persons with 
disabilities. There 
12:18:11 shouldn't be a waiting 
list for us. Our center 
12:18:15 services are usually 
pretty quick to kind of 
12:18:18 get things up and going. 
But it really depends on 
12:18:21 what that waiting list 
is, if you happen to 
12:18:24 remember, maybe you 
could type it in the 
12:18:27 chat. 
HEATHER THEOBOLD: Feel 
12:18:29 free. 
Now is a time to either 
12:20:26 again, as long as you 
guys live here in 
12:20:29 Brevard, and I assume 
you probably do, you 
12:20:32 will get set up with 
kind of a one-on-one 
12:20:35 consultation. 
And I have a feeling I 
12:20:37 might be able to guide 
you with some better 
12:20:41 answers once we are able 
to do that. SPEAKER: Ok, 
12:20:44 thank you. 
JASON KLAZON: You are 
12:20:47 welcome. 
HEATHER THEOBOLD: Thank 
12:20:48 you for taking the 
microphone and being an 
12:20:51 advocate for yourself 
and asking those 
12:20:53 questions.

12:20:57  Ok, that was the only 
one I have seen, and she 
12:21:01 was very patient and 
waited. JASON KLAZON: 
12:21:03 Thank you. 
Thank you, that was a 
12:21:06 great question. 
And I know the services, 
12:21:09 like I said, it can be a 
challenge sometimes to 
12:21:12 be on those weightless, 
but I like to tell most 
12:21:16 of my families, 
especially for APA, go 
12:21:18 ahead and get on as many 
weightless as he can, 
12:21:22 because you never know. 
Unless they are telling 
12:21:25 you when it is going to 
happen, you never know 
12:21:28 which one they end up 
taking you on first. 
12:21:32 Alright, with that set, 
I will put into the next 
12:21:35 section, and talk to a 
bit about autism. I know 
12:21:39 some of you are probably 
very well versed in 
12:21:42 autism spectrum 
disorders. Others may 
12:21:44 not, so I will keep it 
as basic as I possibly 
12:21:48 can. 
I want to really talk to 
12:21:50 you about what is autism 
spectrum disorder. We 
12:21:53 hear this term, it is 
definitely a little more 
12:21:57 prevalent out there, 
nowadays. Really, it is 
12:21:59 a developmental 
disorder. And it is one 
12:22:02 that is neurologic 
based, so it often 
12:22:04 affects a person in what 
we like to call to core 
12:22:08 deficit area. 
The first being that of 
12:22:11 social communication, 
social interactions. The 
12:22:13 second being that kind 
of restricted, 
12:22:15 repetitive type 
interests and behaviors. 
12:22:17 I will break those down 
further for you.
12:22:21  When a person is 
seeking testing or 
12:22:23 evaluation for their 
loved one, their child 
12:22:26 with autism spectrum 
disorder,
12:22:30  I will first speak to 
the medical diagnostic 
12:22:33 model

12:22:38 . 
That would be kind of 
12:22:40 you getting that private 
diagnosis, as opposed to 
12:22:43 maybe the educational 
diagnosis.
12:22:46  I will try and match 
the two as much as I can 
12:22:50 hear as well. 
What they are saying is 
12:22:53 these diagnosticians or 
evaluators that are 
12:22:55 conducting the testing 
are looking at
12:23:01  that first core deficit 
area in social 
12:23:03 communication, social 
interaction, and they 
12:23:05 are using a testing 
model but typically, 
12:23:08 they are probably most 
comfortable using. Based 
12:23:10 on that testing model, 
they are looking at 
12:23:13 three sub criteria's 
most specifically, there
12:23:15  looking to see how well 
does this individual or 
12:23:19 this child share 
information?
12:23:25  How well can they 
communicate? How well 
12:23:27 can they express needs 
and wants? How well can 
12:23:31 they understand needs 
and wants of others? 
12:23:33 There looking at

12:23:34  expressive and 
receptive language. They 
12:23:36 are also looking at how 
well does the individual 
12:23:40 either express or use 
nonverbal cues, and how 
12:23:42 well do they understand 
nonverbal cues or 
12:23:45 gestures of others? 
Can the final 
12:23:47 subcategory they tend to 
look at is that of 
12:23:50 relationships. 
How will this an 
12:23:52 individual develop and 
maintain relationships. 
12:23:54 At and improve.

12:23:55  -- At an appropriate 
level.
12:24:04  It is not necessarily 
based on the 
12:24:07 chronological needs, but 
based more on the 
12:24:09 developmental level. 
They often kind of look 
12:24:12 about information. 
That is the first core 
12:24:14 area they are looking at.

12:24:18  And sorry, I kind of 
clicked it too fast. All 
12:24:22 of these have to be 
present. That was a big 
12:24:26 change that came about 
with the newest revision 
12:24:28 for those of you who 
have heard of the 
12:24:32 diagnostic and 
statistics manual, fifth 
12:24:33 edition of mental health 
disorders, text revised.
12:24:37  That is usually the 
manual that they are 
12:24:39 storing all this 
information in and 
12:24:42 referring to when they 
are going through these 
12:24:44 tests. 
All of these sub areas 
12:24:47 have to be prevalent

12:24:53 . 
Now, when we get into 
12:24:55 the second core deficit 
area, that restrictive 
12:24:58 repetitive behavior area 
or category, what they 
12:25:00 are saying here is we 
have four sub criteria, 
12:25:04 but only two or more 
needs to be present. So 
12:25:07 if we only have one, or 
they are not showing any 
12:25:11 signs, then a person, 
technically shouldn't be 
12:25:14 receiving a diagnosis of 
autism spectrum disorder.
12:25:16  So what they are saying 
these are, the first one 
12:25:20 being, again, those 
repetitive behaviors.
12:25:23  It could be motoric in 
nature, it could be 
12:25:26 verbal in nature where 
they are repeating words 
12:25:29 or sounds. 
Anything, again that is 
12:25:31 just repeated over and 
over again is what they 
12:25:35 are saying here. 
They are also saying a 
12:25:37 person may have

12:25:39  excessive adherence to 
routines. For our kids,
12:25:47  they will learn the 
routine, and all of a 
12:25:50 sudden there is a change 
and the routine is 
12:25:54 broken. 
How will they deal with 
12:25:56 that? 
Kids with autism, for 
12:25:58 sure, not so well.

12:26:06  That third area is the 
highly fixated interest 
12:26:09 area. 
They may show an 
12:26:10 abnormal intensity for a 
subject. I know some of 
12:26:14 the ones that I have 
come across in the past 
12:26:17 just to name a few, I 
have several young men 
12:26:21 and ladies that were 
really interested in 
12:26:24 ceiling things, and they 
were much younger, so 
12:26:27 probably five or six 
years old. Not many five 
12:26:30 or six-year-old so that 
interested in ceiling 
12:26:32 fans. 
I just talked to a mom a 
12:26:35 couple weeks ago. 
Her mom -- young 
12:26:38 teenager 13 or 14 was 
very interested in 
12:26:41 elevators. 
He knows everything 
12:26:42 about elevators. 
Just to name a few of 
12:26:45 those, again. 
Sort of unusual topics 
12:26:47 for that age group. 
And then they are also 
12:26:51 looking at whether or 
not the individual is 
12:26:53 experiencing sensory 
reactivity of any type. 
12:26:56 Again, they're kind of 
looking outside of what 
12:26:59 would be considered the 
normal realm. They are 
12:27:01 looking at are they 
hypersensitive to maybe 
12:27:04 touch? 
Are they hypersensitive
12:27:06  to stimuli in the 
environment? If all of a 
12:27:10 sudden somebody came in 
the room and yelled
12:27:13 , "Fire! 
Fire! We need to get out
12:27:19 !" And they didn't react 
at all, that would be 
12:27:23 hypersensitivity to that 
particular situation. So 
12:27:25 they are looking at 
those four
12:27:27  subcategories and 
saying you need two of 
12:27:30 those for a diagnosis of 
ASD.
12:27:39  I wish the DSM five TR 
had this graphic. 
12:27:42 Unfortunately, it does 
not. It's all black and 
12:27:45 white and has a lot of 
text. But if you were
12:27:49  able to open up the 
manual fifth edition, 
12:27:52 text revised, you would 
have all this broken 
12:27:55 down into text. 
Really what they are 
12:27:57 saying regarding the 
category of autism 
12:27:59 spectrum disorder is 
they are saying, number 
12:28:02 one, it is a broad 
category. We do have 
12:28:05 individuals that get 
diagnosed
12:28:07 . 
We know that they 
12:28:09 require varying levels 
of support, so they 
12:28:11 broke it down into three 
levels of support.
12:28:15  All the support is 
based on those raindrops 
12:28:18 that you see here on our 
screen. Those are our 
12:28:22 two core deficit 
categories that I just 
12:28:24 spoke about. 
So based on those 
12:28:26 categories, and the test 
and evaluation pieces 
12:28:29 that they use, when a 
person is diagnosed with 
12:28:32 an ASD, they put them 
either at level I, level 
12:28:36 II or level III.

12:28:40  All level one 
individuals are usually 
12:28:42 individuals that we know 
they will require some 
12:28:45 outside support, but 
probably not a whole 
12:28:48 lot. 
So these are folks that 
12:28:50 more than likely used to 
be considered Asperger's 
12:28:53 or higher functioning 
autistic individuals.
12:28:59  Level II individuals 
are folks that, again, 
12:29:02 they are probably going 
to require more support 
12:29:05 than our Level One 
individuals, but 
12:29:07 probably not as much 
support as our level 
12:29:10 III. 
Our Level 3 individuals 
12:29:11 are folks that require 
what I like to term 
12:29:15 probably round-the-clock 
support. They will 
12:29:16 require support in just 
about every area of 
12:29:19 their lives. 
Pretty significant 
12:29:21 support.

12:29:25  Again, when a person 
gets an ASD diagnosis, 
12:29:27 they are going to get 
put into one of this 
12:29:31 level

12:29:35  are categorical levels 
of support. Just wanted 
12:29:37 to make sure everybody 
understood this. Once 
12:29:40 again, that is our 
medical model. I will go 
12:29:43 back to the slide real 
quick. That is based on 
12:29:47 our medical model. 
When you're looking at 
12:29:50 an educational 
diagnosis, the medical 
12:29:51 model

12:29:53  often looks a little 
more holistically at the 
12:29:56 individual. 
What I mean by that is 
12:29:59 they are looking at the 
individual, how well do 
12:30:02 they do, all these 
different things at 
12:30:04 home. 
In the community, at 
12:30:06 school. 
When you are looking at 
12:30:08 more of an educational 
diagnosis, you are 
12:30:11 looking at the 
individual as a student 
12:30:13 within that school, 
possibly within that 
12:30:16 school district. 
So sometimes, I know, 
12:30:18 that is where these 
models differ a little 
12:30:21 bit. 
I talked to parents 
12:30:22 pretty frequently about 
those differences, 
12:30:24 because once in a while, 
a child may have a 
12:30:28 medical diagnosis of ASD 
but they may not modify 
12:30:31 for an educational 
diagnosis, because they 
12:30:33 are not meeting the full 
criteria on the 
12:30:36 educational side of 
things. So I just wanted 
12:30:39 to throw that in there 
and make sure everybody 
12:30:42 was understanding that.

12:30:44  I also want to share 
prevalence he rates with 
12:30:47 you guys. 
This is according to the 
12:30:50 Center for disease 
control. They have been 
12:30:53 a pretty active bunch of 
the past couple of years 
12:30:56 with our COVID stuff. 
But believe it or not, 
12:30:59 they are keeping up with 
autism and other 
12:31:02 disorders and 
disabilities out there 
12:31:04 as well. 
They currently say that 
12:31:06 one in every 44 children 
in the US today have 
12:31:10 ASD. 
That number just jumped 
12:31:12 from one in 54 to 1 in 
44 just this past 
12:31:16 December. 
Keep in mind, this 
12:31:18 information or these 
prevalence he rates are 
12:31:20 also based on their 
statistics and 
12:31:22 research-based 
information, to play
12:31:32  -- typically from two – 
three years ago. When 
12:31:36 you think of it like 
that, we are looking at 
12:31:39 it here in 2022, so we 
are looking at 
12:31:42 information probably 
back from 2019, maybe 
12:31:45 the beginning of 2020. 
So in actuality, our 
12:31:47 rates could be higher at 
this point in time, but 
12:31:51 they have to base it on 
something, so again, 
12:31:54 just wanted to explain 
that so everybody had a 
12:31:57 good info understanding 
of where they get this 
12:32:00 information from. 
The CDC is saying that 
12:32:03 typically for – find 
four – five individuals 
12:32:06 who are male

12:32:15  get diagnosed more than 
female. Genetically 
12:32:18 speaking, males because 
they have the XY 
12:32:20 chromosomal makeup that 
is probably why they get 
12:32:23 diagnosed more 
frequently. And then you 
12:32:25 have other people that 
say it is not so much 
12:32:29 based on genetics. 
It is just maybe the 
12:32:32 testing itself. 
It's may be cured more 
12:32:35 towards catching some of 
the more expected 
12:32:37 behaviors of males as 
opposed to females. Like 
12:32:40 I said, there is still a 
couple different 
12:32:43 theories and camps of 
thought out there. One 
12:32:45 thing we know about 
autism, is it knows no 
12:32:49 bounds. 
We see it in all racial 
12:32:51 backgrounds, ethnic 
backgrounds and social 
12:32:53 economic groups, for 
sure. For some of you 
12:32:56 who may have younger 
children or some of you 
12:32:59 may be professionals 
working with not
12:33:02  -- younger kids and 
they are not necessarily 
12:33:05 diagnosed. 
You may be on the 
12:33:07 lookout for some of 
these early signs. How 
12:33:10 can I initially detected 
my young child that 
12:33:13 maybe we have autism 
spectrum disorder going 
12:33:15 on?

12:33:17  We know that there is 
no physical signs. So 
12:33:20 it's not as if you can 
just look at a person 
12:33:24 without observing 
behaviorally what they 
12:33:26 are doing and say for 
sure that they have 
12:33:29 autism. 
We also know that we 
12:33:31 really do not have any 
genetic-based tests or 
12:33:35 blood tests or really 
any types of what we 
12:33:38 would consider 
traditional medical 
12:33:39 tests to say for sure 
that ASD. We still have 
12:33:43 to rely on behavioral

12:33:44  observations and the 
development of the 
12:33:46 individual, which often, 
that kind of comes back 
12:33:49 to our parents. 
So you all who are 
12:33:52 parents of children with 
autism or suspected
12:34:03  autism, when you go 
through that testing 
12:34:05 evaluation process, 
often you are asked a 
12:34:08 ton of questions. 
You are as much a part 
12:34:11 of the process as her 
child being observed 
12:34:14 behaviorally, because 
they want to see when 
12:34:17 did some of these 
behaviors develop or 
12:34:19 start? 
With all of the updated 
12:34:22 testing and evaluating 
out there these days, it 
12:34:24 has become a lot more 
reliable. Over the past 
12:34:28 couple of years, I have 
seen many more children 
12:34:31 get signed up with our 
center at maybe the age 
12:34:35 of two – three years 
old. Once again.,
12:34:39  I've been doing this 
for about 16 years, and 
12:34:42 it was almost on a 
normally when I started 
12:34:45 to see a child signed up 
that young or having a 
12:34:49 diagnosis that young. 
So it speaks to all the 
12:34:52 research and testing 
that has been done and 
12:34:55 taken on up there. 
There of
12:35:05  -- different screenings 
out there. Usually what 
12:35:08 they are doing is taking 
a 10 – 15 minute 
12:35:12 snapshot of the 
individual. They may 
12:35:14 actually sit with you 
and your child, let's 
12:35:17 say. 
And they might observe 
12:35:18 your child based on 
those core deficit areas 
12:35:21 that I talked about 
earlier, and ask you 
12:35:24 several questions based 
on their developmental 
12:35:26 schedule, did they meet 
certain milestones? And 
12:35:29 their job isn't 
necessarily to diagnose 
12:35:31 an individual with ASD, 
there job is more or 
12:35:35 less to give you some 
clues based on what they 
12:35:38 know about the more 
comprehensive 
12:35:40 evaluations and testing 
that is out there. 
12:35:42 Usually these screeners, 
when they get to a point 
12:35:46 where they feel like 
they have seen enough,
12:35:48  and they do have enough 
of the observed 
12:35:51 behaviors or information 
leading them to think 
12:35:54 that maybe this child 
has ASD, maybe
12:35:59  they will refer you to 
get a more comprehensive 
12:36:02 evaluation. 
Typically those more 
12:36:03 comprehensive valuations 
are done by either 
12:36:05 clinical psychologists 
or, as you can see up on 
12:36:09 the screen here, at 
times, we have some 
12:36:12 developmental types of 
pediatricians or 
12:36:13 neurologists who feel 
comfortable enough and 
12:36:16 licensed and certified

12:36:17  to provide testing. 
Once again, very often, 
12:36:20 my experience leads me 
to believe that most 
12:36:23 often it is clinical 
psychologists.
12:36:25  So I wanted to kind of 
further breakdown
12:36:30 , again, based on these 
early signs that people 
12:36:33 might be looking for as 
to help them decide
12:36:45  if their son or 
daughter has ASD. I want 
12:36:49 to break these 
categories down further. 
12:36:51 Some of the more common 
social communication 
12:36:53 challenges that you 
might notice is if your 
12:36:56 child starts... 
They are talking about 
12:36:58 things, and they are may 
be lacking expression in 
12:37:02 their voice. 
For instance, just as an 
12:37:04 example out there,

12:37:17  a young man may have 
autism, and may have 
12:37:20 just had a big birthday 
party that he was 
12:37:23 anticipating for weeks. 
He comes to school the 
12:37:26 next day and the teacher 
asks, "How was your 
12:37:29 party last night?" And 
she already talked to 
12:37:32 mom and dad and knows it 
was really exciting. And 
12:37:36 he just says deadpan, 
"It is great." Again, he 
12:37:39 is telling you that it 
was great, but many of 
12:37:42 us are judging him on 
that expressive part of 
12:37:46 his language. 
If that emotion or 
12:37:48 inflection isn't there 
and doesn't line up with 
12:37:51 the phrase he is saying, 
we may misinterpret. Of 
12:37:54 course folks with autism 
very often misinterpret 
12:37:57 the tones and nonverbal 
cues of others who are 
12:38:00 trying to communicate 
with them as well.
12:38:04  This is a key piece 
with our folks with 
12:38:07 autism, they are often 
very literal thinkers 
12:38:10 and processors. 
They often think of the 
12:38:13 world in very 
black-and-white terms. 
12:38:14 So if you present 
something to them, you 
12:38:17 might want to think 
about how you are 
12:38:20 presenting it to them, 
because they could 
12:38:23 misinterpret it. 
Or if you are using 
12:38:25 sarcasm or something 
where you are saying 
12:38:28 something, but you are 
really implying 
12:38:30 something else, they may 
end up missing that. So 
12:38:33 those are some of the 
more common social 
12:38:36 communication 
challenges. Some of the 
12:38:38 more common social 
interaction challenges 
12:38:40 often involve many of 
our folks with autism 
12:38:43 also have some form of 
anxiety going on in 
12:38:46 their life. 
Like I said, autism is 
12:38:48 brain-based. 
It often affects and 
12:38:50 individual

12:38:51 . 
Really, their abilities 
12:38:52 to use their executive 
functioning skills, 
12:38:54 their abilities to kind 
of keep themselves 
12:38:57 organized, to understand 
that when I am going 
12:39:00 into a social situation, 
there are unwritten rules
12:39:04 , often, that I need to 
follow, depending upon 
12:39:07 the social situation of 
course. Some people feel 
12:39:10 a little more 
comfortable with
12:39:15 ... 
Folks without autism, 
12:39:16 you will act more 
differently than you 
12:39:19 would act in a more 
professional situation. 
12:39:22 We know they have

12:39:23  a difficult time 
picking up on social 
12:39:26 cues or using those 
pragmatic language 
12:39:28 skills, is what we like 
to call them.
12:39:31  Were trying to decide 
before we go into this 
12:39:34 social situation what I 
should say, what I 
12:39:37 should do, how I should 
say it, and so on. Such 
12:39:41 is not always 
understanding the rules 
12:39:43 of engagement or 
understanding what I'm 
12:39:45 supposed to do 
interactively.
12:39:55  Our final area here, 
the restrictive 
12:39:57 repetitive patterns of 
behavior, pretty much 
12:40:00 what it says. 
This is where kids 
12:40:02 engage in those 
repetitive types of 
12:40:04 behaviors where they 
might really have an 
12:40:07 intense desire for 
routine or an item or a 
12:40:10 subject or an object. 
I know I spoke a little 
12:40:14 bit about the 
organizational problems, 
12:40:16 but they can also come 
into play under this 
12:40:19 subcategory as well. 
They might get a little 
12:40:22 bit more focused on the 
actual details of a 
12:40:25 situation, as a post

12:40:28  -- opposed to seeing 
the overall situation. 
12:40:31 Most of us who don't 
have autism go into a 
12:40:34 situation, and often, we 
are kind of looking at 
12:40:38 it as a whole, and then 
from there, we are 
12:40:41 reducing it down to 
maybe more specific 
12:40:44 details, where as in 
many cases, folks with 
12:40:46 autism are doing the 
opposite, kind of 
12:40:49 starting with the 
details, and then kind 
12:40:52 of expanding into the 
hole from there. Unless, 
12:40:54 of course, someone has 
been working on
12:41:00  with them how to do a 
social autopsy of sort. 
12:41:04 So now what? 
We talked about having a 
12:41:07 better understanding of 
what ASD is, how people 
12:41:10 are diagnosed with 
autism spectrum disorder 
12:41:12 disorders and so on. 
Now I want to take some 
12:41:15 time to share what I 
called general 
12:41:18 strategies, because 
everybody's situation is 
12:41:20 going to be a little 
different. These are 
12:41:23 just strategies that we 
know are out there in 
12:41:26 the research, that 
typically come up time 
12:41:28 and time again in bits 
of pieces of research. 
12:41:32 These are things to 
think about using with 
12:41:34 children with autism. 
First of all, again, tap 
12:41:38 away into that thinking. 
Be clear with your 
12:41:40 expectations. 
If you want them to do 
12:41:43 something, be clear with 
how you stated. Also, 
12:41:46 really be looking at 
maybe providing some 
12:41:48 visual structure, visual 
support for them.
12:41:56  It almost sounds silly 
sometimes for people to 
12:41:59 hear, especially with 
our higher functioning 
12:42:01 individuals that have 
autism, but very often, 
12:42:04 if it is something that 
is newer to them, or 
12:42:08 something they are 
unfamiliar with, we 
12:42:10 might have to include 
some visual pectoral 
12:42:12 based information, some 
video-based information 
12:42:14 in order to really get 
them to understand maybe 
12:42:18 what we are trying to 
present to them.
12:42:20  Again, people with 
autism are no different 
12:42:23 than people without 
autism, they like to 
12:42:26 make choices too. 
And reinforcement can be 
12:42:28 a huge thing, again, for 
any of us. A lot of 
12:42:32 times, are individuals 
with autism might need a 
12:42:35 little extra motivation, 
because again, that 
12:42:37 little mindedness kicks 
in.
12:42:39  They might get stubborn 
and not want to do 
12:42:42 something, so we may 
have to, again, provide 
12:42:45 choices for them and 
figure out what are they 
12:42:48 willing to work for, and 
provide extra 
12:42:51 reinforcement to get the 
more motivated.
12:42:53  I do want to caution 
you here, be careful
12:42:56  read some of our folks 
get so into a subject 
12:43:00 that we may actually be 
self sabotaging our 
12:43:03 situation or their 
situation by letting 
12:43:05 them. 
So be really careful 
12:43:07 depending on the 
individual.
12:43:08  If you have difficult 
tasks
12:43:12 , or maybe even newer 
ones, I would have
12:43:18 ... 
Think about having an 
12:43:19 easier task, or maybe 
they would -- when they 
12:43:23 would

12:43:26  already master as a 
backup. Sometimes when 
12:43:29 they are navigating 
these difficult tasks, 
12:43:31 they may get into that 
behavioral mode where
12:43:34  it is getting really 
tough for me to even 
12:43:37 figure this out, I am 
having a tough time, I'm 
12:43:41 not able to figure it 
out, it starts
12:43:52  building and I am about 
ready to blow my top. So 
12:43:56 having that easier task 
might make it easier for 
12:43:59 you as their support 
system or their support 
12:44:02 people to kind of move 
them away from that 
12:44:05 difficult task and say, 
"let's go do this is 
12:44:09 your test for a little 
while. We can always 
12:44:12 kind of come back, maybe 
even with a new plan." 
12:44:16 Certainly make the task 
meaningful. This should 
12:44:18 go without saying. 
But for folks with 
12:44:21 autism, again, mostly 
because of their 
12:44:23 mindedness. 
I don't know how many 
12:44:25 times I've been in 
classrooms with our kids 
12:44:28 and they have told some 
of their kids to 
12:44:31 straightaway, "I already 
know this stuff. I 
12:44:34 remember sitting in a 
math class with the 
12:44:37 young man one time, and 
he was really good at 
12:44:41 math. 
I cannot say for sure, 
12:44:43 but he might have even 
be better than the 
12:44:46 teacher that point in 
time. So hi math 
12:44:49 achiever. 
And this is one of the 
12:44:51 things the teacher was 
struggled with at the 
12:44:54 time was to keep them 
focused and motivated to 
12:44:57 do his work, because, 
truthfully speaking, he 
12:45:00 already knew how to do 
that stuff. Anytime you 
12:45:03 have unfamiliar, Oregon, 
newer tasks, you want to 
12:45:06 try and introduce them 
in the environment where 
12:45:09 they are going to be 
used first, or the most. 
12:45:13 Once again, this is 
mainly due to that 
12:45:16 literal way of 
processing that many of 
12:45:18 our folks with autism 
convey. When we are 
12:45:21 using prompting, we also 
want to be really 
12:45:24 careful with how much 
prompting we are giving 
12:45:27 an individual with 
autism, because 
12:45:29 sometimes, we can get 
into a routine or mode 
12:45:32 ourselves where we are 
over prompting them, and 
12:45:35 in essence, creating 
dependency. We are 
12:45:37 creating a dependency 
within the person on us.
12:45:40  I have seen too many of 
our older individuals 
12:45:44 who have been kind of 
prompted almost through 
12:45:46 their whole entire life 
because they were slower 
12:45:49 processes. 
That is a common trait 
12:45:52 for many of our 
individuals with autism. 
12:45:54 They tend to process 
things at a slower rate.
12:45:57  But because the other 
individuals, the support 
12:46:00 people, are not able to 
wait, they had maybe a 
12:46:03 time limit, we have to 
hurry up and get through 
12:46:07 this, they would often 
end up giving this young 
12:46:10 man in particular, they 
would give him the 
12:46:13 answers and just kind of 
lead him along. So he 
12:46:17 just sat back and 
waited, and he got into 
12:46:20 that behavioral routine. 
If you are going to use 
12:46:24 verbal of any type, I 
would probably keep it 
12:46:27 short and sweet. 
Try and avoid any long 
12:46:30 strings of wording or 
sentences, or... I have 
12:46:32 been around situations 
where a child with 
12:46:35 autism was being 
disciplined, and the 
12:46:37 nature of the beast is 
for the adults to say, 
12:46:40 "do you know why you did 
that? You shouldn't do 
12:46:43 that because of X, you 
shouldn't do that 
12:46:46 because of why. 
To the adults it makes 
12:46:48 perfect sense, but the 
child with autism 
12:46:50 probably change you out 
somewhere in that first 
12:46:53 sentence. 
And all of a sudden, you 
12:46:55 start sounding like... 
For those of you who 
12:46:57 remember Peanuts are 
Charlie Brown, their 
12:46:59 teacher. 
This is really 
12:47:00 important. 
When you had
12:47:16  some misbehavior with 
kids with autism. We 
12:47:19 want to make sure that 
if we redirect their 
12:47:21 behavior, number one, we 
are doing our very best 
12:47:24 to remain as calm as 
possible, because if you 
12:47:27 get yourself all spun 
up, chances are pretty 
12:47:29 good that person with 
autism is going to feed 
12:47:32 off of that behavior, 
and they will get 
12:47:34 themselves spun up. 
It will go up and up and 
12:47:38 up. 
So we have to be really 
12:47:40 careful, and if you are 
redirecting a person 
12:47:43 with autism, and I have 
experienced this many 
12:47:46 times in the past as 
well, where they are 
12:47:49 told, "no, you cannot do 
that. That is... You 
12:47:52 cannot ever do that. 
Again, not a bad thing 
12:47:56 to do, but you need to 
back that up with 
12:47:59 sharing that person or 
directing them
12:48:02  over to something they 
can do, or how can they, 
12:48:06 if it's a problem, how 
can I solve this 
12:48:09 problem? 
Because remember, if you 
12:48:11 tell them no, chances 
are good that they will 
12:48:14 stop, at least 
temporarily. But then 
12:48:16 when I get them 
reengaged into maybe a 
12:48:19 similar task or the same 
task, now they are still 
12:48:23 in that same behavioral 
pattern where they don't 
12:48:26 know what else to do. 
So we have to be 
12:48:29 cognizant of that as 
well. For folks that 
12:48:32 have a tough time 
transitioning, using 
12:48:34 things like visual cues, 
any types of visual 
12:48:37 supports, timers, just 
really to give them that 
12:48:40 beginning. 
This is when a task is 
12:48:43 going to begin, this is 
when it will end. If we 
12:48:47 are using a visual 
schedule, we can orient 
12:48:50 them to the visual

12:48:53  schedule, let them know 
if they finish this 
12:48:56 test, what do they have 
to do next? Folks with 
12:48:59 autism tend to learn 
best visually. And I 
12:49:02 know I am probably 
preaching to the choir 
12:49:05 for the most part, but 
they tend to be very 
12:49:09 visual learners, so even 
with your timers, you 
12:49:12 probably want to try to 
keep your timers is 
12:49:15 visible -- visual as 
profitable -- possible. 
12:49:17 I will open to 
questions, but before I 
12:49:20 do that, here's my 
contact information. The 
12:49:23 numbers you see on the 
screen, the phone 
12:49:26 number, one of our main 
line numbers over there 
12:49:29 at our center at UCF, 
the email, again, kind 
12:49:32 of our main email, so if 
you need to contact our 
12:49:36 center for anything, go 
ahead. You can use 
12:49:39 either one of those. 
Our website is a peer. 
12:49:42 Feel free to go on that 
and explore around. I 
12:49:46 put my email here as 
well. I'm the only 
12:49:49 person from our center 
that covers Brevard 
12:49:52 County. 
So chances are good if 
12:49:54 you have questions 
specific to Brevard, I'm 
12:49:56 the guy they will put 
you in cut -- touch with 
12:50:00 anyway.

12:50:03  If your kids are not 
signed up yet and you're 
12:50:07 looking to get them 
signed up with our 
12:50:09 center, the best methods 
to use would probably be 
12:50:13 either to go in and 
called the phone number, 
12:50:16 they will get you signed 
up over the phone, or 
12:50:20 you can go to our 
website, and on our 
12:50:23 homepage, you can scroll 
all the way to the 
12:50:26 bottom of there should 
be a register button