>> And welcome back. April is
Autism Awareness Month in this
morning we’re learning about
promoting inclusivity and
raising awareness. And joining
us this morning is Doctor
Turney, Ken Jefferson, a
behavioral analyst with the
Harris entered.
>> Get to keep the conversation
going. Doctor, thank you for
being with us. Thank you for
having me. All right. So let’s
get into it because you are
saying you are a behavioral
and this is Autism Awareness
Month. So what should people
really focus on this month?
You know, when it comes to
inclusivity and being kind to
others, the I think one of the
things that we should focus on
is a community is kind of
educating our. So for those
that don’t know what autism is
and knowing that it’s a
spectrum to it doesn’t look
like one particular It could
be on the lower range hours.
Very mild. You could barely
notice it or more severe with a
person needs more support and
services.
>> So to kind of be sensitive
in that aspect is we’re talking
about it. We’re seeing
different people in the places
that we go to that sometimes
people need more support than
we actually realize, you know,
what kinds of lessons can we
let’s say even this parents
teach our kids. Let’s start
there.
>> Yeah, I think one of the
lessons the teach our kids is
being more step and also making
sure that we include other
people that may have divergent
Maybe they don’t learn the same
way that we learn. But knowing
that, you know, we are all you
know, in this world together,
we get learned we get play,
would get interact with each
other not to exclude anyone out
just because they may be
different from, you know, what
we look like or what we do or
how we behave. And it really
starts with parents, right?
And they kind of lead.
>> By example. So it’s right
near Unser acting a certain
way when they’re out, which
strangers. That’s what the kids
are going to really see.
>> Right. So one of my main
thing is like modeling that
appropriate behavior. And so
not even just, you know, people
that may have autism diagnosis
is or a different physical at
morality or mental illness or
different race or ethnicity.
Its like show respect to
everyone because our kids are
watching. And so we want to be
that model for and making sure
that we’re doing the
appropriate behaviors for them
to be able to imitate a model
that behavior.
>> So I feel like there’s a
couple points to the awareness
month. One is trying to how
others are dealing with
whatever they’re dealing with.
But then the other part is for
families that may be
questioning is is my child or
young person in my family
dealing with autism. My feeling
is there’s 2 different sides to
autism awareness, right?
Right about that.
>> Yeah. And I think that’s
very A lot of times when I meet
people in the community and
tell them what I do, they
either have a child that
they’re suspecting may have
autism or there’s someone in
the family or free and and
they’re wanting to know like
what are the signs and
symptoms. So one of the main
things that I parents is due to
start noticing signs around
6 months, especially if you
have other typically developing
kids and to compare their
development to the kids that
you’re suspecting may happen.
Diagnose is as far as
developmental milestones and
then from there, if you’re
suspected anything you can
always go to your child’s
pediatrician and asked them
to do initial of the official
diagnosis can be made into
their 2 years old. At least
you come you know, tried to
prepare them for steps, moving
foot because we believe in
early intervention. Yeah, an
early intervention is huge.
>> To kind of diagnosed early
and then get the therapy going
or the speech therapy or the
interaction. Talk about that.
How important early
intervention is.
>> Right. So I’ve worked with
the course young kids, as
guess. Probably 6 months years
old and then also adults into
their in their 70’s. And so
it’s very clear, sometimes when
I work with adults and never
had early intervention because
they’ve been so used to be in
condition for whatever that
those problem behaviors may
Whatever skills said. Were
there have a deficit in those
skills? And so we’ve as a
field, a behavior analysis.
We notice more progress as it
relates to when the to get
older. If that
started earlier than later,
we understand that it’s
difficult to get that early
intervention oftentimes because
families have trouble.
>> Getting that official
diagnosis for whatever reason
is it do not have enough
doctors in this world. We know
what what does?
>> Autism need to, you know,
to help?
>> Yeah, 14 in. Yeah. There’s a
lot of say in the and then
getting services up and
running. Sometimes there’s a
delay and the diagnosis even
being given. So even if the kit
is 2 years old in which they
can at this time get the
diagnosis, if they have it some
time that the struggle with
getting those appointments with
their pediatrician or with a
there’s a waiting list of very
long waiting list and a lot of
places to even get treatment
started. And unless you have
that comprehensive evaluation,
this is your kid does have
autism. Then, of course, you’re
insurance won’t pay for those
services unless that
evaluation. Is there. What do
you say to parents who are kind
of in that situation? Would you
say just just keep looking, you
know, contact the Harris
Center, just keep looking for
someone that will take you in
to see your child.
>> Right. So I always
appreciate parents that are
more proactive and they go out
and they research on their own.
They come to me like, hey, this
is what I’ve done like X, Y
Z and they have their own
checklist. They have a list of
things places that they will
like their kid to go to to get
So I would definitely recommend
the Harris Center. We provide a
lot of services and support and
different resources for parents
that are even wanting to get
more information about autism
or any other mental health
disabilities or mental illness.
that they may be assuming that
their town has.
>> And so how can folks get in
touch with you guys? If they
want to reach out and get more
help or get some
more guidance.
>> So you can take a year since
or so. The website is the
Harris Center Dot Org. Or you
can call the phone number and