[00:00:01] Speaker A: Welcome to Shining Inspiring Voices of Autism with show host Jennifer Dantzler. My name is Michael and I'm on the autism spectrum. Thank you for taking the time to learn more about the world of autism. If you enjoy what you hear today, don't forget to subscribe to this podcast.
[00:00:16] Speaker B: Hey there, everyone. This is Jennifer Dantzler, and I'm the executive director and founder of Inspire nd, a nonprofit whose mission is to create truly inclusive communities through education and engagement. The goal of this podcast is to shine a light on real people and their stories in hopes of inspiring others who are on this journey of autism, either themselves, their child, their loved one, their coworker. I truly believe ignorance is not bliss, and we cannot be inclusive communities if we do not understand the people in the community. With autism now affecting 1 in 31 people, we need to get louder about this topic, and that's our goal during this podcast. We recognize that autism is a spectrum. There are a lot of people with a lot of different needs, a lot of resources available or none available. And we know that in every episode, we can't meet everyone's needs for their specific interest.
However, we hope that in each episode you do gleam some kind of insight as to how you can help your child or yourself be a better advocate. And as we go through our podcasts, our goal really is to address the entire spectrum and the various needs, the various environments that we're going to be in. And we hope that there's something in every episode for each one of you. So let's get started.
I'm here with my good friend Armando Bernal, and he is the owner of Autism International Consulting. He is the owner of the only autistic owned ABA company in Houston, Texas, and only one of two in the entire state of Texas. Armando, thank you so much for being here today.
[00:01:50] Speaker C: Thanks so much for having me. It's such a pleasure. Thank you.
[00:01:52] Speaker B: I'd like to start a little bit with your story because you are also on the autism spectrum. So I'd like you to talk a little bit about when you were diagnosed and a little bit about that early journey.
[00:02:01] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. So I was diagnosed at the age of three. Doctors told my mother that I might as well learn sign language because I was never gonna be able to speak. And if that's the case, then I wouldn't be here speaking to you today. My mother looked at that doctor who said, best of luck to you. I have a hundred other patients just like you. I have to keep going.
My mother turned to my sister and my father and said, I don't know what that doctor's talking about. That boy's not living with me past 18.
And from that point on. Right. She believed that I was going to be able to do many, many things. She found books in the public library because we weren't able to afford at the time, applied behavior analysis therapy or anything like that. Through her research in the library, she found medical books that didn't really help her a lot because she didn't really understand that jargon, but did find an autobiography of a individual on the spectrum who would always failing with his father.
[00:02:52] Speaker B: And.
[00:02:52] Speaker C: And one day his father could not find his son or his boat. And it turned out that that individual took the boat out into the lake that they had, and then eventually they were able to coax to bring it back. And so my mother was inspired and said, if this individual on the spectrum would be able to do these kind of things, then why can't my child? And through that support system, I was able to get to where I am today.
[00:03:12] Speaker B: Wow. So I really want to take a second to stop and, you know, emphasize that for especially our parents of our newly diagnosed, because unfortunately, in this day and age, that's still happening. Right. And these doctors are still over generalizing and saying things they don't know the answers to. They can't tell you whether or not where the child will be in 10 years. And I think as parents, again, another shout out to say, follow your gut and do everything that you know to do. Because these doctors, they don't know the.
[00:03:40] Speaker C: Support system that an individual has, whether it's parent, guardian, professional, whoever it may be, that is really what allows an individual to be as successful as they can be. Right. There's a difference between having maybe parents that don't care and say, oh, they're just going to be as helpless as can be. And a parent that then says, I believe in my child. I know that they can do certain things to this day, as I work with my sister or my mother, at my company, that I would not be where I am without them.
[00:04:07] Speaker B: I talk about that a lot, too, in my trainings where autism can be isolating. And it's easy for parents, parents to slowly narrow their support system over the years because of judgment, because it's hard. It's hard to explain things. And so really, again, just sort of pushing that, don't isolate and continue to build that system probably even bigger as they get older.
[00:04:28] Speaker C: Yep, Yep. I. I try to say that it's not what happens when you receive the diagnosis of autism. It's what you do after. And if you can believe that your child is going to be able to do XYZ thing, or even that child themselves can advocate for themselves and say, I believe I can do this, then there is a much greater chance of them being able to do those things.
[00:04:47] Speaker B: Yep, absolutely. Raising the bar. And most of the time, if not all the time, our guys, they meet those expectations. Okay, so you mentioned a little bit earlier, there's a whole lot I want to talk to you about. But one of the things I want to talk to you about is you are a board certified behavior analyst, correct? And so you talked a little bit about there wasn't a lot of information back in the day. But also in today's day and age, there's more information. But there's also still a pretty bad rap about aba. And you are sitting here as a person with autism now, running a very successful ABA company.
[00:05:18] Speaker C: Thank you.
[00:05:19] Speaker B: So can you talk a little bit about what your thoughts are about this bad rap, why it's happening, what can we do to combat it?
[00:05:25] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. So I speak about this quite a bit and it's anecdotal by nature, right? There's not evidence based articles that present this. But I do believe that there is a correlation between a rise in social media as well as this rise in ABA and more specifically those that took ABA Applied Behavior Analysis, their therapy in the 80s and the 90s, early 2000s. These individuals grew up at the same time as social media began to rise. And we start to see this ability for individuals much like you and me, being able to go on social media, tell a certain story and be able to gain followers and other individuals. Now I want to preface this and say that by, by no means should these stories be ignored. They are anecdotal in nature, yes, but they are somebody's story. And so it should be honored and respected. But that being said, we can see in social media that typically those that have the biggest shock factor are able to get the most individuals to read their story and say, oh my gosh, I can't believe that is happening. And through misinformation such as this, to believe that all behavior analysts, all individuals that practice in this field are providing this kind of material is just really not significant. Right. An analogy I use to try and help parents and other individuals understand is, let's say you go to a doctor, right, and you don't necessarily believe in what they believe. And so does that then make you say, I am going to be turned off from Western medicine the rest of my life? Probably not. What you'll do instead is say, I will find a doctor that believes in the same kind of beliefs and ideals that I have. And so my question is, is why can't we do the same and give that kind of same grace to applied behavior analysis as well as the behavior analysts that take part in this?
[00:06:59] Speaker B: Absolutely. I couldn't agree more. I mean, just like there's good neurologists and bad neurologists, there's good ABA and bad aba, and. And part of what we try to do on this podcast too is help inform parents of how again, prompting them, reinforcing them for following their gut, asking the questions, asking sometimes the hard questions. You should be seeing progress in your child. You should be allowed to be watching your child get their therapy. You should be able to have access to behavior analyst. If that's not happening, then it's probably bad aba, but it doesn't mean ABA shouldn't exist.
[00:07:31] Speaker C: Absolutely. And really what applied behavior analysis is, is a science in of itself that is studying behavior. And behavior is something that we all do as individuals. Whether it's shaking our head in agreement or maybe moving my hands at this very moment to try and discuss a point, there's a reason behind these things. Right. So to shy away from that is really shying away from who we are as people anyway.
[00:07:50] Speaker B: Human behavior.
[00:07:51] Speaker C: Exactly.
[00:07:52] Speaker B: Essentially saying we don't have human behavior. Absolutely. What are your. Some of your current struggles with autism?
[00:07:59] Speaker C: Well, it's. It's definitely going to be social for sure in this day and age. So a little background information for any listeners here. I am married. I do have a baby girl now. Right. But still there's a lot of different kinds of social situations I find myself in that are very, very difficult that I have to rely on my wife to better support me through. Right. Whether it's. I've never had a child before, and through that came do I let individuals be able to be around the baby? Do I. Do I let them play with the baby with these kind of things that I don't know what are considered socially appropriate or socially inappropriate. And so that really kind of lets me. Has me spiral. And it can be difficult. And so it's through again, a support system that I'm able to manage these kind of things. So it's still a social. That gets me.
[00:08:44] Speaker B: Okay. Well, for whatever it's worth, I think all new parents still struggle with that. Whether or not the person who rubbed their nose and then touched the baby or sneezed and Then gave the baby a kiss. And it's like speaking of lack of social cues. Right. Those people should be more aware because I think as I've known you for these years, Armand, just. I think the part that people don't understand is. And some of what's out there as well. There's no way he can be autistic then or. Right. And so would you mind sharing when you talk about some of your coping or some of your down times, you might get overwhelmed, you might get a little frustrated. What does that look like for you?
[00:09:20] Speaker C: This typical stereotype that comes up? Well, you don't look autistic. And so my response usually is, oh, but do I smell autistic? I don't really know.
[00:09:26] Speaker B: So I have to make sure I love that reaction.
[00:09:28] Speaker C: Absolutely. I present a certain way right in public, as I'm supposed to. But some things that may not be aware of right, is that up until I was maybe 26, 27, I was still hitting my head with textbooks or other things when I was very frustrated. I would have self injurious behavior that we would see maybe more littles. But it just stuck with me for some time until I was able to find different, more appropriate kind of situations to handle. There are still situations where I get overwhelmed in certain situations. Like just like this podcast room that I'm in currently. I never have seen this room before. So I'm looking around, kind of heavy breathing, my mind's kind of spiraling to make sure I'm sitting appropriately and doing certain things that can be really difficult. One example more specifically I have in mind though is I took a trip with my family to Arkansas and we were in this very tiny kind of mineral room, as it were. It was very hot and there was a lot of individuals and I've never been in this situation. And then finally people were trying to talk to me just like his friends do. And I just stormed out of the, out of the room just because I could not handle it anymore, because I didn't. I was just overstimulated in that way and, and that was really difficult. So some replacements I do and just some tidbits for information in these kind of social situations. I may not during this meeting, but I may say, oh, I have a phone call, I'll be right back. I didn't get a phone call. What that does though is let me go to a certain place that I can maybe reset, take a break and then be able to come back and remove that kind of overstimulation and just little tips and tricks I've learned over the years.
[00:10:50] Speaker B: Yep. And not to be afraid to do that. I mean, how many times should many of us probably have taken that break and stepped out of the room, whether it's a conversation with your significant other or your child.
And so I also want to give a very specific congratulations on your new baby. Thank you so much. I just got to see a little video of her, and she is absolutely adorable. So precious. So congratulations to you and mom.
[00:11:11] Speaker C: Thank you.
[00:11:12] Speaker B: Mom was part of it, too. Mom did some of the.
[00:11:13] Speaker C: Right. Oh, yes, absolutely.
[00:11:15] Speaker B: Okay, now let's talk a little bit about your marriage. How do you think your marriage, if it does, looks different than a neurotypical marriage?
[00:11:24] Speaker C: Sure. I think that the idea of transparency, open communication has been a huge, huge difference between my marriage and maybe past experiences or relationships I've had where it would turn into maybe when I was younger. Well, you should know why I'm mad at you. You should know why I. I feel this way. Right. Whereas even if it's something as obvious as someone may think, my wife has gone into different kinds of conversations and situations. Say, I feel this because of xyz. And it makes it far more clear for me than having to read through any kind of social cue or social ineptitude, if you will, in that kind of situation.
[00:11:59] Speaker B: And we do a lot of that naturally in relationships. Like, well, you should just know that I'm upset.
But if we all just practice more of that, as I do a lot of neurodiversity in the workplace, training, a lot of the things we put into place. If you're going to employ people with neurodiversity, just make the company better all around for all employees, having job description actually written down, scope of sequence, scope of authority, beneficial for everyone. Right?
[00:12:23] Speaker C: Yeah. And some of it goes into more comorbidities as well, like the anxiety. Right. I have both autism as well as anxiety. And something that we discuss in these kind of situations is in a workplace setting, you may say, hey, can I see you in my office for a bit? What I do typically in my workplace, Autism International Consulting, is to let the therapist know, hey, can you come to my office? I need to discuss XYZ with you. It kind of helps limit that kind of anxiety.
[00:12:48] Speaker B: I.
[00:12:48] Speaker C: That can be beneficial, as you say, to anybody in that kind of workforce.
[00:12:51] Speaker B: Absolutely. There's nothing worse than, again, even with your significant other, hey, we need to talk later. And no idea what you're going to talk about. Right. So that's absolutely, I'm sure, huge that your employees greatly appreciate. I know it was not on our original question list, but why did you start Autism International Consulting?
[00:13:09] Speaker C: I felt like there was a need to provide services. So let me explain, right. Is that I was a special education teacher when I first started, and I would receive individuals with parents that would say, my child's life is over before it began.
The autism diagnosis is a cancer. They're never going to be able to accomplish anything. And so I wanted to work with these individuals and say there had to be more that I could do to better support them. And so I then became a behavior analyst over time.
And still, even then was finding parents that would still ask these kind of questions or say these kind of comments. And. And I said, there has to be even more that I can do. And it just transpired. And it was 2020. I then eventually created a podcast called A Different Path, I believe, although a lot of people in 2020 started a podcast, wasn't a whole lot to do, and began to interview individuals on the spectrum with the hopes that these individuals can show others and inspire others that, hey, just because they have a diagnosis of autism does not mean their life is limited.
And that then transpired into speaking in a national level, a state level, international level, and eventually saying, if I created a company, there is no limit to the amount of individuals that I could serve and support to better these kind of lives. And so with that, we've gone from, you know, having a patient for two hours a week to now having over 30 at this moment.
[00:14:27] Speaker B: Okay. And so talk a little bit about what kinds of services you offer.
[00:14:29] Speaker C: Right. So we provide in clinic therapy, in home therapy, for all ages, Right. We go from age 2 to 90, and I typically say 90 because at 90 years old, they just don't want to learn it anymore. They're all done at that point.
[00:14:41] Speaker B: I know I'll be all done at 90.
[00:14:42] Speaker C: Right.
So in these kind of services, right, for my littles or my individuals that need more prerequisite skills, we focus on listening skills, potty training, communication, social skills, behavioral skills for my teens and adults. Right. We focus on job skills, resume building, dating skills, living on their own, trying to get that independent life, really. We try to say, if you can name it, we can do it. Right. We want to make sure that we are encompassing everybody. And we also do take all insurances as well at Autism and Nashville Consulting, because, again, my mother was not able to afford these kind of therapies. So we don't want anyone to be limited just because they may not be able to afford a private insurance option when we can easily then take a Medicaid option as well.
[00:15:22] Speaker B: Well, and I can only imagine for these families that are coming in, newly diagnosed child or the child who's 12, who's still not potty trained and have you overseeing and managing, if that's not inspiring and motivating like I don't, I don't know what is. Right. Like that. I mean, I just, I commend you so much for that.
[00:15:38] Speaker C: Thank you so much.
[00:15:38] Speaker B: Okay, let's shift gears a little bit again now to you as a dad.
[00:15:42] Speaker C: Yay.
[00:15:45] Speaker B: So how do you think? Well, let's first talk about your autism. Sure. How do you think that might. Because you don't know yet. How do you think that might affect you as a parent? Good. Good or bad?
[00:15:56] Speaker C: I. I think some of the difficulties I get nervous about. Right. Is my child is not going to understand why maybe some things impact me more than others.
And so that's something I try to prep myself for is how to speak to maybe her when she gets older as well. At this point in time. Right. She's still a newborn. Ish. In this kind of situation, the crying can be overstimulating or other avenues where I'm doing what I feel is my very best and it's still not enough to resolve an issue.
It can be a lot. And that's when I do also depend on my partner to say, I just, I need a break. I need to be all done in this kind of situation to try and better support. We find different interventions, earplugs, things like that that are very helpful but can still be difficult in the moment.
[00:16:44] Speaker B: Yes, that that crying baby can be, can definitely be overstimulating. Okay. How do you think your knowledge of ABA is going to affect you in parenting?
[00:16:53] Speaker C: Well, I am all about development and so we have already started tummy time and rolling and I'm looking up what, what is a typical 1 month, 2 month, 3 month year old supposed to do in these situations?
My wife has made me promise that I will not VB map my child until 1 years old at least being able to do certain things that typical behavior analysts would do. It's made me, I would say maybe hyper aware of what a typically developing child would do. And if my child is, you know, not going to present certain aspects, what I can do then as a behavior analyst to kind of maybe push that along and better support that kind of progress.
[00:17:32] Speaker B: So for our listeners who don't know, the VV mapp is an assessment that you Check off. Are they doing this on kind of a rubric scale and Yeah, a little personal story about that too. Occupational hazard. Right. So when my son was probably about six months old and we had an employee child at daycare at the time, and he wasn't pointing just as much as I wanted, so I literally gave our daycare person a data sheet and made her practice and do some discrete trial on pointing. My son is now 21 years old. Just fine. But yes, definitely can be an occupational.
Sometimes too much information is not always good.
[00:18:05] Speaker C: Yes, absolutely. My wife has had to endure my conversations with her about development quite a bit. And so she's very excited about it, but is also a first time mother as well. And so sometimes she may be all done with me talking about these kind of situations.
[00:18:22] Speaker B: Yes. Because you're. Again, yeah, you might know too much. And it's like sometimes we just have to enjoy the moment. And I will say, as a parent, just as kind of future reference for you, it will be a little bit different. Right. With you as a parent. Because then that love and that care can sometimes override what, you know, behaviorally the right thing to do is. But you're just being a parent, right?
[00:18:43] Speaker C: Absolutely. Yeah. She already has me wrapped around her finger. Anytime she's crying, I'm like, hey, what's wrong? And I just like immediately hold her and love her. So it's been wonderful.
[00:18:50] Speaker B: Did you just reinforce the crying?
[00:18:53] Speaker C: Please don't take away my life.
[00:18:57] Speaker B: Amen to all that. I agree. It's hard. It's really hard.
Okay, what parts of your autism have helped you thrive and get where you are today?
[00:19:05] Speaker C: Definitely the structural aspect. I'm a big believer in structure.
With a newborn, there is no structure and I'm having to get more flexible. Right.
But the structure has been very beneficial, both with scheduling, both with being able to provide support in certain ways. I don't really forget things that I am needing to do because either A, I'll write it down or bake, it will bother me if I don't because I had already put it in a calendar, if you will, to do these kind of things. So that's been helpful. Being able to understand that things build on top of each other has been really beneficial as well. The profession I'm in has been relatively comfortable for me because it makes sense that there is no variable or gray area in behavior. This XYZ behavior occurred because of this reason or this reason. And so it becomes more of that puzzle that can be solved with no other kind of alternative that can make.
[00:20:03] Speaker B: It more again, comfortable parenting, marriage, business. Right. So in your business, I mean, again, I think the obvious is that it must be so inspirational for the parents. But how do you think it's maybe helped you be a better leader of therapists, of RBT's, of BCBAs?
[00:20:21] Speaker C: With the diagnosis?
[00:20:22] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:20:23] Speaker C: Yes. So with the diagnosis, it's helped me really resonate with not just the parents, to your point, but also the children. Right. Being able to understand on a deeper level why a certain kind of behavior may be arising in this kind of situation. We have been very fortunate as well to not just have myself on staff that has been diagnosed, but several registered behavior technicians and behavior analysts as well, and assistant behavior analysts that have been diagnosed with autism. So together we've been able to really see the children we served and understand their need for advocacy and understand what that may look like in different children we serve.
[00:21:00] Speaker B: Wow, that's incredible because that's again, one of the things that we have to talk about is that psychological safety in any business, in any family, even, right. To be able to be comfortable enough. So I would just love to be a fly on a wall in one of your staff meetings where you're just brainstorming the client's behaviors and the reasons and the, and the thought and deliberate actions that you all must take. Because even if something might have a multifunction purpose, you're seeing it from a perspective that not many people can.
[00:21:30] Speaker C: Right. And our pillar for Autism International Consultings, we have several. But more specifically in this conversation is both self advocacy and transparency are both areas that we try to focus on in our company to make sure that both the parents are partners with the therapy we're providing, but also the patient themselves. Right. We want to make sure that they are comfortable and for those that are able to provide us their wants and needs to what they would like to focus on. We just had one of our 12 year old patients that was, I asked him, hey, what would you like me to add into your therapy? And he, he told me I'd like to know the signs of when I may be being used. And that was so significant that I said absolutely, we will add that. But that self advocacy to his parents perspective said he would have never done that maybe a month or two ago. And we're very thankful that he can do that now.
[00:22:21] Speaker B: Wow, that's so powerful. That is so powerful. Okay, what else have we, I mean we could have gone into each one of these things for three hours. But what is something that you want first? I guess parents of newly diagnosed children.
[00:22:35] Speaker C: To know they should never give up on their child, that they will always see the greatness in their child.
And it's important to maintain that passion because if you start to lose it, right. Then we see the individuals start to not believe in themselves anymore. And if we can take what the doctor says, again, shout out to doctors being able to provide these diagnosis, but if we can take what the diagnosis says and believe that there are people out there that are able to help, like myself or you as well, being able to assist these individuals, then they can accomplish things. Right. They can be independent to a point. Right, Right. We want to make sure that we are doing everything we can to see the individual within that kind of personality grow and become their own person.
[00:23:25] Speaker B: So true. And I think a lot of where I struggle is you'll see parents when we get parents of adolescents, 12, 15, 17. And they're tired, right? The parents are tired, yeah. But unfortunately the race is not done. And it's even more important then more than ever to bring them to the complete finish line with things like toileting and showering so that someone later in life doesn't have to be in the bathroom with them. Right. And, and create and to keep their eye on the end goal of what are the important skills. Because I think that's other. Right. I think again, this could be a whole nother podcast about where the traps are in some of the services we provide. As far, what are we working on with these 10, 12, 14 year olds? And is, you know, it's to meet insurance requirements, but is it really helping them reach their end goal of independence, autonomy, happiness, whatever that looks like. And so, you know, for those parents, what do we say? How do we keep them going?
[00:24:15] Speaker C: It's the idea that the little successes add up. Much like how I said earlier regarding building blocks. Things can build on each other, so can this. Right. A lot of individuals may say, oh, my child is only able to go to the bathroom every five minutes or ten minutes to say dry. That's really great. Right. We're at a starting point. Let's do 10 minutes 30. 11 minutes, 11 minutes 30. It's a marathon, it's not a sprint. And if we can encourage parents to understand that they are doing really well, not just on their own, of course, they have a tribe, they have their individuals that are able to support them and myself included. Autism International Consulting as an ABA facility. We want to be there for these individual parents, be there for the successes, be there for the wins. We'll have a lot of parents say, oh my gosh, my child was just invited to their first birthday party ever and they had such a great time. We couldn't have done that without Joe. And that's so significant to us. We want to be that support system. They're cheerleaders, if you will.
[00:25:08] Speaker B: Yes. And, you know, and again, I think for those that are getting like insurance based or any kind of funding based aba, we have regulations we have to hit, but I think so often we just don't ask the parents the question, what do you want to see happen so that you can lay your head on the pillow at night and feel like today was a successful day. Right. And sometimes the parents go, I have no idea. I've never really been asked that question. I get these reports that I don't understand and understand what you're working on. What does this mean that a behavior was reduced by 10%?
But what is the end goal? And I think we, as providers, as clinicians, we can't do enough of. Because what's important to us or to insurance is not always what's important to, to the family or to that child in particular.
[00:25:49] Speaker C: Exactly, exactly. If we can take away the language, take away the jargon and just say, hey, this is what we're working on. Does this work for you? Is this good for you? Right. Being able to be flexible with the parents, being able to be a little bit creative, if you will, in these kind of situations. I just had a parent come to me and say, hey, my child is going to be going to Canada with us on a trip, but he's never flown on a plane. And for us to then say, well, that sounds like a parent training to me. Let's go ahead and go to the airport with you and maybe support you through these kind of situations, that's creative. That's, that's making sure the parent feels comfortable. And when you can get to somewhere that is outside of the clinical jargon, Right. You become more partners and being able to enter their world rather than forcing them to enter into yours as well.
[00:26:32] Speaker B: That's a great way to say that, especially for any clinicians listening. Like, you need to enter their world. They don't need to enter your world if you want to have success and if you want to have that partnership. I love that. I love that. What's next for Autism International Consulting? Actually.
[00:26:45] Speaker C: Yeah, so. So all that to be said, right? Autism International Consulting, we are a firm, really try to not limit ourselves. We want to be able to support in school systems. We want to be able to Support in the community and in other areas. We do plan on growing. Currently we are located in the Spring Woodlands area. But we do want to create several other clinics as we continue to grow in a slower pace. Right. Because we want to maintain that good kind of quality. But. But more specifically. Right. We never want to lose the ability to see the patients we are working with grow, becoming individuals and maybe one day, I don't know, working for us. Right. That's the idea, is for them to eventually have their own kind of jobs. And we're just truly thankful to the community. I'm personally thankful to my mother, my sister.
Thankful to you. Right. Being able to mentor us in that way as you saw us grow. And we continue to want to be a pillar for the community as well. A lot of people say, oh my gosh, it's such a great thing that you're the only autistic owned ABA company in Houston, but really it shouldn't be. There should be other autistic individuals that are owning or supporting applied Behavior Analysis therapy centers. And so our hope is that we can be a model for other autistic individuals out into the community and maybe you can see many more like this.
[00:27:59] Speaker B: Well, and that's wonderful. And I truly wish and know that you will be very successful because your heart, your foundation, your reason for doing it is all just pure and wonderful. And I think that we are seeing more and more people on the spectrum become RBTS, become BCBAs. And you're right, that's what we need. Because part of the beauty of autism is that they also, like you said, I mean, it's about human behavior and it's about if what the BIP says to do is what you're going to do. And they're not going to overthink it. They're not going to make their own judgments. They're going to implement what's supposed to be implemented. And I've had a few people very near and dear to me that have done that and it's become their calling. And if we can do that for more people, then I think that more power to all of us. We will all be better people for it. Well, Armando, I really, I can't thank you enough for being here. I'm very honored because I know you have done some very successful podcasts and international speaking, I think. And so the fact that you also just had a baby, like, I'm just so grateful that you took the time to be here. And how can people get a hold of you through autism international consulting dot com.
[00:29:00] Speaker C: Yes. So the website is going to be autismintl.com you can also find us on Instagram at Autism I N T L. Or you're welcome to reach us at our email autismintlconsultingmail.com and you can always.
[00:29:15] Speaker B: Reach out to
[email protected] if you needed his contact information. So thank you again for being here. Thank you everyone for listening.
[00:29:22] Speaker C: Thanks for having me.
[00:29:23] Speaker B: If you need help or resources, whether you're a parent, someone on the spectrum, a business or a community organization who want to know more or need help or want to share resources, please reach out to
[email protected] do you know the.
[00:29:38] Speaker D: Most important factor in your company's success? It's your people. They're the heart of your business. So how do you harness this potential? Insperity can help. From recruiting and onboarding to employee development and retention, we'll help you build a stronger, more resilient organization. See the difference the right approach to human resources can make? Because how UHR matters? Find out
[email protected] HR Matters thanks for.
[00:30:07] Speaker A: Joining us on Shining Inspiring Voices of Autism. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe, leave a review and share it with others who want to celebrate neurodiversity. Until next time, keep shining.
