Apr 9, 2020
Episode 30: Raising Twins In The Special Needs World With Guest Cecily White-Cooper
In this episode, we discuss raising twins, one neurotypical and one
with autism. Cecily White-Cooper's son was diagnosed with autism at
age 4. However, she noticed around age 18mo that he was having
delays, and he received services through early intervention early
on. He was able to receive speech therapy, occupational therapy,
and psychotherapy. He tried applied behavioral analysis, but the
family was not able to do 10-15 hours of therapy per week outside
of school, and doing one hour per week was not useful, so they
discontinued ABA. She noted that her son continues to do speech
therapy. She makes sure her son gets the therapies that he needs,
but she also makes sure she and her family don't "eat, live, and
breathe autism."
Her son is in the public school system in an autism program.
However, both children go to different schools. Cecily noted that
she doesn't feel he is getting a stellar education in his current
school placement, but that homeschooling is not currently an
option. However, she works hard with him at home on his schoolwork
to compensate. Her son requires more assistance and routines than
his twin sister does. Both twins are helpful around the house, but
Cecily has to repeat herself a few times with her son before he
helps out.
His twin sister initiates play with Cecily's son, as he tends not
to initiate play. She stated that he is not overly social
currently, but he doesn't appear upset by that. She and her
children can go most places together, but he prefers not to go to
malls. She does special trips with each child. She noted that her
twins act like typically siblings, being sneaky, and fussing at
each other at times. They tend to bond over their shared birthday.
Her son doesn't have a lot of public meltdowns. However, he does
like to touch the hair of other people. For her self-care routine,
she listens to podcasts, watches youtube, meditates, listens to
sermons, goes to spas, gets her nails done, and exercises.
Links:
Teacher Ces Podcast
ITunes
Spotify
YouTube
Instagram:
Twitter:
Facebook
Yoga With
Adriene
Email us if you have
any questions or ideas!
We are now on
instagram!
Check out updates on our
website.
Follow Thriving on
Twitter.
Check us
out on Facebook and join our parent group!
Please subscribe to our podcast in the iTunes store, or wherever
you find your podcasts, Leave us a 5 star review, to help us know
what you like and what you don't like, and to make sure other
like-minded people find support through this podcast.
Show Music:
Intro Outro: Intro Outro 2 by Mattias Lahoud under CC-BY 3.0
License (www.freesound.org)
Theme Song: 90s rock style by monkeyman535 under CC-BY 3.0 License
(www.freesound.org)
Self Care Song: Green and Orange No Water by Duncan Alex under
CC-BY 3.0 License (www.freesound.org)
Hosted by: Jessica Temple and Lewis Temple
Disclaimer: Our show is not designed to provide listeners with specific or personal legal, medical, or professional services or advice. Parents of children with health issues should always consult their health care provider for medical advice, medication, or treatment.
Copyright 2020 Jessica and Lewis Temple