Chapter 1: What questions do parents have about autism as children grow?
Hey there. Welcome to Paging Dr. Gupta. This is the place where we discuss the questions that matter the most to you. And today we decided we're going to do something a little bit different. We want to continue a conversation that I thought was really important based on a listener named Victoria. She had called in to ask about autism. She was very clear. She said she just wanted the facts.
And for that, we did an episode with autism researcher Dr. Matthew Lerner. And he reminded us to put this moment into important perspective.
April is Autism Acceptance Month. But as the autistic people and families that I work with every day say, you know, every day is Autism Acceptance Day in my life. So I'm hoping that, you know, we can keep having these conversations even beyond April.
And that made me realize that, look, this isn't just a one episode conversation. This should be a longer term conversation. In fact, Victoria had even more questions, especially when it comes to her 14-year-old autistic son, Mason.
What should families understand about how support needs can change as autistic kids grow into teens and young adults?
What does happen? How do support needs change when autistic kids grow into teens and young adults? To dig into this specifically, we wanted to bring in someone who not only studies this, but is living it.
I was diagnosed with what was then called Asperger's syndrome, coming up on 20 years ago now. So I have this whole shtick of, I don't do research per se, I do me-search, and if the rest of humanity benefits, all the better for it.
That's Dr. Joshua Ambar. He's a public health professor at Arizona State University. He researches autism. He specifically researches how young people with autism transition into adulthood. So we thought he'd be the perfect person for today's episode. We're going to get into a lot of these questions and important developments right after the break. Stick with us. So back to Victoria's question.
What should families understand as autistic kids grow into their teens and eventually become adults? First of all, remember this. No two autistic people are exactly alike.
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Chapter 2: How do support needs change for autistic teens and young adults?
And this is true for people who don't have autism. Families can relate to this all the time, letting your children grow up, leave the house. I know it was very painful when I grew up and went to college, and my parents very naturally struggled with that. It's a normal thing when we're dealing with somebody with autism.
However, depending on their level of function and how much support they've had, it becomes much more compounded because you've spent 18 years, 20 years caring for somebody and being an advocate for them. And it's hard to let go. It's hard to say now you are the one who's in charge. So.
it is a process both for the parent the caregiver and broader institutions and providers but it's also a process for the autistic individual themselves they're there for the first time in some cases learning how to interact with the world around them in a way where their parents aren't serving as a mediator or an advocate who's right there by their side this is a whole new dynamic and it takes a lot of time to adjust to it
And these are the things that everyone has to work out, but are even more important for the autistic community.
And for some families, this can be particularly challenging. Here's why. Sometimes young autistic kids with aggression issues become young adults with aggression issues, towards themselves or even towards others. And this does happen. My daughter's close friend, who is now a young adult, struggles with this, aggression issues. And she told me it can be really hard.
He's a big guy now, he is strong, and he sometimes becomes aggressive with his parents, in particular his mother. So we looked into what is out there. And actually, there have been some worthwhile developments. Autism research expert Dr. Matthew Lerner, who we just spoke with on our last episode, told us there's a great emotional training program.
It comes out of the University of Pittsburgh, and it's called EASE, E-A-S-E. It's still in clinical trials.
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Chapter 3: What insights does Dr. Joshua Ambar provide about autism?
It's not available to everyone yet. But initial studies suggest that it's really good for helping people to build their own self-regulatory skills. And there are a couple other approaches he mentioned as well. There's this early intervention program called Ruby that was for young kids with aggression, but it's now been scaled up for adults as well.
There's also a company called Catalyte, C-A-T-A-L-I-G-H-T, that is also working on this. Dr. Lerner is involved in a clinical trial with them, and he told us that it basically involves engaging parents, friends, and caregivers in sort of a support scaffold and network for the autistic person, while also helping the autistic person build their own skills.
So look, I won't minimize this, but I think it's worth pointing out that there are some promising programs and resources out there. Those are just a few that we mentioned, but I hope that's helpful to anyone who's wondering about this. All right, when we come back, we're going to tackle some of the biggest misconceptions about autism and growing up. That's after the break.
I'm CNN tech reporter Claire Duffy. This week on the podcast, Terms of Service. Mercedes Kilmer, thank you so much for doing this. When director Corti Voorhees and his brother John, who is co-producing this film, first approached you about building this AI likeness of your dad for As Deep as the Grave, what was sort of your thought process as you were considering this?
Once I understood his involvement in the project differently, then I agreed to participate. My dad always saw technology as something that could augment or expand our potential as humans rather than to replace us. So he saw it very optimistically. And when Top Gun was coming out, we talked a lot about it. And I was like, what? Do you want to do what? And he was like, I would be in a video game.
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All right, there goes the pager, which means it's time to get to Victoria's next question.
What are some common misconceptions about independence, college, work, and adulthood for autistic young people?
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Chapter 4: What should families understand about the transition to adulthood for autistic individuals?
So yeah, again, look, there can be real challenges, and some people will need more support than others. We started this conversation by reminding you that no two people with autism are exactly the same. But there are also real possibilities. There are real jobs, real independence. It's something Dr. Ambar has experienced firsthand as someone who has autism. He is now a college professor.
So Victoria, we told him about you, and he wanted to give one final piece of advice.
You're already loving and supporting. I think that's far and away the most important thing. I think beyond that, it's not underestimating your son Mason's ability. When I was in high school, I certainly did my fair share of messing up. And I think that there's a lot of that underestimation that goes on.
And when we start underestimating people, we start setting them up to not succeed in the way they want to. Having that conversation, what does success look like for you? So Victoria, when you're talking to Mason, what does this look like for you? What do you want to do? with your life. How do we get you from where you are today to that endpoint?
And knowing that maybe the destination will change over time, but understanding that we can have that conversation, that we can set reasonable goals, aspirational goals, and that we can meet them. But it's having that conversation and not underestimating the ability of the person in front of you.
Understanding that the pathway for that individual to get to the end destination is going to be their own path. And how can you best support them along that journey? I think that is the critical thing to do. And I think it's something my parents did very well.
That idea, that idea of not underestimating an autistic person, I think that's huge. Because expectations really are the key here. They shape what people even get a chance to try. So Victoria, keep having the conversation with Mason. What does he want? What does his version of growing up really look like? Because that's how you start to build the right support around him.
And Mason, incidentally, if you're listening, Dr. Ambar had a message for you as well.
Teenagers all across, all across the world and throughout time and space think parents know what they're thinking. They don't. That's something I've learned and it's something that I've only come to a realization of as I exited my 20s and entered my 30s. So Mason, have those conversations with your mom. Listen to your mom. She loves you.
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