Ep. 16: What You Need to Know About Autistic Special Interests ft. Autistic SLP Sam Rowntree
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What is the purpose of this episode and who are the hosts?
What's up everyone and welcome to Making the Shift.
We're an SLP couple from California with three boys and a passion for finding better ways to support autistic kids.
I'm Chris Winger, better known as Speech Dude, and I'm a neurodivergent high school SLP and the creator of the DASOL, the dynamic assessment of social emotional learning.
And I'm Jesse Ginsberg, a sensory integration trained SLP, owner of a top-rated speech therapy clinic in Los Angeles, and the creator of the Inside Out Sensory Programs for Parents and Therapists. Join us weekly to learn neurodiversity affirming ways to support social, emotional development and regulation in autistic kids.
Are you ready to make the ship?
Hello everyone. Welcome to Making the Shift. Today is a very special day because we have an awesome guest here today. So today we have Sam Roundtree, who is an autistic SLP in Australia.
Hi everyone. Thanks for inviting me, Jessie.
Who is Sam Rowntree and what is her background as an autistic SLP?
This is so exciting. So Sam and I, we met because she enrolled in my sensory program. And then I don't even know how it all happened, but we got to talking, connecting on social media. And then when Chris and I were down in Australia presenting, you came, which was that far from where you live.
Uh about 45 minutes.
Okay. And it was the like probably the rainiest day it had been in many, many years. Chris and I drove from Melbourne to no Sydney to Wong.
How does Sam define an autistic special interest and how does it differ from an obsession or hyper‑fixation?
And it's only supposed to be about an hour, but it was like the worst rain you could ever imagine. I was freaking out. You can't even see through the window. And it was just did how did you get there that day? Did you drive?
I drove. It wasn't that bad that day. It was the day before that it was worse. Okay. The weather's been worse like five times since then.
So oh my gosh. Yeah, but that was really special because Sam and I had been like friends talking on social media and then we actually got to meet in person. So yeah, maybe you can just introduce yourself and tell everyone a little bit about you.
Alright, so I as Jesse said, I'm Sam. Um I'm an autistic SLP in Sydney, Australia. I run the Aussie Speechy on Instagram and I yeah, have worked with Jesse on a few things so far and I'm excited to talk about some more things with Jessie today.
Yeah, so what I can't even remember how I ended up asking you to speak about this topic.
What’s the difference between a hobby and a special interest for autistic people?
Maybe you had posted about special interest.
Posted, yeah.
And then I had reached out to Sam because we were in doing our presentation and I thought it would be cool she could contribute. And it was so powerful. Um, just the way that she described special interests was something I had never thought about before. So that's really our topic for today is what are autistic special interests and how can we support our kids in their special interests? So maybe, Sam, you can just tell uh everyone a little bit about what special interests are.
So special interests are they're kind of like a topic or a trying to think of the words for it. That's like a topic of real like really intense interest. A lot of the time people refer to it as obsessions or hyperfixations, but they're a little bit different. So special interests are usually more long term. So the things that we get really, really passionate about, we kind of want to learn all about it. And it can be something that stays with us for a long time. It's kind of a safe space. Whereas like the other side of like the hyperfixation side is very similar to special interest, but usually a bit more short lived. So it might the hyperfixation might be like a week of intense interest in something.
Ras of special interest is usually something that sort of stays with us, even once we sort of move on to a new one, it's always in the background. So any special interest I've had in my life, I'm still I still love, but I still adore it, even if I have got one that's taking a bit more precedence at that moment.
Yeah, and you, you know, you use the word obsessions, which I think a lot of people are so used to hearing, which is definitely something that, you know, we're trying to move away from is describing kids' special interests as obsessions only because of the negative connotation, you know, that it has.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the purpose of this episode and who are the hosts?
0:08–1:20
2
Who is Sam Rowntree and what is her background as an autistic SLP?
1:20–2:00
3
How does Sam define an autistic special interest and how does it differ from an obsession or hyper‑fixation?
2:00–2:59
4
What’s the difference between a hobby and a special interest for autistic people?
2:59–5:10
5
How does it feel when a special interest is shut down or dismissed?
5:10–7:37
6
How can therapists use a child’s special interest to build rapport and teach skills?
7:37–11:18
7
What are effective ways to incorporate special interests into group projects and classroom activities?
11:18–13:57
8
What practical advice do Sam and the hosts give parents and teachers for supporting autistic special interests?
13:57–28:53
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from The NeuroAffirm Podcast
Ep. 125 How to Run Successful Social Groups
Ep. 124 Building Rapport Isn’t Enough...How Therapists Become Part of the Intervention
Ep. 123 Not Seeing Progress in Speech Therapy? Start Here.
Ep. 122 Screen Time Considerations for Autistic Kids
Ep. 121 The Biggest Sensory Mistakes SLPs Make
Ep. 120 Why Anxiety is So Common in Autism (And What Actually Helps)