April 1, 2026 • 24 mins
WIOD's special on autism is hosted by Ryan Gorman and includes Susan Manning, owner of All-American Roofing and Annette Lizardo from the Autism Society of Florida both of whom have autistic children.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to this NewsRadio six ten WIOD special on autism.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I'm your host, Ryan Gorman.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
You can listen to the Ryan Gorman Show weekday mornings
from six to nine here on news Radio six ten WIOD,
and of course, you can follow the show on social
media as well at Ryan Gorman Show. I've got a
couple of great guests with me. Susan Manning Crowd, owner
of All American Roofing, Inc. A family run roofing company.
It's been serving the community since nineteen eighty nine. You
(00:31):
can learn more about this business at allamericanroof dot com again,
that's All americanroof dot com. And Susan is a parent
of an autistic son. Also joining me Anet Lozardo from
the Autism Society of Florida. You can learn more about
that organization at autismfl dot org again autismfl dot org.
(00:56):
Annett has a twenty year old son who is a
non speaker. So Susan, Annette, I want to thank you
both so much for joining me on this special. And Susan,
let me start with you, and let's go back to
the beginning. Tell us about when you initially learned that
your son was autistic, What was going on and how
(01:18):
all of that played out?
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Good morning. I'm happy to be here and tell you
my story.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
My son was born in nineteen ninety four, and at
that time, you know, autism wasn't around as it is
right now. He was my third boy, and I was
I noticed that something was off with him. He would
(01:45):
look at the tree and say mama. He would look
at me and say mama. He would want us to
go in a certain order when we walked in the house.
If I picked up my other kids went to publics
instead of driving into my development, he would have a fit.
And I was like, what two year old even knows
(02:08):
you know which way I'm driving.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
So this was like an around two years old.
Speaker 4 (02:13):
Yeah, I was around like one, and I started telling
the doctors around one and a half that I think
something's wrong, and they dismissed me. To be honest with you,
I think because he wasn't textbook autism. He he like
(02:34):
interacted with us, He kissed us, We were always playing
with him. And I think the doctors saw that he
had no spinning. You know, the all the all the
textbook signed he had none of them.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
The only when you say spinning what exactly does that mean.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
So a lot of the autistic kids flap their hands,
walk on their toes, been, this is what they do
when they're younger, right, my son had none of that.
I had no idea what autism was, and I was
taking him to the doctors.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
They were telling me I was crazy, that he's just
speech delayed.
Speaker 4 (03:17):
He's your third boy, You're probably talking for him, you know,
they kept telling me, and I.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Kept saying, No, he's a little odd, like.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
He just knows things that other one and a half
and two year olds wouldn't know, Like he only liked
certain people in the family, which I thought was weird,
you know, like as aunts, uncles, you know, his my parents.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
He liked them, and then other people he didn't like.
Speaker 4 (03:49):
And no two year old knows the difference between adults.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
You know, I don't.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Yeah, mine, I like everybody back then. Now not so much,
but when I was too.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
So anyway, this is how I found out. Initially, I
had a playdate with my middle son and one of
the moms came to my house and of course she
sees my son Philip, you know, running around whatever, and
she said to me, Susan, I think Philip has autism,
(04:21):
and I said, what's that?
Speaker 1 (04:24):
And yeah, this isn't like today where you go google
it or anything, right.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
Right, So this was probably nineteen ninety six because he
was probably or nineteen ninety seven because I think it
was three. And then I like I was. I made
the doctor's appointment and I said, you know.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Did you even know what that meant? No frame or reference?
Speaker 4 (04:50):
Yeah, no, autism to be was rain man and I knew,
and I knew my son was a rain Man, like
he didn't speak, so I.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
Didn't know what to think.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
So I made an appointment with a neurologist and he
told me, no, your son's just speech de late and
I'm like.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
No, something's wrong.
Speaker 4 (05:17):
And then I started to do in my own research
and I got a hold of doctor Tuchman, who was
Dan Marino's sons doctor in Weston. Wow, it took me
like four months to get an appointment with him, and
within five minutes he told me, mister missus Manning, your
son has something called autism. Blah blah blah blah blah
(05:38):
blah blah.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
And that was that.
Speaker 4 (05:42):
But at that point he was like three and a
half years old, and so we lost quite a few
years of his brain development.
Speaker 5 (05:52):
Right away.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
I got him in a program and therapist. You know,
I used to stay up all night reading about UTA.
You know, now I can see a kid at one
years old, like their one year old birthday, and I
can tell you whether that kid has autism or not.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
It's it's amazing you can see it now. You know.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
This is our news radio sixth n w IOD special
on autism. I'm your host, Ryan Gorman, with Susan Manning,
owner of All American Roofing, Inc. And a net Lozardo
from the Autism Society of Florida. Go ahead, Susan, No,
that's why.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
I just you know, now I can tell if a
child has autism or not. I mean now I believe
it's like one in thirty seven kids are on the spectrum,
which is incredible.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
You know.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
I just want parents to be aware and pay attention,
get their children help as as soon as they can.
My brother in law, Joe, who's in business with me
in the roofing company, he adopted a little boy at birth.
At that kid's one year old birthday, I saw that
(07:05):
he had autism. He had textbook autism. I told them
they got mad at me. They didn't talk to me
for a couple of months. My husband was mad at
me for telling them, but I didn't care. I wanted
this kid to get help. I didn't want him to
(07:26):
be like my son and lose. You know, two three
years of therapy, I went as far as going to
the pediatrician that we both shared and asking her that
instead of turning her back and asking the parents, does.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
He do this? Does he do that? Can you see
if my nephew does these things?
Speaker 4 (07:50):
And sure enough he was diagnosed with autism, but at
fourteen months so he's a lot better as far as
his levels. You know, he can speak and go to
school and even go to camp. You know, he knows
(08:11):
how to work a phone, knows how to text. So
you know, he does have a lot of odd tendencies,
but at least he's able to function and not have
to be watched.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
Twenty four to seven.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
And Net, let me turn to you. Is your story
similar to that of Susan's. What was your experience like
with your son?
Speaker 6 (08:32):
There are some similarities, So thank you for having me here.
And so my son, as you mentioned, just for twenty
end of last month, and he was diagnosed at two
and a half, my oldest was about to turn four
years old, so he has an older brother. And then
I was actually eight months pregnant with my daughter, and
(08:55):
we kind of suspected it. My husband passed about a
year ago and expect, I think, similar to Susan's situation.
Speaker 5 (09:03):
So at that time we.
Speaker 6 (09:06):
Kind of suspected it, even though he had hit all
his milestones, but the speech delay again like SU's invention,
but because he had had several ear infections and petube
little tubes to help drain his ears and prevent infections.
Because of that, the pediatrician was like, you know, let's
give him, you know, like another six months or so
(09:28):
to see if he catches up with you know, his verbal,
his oral you know, vocabulary and all that, which he
did not. So he was actually diagnosed, like I said,
at two and a half by actually down there by
doctor Trevor Resnik, who was head of the the Brain
Institute of Many Children's Hospital. And I'm not sure if
(09:50):
he has that position still, but he has a child
with disabilities as as well. But he told me, you know, Samuel,
you know, get him into a social program, you know,
the therapies and all that which we did, and he
told me Samuel has a good prognosis, you know, because
he's alert, he's affectionate, and he's usually happy, which he
is today. However, he is considered high needs because you know,
(10:15):
he does not speak. He understands just about everything, but
due to some apraxia, there are certain functions he cannot
do on his own. So you know, he's fully mobile,
but there are certain tasks, you know, he needs assistance
with his activities of daily living and and just needs
(10:38):
supervision again because of either you know, used to be
wandering and eloping, you know, when he was younger.
Speaker 5 (10:47):
Now not so much.
Speaker 6 (10:48):
But I will tell you that he is now about
six three and close to three hundred pounds, so he's
not that cute two and a half year old who
was diagnosed, you know. And I say that because, you know,
one of the things that we work on and I
think is very important.
Speaker 5 (11:05):
I talk for ten years, but I.
Speaker 6 (11:06):
Am also a lawyer, and I worked for the state
handling criminal appeals for some years with the Attorney General's office.
The reason I say that is because you know, especially
you know, the older, the bigger they get, that is
a bigger concern, you know, So you know, if he
has behaviors because he's happy and he's you know, this
(11:28):
is what they call stimming, you know, kind of the
flapping of the hands. You know, it doesn't you know,
necessarily mean that he's upset.
Speaker 5 (11:34):
He might be.
Speaker 6 (11:35):
You know, think of if you're at a football game
and you have a favorite team and they're close to
you know, the points or whatever to win, you know,
you're going to be screaming and cheering and acting all crazy.
Speaker 5 (11:46):
So that that's kind of how you know, some of
our kids, and I say kids, but obviously they're young.
Speaker 6 (11:50):
Adults are adults by now, you know, may express themselves.
But you know, we have a lot of people in
the community. That's why we do a lot of awareness
training in general, because we kind of assume that those
you know, we're in the autism community, we kind of
know those things.
Speaker 5 (12:06):
Like Susan said, you might be.
Speaker 6 (12:07):
Able to spot certain things, but then we have to
deal you know, with law enforcement, with first responders, with
healthcare providers, et cetera that do not know that.
Speaker 5 (12:17):
So you know, there's really a lot.
Speaker 6 (12:18):
More awareness you know, targeted to those groups that we
need to do just to keep our kids.
Speaker 5 (12:24):
You know, there you know, a lot of times they're.
Speaker 6 (12:26):
Not upset, they just need to be kept safe, you know,
because they may not appreciate a danger or safe from
other people who might misinterpret you know, what they're trying
to do, or where they're trying to go, or you know,
their behaviors.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
This is our special on autism here on news Radio
six to ten w IOD. I'm Ryan Gorman with Susan Manning,
owner of All American Roofing, Inc. Who has an autistic son,
and a Netlizardo from the Autism Society of Florida who
also has an autistic soun real quick and that.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Were you familiar?
Speaker 1 (12:58):
I mean, now you're with the Autism Society of Florida,
but back then, were you familiar with autism?
Speaker 6 (13:04):
It's it's interesting because we had some close friends whose
boys twin boys are about there the age of my oldest,
so you know, Samuel, like I said, is about twenty
months younger. And when they hit their their year mark,
(13:25):
you know, their their one year birthdays. I remember some
people were like, oh, I think they're autistic, and I
was like, really, you know, I couldn't tell, you know,
I had a few other people tell me, oh, you know,
so you know, at that point I kind of started
looking for signs and lo and behold they were you know,
you know, some months later they were diagnosed as on
being on the spectrum.
Speaker 5 (13:46):
So I kind of was familiar with the terms and
you know, maybe.
Speaker 6 (13:49):
Some of the characteristics, but for instance, you know, my
son had none of those you know, typical characteristics. You know,
people say, look for the tiptoeing, you know, look you know,
for the spinning or even like squinting at lights, you know,
because sometimes there's like you know, visual components or sensory issues.
Speaker 5 (14:07):
You know.
Speaker 6 (14:07):
Really with my son, what I noticed was shortly after
his you know, first birthday or so is he just
when I called him, I could tell he heard me,
but he would he stopped turning to look at me.
It may sound odd and it's a little something, you know,
but I was like, that's weird, you know, I you know,
before I would call him and he would look I
(14:29):
would call him and I could tell he heard me,
but he would not turn to look at me. So
that was kind of a sign that I suspected something
before he actually got his diagnosis.
Speaker 5 (14:39):
About a year later.
Speaker 6 (14:41):
But yeah, I mean, I mean I was born in
nineteen seventy you can calculate my age, but we're talking
at that point it was one in ten thousand. Now
we're talking one in thirty one. So when when we
do like a first responder or law enforcement training, you know,
usually I will ask who knows or has some one
and you know in their circle, you know, be it
(15:02):
family or friends that has somebody, you know, somebody on
the spectrum. And again, you know, statistically speaking, you know
you're going to have almost a third of.
Speaker 5 (15:11):
Those people raise their hands.
Speaker 6 (15:13):
So you know that's where we are, you know, and
you know, since like I said, the last several decades, unfortunately,
you know, the numbers have increased, and you know it
obviously there is better awareness and diagnosis now, but I
also think there are other factors, you know, not you know,
not to get into medical or environmental issues, but also
(15:34):
think of how many people move to Florida, right, And
I know people who have you know, retirees right who
are now moving to Florida with their adult child on
the spectrum.
Speaker 5 (15:45):
So you know, our numbers are just increasing and increasing
in Florida, not just nationwide.
Speaker 6 (15:49):
So again that that leaves Florida, you know, having to
make certain accommodations basically.
Speaker 5 (15:56):
You know, be it for younger ones.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
You know.
Speaker 6 (15:58):
Unfortunately, for the last three years, Florida has been number
one for drownings of kids on the spectrum. And I
think that, you know, I think part of that is
because of a lack of awareness it if you're visiting
Florida or if you just moved to Florida, so you know,
you know, for those of us, I mean, I'm a
(16:19):
Florida native, but you know, those of you who have
been here for a long time, you know, we don't
just go swimming in any pond, lake, or canal, in
part because of snakes and gators. But you know, we
have visitors that are new, you know, new residents that
may not realize that any any literally literally puddle is
a danger because children, you know, can drown in two
(16:40):
inches of water, even in a baptub. But yeah, unfortunately,
we do a lot of the drowning prevention just because
everywhere you turn in Florida there's a pool, there's a canal,
there's a lake, and so it's a it's a big
problem here.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
This is our news Radio six n w IOD special
on autism. I'm your host, Runyan Warman and Susan. Let
me turn back to you, owner of All American Roofing Ink,
who is the parent of an autistic son.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Let's fast forward.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
What are some of the challenges with having a son
who's grown up and is dealing with autism?
Speaker 4 (17:15):
So, you know, I just want to mention something that
net had said. I got stickers, but not bump a
stick is the ones that just magnetic go on, letting
everybody know that there's an autistic child in this car
just in case, just in case there's an accident or anything.
(17:40):
He would not be able to listen to instructions. And
I think there was an issue years ago, a couple
of years ago where I think someone was shot right
because a police officer thought that the person was running
away or something.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
I really don't know.
Speaker 4 (17:56):
What the specifics was, but right after I saw that,
I went ahead and got magnetic stickers for all our cars,
any car that Philip would be traveling in, whether it
is you know, I have a girl who's with me
twenty two years and she's with him during the day
(18:16):
while I'm at work, and then when I come home
from work, she goes home. But you know, she would
take him to publics or the movie theater or whatever.
And I wanted to make sure that, you know, everybody
had a sticker on their car letting them know that
there's an autistic child in here. And they may not
(18:36):
listen to demand, you know, to instructions because they don't
understand or you know, they're nervous or whatever. But I think,
you know, the biggest challenge is knowing what's going to
happen to him when I'm no longer here. I'm lucky
enough I have two older sons. I had my kids
(19:00):
about two years apart, so my middle son is two
years older than Philip, and then there's one two years
older than the middle and my middle son is so
terrific with with my son Philip.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
He was my third.
Speaker 4 (19:16):
And I have a really big Italian family and they're
all down here, so they're all involved in Phillips No
but something that and that's said. You know, they're big,
and sometimes they get frustrated and if they could get violent.
(19:39):
You know, my son is on a medicine called Rispadol,
and when he got on that, my life kind of
changed a little bit because I didn't sleep, like he
didn't sleep at all at night. Maybe two hours. Once
he went on that rispydoil, he got calmer and and
(20:00):
as much as I'm not a big medicine person at all,
I have to say that does help him stay calm. Also,
watching their foods. Being Italian, I was not brought up
that way where foods make you know, foods can make
you crazy or whatever. But I did notice that certain
(20:23):
foods do make him upset, and I did eliminate all
those from his diet. So you know, now that he
aged out of school at twenty one or twenty two,
I can't remember what it is. You know, I had
to have full time help to watch him. Also, you know,
(20:46):
my husband passed twelve years ago, so I've been raising
the children on my own. But as I said, I
do have a big family. I have a wonderful care
tape that has been with me twenty two years. She's
like his second mom. And you know, you have to
(21:08):
get used to how they communicate. And that's odd what
Annette was saying. Other people don't understand. You know, one
time I'll never forget. I was in Panero bread. This
was I don't know, maybe fifteen years ago, and I
was waiting online with other people and a lady was there,
(21:31):
a young mom with her autistic son. I could tell
he was autistic. He was, you know, he was not behaving,
and all the people were looking at her weird, you know,
and like making comments and stuff. So I spoke out
loud and I said, Hi, I go your son has autism, right,
(21:52):
And I made sure that the other people in line
heard me. And she says, yes, how do you know?
And I said because mine does too. And I said
to her, I lied, And I said to her, don't worry,
it's gonna get easier when he gets older. But I
felt like I had to, and the look on her face,
(22:13):
I'll never forget.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
She was like really, I said, yes.
Speaker 4 (22:17):
Don't worry, it's gonna get easier when he gets older.
I walked out of Panaros. I busted out crying because
I can't believe I just like lied to this lady.
But I just felt like she needed that support. And
I felt like the people that were making the comments
needed to have a little bit more consideration because they
(22:39):
have no clue what life is with an autistic child,
especially a low functioning one.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Absolutely, I mean I feel like we're just scratching the
surface of the different conversations we could have tied to autism. Again,
I'm Ryan Gorman with Susan Manning, owner of All American
Roofing Ink and Netlzardo from the autosm Society of Florida.
If you go to the website autismfl dot org, you're
(23:06):
gonna find a lot of tremendous resources information about autism.
Whether you have someone in your life with autism or not,
it's good to go there and get a better understanding because,
like we've been talking about, there are many people in
society who we might interact with who have autism. You
could also offer your support by donating and checking out
(23:27):
some of the events they have as well. Again, that's
autismfl dot org. Autismfl dot org a net Lozardo from
the Autism Society of Florida and Susan Manning again owner
of All American Roofing, Inc. Great roofing company right here
in South Florida, which you can find at All americanroof
dot com. Susanette, I want to thank you both so
(23:48):
much for taking a few minutes to come on with
me and talk about this.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 5 (23:53):
It's a pleasure all.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Right, and that'll do it for you.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
That's so important, and that'll do it for us here
on news Radio six ten WIOD and are special on autism.
Welcome to this NewsRadio six ten WIOD special on autism.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I'm your host, Ryan Gorman.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
You can listen to the Ryan Gorman Show weekday mornings
from six to nine here on news Radio six ten WIOD,
and of course, you can follow the show on social
media as well at Ryan Gorman Show. I've got a
couple of great guests with me. Susan Manning Crowd, owner
of All American Roofing, Inc. A family run roofing company.
It's been serving the community since nineteen eighty nine. You
(00:31):
can learn more about this business at allamericanroof dot com again,
that's All americanroof dot com. And Susan is a parent
of an autistic son. Also joining me Anet Lozardo from
the Autism Society of Florida. You can learn more about
that organization at autismfl dot org again autismfl dot org.
(00:56):
Annett has a twenty year old son who is a
non speaker. So Susan, Annette, I want to thank you
both so much for joining me on this special. And Susan,
let me start with you, and let's go back to
the beginning. Tell us about when you initially learned that
your son was autistic, What was going on and how
(01:18):
all of that played out?
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Good morning. I'm happy to be here and tell you
my story.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
My son was born in nineteen ninety four, and at
that time, you know, autism wasn't around as it is
right now. He was my third boy, and I was
I noticed that something was off with him. He would
(01:45):
look at the tree and say mama. He would look
at me and say mama. He would want us to
go in a certain order when we walked in the house.
If I picked up my other kids went to publics
instead of driving into my development, he would have a fit.
And I was like, what two year old even knows
(02:08):
you know which way I'm driving.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
So this was like an around two years old.
Speaker 4 (02:13):
Yeah, I was around like one, and I started telling
the doctors around one and a half that I think
something's wrong, and they dismissed me. To be honest with you,
I think because he wasn't textbook autism. He he like
(02:34):
interacted with us, He kissed us, We were always playing
with him. And I think the doctors saw that he
had no spinning. You know, the all the all the
textbook signed he had none of them.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
The only when you say spinning what exactly does that mean.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
So a lot of the autistic kids flap their hands,
walk on their toes, been, this is what they do
when they're younger, right, my son had none of that.
I had no idea what autism was, and I was
taking him to the doctors.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
They were telling me I was crazy, that he's just
speech delayed.
Speaker 4 (03:17):
He's your third boy, You're probably talking for him, you know,
they kept telling me, and I.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Kept saying, No, he's a little odd, like.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
He just knows things that other one and a half
and two year olds wouldn't know, Like he only liked
certain people in the family, which I thought was weird,
you know, like as aunts, uncles, you know, his my parents.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
He liked them, and then other people he didn't like.
Speaker 4 (03:49):
And no two year old knows the difference between adults.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
You know, I don't.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Yeah, mine, I like everybody back then. Now not so much,
but when I was too.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
So anyway, this is how I found out. Initially, I
had a playdate with my middle son and one of
the moms came to my house and of course she
sees my son Philip, you know, running around whatever, and
she said to me, Susan, I think Philip has autism,
(04:21):
and I said, what's that?
Speaker 1 (04:24):
And yeah, this isn't like today where you go google
it or anything, right.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
Right, So this was probably nineteen ninety six because he
was probably or nineteen ninety seven because I think it
was three. And then I like I was. I made
the doctor's appointment and I said, you know.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Did you even know what that meant? No frame or reference?
Speaker 4 (04:50):
Yeah, no, autism to be was rain man and I knew,
and I knew my son was a rain Man, like
he didn't speak, so I.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
Didn't know what to think.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
So I made an appointment with a neurologist and he
told me, no, your son's just speech de late and
I'm like.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
No, something's wrong.
Speaker 4 (05:17):
And then I started to do in my own research
and I got a hold of doctor Tuchman, who was
Dan Marino's sons doctor in Weston. Wow, it took me
like four months to get an appointment with him, and
within five minutes he told me, mister missus Manning, your
son has something called autism. Blah blah blah blah blah
(05:38):
blah blah.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
And that was that.
Speaker 4 (05:42):
But at that point he was like three and a
half years old, and so we lost quite a few
years of his brain development.
Speaker 5 (05:52):
Right away.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
I got him in a program and therapist. You know,
I used to stay up all night reading about UTA.
You know, now I can see a kid at one
years old, like their one year old birthday, and I
can tell you whether that kid has autism or not.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
It's it's amazing you can see it now. You know.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
This is our news radio sixth n w IOD special
on autism. I'm your host, Ryan Gorman, with Susan Manning,
owner of All American Roofing, Inc. And a net Lozardo
from the Autism Society of Florida. Go ahead, Susan, No,
that's why.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
I just you know, now I can tell if a
child has autism or not. I mean now I believe
it's like one in thirty seven kids are on the spectrum,
which is incredible.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
You know.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
I just want parents to be aware and pay attention,
get their children help as as soon as they can.
My brother in law, Joe, who's in business with me
in the roofing company, he adopted a little boy at birth.
At that kid's one year old birthday, I saw that
(07:05):
he had autism. He had textbook autism. I told them
they got mad at me. They didn't talk to me
for a couple of months. My husband was mad at
me for telling them, but I didn't care. I wanted
this kid to get help. I didn't want him to
(07:26):
be like my son and lose. You know, two three
years of therapy, I went as far as going to
the pediatrician that we both shared and asking her that
instead of turning her back and asking the parents, does.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
He do this? Does he do that? Can you see
if my nephew does these things?
Speaker 4 (07:50):
And sure enough he was diagnosed with autism, but at
fourteen months so he's a lot better as far as
his levels. You know, he can speak and go to
school and even go to camp. You know, he knows
(08:11):
how to work a phone, knows how to text. So
you know, he does have a lot of odd tendencies,
but at least he's able to function and not have
to be watched.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
Twenty four to seven.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
And Net, let me turn to you. Is your story
similar to that of Susan's. What was your experience like
with your son?
Speaker 6 (08:32):
There are some similarities, So thank you for having me here.
And so my son, as you mentioned, just for twenty
end of last month, and he was diagnosed at two
and a half, my oldest was about to turn four
years old, so he has an older brother. And then
I was actually eight months pregnant with my daughter, and
(08:55):
we kind of suspected it. My husband passed about a
year ago and expect, I think, similar to Susan's situation.
Speaker 5 (09:03):
So at that time we.
Speaker 6 (09:06):
Kind of suspected it, even though he had hit all
his milestones, but the speech delay again like SU's invention,
but because he had had several ear infections and petube
little tubes to help drain his ears and prevent infections.
Because of that, the pediatrician was like, you know, let's
give him, you know, like another six months or so
(09:28):
to see if he catches up with you know, his verbal,
his oral you know, vocabulary and all that, which he
did not. So he was actually diagnosed, like I said,
at two and a half by actually down there by
doctor Trevor Resnik, who was head of the the Brain
Institute of Many Children's Hospital. And I'm not sure if
(09:50):
he has that position still, but he has a child
with disabilities as as well. But he told me, you know, Samuel,
you know, get him into a social program, you know,
the therapies and all that which we did, and he
told me Samuel has a good prognosis, you know, because
he's alert, he's affectionate, and he's usually happy, which he
is today. However, he is considered high needs because you know,
(10:15):
he does not speak. He understands just about everything, but
due to some apraxia, there are certain functions he cannot
do on his own. So you know, he's fully mobile,
but there are certain tasks, you know, he needs assistance
with his activities of daily living and and just needs
(10:38):
supervision again because of either you know, used to be
wandering and eloping, you know, when he was younger.
Speaker 5 (10:47):
Now not so much.
Speaker 6 (10:48):
But I will tell you that he is now about
six three and close to three hundred pounds, so he's
not that cute two and a half year old who
was diagnosed, you know. And I say that because, you know,
one of the things that we work on and I
think is very important.
Speaker 5 (11:05):
I talk for ten years, but I.
Speaker 6 (11:06):
Am also a lawyer, and I worked for the state
handling criminal appeals for some years with the Attorney General's office.
The reason I say that is because you know, especially
you know, the older, the bigger they get, that is
a bigger concern, you know, So you know, if he
has behaviors because he's happy and he's you know, this
(11:28):
is what they call stimming, you know, kind of the
flapping of the hands. You know, it doesn't you know,
necessarily mean that he's upset.
Speaker 5 (11:34):
He might be.
Speaker 6 (11:35):
You know, think of if you're at a football game
and you have a favorite team and they're close to
you know, the points or whatever to win, you know,
you're going to be screaming and cheering and acting all crazy.
Speaker 5 (11:46):
So that that's kind of how you know, some of
our kids, and I say kids, but obviously they're young.
Speaker 6 (11:50):
Adults are adults by now, you know, may express themselves.
But you know, we have a lot of people in
the community. That's why we do a lot of awareness
training in general, because we kind of assume that those
you know, we're in the autism community, we kind of
know those things.
Speaker 5 (12:06):
Like Susan said, you might be.
Speaker 6 (12:07):
Able to spot certain things, but then we have to
deal you know, with law enforcement, with first responders, with
healthcare providers, et cetera that do not know that.
Speaker 5 (12:17):
So you know, there's really a lot.
Speaker 6 (12:18):
More awareness you know, targeted to those groups that we
need to do just to keep our kids.
Speaker 5 (12:24):
You know, there you know, a lot of times they're.
Speaker 6 (12:26):
Not upset, they just need to be kept safe, you know,
because they may not appreciate a danger or safe from
other people who might misinterpret you know, what they're trying
to do, or where they're trying to go, or you know,
their behaviors.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
This is our special on autism here on news Radio
six to ten w IOD. I'm Ryan Gorman with Susan Manning,
owner of All American Roofing, Inc. Who has an autistic son,
and a Netlizardo from the Autism Society of Florida who
also has an autistic soun real quick and that.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Were you familiar?
Speaker 1 (12:58):
I mean, now you're with the Autism Society of Florida,
but back then, were you familiar with autism?
Speaker 6 (13:04):
It's it's interesting because we had some close friends whose
boys twin boys are about there the age of my oldest,
so you know, Samuel, like I said, is about twenty
months younger. And when they hit their their year mark,
(13:25):
you know, their their one year birthdays. I remember some
people were like, oh, I think they're autistic, and I
was like, really, you know, I couldn't tell, you know,
I had a few other people tell me, oh, you know,
so you know, at that point I kind of started
looking for signs and lo and behold they were you know,
you know, some months later they were diagnosed as on
being on the spectrum.
Speaker 5 (13:46):
So I kind of was familiar with the terms and
you know, maybe.
Speaker 6 (13:49):
Some of the characteristics, but for instance, you know, my
son had none of those you know, typical characteristics. You know,
people say, look for the tiptoeing, you know, look you know,
for the spinning or even like squinting at lights, you know,
because sometimes there's like you know, visual components or sensory issues.
Speaker 5 (14:07):
You know.
Speaker 6 (14:07):
Really with my son, what I noticed was shortly after
his you know, first birthday or so is he just
when I called him, I could tell he heard me,
but he would he stopped turning to look at me.
It may sound odd and it's a little something, you know,
but I was like, that's weird, you know, I you know,
before I would call him and he would look I
(14:29):
would call him and I could tell he heard me,
but he would not turn to look at me. So
that was kind of a sign that I suspected something
before he actually got his diagnosis.
Speaker 5 (14:39):
About a year later.
Speaker 6 (14:41):
But yeah, I mean, I mean I was born in
nineteen seventy you can calculate my age, but we're talking
at that point it was one in ten thousand. Now
we're talking one in thirty one. So when when we
do like a first responder or law enforcement training, you know,
usually I will ask who knows or has some one
and you know in their circle, you know, be it
(15:02):
family or friends that has somebody, you know, somebody on
the spectrum. And again, you know, statistically speaking, you know
you're going to have almost a third of.
Speaker 5 (15:11):
Those people raise their hands.
Speaker 6 (15:13):
So you know that's where we are, you know, and
you know, since like I said, the last several decades, unfortunately,
you know, the numbers have increased, and you know it
obviously there is better awareness and diagnosis now, but I
also think there are other factors, you know, not you know,
not to get into medical or environmental issues, but also
(15:34):
think of how many people move to Florida, right, And
I know people who have you know, retirees right who
are now moving to Florida with their adult child on
the spectrum.
Speaker 5 (15:45):
So you know, our numbers are just increasing and increasing
in Florida, not just nationwide.
Speaker 6 (15:49):
So again that that leaves Florida, you know, having to
make certain accommodations basically.
Speaker 5 (15:56):
You know, be it for younger ones.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
You know.
Speaker 6 (15:58):
Unfortunately, for the last three years, Florida has been number
one for drownings of kids on the spectrum. And I
think that, you know, I think part of that is
because of a lack of awareness it if you're visiting
Florida or if you just moved to Florida, so you know,
you know, for those of us, I mean, I'm a
(16:19):
Florida native, but you know, those of you who have
been here for a long time, you know, we don't
just go swimming in any pond, lake, or canal, in
part because of snakes and gators. But you know, we
have visitors that are new, you know, new residents that
may not realize that any any literally literally puddle is
a danger because children, you know, can drown in two
(16:40):
inches of water, even in a baptub. But yeah, unfortunately,
we do a lot of the drowning prevention just because
everywhere you turn in Florida there's a pool, there's a canal,
there's a lake, and so it's a it's a big
problem here.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
This is our news Radio six n w IOD special
on autism. I'm your host, Runyan Warman and Susan. Let
me turn back to you, owner of All American Roofing Ink,
who is the parent of an autistic son.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Let's fast forward.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
What are some of the challenges with having a son
who's grown up and is dealing with autism?
Speaker 4 (17:15):
So, you know, I just want to mention something that
net had said. I got stickers, but not bump a
stick is the ones that just magnetic go on, letting
everybody know that there's an autistic child in this car
just in case, just in case there's an accident or anything.
(17:40):
He would not be able to listen to instructions. And
I think there was an issue years ago, a couple
of years ago where I think someone was shot right
because a police officer thought that the person was running
away or something.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
I really don't know.
Speaker 4 (17:56):
What the specifics was, but right after I saw that,
I went ahead and got magnetic stickers for all our cars,
any car that Philip would be traveling in, whether it
is you know, I have a girl who's with me
twenty two years and she's with him during the day
(18:16):
while I'm at work, and then when I come home
from work, she goes home. But you know, she would
take him to publics or the movie theater or whatever.
And I wanted to make sure that, you know, everybody
had a sticker on their car letting them know that
there's an autistic child in here. And they may not
(18:36):
listen to demand, you know, to instructions because they don't
understand or you know, they're nervous or whatever. But I think,
you know, the biggest challenge is knowing what's going to
happen to him when I'm no longer here. I'm lucky
enough I have two older sons. I had my kids
(19:00):
about two years apart, so my middle son is two
years older than Philip, and then there's one two years
older than the middle and my middle son is so
terrific with with my son Philip.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
He was my third.
Speaker 4 (19:16):
And I have a really big Italian family and they're
all down here, so they're all involved in Phillips No
but something that and that's said. You know, they're big,
and sometimes they get frustrated and if they could get violent.
(19:39):
You know, my son is on a medicine called Rispadol,
and when he got on that, my life kind of
changed a little bit because I didn't sleep, like he
didn't sleep at all at night. Maybe two hours. Once
he went on that rispydoil, he got calmer and and
(20:00):
as much as I'm not a big medicine person at all,
I have to say that does help him stay calm. Also,
watching their foods. Being Italian, I was not brought up
that way where foods make you know, foods can make
you crazy or whatever. But I did notice that certain
(20:23):
foods do make him upset, and I did eliminate all
those from his diet. So you know, now that he
aged out of school at twenty one or twenty two,
I can't remember what it is. You know, I had
to have full time help to watch him. Also, you know,
(20:46):
my husband passed twelve years ago, so I've been raising
the children on my own. But as I said, I
do have a big family. I have a wonderful care
tape that has been with me twenty two years. She's
like his second mom. And you know, you have to
(21:08):
get used to how they communicate. And that's odd what
Annette was saying. Other people don't understand. You know, one
time I'll never forget. I was in Panero bread. This
was I don't know, maybe fifteen years ago, and I
was waiting online with other people and a lady was there,
(21:31):
a young mom with her autistic son. I could tell
he was autistic. He was, you know, he was not behaving,
and all the people were looking at her weird, you know,
and like making comments and stuff. So I spoke out
loud and I said, Hi, I go your son has autism, right,
(21:52):
And I made sure that the other people in line
heard me. And she says, yes, how do you know?
And I said because mine does too. And I said
to her, I lied, And I said to her, don't worry,
it's gonna get easier when he gets older. But I
felt like I had to, and the look on her face,
(22:13):
I'll never forget.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
She was like really, I said, yes.
Speaker 4 (22:17):
Don't worry, it's gonna get easier when he gets older.
I walked out of Panaros. I busted out crying because
I can't believe I just like lied to this lady.
But I just felt like she needed that support. And
I felt like the people that were making the comments
needed to have a little bit more consideration because they
(22:39):
have no clue what life is with an autistic child,
especially a low functioning one.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Absolutely, I mean I feel like we're just scratching the
surface of the different conversations we could have tied to autism. Again,
I'm Ryan Gorman with Susan Manning, owner of All American
Roofing Ink and Netlzardo from the autosm Society of Florida.
If you go to the website autismfl dot org, you're
(23:06):
gonna find a lot of tremendous resources information about autism.
Whether you have someone in your life with autism or not,
it's good to go there and get a better understanding because,
like we've been talking about, there are many people in
society who we might interact with who have autism. You
could also offer your support by donating and checking out
(23:27):
some of the events they have as well. Again, that's
autismfl dot org. Autismfl dot org a net Lozardo from
the Autism Society of Florida and Susan Manning again owner
of All American Roofing, Inc. Great roofing company right here
in South Florida, which you can find at All americanroof
dot com. Susanette, I want to thank you both so
(23:48):
much for taking a few minutes to come on with
me and talk about this.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 5 (23:53):
It's a pleasure all.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Right, and that'll do it for you.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
That's so important, and that'll do it for us here
on news Radio six ten WIOD and are special on autism.
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