Welcome to Piece by Piece

In our very first episode of Piece by Piece: An Autism Podcast, we—Angie Matheney and Christi Jensen—introduce ourselves and share the heart behind this podcast. We're two women with a shared passion for helping others navigate the world of autism, and we’re here to build a supportive, honest, and empowering community.

We’ll talk about our experiences working with Alec and how we use Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) to help him get the most out of life. Through real stories, practical insights, and open conversations, our goal is to connect with families, professionals, and anyone walking this path. Let’s grow and learn together—one piece at a time.

Send us a text

Episode Transcript

Angie (00:01):
Welcome to the Piece by Piece Autism Podcast with your
hosts, Angie and Christi.
They've worked 25 years to helpAlec get the most out of life.
Let them tell you how they'redoing it.
Hello and welcome to the firstepisode of Piece by Piece Autism
Podcast.
We're so excited you're hereand we look forward to sharing

(00:23):
nuts and bolts and tricks of thetrade as we discuss a spectrum
of information about all thingsautism.
I am Angie Matheney.
And I'm Christi Jensen.
And we are here to share allthings autism as it pertains to
our knowledge as we have helpedAlec, Christi's 27-year-old son,

(00:48):
learn and grow through his homeABA program.

Christi (00:53):
ABA is a proven method for treating autism, which is
data-driven.
And we've done it in our homesince Alec was 2 1⁄2 years old.
That's six months after hisdiagnosis, we started a team and
brought them into our home.
And so he's had that ever sincehe was 2 1⁄2 and still has it

(01:18):
to this

Angie (01:19):
day.
Yeah, I came into Alec's lifefirst as a babysitter when he
was about three years old.
You had already started hishome program at that point.
But...
I was not involved with hishome program as much as I was
just kind of respite care at thetime.
But I've known the guy since hewas just a little tyke.
And then that kind of evolved.

(01:41):
I then was hired on as ateacher as part of the team
under another consultant.
And my admiration and love forapplied behavioral analysis kind
of grew and led me to go backto school to get my master's in
Applied Behavioral Analysis.
And now I consult for Alec'shome program where he currently

(02:05):
lives in Utah.

Christi (02:08):
And we were talking about, you know, you hear a lot
about autism and treatment foryounger children, but you don't
hear...
very much about adults.
Like what happens to theadults?
Where are they?
It seems like when the childrenare little, you hear about

(02:28):
support groups.
You hear about the community alot of the autism community.
It's an accessible community,but then once you get an adult
child, it just seems to dwindleaway.
And then you wonder- where arethe adults where are they well

(02:52):
we want to tell you where ouradult is because we know where
he is and we would love to sharewith you all the cool things
that we're doing with himbecause he does have a very
enriched life and we're veryproud u of where he is right
now.

Angie (03:10):
And I think he's very proud of where he is right now.
For sure.
The proof is in the pudding, aswe like to say.
And together, we've got decadesof experience.
And we know that our work isnot done.
We've got still a lot to learn.
And we hope that this communitycan be one in which we learn
and share experiences and growtogether.

(03:31):
We want to hear from you.
We want to know what you'redoing and how you're supporting
those affected and on thespectrum in your communities and
we hope that we can be asupport and another resource for
you and your child wherever youmay be in your journey

Christi (03:53):
yeah and i think know 25 years of doing this we have a
lot of experience a lot oftrial and error we've had a lot
of successes we've had somedisappointments we've had you
know happy days and sad days anda lot of growing pains a lot of
growing pains but just overallfeeling pretty positive about

(04:20):
where we are and where we'regoing and what we're we would
love to share with other peoplejust the hope of having an adult
autistic child and having thembe able to fully participate i
mean almost

Angie (04:36):
fully participate in life a contributing member to
society and absolutely wantingto get up and enjoy the day look
forward to what is to comeinstead of feeling dread or
sadness for yes what what eachday is going to hold

Christi (04:57):
yeah

Angie (04:58):
we want to share a little bit more about Alec like we
mentioned he is a 27 year oldyoung man with severe autism he
is non-speaking and communicatesusing a keyboard

Christi (05:14):
Yes.
He loves actually to be social.
He loves to be included inactivities.
Tonight he was out playing withhis nieces and nephews.
It's weird that he has niecesand nephews, but he loves to
give high fives.
He loves to give fist bumps.

(05:34):
That's his main communication.
And it was...
I mean, he'll wear you out witha high five.
So he loves a party.
He loves the month of Octoberbecause it's his birthday month.
And it's also Halloween, whichhe absolutely loves.
He tolerates babies and smallchildren.

(05:55):
He loves wind down time.
Angie does not like him to takea nap very much.
But sometimes he's been knownto fall asleep sitting straight
up.
On my sofa because he will tryto get a nap in no matter what.

Angie (06:12):
Kind of snag him when you can, right?

Christi (06:14):
Yeah.
He loves his work.
He works in the missionarytraining center.
He's back in the dishwashingsection, and he loves all
different kinds ofresponsibilities he has back
there.

Angie (06:28):
Yeah, he's got such a great work ethic.
He really always has.

Christi (06:31):
And takes pride in his work.
Yes.
It's been a really cool thingto watch that.
develop over time and and knowthat he loves it

Angie (06:41):
yeah he's such a gentle giant very affectionate very
smart and loves to be held to ahigh standard we've really kind
of from the get-go set the barquite high knowing that he is a
capable individual and he hasrisen to that bar time and time

(07:04):
again and continues to reallygrow and develop even now.
He's learning and applyingskills in new ways that is very
impressive.

Christi (07:17):
Yeah.
And I mean, we're enjoying alot of really good days right
now that we acknowledge likethis is not easy it's not easy
what you're doing and so wewould love to just be able to
provide some of our experienceand our knowledge and share it

(07:38):
with you and help you feel likeit's attainable for you and that
your child can have success andand have more good days than
bad days

Angie (07:48):
yeah yeah it's worth it's worth digging through the mud
to get to the other side rightlike

Christi (07:54):
Yes.

Angie (07:55):
Like you said, there's more good days now than bad.
But there was a time where wereally went through the trenches
with Alec.
So not to say that it's beensunshine and roses from the
beginning.
We've learned a lot on the way.
And because of where we're atand where we feel like Alec has

(08:16):
developed and what he hasachieved, that's worth sharing
and shedding light on.

Christi (08:24):
Yes, and we've had so many people ask us, would you
sit down and share with us?
And sometimes I'll find myselfsitting down and writing an
email and just outliningeverything that I've done with
him through the years and thingsthat have worked and haven't
worked.
And so I think this forum willgive us a chance to share that

(08:48):
and be able to give other peoplesome knowledge that may be
change things in your day-to-daylife

Angie (08:55):
yeah

Christi (08:55):
with your autistic person

Angie (08:56):
yeah we know that that life and family dynamics and all
of that with children andadults on the spectrum can't be
an easy task but i think throughall of your years Christi c and
mine and being a part of it welook back and laugh and find joy

(09:17):
in so many positive experiencesmore than dwelling on the
negative.
Well, sometimes we

Christi (09:23):
laugh at the negative.
Because we can

Angie (09:28):
now, but...
It wasn't funny at the time.
We've made it through, but justsometimes going back and
thinking, oh, I forgot aboutthat.
Oh, I forgot we had to getthrough those things, but...
as as we share theseexperiences most of all we hope

(09:49):
you know that you are not aloneand we want to just build a
community of support andencouragement we're here to help

Christi (10:00):
absolutely we hope you have kind of an idea of what we
plan to do with our piece bypiece autism podcast and i want
you to know that we have quite afew episodes in the pipeline
and that we're pumped about thatwe've been able to delve back
into things going on in alexlife and over the decades and uh

(10:25):
just a couple of them we'regoing to talk about the d word
which is you know data we'regoing to talk about a hard knock
life which is chores we'regoing to talk about alex early
days his current setup etc butthere's So many, so many topics
that we want to cover.
And I hope you'll come back andlisten and tell all of your

(10:49):
friends about it in your supportgroup or wherever you've got
your autism friends andfamilies.
We would love to have you back.

Angie (10:58):
Yeah, we'd love to hear what you've got to share as
well.
So that's a wrap for today'sepisode of Piece by Piece.
And if you're loving thisconversation as much as we are,
Hit the follow button, share theshow, and help us spread the
word because every piece of thestory matters.
If you've got a story, aquestion, or an idea, slide into
our DMs to shoot us a message.

(11:19):
We'd love to hear from you.
You can find us on Instagramand Facebook at Peace by Peace
Autism Podcast.
That's P-I-E-C-E, Piece byPiece Autism Podcast.
Until next time, see you later.

Christi (11:34):
Bye.