Transforming Lives: Early Interventions and Autism Services with Dr. Ashley Wiley Johnson

Dr. Ashley Wiley Johnson, Vice President of the Los Angeles Speech and Language Therapy Center, joins us to unpack the extraordinary legacy her mother began 45 years ago. Promising to enlighten you with tales of transformation, Dr. Johnson shares how their therapeutic preschool has been a "hidden gem," seamlessly transitioning children into top-tier Los Angeles schools for nearly three decades. You’ll gain insights into their impactful work with organizations like Crystal Stairs and Pathways Los Angeles, offering essential support to foster children and single parents, while empowering families through initiatives like the Parent Professional Partnership program.

In the heart of South LA's vibrant educational landscape, we explore pressing issues like racial and financial disparities. Dr. Johnson's personal journey, influenced by her mother’s educational work and her own passion for theater, sheds light on how advocacy can empower future generations. We tackle the complexities of autism, emphasizing the vital role of early assessment and intervention, and engage in a nuanced discussion surrounding recent controversies, all while advocating for the power of parental intuition.

Journey with us as we navigate the expansive world of speech therapy, delving into how innovative approaches like therapeutic preschools are revolutionizing support for individuals with autism. Dr. Johnson articulates her aspirations to reshape global perceptions of autism, while providing lifelong support through dedicated centers. As we wrap up, anticipate a future filled with hope—thanks to new projects, inspiring connections, and an upcoming gala that promises to continue the Center's mission to make a meaningful impact in the community.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Greetings everyone.
Thank you for tuning in toNuance Conversation Podcast.
My name is George Hurd, I amthe creator and curator of this
space, and we have a special,special guest in studio today.
Once again, we're going tolearn a lot about her or a
little depends on how much she'swilling to share but most
importantly, about the work thatshe does and her mom does and

(00:24):
so many things that affect mepersonally and also our
community as a whole.
We sort of people in at thebeginning because these are
nuanced conversations.
We operate in the gray, not theblack and white, even though
this conversation is a safeplace in general.
But so we just swear and swearto be nuanced today.

Speaker 2 (00:44):
Yes, ok good, yeah, nobody knows what to do here.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
Yes, we get all our make account.
Now tell us about, uh, what youdo, where people can find you,
where people can support whatyou got coming up your social
media handle.
We usually wait to end, but Iwant to do that off the bat
because you're so well-roundedand so important to our
community.
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
Okay, I appreciate that.
Thank you for having me on.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
You're welcome.

Speaker 2 (01:13):
So my name is Dr Ashley Wiley Johnson and I am
the vice president at the LosAngeles Speech and Language
Therapy Center.
It was founded by my mom 45years ago and we have locations.
We pretty much serve peopleacross the lifespan, from 18
months all the way up throughadulthood, and we do pretty much

(01:35):
anything to work on developinglanguage, whether that's a
typical child in our typicalpreschool or it's a child with
autism or a person who mightjust have a speech impediment,
or an older person with a stroke.
Any time that language isimpacted we have one-to-one
therapy, we have preschoolprograms, we have center-based

(01:58):
programs, we have employmentreadiness programs anything you
can think of to help servesomeone across the lifespan.
So our locations are all over,from Lawndale to our main
location is in the heart ofCulver City.
We have our typical preschoolin View Park, ladera Heights
area.
We have another center-basedprogram in the city of Linwood

(02:23):
and we have speech therapy inSherman Oaks.

Speaker 1 (02:26):
Wow.
What's the website?
How would people connect?
What's the telephone number?

Speaker 2 (02:30):
Yeah, it's wwwspeaklacom, and then our
phone number is 310-649-6199.
And that will connect you toany of our five locations and we
can help to figure out how tobest serve individuals in need.

Speaker 1 (02:49):
The preschool is a more fresh development, if I
understand right.
Tell us about that and what thetransition to that was.
What motivated that?

Speaker 2 (02:57):
Yeah, so it's actually not too fresh in
comparison because it's 28 yearsold now.
So 28 years ago my motherstarted.
She started 45 years agoworking with individuals, just
specifically with special needs,and it was really began as
early intervention youngerchildren.
But then from there she decidedthat she wanted a space for her

(03:19):
employees and also a good,solid education for young
children in the heart of LaderaHeights View Park and Windsor
Hills and so she began ourtypical preschool 28 years ago
and it's in this little property.
It's a big property but it'sreally hidden because there's a
big gate right as you go upSlauson and between La Brea and

(03:43):
Overhill and there's an amazingmural and says hidden gem,
hidden gem in the hills.
And that's literally what it is,and I mean it's been amazing to
see like the first graduate ofthe school now has completed her
doctoral degree from HowardUniversity and coming back to be
a speech pathologist alwaysbecause she said she enjoyed the

(04:03):
start, that she got with us andand so it's.
It's been there and now we're atthis point now where we're
re-enrolling children for thefall.
We've got two classrooms and weserve kids from two years of
age all the way throughkindergarten and I think what I
like the most about thepreschool is the fact that we
really help get our children andour community into

(04:26):
transitioning to some of the topschools in Los Angeles, you
know, because it's not hard it'snot easy to be able to get into
these different schools orfigure out how to connect, or if
I'm going to a charter school,how do I make it for the lottery
.
We really focus on helping thefamily figure out what's next
for their child and being asupport, and it's really cool to
see that even some of the kidswho have graduated from there

(04:47):
will come back and get communityservice hours, because we also
work with individuals withspecial needs.

Speaker 1 (04:54):
What about, like parents, foster children, single
parents?
Is there anything that you alldo specifically directed towards
that?

Speaker 2 (05:02):
Yeah, absolutely so.
We partner with Crystal Stairsalso with Pathways Los Angeles,
which are two subsidized earlyeducation programs where they
provide funding for any family.
Oftentimes it might be a fosterchild, might be a single mother
or someone that's in need.
So we partner with them so thatthe school is actually paid for

(05:26):
.
If you go through CrystalStairs and through Pathways LA,
the majority of the tuition,which is great.
So, we want everybody to be ableto access the service.
And then we're also reallyparent-centered, so we really
thrive on parents coming backvolunteering, being a part of
the class.
But we also have a trainingcalled Parent Professional
Partnership, which is eightweeks.

(05:48):
That really helps because, youknow, the hardest thing is the
kids will have just.
You know, you have yourchildren.
I know I have a three-year-oldand a six-year-old.
We're right in the middle ofthe trenches of it and then how
can I stop to make sure I'mdoing everything I can do, but
even taking a moment to care formyself?
And so our parent professionalpartnership is an eight week
long program and we coverdifferent topics every week,
from self-care of the parent tounderstanding development, you

(06:12):
know, because we are speechpathologists even for a typical
child, making sure that you knowwhat are the milestones that
they should hit so that ifanything goes wrong, you know to
go and get help.
We bring the professionals inand really support them that way
.

Speaker 1 (06:27):
We get a little bit into you, about learning a
little bit more about you.
Can you talk about just thedifference between public school
, charter school, private school?
Then maybe for parents that arewatching, what are pros and
cons in the LA regionspecifically, but generally as a
whole in those three areas, orif I'm missing something as well

(06:48):
, yeah, absolutely yeah, it's,you know it's.

Speaker 2 (06:51):
So you have all those options.
You are not missing anything.
You've got that just right.
But you have all of thosedifferent options.
Of course you know a publicschool is access to everybody.
It is free and it's appropriatepublic education, which means
that anywhere within the radiusof your home you should be able
to access a school.

(07:12):
Walk in, say, your child needsclass or is enrolled in a
program or needs some sort ofassessment, and they can offer
that within the guidelines ofthe school district.
They follow the curriculumthat's set by the district,
which oftentimes is set by thestate and even federal public
education.
Then come along because of manyfamilies feeling that, wanting

(07:34):
to be more specific about whattheir child is learning in the
classroom, whether it's acertain subject area, like a
very STEM-based or an artsprogram, you'll find charter
schools will often have like aspecialization.
They will specialize in acertain piece and so for them to
be able to get into a charterschool it's ran by lottery.

(07:56):
So sometimes that lottery,dependent upon what school
district you're going to, thelottery might be in October, it
could be in January, andeverybody has a shot to be able
to get into that school andyou'll see differences in the
type of education there.
Also smaller ratios incomparison.
One of the things that's goingon right now.

(08:17):
With public school, you mightsee 25 to 35 children in a
classroom and one teacher.
That teacher may not even beconsistent throughout the course
of the whole school year.
But in a charter school we'reseeing lower ratios.
Sometimes it might be 20, 25.
I've even seen some chartersthat have 10 or 11 kids in the
classroom.
But the great thing is is thatyou get to have a little bit

(08:39):
more freedom with what thecurriculum looks like.
The charter school is notbeholden to following the
guidelines of the Department ofEducation.
And then there's also well,there was one thing we did miss,
but I'll go into it it'sparochial schools.
That's going to be, anythinglike your St James, St Jerome's,
all of that that's connected tosome sort of greater parish or

(09:00):
church.
Okay, and you know,traditionally they've always
been known for very directteaching, Like you think about,
like the nun hitting the littletable with her ruler all of that
swatting children.
I'll know about that, but I doknow that they are a little bit
more traditional and rigid.
But there's great educationthat goes on there.

(09:24):
I would say from there, dependupon where it is.
You might need to be connectedwith the church, like if you go
to a Catholic school, or you maynot necessarily even need to be
connected with the congregationbut be supportive of the
mission of the churches or thecongregation that you're working
with.
So you'll see different schoolslike that and their entrance

(09:45):
usually is a little bit moresimilar to a private school.
They have like a deadline forwhen to apply, they may have an
interview process and you'llalso see ratios which are
somewhere between a charterschool and a private school or
maybe even closer to a private,where you'll usually see smaller
class sizes, a little bit moresupport and those traditionally

(10:05):
most times you have to pay,Sometimes they're subsidized
experiences you know, based onwhat the family's income is, but
usually every single personpays at least something for the
school.
And then the last would beindependent schools.

Speaker 1 (10:19):
Independent private schools, that's the private
schools.

Speaker 2 (10:22):
And you know in LA we've got so many that have
great reputations.
You'll see a lot smaller classsize.
You'll see instruction that'snot connected exactly to the
Department of Education, so youmight see that like a
well-rounded, they're teachingyou about everything.
Every different school, everyschool, will have a different

(10:43):
pedagogy how they actually teach, the way that they decide to
teach.
So some of them you might seebe a little bit more liberal and
play-based, or you might seesome that's a little bit more
child led, Like they want tofigure out what the children are
interested in.
You see some schools that havelike a strong heavy academic

(11:04):
focus that science, technology,engineering, math private
schools that focus on thatlanguage, all those things.
So you'll see, usually all thebells and whistles in a private
school because there is a costassociated with it, their
funding process will match alittle bit closer to college
where you can put in yourapplication to be able to

(11:26):
receive some funding.
There's some great programslike the Alliance out here in
Los Angeles that helps familiesregardless of need to be able to
bring students of color intothese private schools Because,
you know, years ago it was likeone of two, maybe one of one or
one of none in terms of blackand Hispanic children that

(11:47):
you'll see in these classes,because the costs associated and
, just, I think, maybe ouraccess to it.

Speaker 1 (11:54):
Access and probably you know, connections to who's
on the board and awareness andfilling up the space, because
there's limited space.
I think most of them have waitlists and things of that nature
that comes to it.

Speaker 2 (12:05):
Right.
So, just like a college, it'slike you either get in, you
might get wait listed, or youdon't get in, and that's usually
what you'll see with those.

Speaker 1 (12:14):
Well, let's critique those just a little bit more.
So when we talk about publicschools, even from locally to
the federal level, and we talkabout curriculum and we know
from the inner city some of thestereotypic flaws In your mind,
what are some, especially as itrelates to the African-American
community?

(12:35):
If I have my child in a publicschool, what is the things that
needs to be done to maximizethat experience?
Let's say, inferior publicschool, what can you do to be
done to maximize that?

Speaker 2 (12:46):
experience, let's say inferior public school.
What can you do to be able tomake it?

Speaker 1 (12:49):
maximize that experience and get the best out
of that you know what I wouldsay.

Speaker 2 (12:54):
involvement Number one being able to be there.
If you're able to be involvedat the school so that you can
see what's happening with yourchild or see what's not
happening with your child, Ialways recommend like
volunteering, if you're able tovolunteer, you know I also say
that like being involved inextracurricular activities,

(13:17):
because there's some greatprograms, especially a lot of
nonprofits, that are focused ondoing things in the parks and
doing things in terms of, likeyou know, the beehive, for
example.
Like stimulating STEM in themiddle of South LA, making sure
that the kids have an experience.

Speaker 1 (13:32):
Explain beehive.

Speaker 2 (13:34):
So the beehive is a place, it's South Sola Beehive,
and I don't, you know, I don'tgo in lanes.

Speaker 1 (13:42):
That I don't know.
No, no.

Speaker 2 (13:45):
It's a STEM location.
I mean they've got.
I went there with my kids andit was just amazing.
They've got all sorts of codingprogramming you can learn, you
know, you can create video gamesand just like a space, a safe
space, and it's literally rightin the middle of South LA, like
behind a huge gated iron fence.

(14:06):
You open it up and it's thisbeautiful campus.
And you know, I feel like ourcontemporaries are just kind of
tired of well.
There's no resources, so we'rebuilding whatever we can build.
And so little gems like that,and having your child involved
will help to transition.
You know, anything that's nothappening in the class, which we
know unfortunately occursoften- Our temporary is many

(14:28):
black people.
Yeah, right, I got you yeah.

Speaker 1 (14:32):
And then now we talk about charter schools.
I know there's a lot ofcontroversy connected to that.
Well, how do you feel aboutthat process?

Speaker 2 (14:44):
You know, I've seen great charter schools and I've
seen charter schools that waslike why are you a school Right?
I've literally seen both.
I think they need to.
Maybe the the whole process isgoing to continue to get better
with time.
I'm just glad now that peoplewho have not had a choice, maybe

(15:06):
traditionally, are only able togo to a public school or only
aware of a public school.
I think charter schools havecome in and created access and I
think the great charter schoolsare going to continue to rise
and do great things.
There'll be more charterschools that are going to come
up and my hope was also thecharter schools that are not
there for the right reasons willultimately trickle away.

Speaker 1 (15:29):
Who's in charge of making sure they're there for
the right reasons?

Speaker 2 (15:32):
Well, you know, there's different charter
associations.
So, some of them are managing,and I'm not sure exactly what
their names are.
It escapes me, but there'sseveral organizations that are
in charge of it?

Speaker 1 (15:44):
Are they federal?
Excuse me, are theygovernmental agencies?
No, no, that's the thing aboutcharter.
It's unbridled by that, like itis not connected to the
Department of Education.

Speaker 2 (15:56):
They have certain things that they have to.
You know, register as a charterschool, all that stuff.
But the curriculum, thecriteria, all of those things
are usually unique to the school.
They're autonomous with that,like some organizations like a
KIPP or a Green Dot, that's likeit's an agency that has charter
schools all over the country.

(16:17):
So they kind of manage it.
So it depends on you know.
And then there's just groups,also like the charter school.
I think it's a charter schoolassociation that comes together
and they, they are a collectiveof charter schools and so then
they try to bring in othercharter schools that would fall

(16:39):
within their same criteria andeverybody you know to create
some autonomy.

Speaker 1 (16:46):
A think a little bit.
But is it fair to say that theracial gap in education is
connected to access to charterschools and public schools
proposed to private schools?
Would you trace it to that?

Speaker 2 (16:58):
Access is huge and disparity is huge.
Yeah, the disparity we know isbig.
I mean reasons for disparity.
It depends Some frameworkswe'll talk about.
Okay, it's, you know, financialmeans.
It's access.
So, for example, the type ofjob that you have, maybe it
requires for you to be workingall day.

(17:19):
There's no way that you can goand see what's happening in your
child's school, or there'smaybe no time for you to be able
to do homework.
All that stuff adds to whatmight be more of a deficit.
You know these challenges thatkids might face.
Financial means, access toknowledge.
So just knowing that like oh, bythe way, down the street is the

(17:42):
beehive and I can go there andtake my child there because I
want them to learn how to usethe computer.
But if you don't know about it,you're not going to be able to
get to it.
And then it's alsoself-efficacy, like do you have
the time to advocate for yourchild, to try to figure out what
is available?
And so between access toservices, knowledge,

(18:05):
self-efficacy and then financialcomponents, that's what makes
up a whole disparity.
And so any of those thingswhere you may experience deficit
will just add to what makes itharder for your child to do as
best as they possibly can.

Speaker 1 (18:20):
Yeah, that's a fair point.
Talk to us about your journeyinto this process.
I know, growing up with yourmom already connected and
involved in the field, was itsomething that you always knew
hey, this I want to do, justwhat my mom is doing.
Or were you like I'm beindependent and be a solo artist
?
I'm not joining the group, I'mnot joining the

(18:41):
Temptationsations, I'm droppingmy solo album no, that's funny.

Speaker 2 (18:46):
Yeah, no, I like I tell people all the time.
You know, if there was a studyon child labor, maybe my face
would pop up.
Wow, because my mom was asingle mom and so for years, you
know, if she was going to work,she wanted us to be there with
her.
She also believed, even thoughshe was busy running this empire

(19:07):
creating it at that time.

Speaker 1 (19:09):
Right.

Speaker 2 (19:10):
She wanted to make sure that we were there, so I
was at work with her all thetime.
You know summertime would occurand I'm in the classrooms with
the children in our earlyintervention program.
You know I was working in there, but then at the same time I
also was really into theater andI'm still into theater and so.
I would just you know.

Speaker 1 (19:30):
Acting, singing, Acting acting.

Speaker 2 (19:32):
At that time I was like, okay, acting is all I
really wanted to do, and so Iwent off to school.
I went to North Carolina forcollege, got my UNC, Chapel Hill
Shout out to all the Tar Heels.

Speaker 1 (19:43):
You know we're University of National Champions
over here.
That's right, michael Jordan,yeah, back in the days, way back
in the days.

Speaker 2 (19:51):
No, yeah, still, yeah , yeah yeah, wow, the shame, the
shame.

Speaker 1 (19:57):
We reminisce over you , that's crazy.

Speaker 2 (20:00):
Oh no, I'm coming to bad territory.

Speaker 1 (20:05):
No, it's all good.
They did beat Michigan 5-5.
They did.
They did Infamous timeoutsituation.
We're making it work.

Speaker 2 (20:12):
I mean, you know we're still University of Blue,
but not that blue down there Notthe blue devil.

Speaker 1 (20:21):
But we have that Carolina blue that calming, so
anyways.

Speaker 2 (20:24):
So yes, I got my you started theater there.

Speaker 1 (20:27):
Mm-hmm, really.

Speaker 2 (20:28):
Yeah, dramatic art and theater Okay.
And was just gun ho, I wasgoing to go.

Speaker 1 (20:34):
To New York.
From there, move to New York.
Okay.

Speaker 2 (20:36):
And then around junior years when my mom was
like, okay, well, if you move toNew York, that's fine, but
you're like this is it.
You won't have any help.
So you're going to have tofigure out what you're going to
do and what are you going towork and how's this going to go.
And so I said I would just takeone speech class just to see I
was filling up time and I stilljust.
My plan was to go to New Yorkand I took the first

(20:59):
communicative disordersdisorders class with a woman
named Brenda Mitchell.
She's like this awesome,awesome woman, and she just
reminded me of myself, my mom,my aunts, you know, I saw her in
me when I walked into thatclass.

Speaker 1 (21:14):
Professor of the class.

Speaker 2 (21:14):
Yeah, and it was the first, most easy A that I had
just gotten at the university.
I was like oh this was so easyand I realized that I knew it
was your passion, it was yourpurpose in my blood.
And so then from there, I was OK, I'll take another class, I'll
take another class, and thenit's time for graduation, almost

(21:35):
.
And I was like let me justapply to graduate school.
And I thought either I'm goingto apply.
At that time I was like I'mjust going to apply, do this for
two years and then I'm going tomove to new york and that's
just so I have this.
This was still in north carolinaso then I ended up getting into
san jose state university,where I got a full scholarship
to learn how to work withhispanic children with special

(21:55):
needs, and so I was like, okay,this is this, this will work.
So I moved over there and therest was history.
You know, you start gettinginto a professional field and
you get deeper and deeper.

Speaker 1 (22:04):
And theater aligns with speech, because theater you
have to.
There's a lot aboutpronunciation and verbalization
and all that more than isanything else right.

Speaker 2 (22:15):
The public speaking part.

Speaker 1 (22:16):
So yeah, I've heard that.
So that connection kind of wassmooth.
How was it in San Jose?
How was those couple yearsthere?

Speaker 2 (22:25):
It was good.
Oh, I love the Bay, it was goodto come yeah.

Speaker 1 (22:29):
This is pre-San Jose boom, though it's not.

Speaker 2 (22:33):
Oh, so interesting.
Okay, it was right in themiddle of that.

Speaker 1 (22:36):
Okay, it's in the middle of the boom, so the first
year.

Speaker 2 (22:39):
I remember distinctly finding my apartment right in
the middle of downtown,distinctly finding my apartment
right in the middle of downtown.
Downtown was not as booming.

Speaker 1 (22:46):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (22:47):
And I paid $1,100 for this amazing apartment right,
it was like huge.
I was like, wow, I'm so glad Igot this.
In comparison to LA and by thetime that I finished, which it
was just a two and a half yearprogram, they wanted to renew my
lease and it was $3,400.

Speaker 1 (23:03):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (23:04):
Just like that.

Speaker 1 (23:05):
Think of you would have bought when you went there,
right?

Speaker 2 (23:08):
I really should have.
I know because some of thosehouses were wild.

Speaker 1 (23:12):
Yeah, San Jose is probably more expensive than San
Francisco.
Now, right, I would think so.

Speaker 2 (23:15):
I would think so, because you still actually get
space, you know.

Speaker 1 (23:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (23:20):
Yeah, so I enjoyed it .
I really liked San Jose State.
I liked being in the Bay.
I loved driving down the 5 andbeing in LA when I needed to.
So it was perfect, becauseNorth Carolina was just a little
bit too far where I still justCalifornia was calling me.

Speaker 1 (23:37):
Okay, you're back in the state.
What's happening in thismaster's program?
What's like?
Are you getting?
You're moving less and lessaway from the passion of a
theater, more and more.
You mentioned that, but howdoes that happen?
What is it that's ebbing upinside of?

Speaker 2 (23:54):
you so you know.
So.
So with theater, you still usethat as a therapist.
You know I think I use mydramatic measures all the time
to get a client to talk, to geta child to understand I'm saying
no, or get them to understandI'm saying yes.
But what I was also, what Ialso did, was I realized when I

(24:18):
was working with childrenspecifically who had autism,
when I would try to assumerole-playing with them, they had
an amazing talent to likememorize a line, they liked
role-playing, they wanted to act.
And so then now, 19 years ago,I started the first drama class
in our summer speech camp.

(24:40):
It was called Drama Kings andQueens.
It's now still.
It's 19 years old, almostturning 20.
And so every year in my year Iturn off my traditional speech
therapist hat and add to itputting on a huge musical.
And so the kids just even.
This year, now, 19 years later,it started off as just an

(25:00):
elective in the speech camp andit's turned into a whole program
.

Speaker 1 (25:04):
Oh wow.

Speaker 2 (25:05):
So drama Kings and Queens is, uh, during the year
social skills program and thenduring the summer it's a theater
camp for people with autism.
And um, they just finishedtheir big show.
Actually, on the 20th theyperformed in Santa Monica.
We had almost about 400 peoplecome out and just see the kids.

(25:26):
They performed this amazingmusical that was written by them
and another amazing producerwho's my friend from Carolina.
He's an Emmy Award winning talkshow producer.
And he's written the kids playssince I was in college.
And so this one play Grown Upwas talking about independence

(25:46):
as a neurodiverse person.
What does that look like whenyou're about to graduate and
there's these four charactersthat are figuring out their
career and their college andthey're living alone.
And so it turns out that twoyears ago one of my students
said you know, I really wish Icould help you rewrite this to
just talk a little bit moreabout what I feel as a person

(26:09):
with autism.
And I was like, ok, that'sgreat.
And he edited the show.
He's now off to Cal State, lathis year.
He's the first, one of thefirst graduates of the drama
program that's gone off to afour year college.
He's just doing phenomenalthings.
And so the kids performed GrownUp two weeks ago and it was
just amazing to see how wellthey did.

(26:31):
Actually, not two weeks, it waslast Saturday.

Speaker 1 (26:34):
What is autism?

Speaker 2 (26:36):
That's a good question.
I feel like we're all askingwhat is autism?
Still it's a neurodevelopmentaldisorder.
It impacts Two areas that youhave to be able to qualify and
to receive some services or adiagnosis of autism.
You have to have a socialimpairment and also presentation

(27:00):
of restrictive and repetitivebehaviors.
Of restrictive and repetitivebehaviors, you may or may not
have communication deficits too.
So those up to three thingswill come up to show you what a
child with autism is like.
And restrictive and repetitivebehaviors can be anything from.

(27:20):
You know, instead of playingwith a toy, you line it up in a
line or you just go back andforth, you know, looking at it
through the side of your eye, oralso like maybe you just don't
like to walk on the rest of thesidewalk, you only like to walk
on the line, or you touch grassand you totally freak out.
Sensory differences, behavioraldifferences, and then you'll

(27:41):
also see social impairments.
So challenges from like thebaby learning to smile.
When you smile, you know mommysmiles at the baby.
Usually they smile, they laughbut a child with autism.
You may not see that withdrawalor attachment, attachment
challenges not wanting to givehugs, not wanting to give eye
contact all the way up throughadulthood.

(28:03):
That might look like yourinability to work in a corporate
setting because you only liketo wear one type of t-shirt and
you only wear this one t-shirtevery single day and you're
having a hard time at workbecause your coworkers don't
understand that.
It's really a sensory challengeas to why you're not able to
change or may not be as fresh asyou need to be, like those

(28:24):
things we really work on withadults with autism.
And then in the middle of that,you might see teenagers.
You know some of my kids arelearning like is this a friend,
is this a crush, is this aboyfriend or girlfriend?
If I want this person to be aboyfriend or girlfriend, what do
I do?
We do therapy to help themlearn all those steps oh wow,

(28:46):
that's amazing.

Speaker 1 (28:47):
You do amazing stuff, thank you.
I don't know if you saw theinterview of amanda seals saying
that she was diagnosed.
What did you think about that?
Tell us what happened then.
What do you think about it?

Speaker 2 (28:58):
okay, so all right.
I only saw a snippet of it, butessentially she told the person
that was interviewing her,shannon.

Speaker 1 (29:07):
Sharp yes.

Speaker 2 (29:08):
Shannon Sharp that she thought she had autism or
that she had that's the problem.

Speaker 1 (29:13):
Yeah, she has it.

Speaker 2 (29:13):
That was the problem.
Okay, she said I have it, butshe doesn't have a diagnosis.
And that's what happened.

Speaker 1 (29:21):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (29:21):
So first everybody's like, oh okay, Wow, Amanda has
autism.
But then of course you know,with the internet it just goes
wild.
So it blew up and they're like,well, do you really have autism
, Right?
And then she came up and said,well, I don't really have a
diagnosis.
And then she disappointedeverybody.

Speaker 1 (29:37):
Right you know.

Speaker 2 (29:38):
I think it's like because people, because it's an
invisible disability a childwith autism, an adult with
autism, they don't have acertain look like some of the
other disabilities that youmight see, for example, down
syndrome.
You're always going to know achild that might have some sort

(30:00):
of disorder like a Down syndrome, because there'll be some
facial differences.
Their eyes might be closertogether, you might see like a
larger tongue.
You know certain things thatwill say, oh, this person has
some facial differences, theireyes might be closer together,
you might see like a largertongue.
You know certain things thatwill say, oh, this person has
some special needs.
You don't see that with autism.
So it's easier for someone tobe like, oh, I've got this too.
To see themselves and some ofthose characteristics and then
just label themselves.
I was very disappointed thatshe did that and, you know, as a

(30:24):
young black woman I was like,hey, why did she have to do that
?
Right Because it just put some,you know, bad press for her,
but also I know parents thatwere just like why would she do
that?
Why would she say that, likeI'm living with this child who
has this diagnosis, and she'sover here saying that she has it
, but not respecting the factthat this is a real disorder?

Speaker 1 (30:52):
And it really does take professionals to diagnose
that.
Well, how would you to a child,to adulthood, how would a
person diagnosed go about that?
Identifying?
Because diagnosis, I'm sure, isgoing to the professionals, but
how about identifying thatthere's a need to even do that?

Speaker 2 (31:08):
Yeah, you know what I always say.
You know our gut feeling, ourintuition, that guide, whatever
that looks like.
However, you've been brought tothis feeling that your child's
not performing the way that youwould expect them to perform.
Just right there I say go to adoctor, because from there you

(31:31):
can unpack what could possiblybe going on, whereas you know, I
think the gut feeling is numberone, I think, knowing that
there's these difficulties withsocial skills.
So, if you notice that yourchild is not playing
appropriately with toys, younotice that your child is not

(31:51):
communicating, because eventhough communication is not, it
does not have to be an area tobe able to diagnose.
It usually is something thatco-occurs with social skills
deficits and repetitive andrestrictive behaviors.
So, if your child's not talking, go to the doctor.
If you're hearing sounds thatdon't sound like he's going

(32:14):
ba-ba-ba-ba, instead it's justlike, ah, you know, high-pitched
sound.

Speaker 1 (32:17):
So it's correlation but not causation all the time,
right, right.

Speaker 2 (32:21):
So right.
So communication is acorrelation.
Social skills and restrictiveand repetitive behaviors is in
fact a part of the diagnosis.
So once you go to the doctor,then there's the DSM-5, which is
the Diagnostic StatisticalManual, and it has all the
disorders that you can be ableto qualify a person under

(32:45):
disorders that you can be ableto qualify a person under and so
they'll give you a series oftests.
Some of them might be directwith your child, some of them
might be like a questionnaire,where they're asking you
questions, and then there'll besome direct observation, and so
that person usually is apsychiatrist, psychologist or
developmental pediatrician and aspeech pathologist, while we

(33:05):
traditionally don't diagnose wecan often be on the teams of
people that do diagnose.
So they give a diagnosis, theylook and see.
Like I said, if you have, youhave to qualify in two criteria
social skills deficits andrestrictive and repetitive
behaviors.
And then the thirdqualification area is
communication.
And so if you meet thatcriteria then they say it's

(33:29):
autism.

Speaker 1 (33:30):
Mm-hmm.
What is some of the known orneed-to-be-known programs that's
out there for people orgovernmental benefits or
anything for people orgovernmental benefits or
anything is is how is?
What are they in?

Speaker 2 (33:54):
How does?

Speaker 1 (33:56):
it needs to be reshaped and restructured,
possibly so Cause you knowpeople.
I got my food styles, I get my,I get my my SSI, this check,
that check and stuff like that,and and what, what is being kind
of shaped, cause those are thetype of things you don't hear on
like political scenes, yeah.

Speaker 2 (34:12):
The regional.
So if you're in California,it's the regional center, you
know.
The unfortunate thing is thatbecause the disparity, like we
talked about earlier, thatdisparity exists also with
autism diagnosis.
You know, black and Hispanicchildren are up to three times
more likely to receive adiagnosis later or not at all.

(34:33):
So while white counterparts,white children, will receive a
diagnosis as early as up to 18months of age as early as up to
18 months of age, traditionallychildren, black children, I
believe it's age eight was theaverage on when they receive a
diagnosis.
So if you imagine, there's fivewhole years there where, if you

(34:54):
were to have received adiagnosis early, you could be
working with your child to getbetter and better.
We are seeing later diagnosisor a misdiagnosis where they're
saying like oh, you don't haveautism.
So there's that piece.
The regional centers inCalifornia is like number one,
where you're going to want to goto to make sure that you can
get engaged.

(35:14):
They'll do the evaluation.
They also will stay with thechild throughout their life.
So once you get into theregional center and you have an
autism diagnosis, you can accessservices.
So as long as you're in theregional center, you then have
like this whole thing that willopen up of things that will be
paid for by the regional centerbecause you're one of their
clients.
So that's California.

(35:35):
There's also in Californiathere's a new wave called
self-determination.
Because of the same thing Onceagain.
All these things are createdbecause of disparity and wanting
to make sure.
Well, a disparity plays a partin why self-determination is
there.
And so now there's actuallyjust a chunk of money that can
be allocated to your child andyou can decide what services you

(35:57):
want to be able to use or whatyou don't want to be able to use
.
So you have that, excuse me, youhave that part which is the
autism or the regional center.
Then, depending on where youare, it's not the same as
California.
You will go just to your schooldistrict or you'll try to go to

(36:17):
, you know, your doctor andshuttle services.
That way, places like Wisconsin, they've got like great
resources for people with autismand just individuals with
disabilities.
But then there's places likeNorth Carolina where you see
that kids are not able to accessservices and just the ability
to, even because of some stuffbeing so rural and out.

(36:38):
A parent might drive two hoursjust to get their child speech
therapy, and then how realisticis that to be able to have to
drive so far?
You know?

Speaker 1 (36:47):
Yeah, what are some of the other common speech
issues that come up in childrenand adults?

Speaker 2 (36:56):
I always, I always think about you.
Know, besides mine, not at all.
You're doing pretty good, DrGeorge.

Speaker 1 (37:05):
We can get another time, but yeah, go ahead.

Speaker 2 (37:08):
So I always I feel like the most common you'll
always hear people say oh, I hada speech teacher, I couldn't
make the R sound you know, R.
I say like I can't even say theR sound because as a speech
pathologist, we just think aboutthe R, so the sound a lisp.
You know the tongue is comingout places.
You're hearing more air likethat type of feel Kids who have

(37:29):
that, so a speech impediment,those are articulation issues.
That's huge.
Most children that will getspeech therapy at a school.
Typically many of them willhave just straight articulation
difficulties.
But then we have otherdisorders, some disorders that
are cognitive.
Back in the day we used to usethat horrible term, mental

(37:52):
retardation.
This person's retarded that'snot the word that we can use
anymore but people that havecognitive difficulties or
intellectual disability.
That's where you'll see somelike brain differences and then
that might result in somecommunication delay or disorders
or maybe not even able to speakat all.

(38:12):
Then, as you get older, then welook at more traumatic brain
injury and accidents that canoccur.
Like.
I had a client who was a truckdriver and he was just very
active, great truck driveracross the country, beautiful
family, beautiful wife,beautiful church family.
He fell off the truck, hit hishead, whole life changed and as

(38:36):
a result he passed away.
So the traumatic brain injuryis another place where all of a
sudden you can just, you know,need to have a speech therapist.
That also could be a stroke.
You could even see sometimes.
You know other disorders like aParkinson's, where, because
you've got some sort of tremoror difficulty, even like holding
your muscles, then you'll needspeech therapy to learn how to

(38:59):
compensate.
So like yes, we know you can nolonger do this, so now why
don't you try to shorten yoursentences and why don't we even?
Some people might lose theirspeech in their entirety and
need to use some augmentativedevice where we're teaching them
how to use the computer tocommunicate their needs or to
even change a picture to show uswhat you need.
So speech, we can help everyoneperson with an accent that wants

(39:22):
to take it away.
We can do that too.

Speaker 1 (39:25):
What about stuttering ?

Speaker 2 (39:26):
Mm-hmm.

Speaker 1 (39:30):
That's a huge area.
Okay, and what's?

Speaker 2 (39:32):
connected to the cause of that.
You know, they talk aboutdemands and a lot of times a
person will experience a demandwhether it's wanting to say
something or like anenvironmental demand and their
speech is not up to the level ofthe demand that they have, and
so then you experience adisturbance.
So like they're trying to saysomething Sorry, my gum.

(39:56):
So they're trying to saysomething but they're not able
to say it.
And then there's some sort ofdisturbance, which might be a
block, like all of a sudden youdon't hear them say something.
It might be a repetition, wherethey're like saying things over
and, over and over again, andthen you might even hear a stop
at all, where they just can'tsay it at all.
So usually we'll work on what wecall fluency shaping, which

(40:21):
basically means like we wantyour speech to flow and that's
the goal.
So the therapy occurs wherethey're trying to give you
strategies so that when you doexperience this disturbance it's
not a block or a stop or arepetition.
You've learned something like,for example, like an easy glide,
helping the person like glideinto the next sound so that they

(40:42):
can just be able to experiencefluid speech.
Yeah, it's really interestingstuttering and some of its
psychological to just like eventhat anxiety piece.
You know you're feeling somecertain sort of way and helping
the client to feel comfortableto use the strategies as opposed
to experience the difficultygender.

Speaker 1 (41:02):
Why is it that is more prevalent in men than women
?
Or is that a miss?
Is that a misconception?
Oh, okay, um or is that a youknow what?

Speaker 2 (41:16):
it's a misconception it's a big piece in autism.
There's way more boys that haveautism than girls in in
stuttering.
I'm not sure about thatstatistic, if we see that more
in general, though I've heardthat connection.

Speaker 1 (41:30):
Yeah, I think boys, of course they're like they.

Speaker 2 (41:33):
Yeah, because their development a lot of times is a
lot later and especially speechdevelopment.
We'll see boys being late, morelate talkers than you see girls
.
They'll be chatty from thebeginning.

Speaker 1 (41:42):
Oh, so women talk a lot.
That's what you're saying.

Speaker 2 (41:47):
I mean.

Speaker 1 (41:50):
I mean, I didn't say that, ladies and gentlemen,
don't at me, you did you did I'msitting here.
Actually, what about autism?
What's the connection, if any,with boys and girls?

Speaker 2 (42:07):
Boys and girls.
Yeah, boys, I think it's umthree times, three times the,
the prevalence for boys incomparison to female
counterparts.
Yeah, and, and I don't know ifthey know why right you know,
why does a man get thesechallenges in comparison to a
woman first?

Speaker 1 (42:20):
I don't know, but that is something that we see
when, when, as it relates toyour journey, if we go back, you
finish up at San Jose.
Are you all in at this pointnow for speech therapy?
So what's the next step afterthat?

Speaker 2 (42:35):
I was all in and then I went straight from graduating
to going into the schools and Iworked in Paramount School
District and Long Beach SchoolDistrict for six years.

Speaker 1 (42:45):
So you didn't go straight to work in your mom?
Why not?

Speaker 2 (42:49):
She's my mom.
I think I needed to have alittle bit of experience.
You know away like I needed tobe my.
Yes okay.
She was really methodical aboutit because, she was like what
she didn't feel she had was theschool long school experience.
Although she worked in theschools for a short time and was
a consultant.

(43:10):
She's like having that schoolconnection is going to be really
important.
So she really encouraged me togo.
But then probably within like amonth or so, then she was kind
of like well, I mean, you know,we have some clients that need
to be seen in the afternoon,don't you want to just extend
your day out?
So then I started working inthe morning in the school
district.
I'd work there till three andthen I'd head to the clinic and

(43:31):
I'd work there from three to six.
And I did that for six yearsand I just kept you know because
I felt like I mean when you'rein the schools, especially a
school that's in the middle of areally difficult area, like
Paramount, for example.

Speaker 1 (43:44):
And Paramount is South Bay, compton Long.
Beach area and what's difficultabout that.

Speaker 2 (43:50):
So it's down Bellflower Downey Southgate
going all the way down.
It does neighbor Compton Partsof Paramount School District.
At least like a quarter of itor so is in Compton territory
and so it's just a tough area.
It's an ethnic enclave so it'sa very heavy Spanish speaking

(44:10):
community.
Within that community there's alot of, you know, first
generation migrant challenges,parents, difficulties, you know,
with that and then, not tomention just it's a really
impacted area.
So there's a lot of peoplethere.
So the work you know I had mostschool districts you might have

(44:34):
40 people on your caseload andwhen I was at Paramount I had 82
people.

Speaker 1 (44:39):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (44:39):
So you have a lot more kids that you have to see,
and so in that job it was likeevery day was a new person
asking for an assessment, askingfor an assessment, and so I
would have to just learn how tomanage my time, learn how to be
able to give services, but thenat the same time, when I was
there, I also was able to reallysee the difference between

(45:00):
disparity too disparity too.
Like I noticed in my school inLakewood what services look like
what, what parent involvementlooked like in comparison to the
school that was in the um Lake,belmont shores, that area.
And so I would just see thetotal difference in what we
could offer children, what, what, how.

(45:20):
Parent involvement looked evenjust like staffing in the
classroom.
You know, the school that wasin Belmont Shore got like
special little grants andcommunity support, and our
little school in Lakewood wasstruggling to even just have
materials.
And so I was really.
I was really really likeinspired by figuring out like
why is it like that?

(45:41):
And so then from there, Iremember going to Claremont
Graduate University.
I was looking for doctoralprograms.
There was one person in mymaster's program that the lady
was like you don't need to be adoctor, you don't need to do
that, it's not for you.
And I was like, okay, thatsounds good.
So I'm like next year I'm aboutto try to go figure out how to
do this, and so I was on mylittle search and I met Dr Carl

(46:04):
Cohn, who's the formersuperintendent of Long Beach
School District.
He's a huge educator, just knowsso much and I was in
conversation with him and hejust introduced me to the Urban
Leadership Program and thatprogram within Claremont
Graduate School, was really justa cohort of individuals that

(46:26):
were school leaders that wantedto figure out how we could make
things better but, also wantedto understand some of the issues
that were specific to LA incomparison to, you know, around
the country.
And so I went into that cohortand started my doctoral work and
just stayed the course and waslike I felt like if I was a

(46:46):
speech therapist who just wentas far as I could as a speech
therapist.
You know, with speech it's likeyou learn the structures, you
learn how to do therapy and thenyou're on your own to perfect
your craft and then you stay upwith your evidence-based
practice.
But with education because Iwasn't a teacher but I wanted to
understand, like what'shappening in the schools, what
happens on the administrativeside, and so it gave me like a

(47:10):
whole picture.
So I know how to understand theclassroom stuff but also know
the art of therapy, to pull achild out if needed or even go
into the classrooms and be workwith the teachers.
So that's why I started workingon my doctoral program and I
was at Cal state Dominguez inthe weekends for the first two
years with the Claremont andthen I started to go actually at

(47:32):
Claremont to like write mydissertation and get that work
done.

Speaker 1 (47:36):
Oh, so, while, um, you were working nine to three
in the school system three tosix with your mom, nine to three
, mainly with mexican hispanicsand the belmont shores to
lakewood area, um, I'm assumingwhen you work with your mom it
was more african american, um,and so talk to us about the

(47:59):
transition from school system toworking with your mom.
She made you an offer you can'trefuse.

Speaker 2 (48:08):
Yeah, I got a little.
You know what it was.
I realized right before I leftthe school district.
I was like I had my ownclassroom as a speech
pathologist.
So usually you have a littleoffice, but I had a classroom
because I had created this thingcalled collaboration, rotation
and technology and so the OT wascoming in my classroom and then

(48:31):
there was assistants andinterns, speech pathologist
assistants and we would seewhole classrooms of children,
occupational therapists, and sowe were all working together and
I was getting my therapy donein a really unique way, and then
it hit me that, like this isnot my own school, I'm in a

(48:51):
school district and I have tofollow these guidelines of the
school district.

Speaker 1 (48:56):
And there's so much.
There's so much you can do.

Speaker 2 (48:58):
Yeah, there's only so much you could do.
And then I was like I felt likeI had grown out of it and I
needed to stay in the schools asmuch as I could to grab
families to, you know, give themaccess.
And then I just went off to mymom's because in private
practice you're not withholdwith what you're not, you know,
beholden to those same standardsthat you're held to in the

(49:20):
school district, and so youcould do more in the school
district, and so you could domore, and so that little
classroom, then that model.
I took that to my mom's centerand created our therapeutic
preschool which is a preschoolfor children with autism and it
really was in my head, kind ofbirthed in the public schools.

Speaker 1 (49:41):
Right.
What was the?
What was the birthing processof that like first location and
staffing and enrollment?

Speaker 2 (49:49):
oh, yeah yeah, it was everything from like writing
the curriculum.
So once I figured out, okay,it's this rotation.

Speaker 1 (49:56):
You had to start writing curriculum first in the
schools.

Speaker 2 (49:59):
Okay it was just like , okay, this is speech time and
we're gonna all do thesedifferent services at the same
time and the kids are gonnarotate.
And I learned a lot of reallyimportant things in the schools,
like you know the use of iconsand how it helps the children.
These are icons or little thingsthey might hold, telling them
where to go and what to do, andso I learned that, then took

(50:19):
those things to our privatepractice and when you want to
start a preschool, you start,you make your curriculum, you
start recruiting people becausewe're private and we started off
as early intervention centerswe have.
That was what we were known forwas the work that we did for
kids from 18 months to 36 months, and right across the street,

(50:41):
like on Slauson over there, ourfirst center on that side was
Early Intervention Center and sowe already have.
When families would finish atthree, they'd say like well, why
do?
we have to leave.
I haven't heard back from theschool district.
What do we need to do next?
And so that's where we cameinto now basically saying, ok,

(51:03):
we're going to create thisschool, wrote the curriculum.
I didn't know what to do in thebeginning.
My mom has somebody that workedwith her for 40 years of the 45
years and her name is DianeBernstein and she still works
with us and she's fabulous andall that, and so she just helped
me.
She was like this is what wehave to do.
We got to like figure out, whatare they going to do?
And I was like what do they do?
All day I took some curriculumdevelopment classes in my

(51:23):
doctoral degree and I used thatstructure and was like OK, this
is how we do it and it's beensuccessful.
It's on its sixth year now andit's full before it even has any
openings, which is really ablessing.

Speaker 1 (51:36):
Praise God.
What, at what point did youstart your doctorate and what
was your dissertation ultimatelyon?

Speaker 2 (51:48):
did you start your doctorate and what was your
dissertation ultimately on?
So I went to um.
I started the doctorate thesecond year from long beach.
I started applying and then Ibegan that next year and I
finished up three you're stillin the school system.
At this point I was still inschool, yeah, which was great
because I was had space to alsolike get my work done.

(52:08):
Working on a doctorate.

Speaker 1 (52:09):
Working nine to five, working three to six.
Okay, I was working.
Yeah, you need to get yourdiscipline together.
Right, I didn't have children.

Speaker 2 (52:18):
I didn't have a husband.
I was like I'm just free, justfree, just live my life and, you
know, be fabulous and take mytime when I could.
So yeah, so I did that, andthen I finished up in 2016.
So I went from 2012 to 2016 onmy doctorate and I was doing my
dissertation.
my dissertation is actually aresearch was on self-efficacy,

(52:43):
so how can people advocate forthemselves and take care of
themselves and make decisionsfor their children.
And also mental health factorsfor Hispanic mothers who have a
child with autism.
And so I was able to get 30Hispanic mothers who had
children with autism and 30Hispanic mothers who had

(53:06):
children without autism and welooked at the difference between
if they were enrolled in aparent support group and if they
were able to develop theirself-efficacy skills along with
self-efficacy, and what weretheir mental health factors Like
?
were they healthy?
Were they showing things likedepression, anxiety, in

(53:28):
comparison to people thatweren't in a parent support
group?
And so what?
What came out about it was thatparents who were not in a
parent support group who haschildren with autism had
stronger difficulties withmental health and poor ability
to advocate for themselves ortheir child.

Speaker 1 (53:50):
Self-efficacy.
What does that mean?
How do you?

Speaker 2 (53:53):
advocate for yourself .
So like how do you make surethat you get what you need?
How do you make sure that yourchild gets what they need?
And so, with that, that allconnects to access to services,
knowledge about what's availableand your, like, general state.
How do you feel about yourself?
And so a parent support groupis great, because anytime you

(54:15):
could provide a parent withsupport and they have a
community of people that areexperiencing something similar
then, they feel like they havespace to be able to, you know,
do what they need to do.
So it was.
It came out significant andthat was my first time it really
inspired me, especially with mybook, to be able to think about

(54:36):
, you know, that piece of parentsupport group.

Speaker 1 (54:39):
Talk about the book.

Speaker 2 (54:41):
I have a new textbook out that it actually came out
in 2023.
And it's called Autism SpectrumDisorders from Theory to
Practice, and it's anintervention book from life
across the lifespan.
So, my friend, so in the midstof doing the doctoral program,

(55:02):
you know everybody has to have apartner.
You need someone that you canrely on, that you could talk to,
that you could just when youdon't feel like smiling at
people and you just want to talkabout all the challenges that
was my friend, dr BelindaDoherty, and we worked together,
and so we were both doing ourdissertation at the same time
and we'd be working out in thegym like, oh my gosh, we're
almost done, we're almost done.
And we started to work togetherand we started to do research

(55:24):
together once we completed stuff.
And then she now is a professorat Cal State, long Beach, and
her and I wrote the booktogether.

Speaker 1 (55:34):
Oh, wow.

Speaker 2 (55:35):
And it's doing really well.
It's internationally releasedthrough Wiley Publishing, not
related to me.

Speaker 1 (55:40):
Okay, it is Wiley Publishing.
I was about to say this me.
Okay, it is wiley publishing,not circle, also a publishing
company, yeah, yeah no, it's inthe uk.

Speaker 2 (55:50):
We just found out that it's also going to be
released in china.
It's going to be translatedinto mandarin and that comes up
next year, in 2025, which Ididn't realize.
Like the translation process totranslate a textbook it takes a
really long time.

Speaker 1 (56:04):
I imagine royalty streams of income, nothing wrong
with that?

Speaker 2 (56:09):
Streams, streams.

Speaker 1 (56:10):
Oh, that's your first book, that's my first book.
Yeah, are you looking to dosomething else?

Speaker 2 (56:17):
Yeah, I really want to do a children's book.
I'm trying to work on that.
I mean, eventually I mightwrite a little.
I don't want to say self-help,but encouragement, you know,
sharing a little bit more aboutmy story to maybe encourage the
next person.

Speaker 1 (56:36):
Got you.
Yeah, I think that would beextremely helpful as it relates
to all that you and your mom do.
Can you talk a little bit moreabout the structure, so how many
campuses, how many employees,what areas of work?
Just kind of stress that again,I don't want people to miss
that.

Speaker 2 (56:56):
Yeah, absolutely so.
We do traditional speechtherapy across the lifespan.
That's one-to-one therapy atall of our locations.
We also have social skillsprograms.

Speaker 1 (57:11):
How many locations?

Speaker 2 (57:12):
Five locations.

Speaker 1 (57:14):
So Sherman.

Speaker 2 (57:14):
Oaks, culver City, lawndale, linwood and South LA,
and South LA is right in ViewPark, ladera Heights, area,
gotcha, which is crazy that it'sconsidered South LA but it
technically is Technically SouthLA and South LA is right in
View.

Speaker 1 (57:25):
Park, Ladera Heights area.

Speaker 2 (57:25):
Gotcha, which is crazy that it's considered South
LA but it technically is.

Speaker 1 (57:28):
Technically South LA yeah.

Speaker 2 (57:30):
And so all five of those locations we will do
speech therapy.
We also have summer speechcamps at our main office for
people who have any sort ofspeech delay.
It's eight weeks in the summer.
We do programming in the group.
We have year-round socialskills at our Lawndale location,

(57:52):
our main office in Culver City,and that's groups of
individuals with autism from allthe school years up through
adulthood.
We do employment readiness andthen we have two schools, which
is our therapeutic preschool forchildren with autism from the
ages of three all the waythrough kindergarten, and our

(58:16):
typical neurotypical preschool,which is a private school for
children from ages two all theway through kindergarten.

Speaker 1 (58:24):
And that's the one on the latter.
One is the one on Slauson, andwhere's the other school located
?

Speaker 2 (58:31):
At our main office in Culver City, also off of
Slauson and Buckingham.

Speaker 1 (58:35):
Okay, and what?
So?
There's two locations for that,and that's the one that you
started.

Speaker 2 (58:42):
The therapeutic preschool I started about six
years ago.

Speaker 1 (58:45):
Six years ago but my mom started our early
intervention programs now 45years ago in 1979 and you said
um, you said neural neurotypical, neurotypical and that means
just normal, yeah, just anyone.

Speaker 2 (59:00):
And even like even even a person who does have some
sort of disorder or challenge,if they are not cognitively
impaired, meaning like the brainis functioning the way it
should be.
It's a program for children,it's a preschool.

Speaker 1 (59:14):
How do you keep yourselves going as far as
getting the word out?
And, as well as I imagine youknow, tuition doesn't cover all
the costs.
So what's what's that like?

Speaker 2 (59:33):
Yeah, I mean, we do things like this, you know like
right now.

Speaker 1 (59:36):
Please come to our preschool.

Speaker 2 (59:38):
Please call us at speaklacom If you want to find
more information about us.
We'll do things like that.
We'll connect with thecommunity.
We'll connect with thecommunity.
We'll connect with the churches.
We'll connect with people justto spread the word.
We'll do different things, LikeI'll go on a lot of times I
love going on Fox Good day LA.
I'll try to spread the wordthere.
My mom and I will do somethingoften for Autism Awareness Month

(01:00:00):
, so we just spread the word asmuch as we can.
So we just spread the word asmuch as we can.
You know we spend a lot ofresources on our website, so
that it's like everything istogether and all that you need
you can find on the website.

Speaker 1 (01:00:12):
User-friendly conferences.

Speaker 2 (01:00:14):
We've got about 40 employees, so we just we keep it
moving.
And then what's unique about usis because you know we talk
about state rates and when youlook at the regional center,
it's connected through theDepartment of Disability
Services and so there's only somuch that you can make for these
different services.
But that's not going to include, for example, our drama

(01:00:34):
children.
They're learning about theater,they got to go to Universal
Studios.
None of that is covered.
And so we have the Wiley Centerfor Speech and Language
Development, which is anonprofit organization dedicated
to supporting families to beable to access the services.
So a family might say I onlyhave $500 a month for my child's

(01:00:56):
school, but he has autism andI'd like him to come here.

Speaker 1 (01:01:00):
The Wiley Center will pay the remainder to help the
child to be able to access theschool, of course, it's
need-based and it's not easy tobe able to just give the money
away, but we really rely on oursponsors.
And what's a typical sponsor?

(01:01:21):
How does one become a sponsor?
And then what other?

Speaker 2 (01:01:23):
fundraisers do you do ?
If any?
Yeah, SpeakLAcom is our website, or thewileycenterorg and all
of those websites, you'll seehow to be able to give.
At the sponsorship level.
We will like send out things todonors that we've had, like
packets and things to let themknow more information.
And then on November the 8th,we have our big fundraising gala

(01:01:46):
that's going to be taking placeat the Marina Del Rey Marriott.
Fancy, yeah, it should be.
Yeah, so you've been there too.

Speaker 1 (01:01:53):
I was going to say we did our scholarship gala there.
Yeah, I remember.

Speaker 2 (01:01:57):
I remember.

Speaker 1 (01:01:58):
Y'all using the roof?
Yeah, we're using.
You know, they revamped it.
They.
They revamped it.
They, really they did.

Speaker 2 (01:02:02):
Oh, wow, it's really nice, really beautiful, like
they have a lounge right outsideof it, like this area, and
they're starting now to like domusic and stuff out there, Okay,
On Fridays and Saturdays.

Speaker 1 (01:02:12):
Oh, wow.

Speaker 2 (01:02:13):
Mm-hmm, so it is.
So I lost my train of thought.
You're talking about thewebsite sponsorship November 8th
the gala, the Beyond the Labelgala, and it's going to be
amazing.
Our galas are the best becausewe like really focus on just
like learning about the missionof our organization and then we
do something really cool, likeJohnny Gill will perform.

Speaker 1 (01:02:35):
Oh wow, who's performing this year?
Johnny Gill, johnny Gill'sperforming this year.
Yes, he is.
My, my, my, yes, right,johnny's going to be in there
begging man.
He's going to be there, right.
She did the offering too.
The way he begs, oh yes.

Speaker 2 (01:02:54):
He's the hardest worker I know.

Speaker 1 (01:02:56):
But you know, johnny's the man.
Yes, like, not that I know him,but like yeah, it's music, so
yeah, um.

Speaker 2 (01:03:10):
So yeah, it's music.
Speak la is for profit, it'sconsidered for profit.

Speaker 1 (01:03:11):
Wiley center is considered the non-profit profit
.
So yeah, oh yeah, that'samazing what y'all got that,
that structure.
What advice would you give tosome young entrepreneur, um, out
there that want to kind ofmodel what you all are doing, be
whatever it, whatever field?

Speaker 2 (01:03:24):
I would say you know, always connect with somebody
that you think is doing what youwould like to do.
If you don't, you know I alwayslove that closed mouth, don't
get fed on this boulevard.
I think that's important.
We have to speak up and we gotto rely on each other.
And so I think about you know,women, and they talk about how

(01:03:44):
women will never run for officeunless they're exactly asked.
But I really recommend to youngpeople, especially women, like,
don't wait until someone asksyou to do something.
Just go for what you think youmight want to do, whatever your
heart desires, and the rightpeople will be along the path.
I'd also say, like, be aboutyour business, will be along the

(01:04:05):
path.
I'd also say, like, be aboutyour business, don't get caught
up with anybody trying to?
Offer you a shortcut, becausethat's like the worst thing that
can happen because, you know,those shortcuts never result in
anything, and that's a wholeother story for another day.

Speaker 1 (01:04:20):
No, elaborate on that .

Speaker 2 (01:04:21):
No, I think it's important.
You know like anytime thatthere's been a shortcut offered
to me, I think there's momentswhere you may feel like, oh,
this sounds so easy.
But every single time that I'veever thought to take the easy
route, it has always ended upbeing disastrous meaning I, like

(01:04:43):
missed a step, always ended upbeing disastrous meaning.

Speaker 1 (01:04:44):
I like, missed a step .

Speaker 2 (01:04:45):
I wasn't as sharp as I needed to be, because I wasn't
.
I was trying to just take theeasy way out.

Speaker 1 (01:04:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:04:52):
And so I just think you have to be ready to do the
work Like it's.
It's not for the faint at heart.
The harder that you work likeyou really do have to outwork,
or else you will get outworked.

Speaker 1 (01:05:04):
Yeah, it reminds me of a preaching moment.
You know, matthew 4, temptationof Jesus.
You know people are like why isit a big deal if he turned
stones into bread?
And it's the shortcut aspect ofit.
It starts with that.
You know, I've fasted for 40days, so let me feed my desire

(01:05:29):
in a way that is a shortcut tothe process and that's how the
door opens.
So just hearing you speak ofthat made me think about that
Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (01:05:39):
Yeah, and that alignment component is so
important, you know, and beingin position to be able to just
receive those blessings, I thinkhas something as a mother of
young children, like how is thatin the world is ever changing?

Speaker 1 (01:05:58):
Like as you look at the landscape of society, like
and you look at your kids, Imean.

Speaker 2 (01:06:04):
Like when you look at your kids, I mean yeah.
Yeah, someone was saying to mejust a couple of days ago like
that our kids are us, justunbridled by time.
And I could see that becauseyou know, my children are me and
I see them all the time doingthings that maybe won't be like.
Why are you doing this?
Why are you on one right now?

(01:06:25):
And then I have to stop myselfand say you know what they're
really you.
So, now I try to pour into themwhat I think I would need.

Speaker 1 (01:06:35):
And.

Speaker 2 (01:06:35):
I'm trying to use that as my guide.
You know I'm trying to learnthem individually, but I'm also
trying to just do what I know isright.
It's not easy.
I'm still figuring it outbecause, even like the social
media and all this stuff thatthe kids see, knowing that
they're confident, that they canbe themselves, giving them

(01:06:56):
space to talk.
You know, I'm trying to do thatnow because but I still know
I've seen a lot of young people,which it's it's really it's
really encouraging to see youngpeople that are like still
coming out, like all right, soit can happen.
But I just think we got to workdouble and triple time on what
we're, what we're, how we'remaking them feel, how safe they

(01:07:19):
feel, and I hope that I made mykids feel safe enough so that
when something really goes wrong, they feel comfortable to talk
to me, as opposed to just youknow, not say anything.

Speaker 1 (01:07:28):
What are some of the cool connections you're out here
in LA with celebrities andthings like that?

Speaker 2 (01:07:58):
What's some of the cool experiences, connections
you had.
See that this person like Ijust saw one of these young men
that was in the first drama showhe just graduated from Johns
Hopkins, had a full scholarshipand is off to medical school and
he surprised me at the showlast Saturday and I hadn't seen
him for 15 years probably.

Speaker 1 (01:08:19):
But then to see so like yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:08:20):
And then for him to say and I'd said did you
remember me and he said, yeah, Iremembered you.
I remember you used to likegive me these cookies.
So to hear something like that,so that's really cool, because
at the end of the day, it'sreally all about the clients
that we serve.
So, the best things occur whenit relates to them.
But then I'll also say, forexample, you know great

(01:08:42):
experiences.
So, speaking of that universalstudios, because we were all
together and because theyunderstood the mission of the
organization, we got front ofline passes and so I'm going
with my kids having a good time,but I'm like this is the best
universal studios trip I've evertaken yeah, I'm not lying
something else right, I know Itold him I'm like I'm only

(01:09:04):
coming back with you guys, likeI pretty much only want to come
here if I'm coming with you guys.
But and then you know, also likejust meeting cool people,
celebrities, people that arewant to know about the mission
of our organization and thatwant to connect with us.
So you know, one time JohnnyGill, he like sent some of his
engineering team to fix a songthat the children were doing,

(01:09:25):
and he came and he like took usto the recording studio and he
sang with the kids.
Miss Debbie Allen invited us toopen up the World Special
Olympics with her.
And so we were there and shewere working and I got a chance
to sit and watch how hard of aworker she was, from sunup to
sundown, like from sunup tosundown and so, and then
meanwhile I'm just like with mykids, but I'm, you know, getting

(01:09:49):
a chance to do some really coolthings.
So it's it's I really feelfulfilled and I feel like I'm
like working with my passion,and also it's it's in alignment
with my purpose.
So I feel happy about it.

Speaker 1 (01:10:03):
Future dreams and endeavors.

Speaker 2 (01:10:06):
I mean, I'd like to change the face of autism for
the world.
I want to like if I couldcreate what we do that's so
special here in Los AngelesCounty and have it all over the
country, maybe all over theworld.

Speaker 1 (01:10:27):
I will feel like I have the book is kind of opening
that door right.
The book is opening that door.

Speaker 2 (01:10:31):
But I want like actual centers, like places
where you can actually seechildren, like they really can
be helped their whole life.

Speaker 1 (01:10:40):
It'd be good if you knew somebody in Detroit that
had like connections withpoliticians or something Right
Poor inside joke, can't do thoseon podcasts.
Tell us about your sister.

Speaker 2 (01:10:53):
My sister.
Yeah, Alexis Wiley, she'sawesome.
She's in Detroit.
She's the former chief of staffto Mayor Duggan, who's our
mayor of Detroit, our mayor.
I'm not even from Detroit, butI feel like I am.

Speaker 1 (01:11:04):
Detroit represent.

Speaker 2 (01:11:11):
That's what we do to people we suck them in, yeah,
detroit.
So yes, she's, um, she's thereand she is the principal of
moment strategies and they areresponsible for a lot of the
campaigns and things that go onin Detroit.
She helps make things work.
I like call her Olivia Pope and, yeah, no, she.
We actually had some peoplefrom Detroit come this summer
and come to the camp and theywant to be able to help us take

(01:11:33):
this to other places, and so I'mI'm really looking forward to
to connecting.
I mean, my mom loves Detroittoo.
If she would go somewhere next,I could see where Detroit would
be a next great place.

Speaker 1 (01:11:44):
Even with the weather ?
No, even with the weather.

Speaker 2 (01:11:46):
Oh, okay, it's when you don't have it, but we don't
really understand.

Speaker 1 (01:11:49):
Yeah, I think it's cute.
Right, we're like, oh, this isso nice, where's the cold?

Speaker 2 (01:11:53):
Yeah, and we conveniently don't my sister
comes to the east, to the westcoast in the winter there we
might go down there for like 48hours, like wow it was a
snowstorm, oh we almost didn'tmake it out and then we made it,
so that's enough for us, that'shilarious I look forward to it
well, somebody might be watching.

Speaker 1 (01:12:12):
So like what, like what county, like what.
What would it take to move intotheir county?
Maybe san bernardino?
Uh, what is it?
Was it san bernardino?
What is the valley?

Speaker 2 (01:12:22):
I would say, yeah, san bernardino, santa clarita,
you know is the valley called.
I would say, yeah, sanBernardino, santa Clarita, you
know there's all the.
So I would say, if you haveaccess to resources, you have
some idea of how to be able tomake things start in your city
or in your county or your parish, whatever it is, and you're

(01:12:45):
tired of seeing the status quofor autism.
Connect with us.
Maybe we can help out.
Maybe we can make somethingwork.
And if you're doing it for theright reasons, like we're doing
it, everything will be aligned.

Speaker 1 (01:13:00):
Yeah, that's amazing.
I think I could see thathappening.
I could too.
I think I could see thathappening.

Speaker 2 (01:13:05):
I could too.

Speaker 1 (01:13:06):
I think I could see that happening other endeavors,
other things that.

Speaker 2 (01:13:14):
I mean, we talked about the book, the children's
book children's book.

Speaker 1 (01:13:20):
We talked about the center I'm not running for
political office.

Speaker 2 (01:13:27):
I'm happy to help, help people as needed.
I like to do fundraising, umand no like.
Honestly, like I feel like I'msingularly focused on helping
people.
Anything that helps people I'mtotally here for are you still
doing theater?

Speaker 1 (01:13:47):
Or you said now like so I personally don't.

Speaker 2 (01:13:51):
Okay, so I love.
So you mean okay, so I still.
So there's the, there's theprogram for the kids um drama
Kings and Queens, which is the,the summer theater camp, and
then also the school year socialskills, and then I feel still
fulfilled with at least thepresentation stuff, like I like.

(01:14:12):
I also at my church, WestAngeles, Church of God in Christ
, I do lead the voice ofhospitality which that is, a
ministry that focuses onannouncements and welcoming is a
ministry that focuses onannouncements and welcoming.
And so I get a chance to stillconnect with our congregation
and present information, and Ireally like it.

Speaker 1 (01:14:34):
I could see what does that look like?

Speaker 2 (01:14:36):
It's video announcements, so anything from
like talking about VacationBible School to giving some
encouragement to the next person, that's scriptural, or provide
reference about what might occurin the church in an easy way so
that people can understand it,and I really love that.

Speaker 1 (01:14:54):
That's like so you're training people to do it or
you're doing it, so I do itmyself.

Speaker 2 (01:14:59):
I was the first video announcer for West Angeles
years ago when we started doingvideos, and now there's a lot of
people that you'll see on thescreen, and many of those people
either were in the voices withme or were working together to
be able to just be on screen.
Talent and I really like videoannouncements like love video

(01:15:22):
announcements.

Speaker 1 (01:15:23):
Oh, wow.

Speaker 2 (01:15:24):
Yeah, it's like that's my like side, you know,
even though, like it's just asimportant to me to be able to do
that in ministry as it is to dothis at work.
Oh, wow, Just as important.

Speaker 1 (01:15:37):
Well, thank you so much for your time, busy
schedule as wife, mother, ceo,author, all these other things,
thank you.
And give us the website again,the telephone number again, the
date of the gala again, how youcan get tickets, how you can get

(01:15:57):
support, how you can donate, onand on, and on and on.

Speaker 2 (01:16:01):
Okay, so we are the Los Angeles Speech and Language
Therapy Center.
Okay, so we are the Los AngelesSpeech and Language Therapy

(01:16:24):
Center.
You can find us atwwwspeaklacom.
We are currently enrolling forour preschool programs the
typical preschool and ourtherapeutic preschool and we
have our gala coming up onNovember 8th.
If you would like to beinvolved with supporting the
work of the Wiley Center and themission, you can go to
wwwthewileycenterorg.
There you can give and bless uswith a donation or sponsorship
and you can find us throughtelephone at 310-649-6199.

(01:16:47):
And if you would like to makesure you get a call back, even
if it's from me, tell them thatDr Ashley sent you.

Speaker 1 (01:16:54):
Wow, cool.
Thanks again.
Thank you all for tuning in andwatching this wonderful episode
.
Be on the lookout for moreinformation, upcoming episodes,
upcoming seasons and how you canbe support of this media
production.
Nuance Conversations podcast.
We're out.