In This Episode
Neal is joined by Jamey Wolff, co-founder of Center for Spectrum Services, and Dr. Monica Meyer, a developmental-behavioral pediatrician. These women have spent their careers working with autistic spectrum disorders to help both the affected children and their families to understand the needs of people on the spectrum so they can lead happy, productive lives.
Jamey and Monica talk with Neal about what the understanding of the spectrum was when they first started practicing in the 1970s, and why the number of autism diagnoses has risen so dramatically.
We’ll also explore how people with autism are affected by environmental factors, as well as treatment strategies and medications, nutrition, getting diagnosed as an adult, and the devastation of the retracted study from Andrew Wakefield that falsely claimed that vaccines caused autism.
Topics Discussed
- What autism was like at the start of their careers
- Originally thought to be caused by unloving parents
- Training parents and schools
- Why diagnoses are on the rise
- Environmental factors
- Vaccines and autism
- What is the real cause of autism?
- Accompanying disorders
- Can it be cured?
- Treatment strategies
- Autisitc people not being able to perceive context
- Medicines used in treatment
- Nutrition
- Free evaluations for kids
- Getting diagnosed as an adult
All About Jamey Wolff
Jamey Wolff MA, CAS is co-founder and Program Director of the Center for Spectrum Services (formerly known as The Children’s Annex). For over 40 years, Center for Spectrum Services has provided model programs for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders and their families.
Under her leadership, Spectrum Services has grown to serve over 275 individuals yearly in day schools in Kingston and Ellenville, New York, in community-based programs for toddlers and preschoolers and through the Spectrum Services Outreach Program providing diagnostic evaluations, counseling, program consultations, conferences and training in best practices for people with known or suspected autism of all ages.
Jamey is an appointed member of the Special Education Advisory Panel to the New York State Commissioner of Education. She produced and directed The Asperger’s Difference: A film for and about young people with Asperger Syndrome and served on the National Advisory Board of Autism Training Solutions. She consults and presents nationally on best educational practices for students with Autism Spectrum Disorders.
All About Monica Meyer
Dr. Meyer is a developmental-behavioral pediatrician in Woodstock, NY where she enjoys seeing and being challenged by many children and adolescent patients who are on the autism spectrum.
She has been a valued consultant to the Center for Spectrum Services for more than a decade.
Dr. Meyer has an extensive clinical background in pediatric and adolescent medicine, as well as academic and administrative appointments.
With an active professional career dating back to 1975, she’s consulted with numerous government departments and initiatives around pediatric development.
