Would you consider a diagnosis of Autism to be a disaster or a blessing? Certainly there are challenges. AnnaLaura Brown talks about her journey and how she supports families of children with Autism in this episode. Visit her website for free resources and to learn more.
Emmalou Penrod
Welcome to this episode of In Support of Families. I’m talking to AnnaLaura Brown today. And she is a Health Coach and Autism Advocate. AnnaLaura, welcome.
AnnaLaura Brown
Thank you. I’m so glad to be here.
Emmalou Penrod
And I love what you’re doing. I worked with students with Autism when I was a teacher, and really developed a great respect and admiration for them and love. So how did you become a Health Coach and Autism Advocate?
AnnaLaura Brown
So well, that could be probably a story for an entire day. But you know, to make things a little bit short, let me start by saying that my story’s a little bit unique. I am, you know, was a child of the late 70s, and was diagnosed at the age of five. And as a female back in the early 80s, that was actually pretty rare. The main reason that my parents discovered it was not just because of my behavior, and that kind of thing. But I had a super rare illness as a baby and actually almost died at Primary Children’s Hospital, and have published a book on my story that goes into all the details of my illness. And that kind of thing, I’m not going to share too much other than to say that I almost died. And that illness can cause some brain damage and some different issues and things like that. And so the doctors had actually warned my parents to watch out for a lot of things. And so when my parents took me in at the age of five to have that evaluation, it wasn’t like they thought that they were going to get the evaluation of Autism, you know, it was pretty rare back then. So I don’t think that’s really what they expected, necessarily. They just knew that there were some things like I was doing stemming and hand-licking and you know, a few things like that, that are kind of your typical sensory disorder issues. And my parents just were like, so this just doesn’t seem super normal to us. And so they took me in for an evaluation. And at that time, there was no real spectrum, which is kind of how they’ve gone back to. It’s kind of interesting how things they started off, you know, it was just the Autism Spectrum. There were no names, you didn’t have Asperger syndrome, you didn’t have the pervasive developmental disorder or the PDD NOS like they had for a while, and I had that for quite a few years. And then now they’ve kind of gone back to just calling everything Autism Spectrum. So it’s kind of come full circle, in a lot of ways, but based on the research and the some of the books and things I’ve read, I think that PDD and NOS would have probably been my official spectrum diagnosis had that existed in the early 1980s. But it didn’t really so they just kind of slap the Oh, well, you’ve got like, Autistic like sensory behavior. So you know, you’re somewhere on the Autism Spectrum label on me. And so as a child, I was high enough functioning that I knew that something was off. I knew I wasn’t so called quote, unquote, normal, like all the other kids. I had some of these different quirks, different things, like I also had a photographic memory as a child. And that’s not normal, that’s unusual. And things like that, you know, so even things that were you could view as a positive I had, were not part of the normal thing that the kids I went to school with had. And you know, my parents kind of would remind me from time to time with some of my behaviors, that some of these things were not really appropriate behaviors, if you will, or things that a well civilized and well behaved person should engage in. So, you know, I definitely knew that I was different. And I think, you know, in a lot of ways, that was a really big blessing. Even though at the time growing up, I remember thinking, gosh, you know, I’m just kind of weird. I’m different. How am I going to fit in? What’s the rest of my life gonna be like? But I realized now, especially as I’ve read some of these books, by a lot of, especially females on the spectrum, who are around my age, maybe in some cases a little bit younger, a little bit older. And a lot of them were never really diagnosed, in some cases ever. But a lot of cases, they weren’t diagnosed till they were high school, college age, sometimes maybe even out of college. And so they never really knew that they had really any kind of an official diagnosis of any kind, they kind of knew that they had these quirks, but they never really got any kind of help or therapies, or anything like that, because of that. And so it made me feel like I was really blessed. And coming from the family that I did in the situation that I came from, and so anyhow, to leave the story. So how do I become the autism advocate? Well, I just started realizing in the last, probably seven or eight years or so that staying silent about my story doesn’t serve anybody and that there’s a lot of parents out there that could really benefit from my story, which is one of the reasons I wrote my book as well. Because I feel like my story is really different and unique. And I feel like a lot of people need to hear it. Even though, let’s face it, there are some things in the book that are really vulnerable and as fairly independent adult, are rather embarrassing to some degree. You know, some of these things, I think, Oh, no, do I really want to confess to having ever done that? But you know, it helps my story much more relatable to these adults either on the spectrum, or to the parents that read the book. So you know, I decided those things needed to be in the book. And then as far as health coach goes, as happens with a lot of children, and then also adults on the spectrum, a lot of us have a lot of digestive issues, and a lot of allergies. Those have a tendency to go hand in hand with being on the autism spectrum. And sometimes parents don’t realize that their child has these but it’s very common. And you know, there’s been well documented with lots and lots of doctors that have written books about the connection between your gut health, your digestive health, and your brain health, and how those are definitely related, and how diet definitely impacts that. And so as an adult, as a child, actually, I was on a couple of special diets, my parents were really into like the holistic medicine side of things from the time I was little, which, again, I think is a really good blessing. And not something that a lot of children have the privilege of being exposed to. But even as an adult still, you know, I really have struggled in that area with a lot of things. And so I realized that I could really help a lot of people with their overall health. And so I did a one year online program with what is called the Institute of Integrative Nutrition. They are based out of New York. When they first started, you had to go in person, but then they’ve evolved into being online, and they become one of the best and most well known online health coaching and nutrition school. So what they do is they talk with you about, you learn about all the different diets and nutrition plans that are out there, or at least common ones. And then you learn, you know, different aspects of nutrition as well as different Lifestyle Coaching. It’s to some degree, it’s kind of like being a life coach training, but it’s more like, how do these things impact your overall health, and things like that. And so it was a pretty intensive program for about a year. And so then I got my health coaching certification from there. And so that was basically just how I started getting into it was I just realized that I had a lot that I could do to help people and, you know, develop this passion for helping people with their health as well. Because, you know, I mean, well, if the last year and a half hasn’t taught us anything, I don’t know what we ever will, that we’re in, you know, a health crisis of many proportions. And, you know, the only pandemic going on isn’t the one that people think about. There’s a lot more epidemics and pandemics and people’s health, like I’ve seen things like people say, you know, we’re in an epidemic of a lack of sleep, we’re in a pandemic of people’s metabolism and diabetes and epidemic of people that don’t get enough exercise and enough vitamin D and obesity. And, you know, I mean, there’s just lots and lots of other health challenges that people have, that have made the big one, if you will, even worse than it would have been otherwise.
Emmalou Penrod
I totally agree. And I’m looking at what we eat now. We’re not always eating food.
AnnaLaura Brown
Like, they say, we eat food-like substances. I’ve seen these graphics circulated around on social media over the last few years saying, if your great, great grandparents were to go to the grocery store, they wouldn’t even recognize a lot of the food they see on the shelf, they wouldn’t even think that that’s food.
Emmalou Penrod
Yeah, yeah. And I loved what you were saying about the difference between getting a diagnosis when you were a child. I understand it’s very common for girls, you know, boys are more easy to diagnose. And it is very common, like you said that they’re not diagnosed. And meanwhile, they’ve gone through these years of social anxiety and trying to fit in and trying to figure out. . . It’s like trying to play a game, when you don’t even understand the rules as they try to fit in the social scene as an adolescent.
AnnaLaura Brown
Yeah, absolutely. And what’s trickier too, is that, for whatever reason, I’m not sure why, but a lot of times Autism has a tendency to be more severe in boys. That is to say you don’t encounter a lot of nonverbal Autistic girls, but you do encounter a lot of nonverbal Autistic boys. And it’s not like it’s unheard of. But for whatever reason, the females have a tendency to usually have their voice in most cases, and it has a tendency to affect other aspects are alive and not live, and not just the ability to talk.
Emmalou Penrod
That’s true. So it’s more than just the, I had heard that girls are better at imitating what other people do. So they can mask it, until they get to that adolescent stage where the social rules become much more complicated. And that’s when they crash and burn. But this is an interesting insight, so I hadn’t heard this so but boys really can have a more severe reaction then?
AnnaLaura Brown
A lot of times, I don’t know, I wouldn’t say that that’s always the case. But it’s like I just know from some of the studies and things I’ve done. There was a movie that was popular back in. . . oh, I remember I was pretty young when I saw it, maybe in the 1980s, called The Boy Who Could Fly. It was about a pretty severely autistic boy and he’s flapping his arms and he doesn’t talk and he’s off in the corner and that kind of thing. And while that can happen with females, you don’t really hear about it a lot. It’s more, a lot more of the males that for whatever reason, really struggle with, you know, the really more on the extreme end where you know, you obviously know something is not normal. Whereas with the females, it can be hidden a little bit easier.
Emmalou Penrod
Yeah, yeah. Now, I love your title of disaster or blessing. And I understand there are companies, especially in technology, that actively recruit people with Autism.
AnnaLaura Brown
Oh, yeah, absolutely. In fact, I’ve heard of ones that have opened up their doors. I’m trying to remember which one it was or where it was at. But I remember seeing a news article probably like in the last six months or so, of a company that was starting and their whole goal was specifically to hire people with Autism. Meaning maybe they hire a few that don’t have it. But for the most part, it was, the whole company was opening up with that express intent.
Emmalou Penrod
And I also liked the fact that we’re learning more about it. I’m familiar with the story of Temple Grandin, and all of the opposition she encountered because people didn’t understand why she acted the way she did. She suffered a lot of ridicule and rejection. But now we’re learning more about it. I think, at least I hope, people are more accepting and understanding. I want you to talk about being the advocate, because I really think that’s needed.
AnnaLaura Brown
For sure, absolutely. So yeah, so a couple things. So like, as you mentioned, Temple Grandin. She’s a good example of a person that you could slap the blessing Autism label on if you want, because she, I firmly believe from having read a few of her books and seeing the movies. And I actually saw her in person very briefly. A few years ago, she was here in Salt Lake City for a conference. And I happened to see her on the street, and she was just like walking by so I didn’t really get a chance to actually talk to her. But I did actually see her in person. And I don’t believe that she would have written the books that she’s written and done the research and things that she’s done had she not had autism. So you know, for her, that was definitely a blessing and for the rest of us because we’ve been able to benefit from, and especially in the field of animal science, they’ve been able to benefit from a lot of things that had she not had Autism, she would probably not have written the books and done the research or had the insights that she’s had. So this definitely, you know, a positive there. And yeah, so I feel like when it comes to be an advocate, you know, there’s a lot of different ways that you can advocate for it. You know, we have people going through and doing things like trying to run bills through Congress for different things. So for example, I actually helped volunteer with a group here locally in Utah, probably about six, it was a little more than that, maybe like eight or nine years ago or so. And they were trying to, at that time the insurance companies were not required to cover therapies for kids on the spectrum and they were actually even doing things like denying medical treatment for kids on the spectrum because they were saying, “Oh well, Autism isn’t covered under insurance plans.” And it’s like, well, a lot of the things you’re denying aren’t exclusive to Autism. The child just happens to have Autism, you know. And so you’re denying their coverages, and it helped with part of the advocacy to get that law passed. So that has changed now. And insurance companies are required under a lot of conditions to cover some of these things for kids on the spectrum. And, you know, back to my childhood, I lucked out because Autism was not as well known back then. My parents actually had a lot of my therapies and things covered by insurance. But that has been, you know, in more recent times has been about I think, most states, but I don’t want to say all, but I think most states now have that mandate. But you know, if you go back even as recent as 10 years ago, that didn’t exist. So you know, a lot of parents were really struggling, because a lot of things that should be covered by insurance for their child, were not being covered.
Emmalou Penrod
You know, I have seen studies that state, it’s expensive enough to raise a child to adulthood. But if the child has special needs, it’s four times as expensive. And then they have things like this happening that really makes it tough.
AnnaLaura Brown
Oh, it makes it super tough. And the other challenge, too, is that a lot of the kids have a hard time either in school, or you know, maybe they have a harder time at home, or they need extra therapies, extra special diets, extra support, that kind of thing. And so it makes it, if not impossible, very difficult for the mother to work outside the home, and still give their child the special needs and attention and things that they need. And yeah, in today’s day and age, a lot of times both parents have to work, or what happens a lot of times more often than not, which is even worse, is a lot of times the parents that have a child on the spectrum will end up divorced and then you’re dealing with a single mom that’s trying to raise the child and doesn’t have money at all. And so it’s just this vicious cycle of they’re not, you know, and obviously there are exceptions where some parents do have more money, but a lot of times, yeah, it can be really taxing on the finances of parents to have a child on the spectrum.
Emmalou Penrod
Yes, yes. And you as you mentioned, I’ve seen several cases where they, you know, if the parents are not together on how to care for this child, it can end in divorce. Now there’s a single mother, or single parent, raising this child.
AnnaLaura Brown
Absolutely, yeah. It can be heartbreaking and challenging. And especially if there are other children too. I mean, it’s the whole dynamic, you know, of how do you successfully raise the one child, especially if you only have one child that’s on the spectrum. You have maybe 1, 2, 3, maybe even four other kids that aren’t. You know, it’s how do you deal with the one child who needs extra attention? The one child who needs a special diet? Maybe the other kids don’t. How do you deal with that? So yeah, lots of challenges.
Emmalou Penrod
So do you work with families then?
AnnaLaura Brown
So I primarily work with the parents usually. And usually what my approach is, so I start by offering a free consultation, you know, anybody can take me up on it. I highly recommend you do because I’m not going to be some high pressure salesman on this consultation. The idea is just for me to find out, how can I potentially help you, give you some recommendations for free, all that kind of thing. And then what I typically will do is, I have a couple different ways that people can work with me some, you know, a little less expensive than others. But the idea is that I primarily work with the parents. And a lot of times it’s the mom. Sometimes I’ve worked with some single moms, and I’ve worked with some where, you know, the mom, parents are still together, but I don’t. . . Typically the dad isn’t all that involved, unfortunately. I guess whatever you want to say, but it’s usually the mom that I usually end up talking to, and just helping the mom with helping the child with their diet, with their overall health, with that kind of thing. Yeah.
Emmalou Penrod
That was my next question. So you can work with them. I love it, that you have the diet component. And I have heard that repeatedly. That parents reporting, “We changed their diet and I saw almost immediately a vast improvement.” So you can help them with the diet. Then you are an Autism Advocate. Do you ever get involved with the schools?
AnnaLaura Brown
I haven’t. That’s not really my background. So you know, that would be where I would likely refer them to somebody like you or somebody who’s a parent coach, that kind of thing. My background really is more in helping with the health. Because I’m not a nutritionist, I don’t like to say, “Hey, you must give your child this certain diet.” Typically, when people come to me, they already know what kind of diet they want to put their child on. Or they already know just that their child’s eating too much sugar and dyes and things like that. They want some tips on how do they get their child to give those up, you know, and how do they overcome the whole, my child only wants chicken nuggets thing, which that’s a whole other topic, itself. But the short version to that is that that’s really the case in most cases. I hate to say it, moms, but it’s your problem. Really. I mean, if your child is that picky. And if you have that many severe picky eating, in my experience a lot of the time and not always, sometimes the child might have a medical issue as well. But a lot of times, it’s the fault of the mother, because the mother has created that kind of an environment in which the child doesn’t want to eat what they’re given. And there’s a lot of reasons behind it. Sometimes the parents were picky eaters themselves. Sometimes the parents do and say things that initiate that. But you know, there are things that can be done to overcome that. And a lot of times, it is on the parents to some degree if a child’s really having a lot of those issues.
Emmalou Penrod
I’d like to remind parents that they need to maintain. . . They need to be the decision makers in the family.
AnnaLaura Brown
Exactly.
Emmalou Penrod
It shouldn’t be the child deciding what they will eat, but the parents teaching them to eat nutritional foods.
AnnaLaura Brown
Exactly what it is. It’s like if you’re the parent, so you’re the one that should be cooking the food and serving the food and telling your child that this is what we’re eating. And my parents, really my mom especially, really was a stickler on that I didn’t get to just pick what I wanted to eat as a child. It didn’t happen. My mom was really a stickler. Now granted, there were certain things I just didn’t like, and my mom would say, “Okay, you could just have a little bite of this, because I want you to try it.” And then you know, she’d make other things that she knew I did like so it wasn’t like she was purposely trying to feed me all the time a lot of things I didn’t want.
Emmalou Penrod
Yeah.
AnnaLaura Brown
But, you know, I didn’t control the roof, so to speak, when it comes to what I got to eat. My mother controlled it, and it works really effectively most of the time. So you know, when I’ve seen this, even with neurotypical kids, that, you know, a lot of times the pickiest kids, it’s things that the parents are doing, and the parents just don’t realize it. So anyhow, that’s kind of a little bit of a challenge.
Emmalou Penrod
You’re kind of helping them to see that, that they really, yeah, yeah. I totally agree with that. So when you’re working with parents, you’re bringing the benefit of your experience, your research, what you’ve learned, about health, helping them with that. And then the advocate part, you’re working more with any legislation, or. . .
AnnaLaura Brown
I have done some of that. Yeah. We’re just helping people realize, you know, what can happen if a child is given the resources they need to thrive, when they’re younger, what can happen when they’re an adult, and to realize that getting that diagnosis as a child is not the end of the world. In fact, if anything it’s the beginning of the world, for that child and the help that they need.
Emmalou Penrod
It’s opening up new possibilities. I love that. I love helping them develop that much more positive mindset. That’s so so important. And then I also, my observation is, as a school teacher, is not all teachers understand how differently wired children learn. And sometimes the parents can approach the teacher and explain, this is how they learn best, this is how to encourage them to participate. And you know, sometimes that can make a difference.
AnnaLaura Brown
Absolutely. Yeah. So the tagline that I use, it’s on my blog, and a lot of my social media, things like that is “Transform health inspire hope.” So that literally is what I strive to do is to help transform your health and inspire hope in you that your life can change and become better.
Emmalou Penrod
I love that! So how do people contact you? What’s the best way?
AnnaLaura Brown
So the best way is my actual website which is my name, so AnnaLauraBrown.com. And I’m also on you know, like LinkedIn and Facebook and Instagram. And I’m on Instagram and my handle is my last name first so Brown AnnaLaura. Somebody else had for some reason taken AnnaLaura Brown as a handle already. It wasn’t somebody that’s like really that active on Instagram. So I’m not really sure what the deal is or if it’s still even an active profile, but at the time I was joining Instagram, that was the case. And I’m also on Pinterest with the username AnnaLaura Brown as well. And on the Pinterest, LinkedIn and Facebook, I’m the only one there with that name so you won’t find other people with my name. So it’s pretty easy to figure out which one is me.
Emmalou Penrod
Awesome. And then they can start with that free 30-minute call and learn more about you.
AnnaLaura Brown
Exactly. They can download the first chapter of my book as well, which is a good introduction to me.
Emmalou Penrod
Which is great. I’m gonna give it a plug. I’ve read it. It’s really good, fascinating story.
AnnaLaura Brown
Thank you. Yeah, so I really tried to make it as fascinating as captivating as possible.
Emmalou Penrod
Yes, Wonderful. Wonderful. Well, AnnaLaura, thank you so much.
AnnaLaura Brown
Okay, yeah. Thank you for having me.
Emmalou Penrod
For sharing. And you have a great day.
AnnaLaura Brown
Yes, you too. Thank you.