In celebration of Episode 200, Vikram Panchal, and Hot Seat parent from episode 184 join us to flip the script and interview, me, Mary Barbera. Whether you’re a new listener or a long-time community member, I hope you learn something new and gain some insight into my own autism journey.
I start every episode the same, by asking my esteemed guests whether parents or professionals just how they fell into the autism world. Today I share the beginning of my journey, the diagnosis of my son Lucas who is now 26. I have shared this story many times and today I reflect on the signs, emotions, and feelings of denial I experienced leading up to his diagnosis at age 3. As an adult, Lucas still needs full-time care but is really living his life as happy, safe, and as independent as possible for himself.
As I began my journey, I really began to understand the need for advocacy for autism families who drove my involvement in the community. I share where my inspiration to become a behavior analyst started and how that led to my first book, The Verbal Behavior Approach, now available in 17 different languages. From that, I built my courses and online community which reaches an audience of over 90 different countries around the world. And in 2019 I launched this podcast, Turn Autism Around. At episode 200 we have reached over 1 million downloads. Since the launch of the podcast my newest book, Turn Autism Around was released and has recently been translated into Spanish. My newest addition has been the assessment software that will add quantifiable, usable data to my formerly handwritten one-page assessment. Be sure to check out the link for that for more information!
Vikram P is the proud father of two children, Nahum and Hosanna. He and his wife, Leah, live in Melbourne, Australia where Vikram serves as a pastor and evangelist.