The David Kaufer Podcast: The Lighter Side of the Spectrum

David welcomes Angela Akers-Castro to The Lighter Side of the Spectrum to discuss raising her son Miles, diagnosed with autism at age five after she persisted despite clinicians dismissing concerns because he was affectionate, social, and didn’t “fit the box.” Angela describes early challenges including elopement, severe sleep issues, limited rural services in Eastern Washington, and later an epilepsy diagnosis after grand mal seizures that initially weren’t treated as epilepsy, plus the ongoing difficulty of balancing seizure medications and safety. After high school graduation, she found adult supports in Washington inadequate, researched how other states fund day programs with Medicaid, challenged misinformation, met with lawmakers, and launched the Facebook page “A Place to Belong in Washington” to share stories and policy information and mobilize families. Her tip: keep asking questions until things make sense; her parent confession: not acting sooner on her instincts about an unhealthy school placement. She closes by describing Miles’ lasting impact despite communication challenges.
 
Topics
00:36 Meet Angela and Miles
01:20 Early Signs and Doubts
04:26 Autism Myths and Misinformation
06:30 Miles Breaks the Mold
11:39 Getting the Diagnosis
14:38 Safety and Elopement Fears
17:06 Family Support and Community Roots
21:23 Epilepsy Warning Signs
26:55 Managing Seizures and Meds
31:04 COVID Disruption and Advocacy
33:55 Seizure Watch Summer Camp
35:34 Advocacy Origin Story
40:13 System Gaps And Case Law
45:28 Public Facebook Pushback
49:21 Ableism And Human Worth
52:17 Miles Community Joy
57:05 Tip Fact Confession
01:02:55 Light On The Spectrum
01:05:11 Join The Facebook Page
01:08:54 Closing Thanks And Links

David welcomes Dr. Antigone Oreopoulos, an Edmonton-based physiotherapist, researcher, and mom of an 11-year-old non-speaking autistic son who communicates via letter board, to discuss how communication for many non-speaking and unreliably speaking autistic people cannot be separated from movement. They explore the disconnect between intention and action, how motor planning challenges can be mislabeled as refusal or lack of comprehension, and why sensory-motor impairment should be recognized as a core autism feature in diagnostic frameworks. Antigone shares powerful descriptions from spellers about bodies that “daydream,” critiques behavior-focused approaches like ABA when volitional motor control is limited, and highlights research (including SPARK data) showing high rates of motor impairment in autism. She explains challenges assessing motor function in level three autism, risks of ignoring physical needs over time, the complexity of pointing/typing for communication, and why IQ-style testing is invalid without reliable communication, emphasizing presumed competence, practical coaching strategies, and frequent breaks.
 
Topics 
00:46 Movement And Communication
01:27 Meet Dr. Oreopoulos
03:37 Her Son And Letterboard
06:09 Autism Through Motor Lens
09:50 Spellers Describe The Disconnect
13:26 ABA And Misread Compliance
17:18 Physiotherapy And SPARK Data
19:58 Assessing Motor Differences
24:37 Long Term Physical Risks
27:52 Pointing Is Complex Motor Work
33:36 Why IQ Tests Fail
35:54 Presume Competence
37:34 Empowering Parents
41:34 Motor Planning Explained
43:36 Sports and Fitness Tools
47:23 Mentorship and Training Gaps
50:19 Tip of the Week
53:07 Fact or Fiction Motor Signs
58:03 Parent Confession and Growth
01:04:12 Wrap Up and Contact

David welcomes Brandon Boyd to The Lighter Side of the Spectrum for a father-to-father conversation about parenting a disabled child, grieving the imagined version of parenthood, and learning to truly see and delight in the child in front of you. Brandon shares Ben’s early missed milestones, a devastating and discouraging specialist visit in Denver around age one, and Ben’s later autism diagnosis at age two, describing years of being hyper-focused on “fixing” through therapies and fearing a lack of connection without speech. A pivotal McDonald’s moment helped Brandon become present, shift from hypervigilance to curiosity, and bond through Ben’s interests like the garage door, beads, swinging, and water, including a customized backyard pool. They discuss supporting Ben’s neurotypical brother Ethan, isolation among disability dads, and processing grief. Brandon describes Ben’s communication via signs, an iPad with LAMP, and recent spontaneous spelling, and explains why he wrote Delighting in Ben, now available on Amazon and Audible.
 
The book ‘Delighting in Ben’: https://a.co/d/0bA4O0pE
 
Topics
00:46 Fatherhood Grief
01:35 Meet Brandon and Ben
04:08 Early Signs and Specialists
05:51 Denver Diagnosis Shock
09:45 Fixing Mode Years
13:57 McDonalds Turning Point
17:52 Loving What Ben Loves
21:53 Pool Bonding Breakthrough
24:55 Balancing Ethan Too
28:34 Isolation and Processing
32:36 Family Gathering Stress
33:50 Communication Tools Update
35:08 Spelling Breakthrough
36:45 Aging Out and Empower
37:59 Exploring S2C Options
39:40 Puberty and Meltdowns
42:32 Stone Communication Journey
45:07 Why Write the Book
50:07 Hardest Chapters to Relive
53:05 Ben Joy and Growth
53:56 Tip of the Week
56:04 Autism Fact or Fiction
58:19 Parent Confession Segment
01:02:07 Book Plug and Farewell

Guest Dr. Jeanette Benigas, SLP and founder of FixSLP, describes ASHA as a membership association with no legal authority, arguing it maintains power through the Certificate of Clinical Competency (CCC), accreditation control, employer requirements, and pricing that she says creates antitrust concerns. She recounts FixSLP filing an FTC complaint and submitting a bylaw petition for pricing transparency that ASHA allegedly sidestepped. Benigas emphasizes evidence-based practice includes research, clinical expertise, and patient values, and supports families pursuing methods that work. Kaufer cites recent rulings stating ASHA positions cannot override children’s legal rights and introduces his coalition, Communicators for Communication Rights (C4CR), seeking stories documenting harm tied to ASHA-based denials.
 
Topics
00:40 Stone Story And ASHA
02:10 Meet Dr. Benigas
06:21 FixSLP Origin Story
07:19 CCC Money And Tying
12:36 Why SLPs Fear ASHA
19:49 FTC Complaint And Petition
25:29 Budgets And Low Pay
27:34 Why Lawsuits Stall
32:20 ASHA Blocks Alternatives
34:51 Credential Funnel Control
35:47 State Level Reform Wins
37:20 Courts Reject ASHA Authority
41:03 Evidence Beyond Research
46:01 Why ASHA Dug In
53:18 Politics and NMES Example
57:29 Coalition and Next Steps

David welcomes Dan Feshbach, founder and board chair of Multiple, a nonprofit autism innovation platform connecting families, entrepreneurs, funders, mentors, and community members. Dan shares his personal origin story after his son Reed’s early language regression and autism diagnosis in the 1990s, describing scarce services and the practical challenges of daily life, which later led him and other families to help start Oak Hill School. Drawing on his entrepreneurial background, Dan co-founded TeachTown to address gaps in autism education and speech-language resources; the platform now serves over 170,000 students across 3,000 districts. Dan explains Multiple’s 12-week accelerator, Launchpad pre-accelerator, Demo Day, and its autism tech database of 600+ companies across 15 categories, noting roughly 60 companies supported and significant capital flowing to cohorts. He emphasizes impact-first innovation built for dignity, access, communication, and “speed of families,” with special concern for lower-resource caregivers.
 
Find Dan at https://www.multiplehub.org/
 
Topics
Autism Innovation at the Speed of Family: Dan Feshbach on TeachTown, Multiple, and Building for Dignity
 
Host David Kaufer welcomes Dan Feshbach, founder and board chair of Multiple, a nonprofit autism innovation platform connecting families, entrepreneurs, funders, experts, and community members. Dan shares his personal origin story after his son Reid’s 1993 autism diagnosis, the scarcity of services, and how families co-founded what became Oak Hill School. He describes building TeachTown from a gap in speech and language resources, growing it into a digital education platform serving over 170,000 students in 3,000 districts, and later shifting to launch Multiple. Dan explains Multiple’s 12-week accelerator (and Launchpad pre-accelerator), its autism tech database of 600+ companies, and how rigorous selection emphasizes impact, strong founders, traction, and scalable solutions. The conversation covers why autism innovation is growing, the need for more federal funding, and Dan’s “speed of family” focus, especially for underserved families and nonspeakers, including Reid’s recent spelling progress.
 
00:00 Podcast Welcome
00:40 Meet Dan Feshbach
03:13 Reid Diagnosis Early Days
06:44 Starting Oak Hill School
08:33 TeachTown Origin Story
11:21 From Exit to Multiple
14:09 What Is an Accelerator
17:56 Cohorts Success Stories
21:55 Why Autism Innovation Grows
27:50 AI Tools for Parents
30:54 Research to Real Products
33:16 Autism Investment Landscape
33:51 Pushing Federal Funding
34:51 Vote Autism Across Aisle
37:04 Impact First Investing
39:13 How Multiple Picks Startups
42:11 Scaling and Visibility
43:36 Launching a First Mile Fund
44:59 North Star Serving Families
46:58 Speed of Family Access
50:02 Lessons from Reid
53:56 Autism Tip Try Tech
56:52 Light on the Spectrum
58:53 Early Testing New Tools
01:01:47 Closing Thanks and Resources

David welcomes neurologist Dr. Gary Stobbe, director of the University of Washington Medicine Adult Autism Clinic and Adult Transition Services at Seattle Children’s Autism Center, reflecting on how scarce practical autism medical expertise was 20 years ago and his own early appointment with Stobbe. Stobbe recounts his path into neurology, early brain-imaging research, and the 1990s “nothing to do” attitude toward autism, alongside his interest in inequities in healthcare delivery. He explains how ICU training to “assume competence” influenced his work with nonspeaking autistic people, discusses motor/sensory barriers such as apraxia and emotional factors affecting communication, and argues—echoing his co-authored commentary—that assisted typing methods merit rigorous study rather than blanket dismissal. The conversation covers genetics, environmental factors, adult outcomes tied to community participation and supported employment, tensions between medical and social justice models, the importance of psychological safety, and examples of meaningful adult progress after school.
 
Topics
00:40 Meet Dr Gary Stobbe
04:26 Autism Care Then
05:09 Neurology Origin Story
12:09 Assume Competence
16:53 Genetics and Environment
24:54 Alternative Medicine Era
27:24 Community as Treatment
31:14 Advocacy Models Clash
36:43 Non Speaking Barriers
41:15 Missed Potential Screening
42:13 Praxis and Dyspraxia Explained
42:58 Typing Unlocks Understanding
43:51 Emotion Affects Communication
45:58 Motivation and Practice Barriers
47:46 AI and Access Challenges
48:52 Answering the Naysayers
52:55 Strength Based Care Shift
56:54 Neurodiversity at Work
58:21 Advice to Younger Self
01:02:23 Parenting Safety and Risk
01:04:57 Tip Psychological Safety
01:07:13 Fact or Fiction Autism Myths
01:09:15 Life on the Spectrum Growth
01:11:58 Closing Thanks and Subscribe

David and producer Dave Yas discuss interconnected developments they see as threatening disability rights: a recent DOJ opinion reinterpreting Olmstead, proposed Medicaid cuts, and efforts to move special education from the Department of Education to HHS. They explain Olmstead’s longstanding role in supporting community-based living over institutionalization and worry states could use the DOJ memo to justify cost-cutting moves that reduce integrated supports. They describe Medicaid as the “quiet architecture” enabling community living—covering services like therapies, transportation, job coaching, and respite—and note proposed reductions and increased requalification burdens. They argue shifting special education risks reframing a civil right as a rationed health service without a clear implementation plan. They also criticize recent media coverage conflating spelling/RPM communication methods with MAHA, anti-vaccine politics, and “telepathy tapes,” and highlight advocacy responses, including facilitatedcommunications.com and Comm4CommRights.org, and preview an upcoming interview with neurologist Dr. Gary Stobbe.
 
Visit facilitatecommunications.com
Comm4CommRights.org
 
Topics
00:39 Why This Episode Matters
03:50 Rights Versus Needs
06:13 Olmstead Under Threat
13:16 Political Origins Of Memo
16:26 Medicaid As Infrastructure
21:10 Special Ed Shift To HHS
23:47 IEP Reality Check
28:07 Fighting School Battles
28:59 Rights Not Services
30:35 Why Cuts Hit Disabled
33:04 Money Politics Power
34:41 Leaders Who Get It
35:45 Media Smears On S2C
41:02 How Journalism Warps
47:10 Clickbait And Misinformation
48:53 New Advocacy Resources
53:11 Hope, Momentum, Next Guest

David interviews advocate Elizabeth Zielinski and parent Jill Janson about Jill’s son Zach, a non-speaking speller, winning a due process hearing against Fairfax County Public Schools on every issue presented. After spelling was added to Zach’s IEP in middle school, the high school team delayed, obstructed, and failed to implement a trained, trusted communication partner, placing him in self-contained life-skills classes, denying electives and homework acceptance, and contributing to failing grades and school refusal. The family first prevailed in a Virginia Department of Education state complaint for failure to implement the IEP, but the district continued delaying corrective action and compensatory services. An IEE by an approved neuropsychologist using the letterboard documented exceptionally high abilities and supported placement in general education. After ESY registration and training commitments were mishandled, the family hired attorney Grace Kim and filed due process. Zach insisted on a public hearing to help other spellers, testified for hours, and the case became a public record emphasizing that non-speaking is not non-thinking and that communication access is essential. Tips include documenting early references to letterboards without branding demands, using FOIA, and careful written communication.
 
Topics
00:39 Case Victory Overview
03:28 What Went Wrong
05:45 IEP Language Strategy
07:12 Intimidation Tactics
14:14 State Complaint Win
18:56 Freshman Year Fallout
21:02 Homework Rejected
23:30 Communication Demo Drama
27:39 Sophomore Year Stalling
30:44 ASHA Position Debate
34:45 Education vs Medical Lines
35:49 Deflating Expert Power
36:52 Emotional Rollercoaster
37:28 IEE Reveals Potential
41:09 Testing Trauma Story
44:42 ESY Breakdown Sparks Legal
50:19 Due Process Timeline
51:32 Hearing Conditions Evidence
54:34 Legal Strategy Dysregulation
58:01 Zach Testimony Marathon
01:02:17 Takeaways Worth Fight
01:08:44 Tip of Week Advice
01:13:38 Final Thanks Closing

David interviews Mary Brown, mother and communication partner of non-speaking autistic writer Woody Brown, whose debut novel Upward Bound (Hogarth) gained national attention and was a Read With Jenna pick. Mary recounts Woody’s early diagnosis at age two, low expectations from doctors, and her shift to assuming competence after seeing Soma Mukhopadhyay and Tito, leading to years of letterboard-based learning at home alongside therapies and public school special education. She describes advocacy for a high school diploma, a post-high-school crisis, and Woody’s community college success, where she ultimately served as his in-class support and built strategies for tests, papers, scheduling, and independence. Woody studied abroad at Oxford, transferred to UCLA (starting on Zoom during COVID), and began creative writing under Mona Simpson, developing Upward Bound and winning honors and writing prizes. At Columbia MFA, novelist Paul Beatty connected him with agent Sarah Chalfant (Wylie Agency), resulting in a two-book deal, and Mary addresses skepticism around his communication and a Today Show B-roll controversy, emphasizing apraxia, regulation needs, and routines including daily reading and meditation.
 
Topics
00:00 Meet Mary and Woody
03:07 Early Diagnosis and Low Expectations
05:17 Soma and the Turning Point
09:05 Learning the Letterboard at Home
10:27 Fighting for Diploma Track
14:19 After Graduation Panic
16:29 Community College Breakthrough
19:42 Disability Office and Testing Battles
28:14 Oxford Moment and Transfer Dreams
31:24 UCLA Zoom and Creative Writing
32:55 Mona Simpson Mentorship
35:49 Columbia Acceptance Call
37:12 Assume Intelligence
39:17 Apraxia Not IQ
40:23 Building Inner Life
41:52 Writer Emerges
43:16 Facing Naysayers
44:32 B-Roll Controversy
48:02 How He Types
53:18 Columbia Book Deal
57:39 College Prep Tips
01:10:04 Routines After School
01:12:11 Closing Thanks
 

David welcomes Dawnmarie Gaivin, executive director of Spellers Freedom Foundation and co-author of The Spellers Guidebook, recalling how her intensive sessions with his son Stone created a major “paradigm shift.” Gaivin shares her background in nursing and parenting two autistic sons who lost speech, her early focus on communication and literacy, and how discovering spelling/typing for communication—grounded in addressing motor planning differences like apraxia—changed her family’s trajectory and led to work that has reached over 1,000 spellers. They discuss the origins of her former business name Transcending Apraxia, the role of the film Spellers and the book Underestimated in expanding awareness, and the challenges of scaling spelling supports in schools, including mindset shifts, training standards, and preventing unintentional influence. Gaivin’s tip urges parents not to “feather the nest,” and she frames current pushback as evidence of growing momentum for communication as a civil rights issue.
 
Topics
00:37 Meet Dawnmarie Gaivin
02:54 A thousand spellers
03:48 Stone’s first breakthrough
07:01 From nursing to autism mom
10:11 Finding spelling for Evan
12:57 Why Transcending Apraxia
19:07 Apraxia and parent isolation
23:27 Chaos and hypervigilance
25:21 How Spellers film began
27:45 Filming Aiden’s first open
29:55 Documentary Sparks Movement
31:40 Growth of Spelling Services
32:31 Why Progress Takes Time
35:00 Bringing Spelling Into Schools
37:06 Mindset and Training Barriers
41:40 Building a School Model
47:36 Tech Access and College Wins
49:17 Tip Stop Feathering Nest
53:28 Fact or Fiction Profound Autism
57:56 Light of Week Pushback