[Speaker 1] (0:00 – 4:26)
Hello, this is Anna Kennedy and we’re talking all things autism. We’re live. We’re in Covent Garden and it’s a lovely sunny afternoon, and it looks like we’re going to be in for a few weeks of the sun.

Woo-hoo! I’m so excited that yesterday I saw a clip showcasing Autumn’s Got Talent on Katie Price’s show My Crazy Life that’s going to be aired next week on Tuesday at 10 o’clock so there’s going to be highlights shown of the show in London and then later on in one of the other programs some of the highlights from Autumn’s Got Talent in St. Ives, so that’s fantastic. I’m also excited to welcome back Alexandra Besta and she’s the founder of functional food company and Team Nuno, just had a Team Nuno chocolate, which was very nice.

Thank you so much. So Alexandra’s been working over a decade because of her passionate work in the food industry and she’s going to talk a little bit more about what she does. It’s her second visit here.

She came to talk to me in January, but because she’s just got so much information and so many different things to share with myself and also with the listeners that we’ve invited her back. Hello there, Alexandra. Hi.

Thank you for having me. Thank you. You’re looking very flowery and lovely today.

What do you want? More chocolate? Well, so let’s recap.

So from your last visit to the visiting here, talking all things autism, tell me a little bit about how you are and how is your son, Ethan? Well, next phrase of autism, the age of 14 now, and yes puberty and massive changes, shifts, everything from behavior to physical, mental, emotional state. I find that I have to learn all about my son all over again.

Like I have to get to know him now as a teen. And some real beautiful things are emerging. For instance, recently when we were looking through fond pictures and my son was looking over my shoulder and when I asked him about who is this person, who is that person, he named them and when I pointed out himself he says, it’s me.

And I was like, he always used to say, it’s Ethan. So I show him a few more pictures and he was like, it’s me. And I told, what an amazing progress, my sense of self.

And so consequently we underestimate how well our children understand and how well they progress even when they speak less, especially during the puberty where we’re speaking less. It’s a very neurotypical thing, right? Anyone who has neurotypical children know that a teenager would say, would answer with one word, right?

Well, what I wanted to mention today about my son being 14 years old and me being single mom is that for the last 14 years, we have had so many carers and support workers coming and going. And my son recently has had to say goodbye once again to a person with whom he attached. Very difficult.

Very. And he’s 14 and yet he was crying. He relubs, he stopped eating and drinking, his sleep got affected all because that person left.

And it just makes me think how we underestimate how much our children actually do get attached to the people who work with them. It’s like a bereavement really for them, isn’t it? Because it takes such a long time for them to get used to someone and it’s not only being used to looking at them.

It’s the way they smell, what they do, their gestures. They look at everything and when they feel comfortable, then the bond starts. Yeah.

And the routine, the places they were going together and you develop a certain routine around the person you’re with. And it’s a lifeline for you. Absolutely.

But there’s always the risk that here comes another person and how long they’re going to stay. And then, what about the trust issue? Exactly.

The obsession that my son has developed towards me as the only consistent person in his life who always stays. And then he will follow me into every room and constantly checking where I am in case, you know, mum would also leave too.

[Speaker 2] (4:27 – 4:27)
Yes.

[Speaker 1] (4:27 – 6:51)
It’s a fragile state, right? I was told that when I went to St Ives just recently, and it’s the only time in the year when I’m away from home for two nights, the care actually said to me that Angela cried quite a bit. So it just sort of gave me a pang in my heart.

But then I can’t be around all the time. So for me, I look forward to those two days where that’s like 363 days I’m with the family. But it’s just like, it’s just for me.

And I really enjoy even though I’m working, but it’s like a little bit of respite for me. So it’s very important. Well, I think when it comes to parents, we are very often underestimate how much we put into our children.

And even when we are not around them, we still kind of half of our mind is constantly thinking, has the care I forgot this and that have I mentioned? Did I plan for this? Did I create the meal?

Is everything okay? So to be able to fully rest and trust someone with your child so you can completely switch off. It’s so necessary, right?

Especially now with the holidays just around the corner. So with holidays, summer holidays coming up, what type of things do you do with your son? Because it’s all, I find that it’s quite difficult some of the time.

And the reason being because everywhere is so busy, queuing. So you need to find something where the son’s going to enjoy what he’s doing. You’re going to enjoy it.

It’s not stressful planning ahead. So for me, with Angelo, it would be something like I would have to do is go very early because that’s the less busy time or go at the very end of the day. If I was to go at lunchtime, he just wouldn’t cope and he probably wouldn’t even open the door of the car because he will let you know that’s his way of letting you know I don’t want to go and he’ll just shut the door again and you try and coax him out and then he’ll shut the door again.

So I just think maybe this is not a good idea. So how was it for you? Well, I suppose with my son, if he knows where he’s going, he’s giving enough instructions as what to expect of him.

He can manage pretty okay. The one thing that always stresses him out, it’s crowds and navigating, not being able to predict which way people are going to go. And I’ve lost him so many times because he’s super, super fast.

So for us, for instance, avoiding the places like Chasington Ward of Adventures during a holiday.

[Speaker 2] (6:52 – 6:53)
Can’t think of anywhere worse to go.

[Speaker 1] (6:53 – 7:04)
It’s the worst place to be. And actually he never really enjoyed it because after all the queuing, even for the disability line, you get like two, three rides throughout the whole day. It’s no point.

[Speaker 2] (7:05 – 7:05)
We choose.

[Speaker 1] (7:05 – 9:06)
But sometimes they don’t want to get off. Yeah. They want to do it again and again and it’s like, oh no, we have to get off now.

Well, we go to London Zoo and there’s this lovely man running a carousel and he lets Ethan go on it as many times as he wants. But we avoid busy places and we go to more nature and sandwich dad would say cinema or something else. We also love London during school summer holiday because it’s a little quieter.

So some gallery museums, some places can be a lot less busy during the summer. So what is Ethan interested in? What type of things would he like?

Roller coasters. If he’s not honored, then he’s watching it on YouTube or any kind of transport. So when did that start?

Well, it’s been like that since forever. He’s always loved spinning. And when he was younger, the only if he was to be at home, he would be either on a swing or on the office just spinning around.

Or if he was on the in the playground, he will go on round about so much that I will look at him and I will fold easy. I think he he kinds of needs that needs to fold easy. He loves being high up now that he’s a little bit more grown up and he likes more grown up things.

He loves going to the roof gardens. He likes cafes. He likes to chill.

He likes the roof garden because you can see the entire London from it and you can sit very close to the window. Sounds good. And have this feeling like you falling down, which I hate.

He loves it. So it’s a really nice place to take him. He will sit there by the window for hours and I can have a coffee and chill and read some things, which is which is the latest discovery and allows us both to enjoy something together.

I’ve noticed he likes clothes and he likes fashion. So does he like going and cloth shopping?

[Speaker 2] (9:07 – 9:07)
Yes.

[Speaker 1] (9:08 – 12:03)
I think he may have a job in Zara very soon because one of his carer who loved shopping. She used to take him to Zara all the time. She was a shopaholic or is and apparently he will make sure that all the hangers are in line and organized while she was busy shopping.

But my son loves clothing. Yes. And he constantly borrows my clothes, which is really funny.

Did he have a thing about when he was younger, the labels, because I used to have to cut out all the labels for Angelo. I used to pull them out and then you discovered that you just bought him a t-shirt and you’d have a big hole where the label was. So yeah, things like that, but not so much now, but then now and again, it’ll come back and then I’ll have to cut it out.

It’s just funny how sometimes it really affects them. And then all of a sudden it just stops. Yeah, it’s not a system.

So my son will wear the t-shirts upside down with the stitches on the outside when he was younger. Okay. All right then.

So what we’re going to talk about in the next half is about you said that you were at a recent SCN virtual summit and you explained how hormones affect someone like your son and others with autism. So we can talk a little bit about that. So with reference to NonoChocolate, so if somebody’s interested in looking at your website, where would they look?

So www.nono-cococoa.com. Okay. And what about social media?

And NonoCocoUK. It’s our Twitter and Instagram. Okay.

So have you got any new chocolates coming out at the moment? Well, we do. In fact, it’s going to be one of the chocolates designed by our students.

We’re going to turn it into snack so everyone can enjoy individual flavor. So what’s the flavors there then? You’re going to have to stay tuned and keep listening till I tell you.

Okay. So what’s the most favorite that’s bought by the public? Um, roasted coconut and mint mojito.

That’s what I’ve just had. Fresh mint. Yeah, I love it.

Perfect summer flavor. That’s great. So if you’re interested in, um, speaking to me on all things autism, please contact me via the charity website, just to remind you it’s www.annaKennedyonline.com.

You can talk to me on social media at Anna Kennedy One on Twitter. I get lots of messages via Twitter. Um, so that’s something that if you want to contact me there, that’s fine.

Um, Facebook, Anna Kennedy online, anything to do with the charity or if you want to look at the charity website, there’s lots of information on the charity events or what we’re up to or any up to days news that we’ve got to share. So we’re at, um, the radio station here in Covent Garden and we’re talking all things autism. Welcome to women’s radio station.

[Speaker 2] (12:03 – 12:07)
I’m Sarah Louise Ryan and welcome to Love Lessons Live on women’s radio station.

[Speaker 1] (12:07 – 28:38)
Hello and welcome to Future Classic Women Awards with me, Hello and welcome to June May is Listening. Hi, this is Anna Kennedy and we’re at women’s radio station supporting women’s wellbeing and we’re talking all things autism. Women, the possibilities are endless.

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Hello, this is Anna Kennedy and we’re talking all things autism. We’re live and we’re in Covent Garden and my guest today is Alexandra Bestian. Before I go over to Alexandra and Paul Isaacs, one of my past speakers and also one of my autism ambassadors has developed some workshops.

So if you’re interested in checking out the workshops, the four workshops that he’s put together is autism and the system of sensing. So he basically is expanding on the themes of the Donna Williams system of sensing from personal observational and professional observations, looking at why some people on the autism spectrum do and act in a certain way. So that’s going to be on 25th of September.

The second one is on autism and mental health. Autism and mental health conditions go hand in hand. Why is that?

Is it because of the differing cognitive profiles? So that will be happening on the 27th of November. The third workshop is autism and employment and that say what he’s basically saying is 16% of people on the autism spectrum are in some form of work.

So that’s not a lot, 16%. So he’s going to be talking about from his experience, trails, errors, sorry, not trails or even trials, errors and from that learned how to integrate, achieve and have meaningful part to play in society. That will be in January and the last one will be autism and mindfulness.

The basic concept of being mindful is the ability to switch off and focus in moment and surroundings around you. But what could be challenges around people on the autism spectrum accessing the concept and the ability to be mindful. They’re only 15 pounds and it’s 10.30 till 2.30. You get lunch and if you want to check out the charity website, all the information is on there and you can book and they’re all happening in Uxbridge. So my guest today is Alexandra and just before the first half towards the end, we were talking about the recent SCN virtual summit and they were talking about autism and puberty. So Alexandra, what would you like to share and how does hormones affect someone like your son? Wow, it’s such a big topic and also a taboo for a lot of parents unable to access information and very often schools and organizations kind of avoiding the issue of sexual education.

For example, one of my colleagues who was teaching at a college and he had a sexual education class with a student was quiet, stressed out himself and found it quite difficult to approach the topic. So you can imagine for a parent who isn’t so equipped how to address those issues and then when there’s a communication barrier, how can you prepare yourself and your child for puberty. So the SCN virtual summit which Joanna gives was a wonderful solution to be able to deliver information to people, parents at home when they are most of the time instead of having them to go to workshops which they don’t always have a time for.

For anyone who haven’t been able to access that on a day, we have videos available that parents can watch which we can post later. Joanna was one of my guests and she was very passionate and very articulate about what she wanted to do and help parents with. Also what we learned as the 11 professionals in autism during the summit is how important it is for us to talk together because each person specializes in different fields and know everyone is a parent.

There is a point of view from a parent and professional and when you get that together it’s a wealth of information that’s very very useful. And an autistic adult as well so you get it from all angles. Absolutely and ADHD and other neurological conditions which very often overlap.

So I was talking about autism and puberty from the functional medicinal diet point of view which is what I’m specializing in and how food affects the hormones. So as a parent you can only do so much. Our children have to go through puberty there is no shortcut to it and when there are certain things that you can’t avoid like the whole neurology changing hormones affecting moods, diet and sleep, there are some things that you can do to don’t make it even worse, don’t aggravate.

There’s a lot more science available now about the effect that sugar for instance has on the hormonal health and if you have a young person that’s on a quite bad carb diet their experience of puberty is going to be so much worse. So if there’s something you can do perhaps you can change some pasta for protein pasta or change bread for something a little bit less sugary, less carby, more granary if possible. But my experience with nutrition is that most of the sugar that our children consume comes from drinks and if there is anywhere you can dilute the drinks to make a less sugary it may be that your son or daughter who are already struggling to release the melatonin hormone during puberty to actually fall asleep on time are not then also stimulated by sugars on the top of it.

What about sugar free drinks are there any better? Well if the person is particularly addicted to drinks and you know we know with autism the diets can be quite rigid and difficult to change and if a sugar free drinks were to be a solution yes that’s a better thing than having a sugary drink but there are other concerns with that which I don’t want to go into too much details. Another very important stimulant for hormones it’s dairy.

So dairy products very often contain hormones that are added to milks that hormones that are added to cows to produce more milks which then licks into the milk. So if there is a way of avoiding dairy product during puberty you can see really significant difference in the way the person experience the hormonal changes and one of the most important one it’s soy. So my son last year developed PMS menstrual cycle like very very consistent every month he will have pre-menstrual mood swings sleepy oil behavior changes etc and when we looked into the details of what’s going on and had many medical interventions try to see how we can support him well it actually came down to it’s because he’s dairy intolerant and a lot of the dairy alternatives with soy and soya it’s a substance that mimics estrogen and the body actually see it as so then it reduces the production of testosterone and then a young person actually presents more feminine type of hormonal behavior than masculine.

With the reduction and then complete removal of soy products he’s mood stabilized and his puberty it’s a lot more easy manageable but because parents very often put their children on gluten free dairy free diet with autism if that’s the case and you’re substituting with soy pay attention to when your child hits the puberty because it is going to affect the hormones quite badly. Okay so what about parents because obviously us parents can get quite stressed we’re juggling you know obviously the summer holidays are coming some parents find that quite difficult because obviously they’re trying to juggle even more trying to find places for their children to go to arrange carers because obviously some of them have to go to work so what can we do diet wise because we were just chatting when we were having a coffee and I was telling you that you know I suffer from IBS and I’ve had it since I’m 18 years old but I’ve noticed the last sort of few weeks everything I eat seems to affect me so what can parents do to help them and obviously function better give them a little bit more energy if you like yeah help sleep better just you know what is it that we can do yeah so you know I’ve been diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome and for many years I had to go to bed in the middle of today to recharge our crush again for me functional foods were the basis of my cancer recovery so I went back to it when I had a crisis with chronic fatigue syndrome and the the government and the nutritional recommendation has always been for a low-fat diet now the authorities are reversing that recommendation because fat it’s a very good source of energy that’s stable energy that so say for instance if you have a slice of toast with butter it’s good to have an extra cheese or avocado on it in the morning you will actually feel like you’re fuller for longer and you have a more energy the way the body metabolizes carbs it’s it’s it’s processes very quickly and after eating carbs you um hungry again and your sugar drops and you feel quite lethargic and tired where fat it’s processed in the way that it actually helps your liver to store energy for later when you need it so I will say have the ice cream and eat it okay well thank you for that um just very quickly with reference to summer holidays obviously some of our children go out on their own can we just talk a little bit about street safety so um my son has gone missing quite several times over the period of time um so things like getting um a very good clothing stamp which um it’s not washable so you can put your phone number name or address and stamp it onto each part of the clothing oh where would you get that then so um there are a few different um websites when you can order that it costs only 10 pounds and that’s uh stamptastic for instance okay or my my name tag.com so basically it’s instead of sewing labels in because I speak to some parents where they’re sold labels in and then obviously some of our children don’t like labels so they’ll pull them off so this is a different way of just stamping the clothing um and it’s stamptastic so it’s the name of the child and their telephone number so that’s yeah useful bit of information there so um for parents listening in you’re worrying about your children going wandering stamp away so again um if you’re interested in being one of my speakers you want to talk about topics to do with autism about well-being about looking after ourselves um it’s um www.anna kennedy online.com um again functional foods where would they look and find you no no cocoa uk on twitter and instagram follow us so i can share with you all the information I provided today okay so anybody would like to ask any questions that’s where you can contact Alexandra if you’ve forgotten what the address is you can always contact us through the charity website and what we can do is we can pass the message on um so you want to call our charity office as well it’s 018 9 5 5 4 0 1 8 7. Welcome to the women’s radio station supporting women’s well-being women’s radio station is all about diversity from opinions career ethnicity education and most importantly women’s well-being we aim to celebrate the individuality of every woman everywhere providing opportunities and the platform for your voice visit our website women’s radio station.com for more information I’m Tamina Zaman founder of empower and enrich when it comes to money do you clam up or get confused do you wish you could save more money or are you hoping you have enough for retirement you are not alone many women want to be smarter with their cash but just don’t know where to start at empower and enrich.org you will find a host of options to help you take charge of your finances and learn how to put your money to work for you in an easy affordable way get in touch with me at empower and enrich.org and let’s change your future together. 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[Speaker 2] (28:39 – 29:30)
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[Speaker 1] (29:32 – 42:00)
welcome to the women’s radio station supporting women’s well-being women’s radio station can give voice to your brand with a wide range of sponsorship opportunities including individual programs we can tailor your experience for you for more information on how you can sponsor a show go to women’s radio station.com women’s radio station supporting women’s well-being. Hello this is Anna Kennedy and we’re talking all things autism we’re live we’re in Covent Garden my guest today is Alexandra Bester before I go over to Alexandra there’s some great help sheets on the options autism website which I’ve shared every week so there’s one that’s particularly good that’s facing food challenges for those with autism and sensory processing differences so people with autism are often described as picky or selective eaters displaying very restrictive repertoires of food acceptance that can be limited to as few as five foods this can be a significant problem as a restricted diet may become associated with inadequate nutrition so research indicates that sensory issues are extremely common in people eating and involves all of the sensory systems so some of the things that taste the most obvious sense associated with food the person may perceive taste differently or under or over sensitive to the food flavors they are presented with sight color shape arrangement of the food and the light color or clutter in the environment may affect meal times smell that’s one big thing for angela the smell of the food during cooking and in the eating environment and another big thing for him is touch the person may avoid touching the food with the hands or play with their food so that’s something that Angela does he squeezes like for example chips he’ll squash every chip flick the end off at each chip and then eat it so a great sheet here there’s just so many different help sheets on the options autism websites I’ve just read something from the facing food challenges for those with autism and sensory processing difficulties so Alexandra tell me a little bit about the autism t-shirts that Ethan wears when he’s out on summer well talking about eating difficulties my son it’s the the the master of struggling to eat hence why the functional food company was formed in the first place okay um and then my son has been a runner so he will run away and we lost him several times so an idea came in to have a t-shirt that actually advertised he has autism and also for it to be bright so I can see him from a distance yeah um he will also hug people okay or just approach a stranger and to hold their hands and yeah that’s what makes our kids vulnerable exactly so um a lot of different ideas for t-shirt came out and then when I start actually posting pictures of us traveling during the holiday out and about with the t-shirts on a lot of interest was created from the public asking me questions when they can get and we custom made different t-shirts for different individuals and age appropriate and so on and the feedback from people who use those t-shirts during the holiday it’s that to quote you know walking into the airplane people staring at my child then looking at the t-shirt and then the stare ends and it makes it less awkward and also if then during the fly my son makes quirky noises then people don’t react as aggressively as they have in the past um so t-shirt advertising your child’s autism it’s not everyone’s cup of tea no every parent feels comfortable comfortable doing my experience is that um 10 years of of putting your autism t-shirt on my son on every outing makes the outing so much more pleasant and very often people ask question and they inquisitive and they want to help and support um in a situation where we are queuing somewhere very often the staff will see him wearing t-shirt and then um ask us to skip the queue and they call us sooner which is which makes things even more pleasant so my impression is that people aren’t against autism they just simply don’t understand or don’t know and if you actually announce your child has autism with a t-shirt it may be that it’s a it’s a good thing it’s a there’s quite a few organizations now that have set up businesses there’s one called born anxious which they sent me a couple of t-shirts and they’ve actually asked angela to be one of their ambassadors so we’re looking forward to that and there’s autism threads there’s just so many different companies now that have t-shirts with a logo that you feel comfortable for your son or daughter wearing um so reflecting over the past academic year with team nono young people with additional needs and autism that you provide work experience obviously i’ve been to your kitchen and i’ve met some of your young adults so can you tell me a little bit about what the highlights have been over the last year well um very different year second year in a row the first year um i’ve had um students allocated to me that the college felt was suitable and it was a very different experience to this year where actually um was teaching at the college a little bit got to know everyone and then discover some hidden talents not just the talents of the young people who are able to work in the kitchen or packing room but also um all the other students that had a lot to offer and they were never considered for work placement um so as as fantastic as it is to have people in the kitchen who are progressing and doing amazing job um i felt like i wanted to involve the whole the whole 20 students so we’ve decided to work with the art teacher at the college to create an artwork that really reflects their individuality and personality we use canvas where everyone took part to um create their own image and we um then use that image for the packaging of a box of chocolate which we then call identity um that was the student’s idea the students then researched and found 12 flavors that they wanted to include one of which was um a caramel and i don’t work with sugar okay and that was a big challenge for me so back to the kitchen discover that caramel can be made without sugar and no one can tell the difference certainly you haven’t because you’ve tried the orange caramel and you absolutely love it so um we named the chocolate after the students which was extraordinary buzz um some of the students were so so moved that something so real emerged out of what they normally see as art and crafts at school okay that a real thing happened that someone listened and picked their favorite flavor to put in the box of chocolate one of the students who created the mint mojito flavor um he said he was going to the mosque to pray for me because he was so so grateful oh that’s nice very sweet very sweet indeed so tell me about flip magazine we had a little brief chat about it when we were having a coffee so yes so read something as well from the magazine apart from the students working on the box of chocolates and taking it literally from a classroom art room to touring north London health stores and promoting their chocolate and gaining confidence and getting feedback from the public they have also created their own flip magazine which is entirely made by the young people from the design to interviewing each other writing an article deciding what sort of topics they want to address what they care about what it’s important to them so why flip what what does that represent um i suppose there’s a range of different views on on the flip from um um one of the student who is a dancer and he does a lot of flips okay to on the flip side what disability means to me and probably many other so one of the things that really strike me in in the magazine was when i was reading about how they define the disability and and what it means to them so for instance uh one of my student who works with team no no said being autistic for me it’s hard because i don’t know what to feel when i’m around with other people like with my friends um and that’s a very interesting thing to think about it like how how is he supposed to feel um from that to others describing um their ADHD that it’s very hard for them to focus and um when they talk about something and understand that what they say has a consequences um so the the extraordinary insight into their mind and how they describe the disability it’s really worth um checking i will post a link to the magazine online so everyone can have a look but a lot of parents has commented that um for they for they for themselves whose children are now younger to think about that this is what 25-26 year old can do thing and understand it’s quite amazing it gives them hope and a very positive prospect so what are the topics that they touched on because i noticed when you i flicked through it there was something on dating yes so social issue um it’s a big deal um for them also a road safety so being out and about and being intimidated by other people so the top tips on staying safe on the street they’ve listed as in avoid eye contact learn self-defense in appropriate way but also to build the confidence emergency sos a new iphone app that you should have on your phone change direction if you see group of teenagers approaching you so they’ve clearly had their own experiences and they’ve narrowed down what worked for them the most in terms of staying safe on the street okay so the app what was that um sos again we will post a link to the app as well okay so um there’ll be a link then that people can if they want to read the flip magazine that has been written by your students and they can check it out so that’s interesting so different ways that they feel about lots of different topics basically that’s great so um yeah because what’s going to happen is alizandra is going to write an article as all my guests do and if you want to read some of the past articles they’re actually on the charity website which is www.anna kennedy online.com podcasts as well from all of my past speakers are actually on the charity website again under radio and television i also do sky christie b which i’m going to be recording tomorrow so that’s once a month and i take in a guest every month with me where they’re interviewed by myself or by christie and we talk about whatever their topic is i’ve been contacted by uh just recently a teacher in nigeria who’s um watching the program once a month because there’s not a lot of information out there um so that that’s good that it’s reaching so far out um to different countries so you know wherever it is that you live in people always are hungry for information about autism whether it’s about their children whether it’s about a child that they might be teaching whether it’s about a behavior that they’re finding really difficult there’s a lot of information out there um that you can google but you just need to be careful as well um you know what it is that you’re looking at just make sure that it’s um appropriate uh again if you want to be one of my speakers um i’ve got so many different speakers that would like to speak so whether you’re an autistic adult whether you’re a teacher whether you’re a parent whether you’re a grandparent whether you’re an aunt or an uncle or a sister or a brother you might like to be interviewed by me so please contact me on www.anna kennedy online

[Speaker 2] (42:01 – 42:06)
welcome to women’s radio station i’m sarah louise ryan and welcome to love lessons live

[Speaker 1] (42:06 – 44:13)
on women’s radio station hello and welcome to future classic women awards with me hello and welcome to julie is listening hi this is anna kennedy and we’re at women’s radio station supporting women’s well-being and we’re talking all things autism women the possibilities are endless that’s what makes us different hi i’m tracy weeden of brownhill insurance group we are an award-winning family-run insurance broker covering a wide range of insurance products ranging from commercial lines to personal household high net worth and fine art you can contact us on 0208 658 4334 or visit our website www.brownhillgroup.co.uk for your free no obligation quotation at brownhills we’ve got you covered hi i’m lauren michigan i’m a birth doula and mum of three and i’m passionate about supporting women to have empowering and positive birth experiences please join me for my brand new show from tummy to mummy here on women’s radio station every week i’ll be here with an expert guest talking about women’s reproductive health everything fertility pregnancy birth and baby related right through to the menopause and beyond please join us for an informative and fun hour hi i’m hazel butfield a blogger book lover and mental health advocate and you can listen to my show get booked here at women’s radio station daily at 5 am and 5 pm throughout my shows we’ll talk about the books i’ve read new releases chapter authors publishers and book enthusiasts all with a theme and aim of supporting women’s emotional well-being if you have a book to tell us about get in touch at presenters at women’s radio station.com join me on my show and share my love of books and writing hi i’m valentina babbachi and i’m the executive director of media matters for women we’re a registered charity operating in Sierra Leone and the democratic republic of congo and we produce and share podcasts via bluetooth and mobile phones

[Speaker 2] (44:13 – 44:24)
focusing specifically on women and girls excluded from information due to extreme poverty we empower those living in rural areas with media that transforms how they access own and share

[Speaker 1] (44:24 – 58:40)
information to find out more and be part of this movement come check out our website at media matters for women.org you’re listening to women’s radio stations supporting women’s well-being women’s radio stations creating a global network for the empowerment of women and we want you to be involved join us on instagram and twitter at women’s radio station that’s women’s radio stn or facebook women’s radio station to keep up to date with all our exciting programs.

Hello this is Anna Kennedy we’re talking all things autism we’re promoting women’s well-being on the show and my guest is Alexandra Bester from functional food companies and team nono so Alexandra what have you learned from the past two years running team nono? Well where do I start I think learning from the neurodiverse community it’s so so important to be able to find the correct way to accommodate work placement for them I suppose the way most company coming from when they’re considering recruiting someone with autism special needs is that they try to fit them into a box what we do at team nono it’s quite the opposite we’re putting the students through a range of different tasks and scenarios to see what they particularly enjoy and when they excel and and we focus then on developing them in that direction okay because they will do this then with passion with enthusiasm learning from young people who are now 18 to 25 what I can see is how the educational system that they have accessed has kind of led them down assuming that they will never ever have work opportunity which is very sad yes I think it’s it’s automatically assumed that someone’s going to be looked after and yet there is so much talent possibility and ability and the whole body and mood and everything change when you show that young person that something as simple as their artwork becomes a real product on a shelf in shop and give them the confidence and the enthusiasm to show that actually they can do more okay and so my experience is that the more opportunities you give the more they show that there’s so much more that they can do one of the obstacles that as an employer an educator I have it’s that colleges and school run Monday to Friday yeah 93 time time only and young people are instantly assuming that employment will be the same I feel that at some point throughout the education system they need to be actually a lot more prepared for the fact that they’re going to be working maybe 96 with especially adapted break of course and and different maybe a structure of a holiday but still not necessarily the 52 weeks holiday as education that’s what my son I would think was the most hardest for him to cope with because obviously going to the workplace he’s having to get up at six o’clock he’s leaving the house at six thirty and then he’s off to work starting for seven thirty finishes at five thirty back home and he’s just absolutely exhausted because of everything that goes with it and might have had a good day even might have had a challenging day he likes to know what’s happening as well and sometimes in the job that he’s in he doesn’t always know what’s happening which makes him very stressed and then what will happen is his friends might say oh do you want to come out on Tuesday or Thursday and he just can’t do it he said I I’m just so physically exhausted and then he says oh the weekend goes so quickly so for him he’s coping but he’s finding it difficult and sometimes I’ve noticed he’s booked a day’s holiday in the week so he does a four day week and so looks forward to that Friday Saturday Sunday but I said he’s got to pace the holidays because it’s got to last him for the whole year so yeah it’s that’s the part that he finds really really difficult and I think if we are really tuning and listening then we can definitely adopt the work environment well I can see for instance that the way we process information and the way young people with special needs notice and do it’s that they tend to they are not able to filter things so when we are in a workplace we focus on one task where they seem to be kind of taking on so much and you can see how exhausting that is yeah so it’s quite important to make special provisions for that but what I’m really kind of worried about is can we encourage the education system to prepare our children for employment and and to implant early on the desire and need for work by teaching about money by teaching about wanting things and when they come from even now my students who are independent travelers and they should really be able to also manage some pocket money yeah they have everything provided so they don’t see the need for work it’s only when they want and they still work for certificates which is quite sad however one of my students who she really came from I mean it’s extraordinary transformation I call her my flower because her name is mimosa which is a flower and also because she was this quiet little thing hiding away and then when she opened up it happened very quickly and so her big desire for earning money is because she wants her mom to work less because she wants to spend more time with her mom and just to then learn at the end of the school term she’s been offered employment with team no no pay employment her whole world change she’s so enthusiastic she changed how she does her makeup and what she’s wearing she feels like she actually has a power to change something about her life that she found it really really hard which is not to see her mom as often as she wanted okay so what are your plans for September so what are you planning I know you’re obviously planning new chocolates but you’re not going to tell me what they’re about well I think what we kind of do is shrink down the chocolate range and focus on the most popular yeah so that our students can cope with the range of things we do instead of making it too complicated too many flavors too many shapes we’re kind of simplifying everything for our students and for the company and what we are planning to do for next year it’s to engage with different colleges to look for more ready-to-work students so that we can sandwich that with the student who needs very basic support with the one who are more able and also to be able to work with another educational system so that they can be learning from us as well so they can make changes to how they teach before people come to us okay and I think I’m quite excited about that idea because that means that we can directly share informations and make the educational provision a lot better at the other point of preparing someone for equipment okay at the end of the show I always talk to people about what do they do to relax because obviously we’re a program as well that supports women’s well-being and it’s very important as a parent of myself two young men on the autism spectrum and you and Ethan a lone parent so what do you do to relax to help you recharge your batteries well to relax successfully I actually have to have a quite a power walk okay and and also it’s a kind of investment in my son because when we go have a power walk we bought then sit down in a garden and stare at the green or recently we put on a fire wood fire on and just to look at the fire was so so relaxing obviously this isn’t always possible in terms of garden or fire but one of the things that recently done to be able to have a bath I have created this um fidgeter box for my son okay that I give him um to keep his hands busy right so that he doesn’t get into any trouble when I’m for 15 minutes soaking in and that seemed to be working so far I hope it lasts yeah there’s a lot of parents that I speak to about oh they can’t seem to go to the toilet or go have a bath because they’re talking to them through the door or they’re walking and it’s just like there’s no privacy for us it’s just you have to adapt um yeah so that’s a good idea actually fidget box so um with Angelo it’s very difficult for me as in because he has no sense of danger whatsoever so I just couldn’t leave him by himself um so yeah you just got to try and adapt the best way you can really and what works for you might not work for another parent absolutely yeah so um talk to me a little bit about places that you take your son when it’s the summer holidays because parents are always eager to listen to oh what’s a good place for um you know taking a young person on the autumn spectrum me parks are great because they can run they can be free and if you go regularly to parks or various different places people get to know you like in the cafe you know there’s an Italian chap there that I go to uh San Remo they always go hey Angelo you know how was my man type of thing so um yeah so what is there anything that you can recommend that might be useful for London-based parents I mean my son loves the um the motorway or highway aspect okay of outing so there’s almost no outing till you get in a car and go to place so where we used to spend so much time in in London now we tend to go a little bit into the after London where you tend to have more of a greener spaces Trent Park it’s a very peaceful place you can have a nice long walk there’s a friendly cafe but it’s very quiet for instance um but also bear in mind that there are some free activities you can find out on Time Out app okay in and around London um very good for parents to access and visit okay parks that I go to again if you live in the London area is the Rhyslip Lidos pretty good it’s got a nice little train there and as I say the San Remo cafe nice walk you can sit and obviously there’s a bit of a beach going on there um another one is Burnham beaches very very quiet never busy every time I’ve been there it’s never busy which suits me just down to the ground so that’s where Angelo can have his little snack um and I’m going to try a few new places um and there’s a place that the name escapes me now specifically for people with um disabilities is thomas thomas oh I can’t remember what it is now I’ll I’ll I’ll share the link on twitter but it’s specifically for people with disabilities on the autumn spectrum and there’s lots of information on there and it’s open during the summer it’s open all year round and with trained staff so that’s that’s a great area and also you can have a coffee so thank you so much Alessandra for again for sharing lots of tips and advice and I’d like to wish you all the best for um team no no for september and for all your ideas and also um have a lovely summer holiday thank you to look after yourself so again if you want to be one of my speakers please contact me on anna kennedy online which is www.anna kennedy online.com at anna kennedy one on twitter anna kennedy online on facebook at anna kennedy obe on instagram and just to remind everyone Alessandra what’s your website again it’s a no no hyphen cocoa okay and look for that social media and social media no no cocoa UK thank you very much everyone and have a great week welcome to the women’s radio station supporting women’s well-being women’s radio station is all about diversity from opinions career ethnicity education and most importantly women’s well-being we aim to celebrate the individuality of every woman everywhere providing opportunities and the platform for your voice visit our website women’s radio station.com for more information i’m Tamina Zaman founder of empower and enrich when it comes to money do you clam up or get confused do you wish you could save more money or are you hoping you have enough for retirement you are not alone many women want to be smart with their cash but just don’t know where to start at empower and enrich.org you will find a host of options to help you take charge of your finances and learn how to put your money to work for you in an easy affordable way get in touch with me at empower and enrich.org and let’s change your future together.

Hello my name is Natasha Ann Callaha welcome to you lovely lady listeners of your very own women’s radio station over the coming months i’ll be doing a survey in big brand coffee shops interviewing customers asking why they like to drink coffee and if they would like to give us a health tip for our listeners the most shared and liked post will be the winner of a prize stay tuned for further details. Hi i’m Carolyn van Beers please join me for a brand new show here on women’s radio station it’s Mother’s Hour if like me you’re a mum

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juggling far too many balls and dropping most of them this is definitely the show for you we’ll examine the highs and lows of motherhood and make sure you laugh out loud as we take on this challenging role together with spoonfuls of advice incredible stories it will be refreshing honest and funny look at being a mum are you struggling with money turn to us as a national charity helping people struggling to make ends meet job loss illness or bereavement can cause a real financial crisis we give practical help to get people back on track whether you’re thinking of having a baby trying to get out of an unhappy relationship or just unsure what benefits you may be entitled to we can help visit turn to us.org.uk welcome to the women’s radio station supporting

[Speaker 1] (59:34 – 59:56)
women’s well-being women’s radio station can give voice to your brand with a wide range of sponsorship opportunities including individual programs we can tailor your experience for you for more information on how you can sponsor a show go to women’s radio station.com women’s radio station supporting women’s well-being