Introduction to The S.U.C.C.E.S.S. Approach (SM)

Join Lynette and Rich as they explore an intervention model for Autism called The S.U.C.C.E.S.S. Approach (SM). The model is designed to help you understand, respond, and help those in your world who live a life with Autism. Our goal is to help expand your thinking to better serve these amazing people, and to support you in your daily struggles and celebrations.  In this episode we will define The S.U.C.C.E.S.S. Approach (SM), discuss the overall goals, and discuss the advantages of building a team for your loved ones.  

If you or someone you know could benefit from the full training for The S.U.C.C.E.S.S. Approach (SM), you can take the course online.  Just go to https://www.thesuccessapproach.org/online-course for registration and other details.

The S.U.C.C.E.S.S. Approach is a registered Service Mark protected under intellectual property law unless otherwise specified, all music, audio visual, and proprietary content shared in this podcast is property of AWEtism Productions, LLC and it’s sister agency Integrations Treatment Center. The use of this content is unlawful without the expressed written consent the proprietor.  

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Transcript

Connect with Success Podcast
With Dr. Rich Smith and Dr. Lynette Scotese-Wojtila
Episode 1, March 2021
 
The mission of Connect with Success Podcast is to lead you to a new and exciting way of understanding, responding to and helping people with autism. We hope to expand your thinking about how to best serve these amazing people and how to support you in your daily struggles and celebrations.
 
 Podcast Text (edited)

Dr. Rich Smith:
Welcome everyone to the inaugural episode of Connect with Success, a podcast built around The S.U.C.C.E.S.S. Approach and the person who coined it, Dr. Lynette Scotese-Wojtila. In today's episode, Lynette is going to discuss a model for intervention she's developed for individuals with autism called The S.U.C.C.E.S.S. Approach. My name is Dr. Richard Smith and I'll be here to help facilitate our discussion about the pieces and parts of The S.U.C.C.E.S.S. Approach in each episode.
 
One of our goals each episode is to help connect you with some of the terms you might hear in the world of autism. Lynette, what is our term for this episode?
 
Dr. Lynette Scotese-Wojtila:
Today's term is transdisciplinary. Transdisciplinary is a word that we say when we talk about the team that is serving a person with autism. The team is usually comprised of the parent, and other professionals like teachers or therapists, doctors, dieticians, who all work together in transdisciplinary care. And it's not just explaining what we're doing with the child or the adult, we're actually cross training and role releasing to those other team members so they too can uphold whatever it is that we, as a single team member, feel that the child needs holistically.
 
Dr. Rich Smith:
So, why are we doing this podcast? I recognize that feeling of despair people feel while trying to seek help for our children. We're looking for that beacon of hope that can be shared with others who might be feeling the same way. 

Dr Lynette Scotese- Wojtila chose autism as her career path… 

Dr. Lynette Scotese-Wojtila: 
I am here because I really have a very important and potent alternative that allows parents to come away from the despair that you're talking about and come to a place of confidence and understanding. 
 
Because my life's work has been dedicated to autism, I've discovered some very important tools that keep us going forward in our journey. 

Dr. Rich Smith: 
And so maybe we don't get all the answers that we're looking for because it's going to be impossible, as we go through each episode to hit everything, but you're going to provide us with a great compass in order to guide us in that way, right?
 
Dr. Lynette Scotese-Wojtila:
Yes, and we want everyone to come with us. Come with us on this journey, let's co-discover. And let's keep finding new ways of reinventing success for our children.
 
Dr. Rich Smith:
We'd like to begin this episode by giving you a little bit about who we are as your hosts, let's start with you, tell us a little bit about yourself and how you found your professional path.
 
Dr. Lynette Scotese-Wojtila:
I come from a very large Italian family, and I am the last of eight children. Because of the loving way that our families work together and were supported by our parents to grow into adulthood, I was always interested in thinking ahead, and deciding what I wanted to do with my life, even from a very young age. So when I was in seventh grade, I was volunteering for a local program that helped children with special needs that happened to be sponsored by the Cleveland Catholic Diocese. In my role of a little junior camp counselor, I met some individuals with autism, and one of them, whose name is Katie, struck me in a way that I've never been struck before. 
 
Katie absolutely grabbed my heart. Katie had autism, which at the time I probably couldn't even spell back in sixth or seventh grade, but she was compelling to me because she wore her nervous system on her sleeve (which looked like running around and galloping, and some people might say fleeing). She was very free spirited. And I was compelled to try to help her, which the other camp members were very happy about because they saw her as challenging or difficult. And so I worked very hard to understand, Katie, and to reach her. And as I did, I realized that adults have the capacity to influence children in a positive way. I helped her channel her energy into applying herself and enjoying the camp, as opposed to just running and maybe not engaging so much, socially, or meaningfully with others. 
 
So I started talking to my family, this big loving Italian family, about my experiences and one of those people was my sister-in-law Laurie Scotese. Laurie was a nurse who knew anatomy, and a lot about development and children. She asked me what I thought I wanted to do with my life or my future and I said, “Well, I'll probably be a physical therapist because I really like moving, and I like the body, and I like anatomy, and I really always kind of thought that would be nice to help people.” 
 
And then she told me about occupational therapy, and how the emphasis of what we call OT is about function. And I couldn't help but think of Katie, and how much easier, she was able to function, by the way that I was able to help her ground herself and come in contact with her world. So long story short, I started exploring occupational therapy way back in the seventh grade, found a three page little trifold brochure on it and fell in love with the idea of helping people to function to their best possible capacity. Fast forward 30 years, and I find myself now helping children and adults with autism (and even those without autism who struggle with other diagnoses) to be the best version of themselves by helping them function.
 
Dr. Rich Smith:
That's amazing, and, all this while raising a family. And you are a proud Euclidean (from Euclid, Ohio), right?
 
Dr. Wojtila: 
Yes, a proud Euclidean, proud mom and proud wife. And I think part of that experience of being a mother and parenting, along with my amazing husband, John, who is an amazing co-parent and co-partner in that process. John has helped me see what some people would call normal development, and I always have a hard time with the word normal, because I always say “whatever that is.” 
 
I'm much more comfortable with the word typical, but in raising four very neuro-typical children, three boys and one girl, I was able to see how firsthand development evolves. It's evolutionary. It evolves, and therefore, it's kind of linear, and yet it's not an exact science. 
 
When I started as an occupational therapist, learning how people with special needs, sort of deviate if you will, or spur outside of that kind of linear streamline, it comforted me that I had a target to bring them to. And so by giving them a solid foundation, giving them more skills, they aligned with that path that we might consider normalcy or typical development, quite easier than I think most people give the process credit for. And so that's where the therapies that we do help to align people, relatively quickly, depending on the approach you use, with that normal trajectory; and that is very helpful to families to moms and dads who are worried, or feeling almost despair or hopelessness that their child may never evolve to a certain outcome that they, or society, might have in mind for that child.
  
Dr. Rich Smith:
That is all great stuff. It's just amazing to see the journey that you come from, and how that all started for you, and how it's become a passion for you in the way that you work with others. That's just awesome. Thanks for sharing that today.
 
Dr. Lynette Scotese-Wojtila:
So, Rich, what brings you to our podcast today and into this process of helping people to understand The S.U.C.C.E.S.S. Approach ?
 
 Dr. Rich Smith:
 Thank you for asking that too. I come from a background of loving people -- and my earliest memories of working with people -- that passion for watching learning happen -- I like to go back to the second grade, and I remember Sister Phyllis Anne, who is over at the Shrine in Euclid. She asked me if I would help one of the students with math. They were learning how to add and he was really having a struggle memorizing his math facts; and so I created this little puzzle for him of a big mouth with a big box with a mouth on it. We were putting cookies of math facts into the puzzle box. That's my earliest memory of education and just being someone who really loves to watch people learn. And so carrying that with me throughout, I always thought I'd either be a priest, or I'd be a teacher. I had one of my favorite priests, Father Richard Rash, who is now in Florida, who said, “Why not both?” 
 
 So for a long time I considered what that might look like for me in my path, but eventually in college, I settled on education/teaching because I really wanted to focus in on that idea of learning, but it was a long route to get to formal education, where I'm at now. I decided to start out in professional development. I did that for a good number of years, both in the private, and in the government sectors for Cuyahoga County for about 10 years before I decided to move into a formal classroom, I started teaching PSR at our parish and really thought that back in the classroom is where I should be. 
 
 And so I wound up getting a job there at the parish school and taught seventh and eighth grade, and actually, that's where our paths crossed, as well. Well, actually before that, right, because we met when Madison, who is my oldest daughter, was diagnosed – well, she showed signs of autism, right. We were having trouble getting her diagnosed because they considered her at the time, high functioning, (she couldn’t possibly have it because she's making these grades), but we saw a need for her that needed to be filled with regards to her sensory needs. 
 
 And that's where we crossed paths. Thankfully, because her preschool teacher referred us to you, we started to get to know each other. I started teaching in the school and had your wonderful Maria as a student. 

Then of course, you know, we met when I came to you with this capstone project for this amazing approach and to try and get that online, so I come from an educational perspective. And that's how I kind of look at the lens of life is -- how are people learning? And how can we better equip them for pulling the data around them to make sense of it? And that's what I think I loved the most about working with you and your wonderful staff at ITC. Just watching people learn and make sense of the world around them. It's not about them taking on the world and trying to make sense of it, it's about the world meeting their needs, and how to, you know how to navigate it. How can we take what's happening in the world and make it make sense for them so that they can use it to the best of their advantage?
 
 Dr. Lynette Scotese-Wojtila:
 We often say in The S.U.C.C.E.S.S. Approach that it is all about sense making. So I'm not surprised to hear you come away with that as you're reflecting on your experience with your own family and autism.
 
 Reflecting on your capstone… We'll talk a lot about that, Dr. Smith, and how you chose to look at The S.U.C.C.E.S.S. Approach and do some amazing things to help it become accessible using technology, being the educator that you are. And knowing that, whether you are teaching your own students in your job every day, or raising your family -- it's all about sense making. That's what I hope people will come to understand. When it comes to autism, people need to understand that the way sense making happens is different for them than it might be for others without autism.
 
 Dr. Rich Smith:
 Right, and then this whole cookie cutter approach to anything in life really just doesn't make a whole lot of sense for anyone, I mean we all come from different walks of life, and I think that's the one thing that we both share mutually is we have that understanding of it doesn't make sense for everyone the same way. You know, and we're in a world now where it's kind of, everyone wants to be the same way and it just, they're just missing the boat a little bit on the possibilities of including so many other people in decision making, that can be affected. So what do you like to do for fun?
 
 Dr. Lynette Scotese-Wojtila:
 What do I like to do for fun? I like to cook. I am 100% Italian through and through. I like to cook and I like to watch people eat what I cook! I'm probably most known for soup. My office staff that I often surprise with a large pot of soup occasionally. Some of my own family members refer to me as kind of a soup Nazi. And that's, that's how I show people I love them. I feed them, you know, that's how it works; and that's how I feel about the families I serve there. Many of them, I think, feel, are maybe a bit undernourished, a little hungry for knowledge, a little hungry for hope, a little hungry for fuel, they're tired, the families that we serve and, and with good reason. You know they're vigilant. They are worried. They're tired, they're tired just because they're moms, let alone moms of kids with special needs. So, my goal is to kind of feed them the knowledge soup, and the love and support soup, if you will, to kind of warm them and nourish them so they can get up every day and face the day with hope that they may not have had when they went to bed the night before.
 
 Dr. Rich Smith:
 Oh, that's awesome. No, I myself being a sociologist way back, you know, looking at the life of people and just loving and embracing that, I love music. Everything about music -- playing music for others to enjoy as I've been a DJ for over 20 years which is so impossible to hear me say that! But I just like people, I like to watch people celebrate life and there's no better way to do that than through music, and we share a love of the arts too. We've been on productions, you know that we've helped put together and just have fun and laugh, laughing to me is the best medicine ever.
 
 Lynette Scotese-Wojtila:
 Yeah, and so I always say about theater and art that when you personify, you know, a character it's always fun to be somebody else for a while. I know Lynette. And you know Rich, but when Rich and Lynette are somebody else for a while, interesting things happen!
 
 Dr. Rich Smith:
 Well thanks for sharing with some of our guests today. We're going to go ahead and get moving to our message for today. As we head into the meat and potatoes of what we're here for today. What I'm going to ask you is what is The S.U.C.C.E.S.S. Approach?
 
 Dr. Lynette Scotese-Wojtila:
 The S.U.C.C.E.S.S. Approach is an education and treatment model designed specifically for people with autism. And when we say education and treatment model, we sometimes just combine those ideas and call it an intervention model. So, The S.U.C.C.E.S.S. Approach is an intervention model designed for people with autism that looks at their care through the eyes of seven different theories. And these seven different theories come from either occupational therapy, speech therapy, psychology, or special ed. So when we think about that transdisciplinary team of OT, Speech, Special Ed, Psychology, and add a parent there for a nice well rounded team. We really see that transdisciplinary spirit, representing all those different disciplines, comes to fruition for the child. And as a result their care is very holistic.
 
 Dr. Rich Smith:
 That's like the best way to describe it is holistic, you know, really looking at the best pieces of all to evaluate and bringing in all that, that team atmosphere to it for the parent that's a pretty amazing approach. So that's where this concept of The S.U.C.C.E.S.S. Approach came from? How did you develop it over time?
 
 Dr. Lynette Scotese-Wojtila:
 Well what's interesting is when we opened in 1995, as we just celebrated our 25th year, we were an outpatient model, Rich, which means that parents would bring their kids for maybe an hour of OT or an hour speech or a half hour of tutoring, that sort of thing. And the idea that “more was better” came from a summer camp that we started originally. And parents said, “Please have our kids for summer. We really need to have the continuity of this of programming. These kids can't be off without school.” So we said, “Okay, why don't we do an eight week summer camp?”  which made them very happy because it's a nice long stint, and we would do five hours a day.
 
 And parents were saying that their kids got better in an eight week summer program than they may have progressed over the course of three years in their current program, and we were kind of shocked by that I mean we were outpatient focused, so we didn't really think too much about more intensive care, but because it was summer we took advantage of access to the child. And we started paying attention to parents, because so many were saying, “This is amazing. Can you please go teach whatever you're doing to the people who have them all year round and to me? Because we want more for our kids and this clearly is working.”
 
 So the idea of a, of a treatment model, intervention model, that is full day for those who can use it that way, came because of experience. We didn't see it coming. We thought it was just going to be a great way to occupy the kids; and it makes sense that more is better as long as it's done well, because more of the wrong thing isn't always he's so good.
 
 Dr. Rich Smith:
 Absolutely.
 
 Dr. Lynette Scotese-Wojtila:
 And so we started saying, “Well, maybe we need to provide fuller day programming.” And that's where the treatment model -- the day treatment model -- which is a service delivery model where kids can come like a school, all day long, based on their age really came to be.
 
 Dr. Rich Smith:
 And it's nice because those activities really help to bring the best of all of those models together because it's not in your face, but it can be sprinkled in throughout the activities that does keep them busy. I love that whole learning by doing concept really of what The S.U.C.C.E.S.S. Approach brings because it's not an in-your-face-intense feeling of treatment, it's more of a, this is how to learn with what you're doing and this can be fun.
 
 Dr. Lynette Scotese-Wojtila:
 It can be, and that sprinkling that you talk about is another word for cross training and role releasing. So, if we have multiple people involved with a child -- an OT [occupational therapist] speech therapist, psychologist, for instance, a special education teacher. Those people are trained very well in their disciplines and have a lot of knowledge about that discipline, but they also have knowledge about the child. But all the information about the child is helpful.
 
 So, I would want to suggest the ideas of cross training and role releasing so that the actual staff members give other staff members, their fellow staff members, tips of the trade or techniques or methods, cross train those individuals, so that the child gets what they need, no matter who they're with. And they're not the same thing as expecting them to do the therapy or to become the therapist so a special education teacher would never be expected to be an occupational therapist, and an OT would never be expected to be a psychologist, for instance; but some of the methods, and some of the approaches that we use can be cross trained and roll released.
 
 And a good example of that might be that if I am working with a child on a swing, on a nice big platform swing, as we often do in occupational therapy, and I'm moving that child and giving them some balance stimulation, or what we might call vestibular stimulation, why wouldn't I work on language at the same time? Because a child is motivated, the child is excited, and in fact that child is alerted, which as an OT is why I'm using the swing, to get them alerted and engaged. So if I have the potential to stop that swing and help the child work on the word “more” or “go” or answer “yes” when I say, “Would you like more?” Why wouldn't I? But I wouldn't do it blindly. I'd have the speech therapist tell me exactly what sound, or exactly what word they're working on, so I can maximize the child's potential to say those words that are developmentally being targeted by the speech therapist, while I'm in OT, and vice versa. While that speech therapist is working with a child on those words, or sounds, or nouns, or verbs, or whatever it is, it might be beneficial and help that little child's nervous system if the speech therapist does it on a therapy ball, so that we have that movement, engaging the child's attention systems, or I should say arousal systems. So that's a good example of how transdisciplinary cross training happens, but if I never have access to that speech therapist as an OT, and the OT doesn't have access to the speech therapists, or vice versa. we're not going to have those skill sets, so that's really when cross training and roll releasing is helpful and that's the sprinkling of everybody doing things the same way that you're talking about. 
 
Dr. Rich Smith:
Absolutely. So, what would you say the overall goal of the The S.U.C.C.E.S.S. Approach is?
 
Dr. Lynette Scotese-Wojtila:
I would say it is to change the brain. The goal of The S.U.C.C.E.S.S. Approach is to change the brain, but not just for the sake of changing the brain. The goal of The S.U.C.C.E.S.S. Approach is to change the brain, because the brain controls everything. It controls learning, it controls behavior, it controls thinking and functioning. So by changing it for the better, in other words, making it process better, making it do its job better, it optimizes the person with autism’s ability to function fully, holistically, and have a very enriched and high quality outcome.
 
Dr. Rich Smith:
Right to unlock their potential.

Dr. Lynette Scotese-Wojtila:
Right, to unlock their potential.
 
 Dr. Rich Smith:
I really believe that strongly, just having seen it in action. Just really to show them the growth potential, that that individual has. It's just amazing to watch it in action.
 
Dr. Lynette Scotese-Wojtila:
And the beautiful thing about that is that when we unlock it, it oftentimes is very natural and normal, that word again, a natural and normal capacity to progress through the developmental stages. In other words, they progress naturally and normally when supported. Well, to progress naturally and normally, we don't need… we don't give these things to them and have them do something unusual in human development. We see that they're developing just like other kids do, which I think is important for families to know is possible, and is doable.
 
 Dr. Rich Smith:
 And offer some hope. It really does offer a glimmer of hope. It's an amazing feeling. Lynette, that sprinkling that I referred to, as that working together in that transdisciplinary team seems kind of easy. Can it be for everyone? Can everyone do it?
 
 Dr. Lynette Scotese-Wojtila:
 Well, I guess it does kind of sound easy. I'm helping the speech therapist work on sound; she's helping me work on balance and arousal. I would say that it's easy if the people who are doing it can think very, very intentionally. So sometimes that's a problem. So, I would say that The S.U.C.C.E.S.S. Approach itself is designed for every child, every adult with autism, hands down, but it is not for every professional, or every parent, necessarily. If, if they struggle with intentionality, if it's difficult for them to want to understand, and want to glean answers or insight. They may not be the kind of person that's going to use it well, so it may not be the best approach or model for them, but it is definitely the best model for children that I have experienced in 33 years. When it comes to understanding and assessing their ability to learn and progress, and then designing the methods that promote that.
 
 Dr. Rich Smith:
 So it takes a lot of time and patience. On behalf of the team.
 
 Dr. Lynette Scotese-Wojtila:
 It does, it does, and so that sometimes makes us question where we use it. It's very, very potent, but if we're in a facility where the time and the collaboration, and that sprinkling of cross training and roll ,releasing isn't well supported, then it's, it sets it up to fail like any other model.
 
 Dr. Rich Smith:
 We've talked a little bit about this team aspect and how to unlock potential. Who do you see as the main players the main stakeholders in The S.U.C.C.E.S.S. Approach?
 
 Dr. Lynette Scotese-Wojtila:
 Well the child. Always the child. Starting with that child-centered approach. Children, adults, have their own ideas about how they want to be, what they need when they need it. Under what conditions they feel comfortable and functional and supportive. And so we take our lead from the adult, or from the child that we're working with. And from there we discern who should be part of the team to best support what this person needs. It might be occupational therapy, it often is. It might be speech therapy, it often is. It might be psychology, it might be behavioral optometry. It might be neurology, but it always is the family. So the child and family together are this beautiful combination of where energies go. Who we are focusing on as this transdisciplinary team.

Dr. Rich Smith:
That's amazing. So how does, in your purview, The S.U.C.C.E.S.S. Approach differ from other approaches that you've been a part of.

Dr. Lynette Scotese-Wojtila:
Well I think one of the words we haven't used yet is an important word called neuro developmental model. So neuro development is the key word there, and that is really, Rich, what sets us apart. I think it's we have this transdisciplinary way of using a neuro developmental model, and all that really means is we're going to approach that child's development in the normal skill acquisition kind of order that the brain naturally wants to evolve to support. So, we would never expect any child to run, or to run in a marathon, before they can walk, and we wouldn't expect that same child to walk before they could stamp. So the normal developmental progression is driven by the brain. We've already said that the brain drives everything. And so if we can get that development, to be a little more on par with what we need the child to be able to experience to progress to the next level, for instance, then we can center our energies around that developmental stage, and help them to be functional by giving them all that different service -- the OT take on that, the speech therapists take on that, whoever's involved.

Dr. Rich Smith:
Very individual centered, you know, and I think I love that approach, it's about the individual. It's not something that's cookie cutter. It's something that's very individualized for each person's perspective.

Dr. Lynette Scotese-Wojtila:
Yeah, very individualized. That makes us a very unique. Because we're neuro developmental, it has to be individualized. Everybody's brain is a little different from the next person's, and yet there are some very common expectations or milestones, evolutionary wise, that we would expect a child to go through; so what sets us apart is how we approach that individual child comes from all these different perspectives of not just the different disciplines, but those seven theories I talked about: There are seven different theories that come from OT [occupational therapy], speech, special education and psychology, that together constitute The S.U.C.C.E.S.S. Approach, so your child might have two or three theories that are really salient in her care. But somebody else's child may have five that are really important in their care. And those are just the theoretical underpinnings, or the frameworks that we pull from. What we're bringing from that theory, or what we're bringing from those frameworks, are the methods -- the methods, the individual methods or tactics that come from that theory. And all those methods combined together make a very unique plan that we call “critical curriculum.” There's a name for the plan. In The S.U.C.C.E.S.S. Approach -- it's called a critical curriculum.

Dr. Rich Smith:
And that speaks to getting to the heart of the individual to reach their mind. Finding out the best of who they are and what they bring to reach the mind, to unlock potential. I love that critical curriculum idea.

Dr. Lynette Scotese-Wojtila:
We often say that “the critical curriculum, helps us to reach, and then teach the child.”

Dr. Rich Smith:
Reach and teach. And that's what it's about. It's not a sit-and-get style. I education we tend to move towards this sit-and-get approach to trying to teach. And really it's about the reach to teach.

Dr. Lynette Scotese-Wojtila:
Yeah and you know the sit and get approach that you might come out from an educator standpoint, Rich, in therapy boils down to: process versus product. And we're used to, in this country, in this point in life, in this part of the world of our of the human existence, and certainly of education, we are all about product. Produce this. Create this. Do this. Perform this. And assess this. And get a score for this. All these things that we're used to under the pressures of an educational model. But when you understand that the product is the outcome, by definition, a product is the outcome.

Dr. Rich Smith:
Right, right, straight out of math!

Dr. Lynette Scotese-Wojtila:
We have to understand the process that produces the product, and that's where we live in The S.U.C.C.E.S.S. Approach.  That's where moms and dads find so much relief to understand that, “Oh, my child's not broken, the processing needs help.” That's what it is. Let's treat the processing problem, fill the holes, maybe we were saying the child's foundation, so they can process better. And then their product naturally follows.

Dr. Lynette Scotese-Wojtila:
Our challenge for you today is to think about who is on your team. Who are those people who are those transdisciplinary team members that constitute the team of the person that you're advocating for -- child, adult yourself -- who is the team? And are they using some of those transdisciplinary principles where they're cross training each other, role releasing to each other for the sole sake of having great continuity for the person they're serving. So, identify those team members, and how they're working together. That's good homework for the week.

Dr. Rich Smith:
That’s going to wrap up our first episode of Connect with Success. Lynette, what are some parting words or takeaways?

Dr. Lynette Scotese-Wojtila:
Transdisciplinary care, and working as a true integrated team, is always best for those that we serve.

Another takeaway is neuro developmental care -- the care that is driven by understanding, how skill acquisition or development is driven neurologically by the brain – is key to best serving children and adults with autism.

And I want people to understand that there is so much to be hopeful for when it comes to helping children with special needs, and especially autism. There's so much to be hopeful for; we know so much now, and how to unleash their true authentic potential better than ever before.

Dr. Rich Smith:
Reminds me of the adage of it takes a village, right, or if you want to win a championship, you have to work on developing your team. And so in both of those instances, it takes people for us to realize that it's “we're in it together, that we're better together.” When it comes to helping to develop a child or develop somebody that has that difference in the way that they learn.

Dr. Lynette Scotese-Wojtila:
We hope that you learned something today to help you on your journey with autism. We'll share more on our next Connect with Success podcast. Until then, expect success!

The S.U.C.C.E.S.S. Approach is a registered service mark protected under intellectual property law. Unless otherwise specified, all music audio visual and proprietary content shared in this podcast is property of autism Productions, LLC, and its sister agency Integrations Treatment Center (Wickliffe, Ohio) use of this content is unlawful without the express written consent of afore mentioned agency.

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