Welcome to the Expanding Worlds Podcast
Recent episodes
213 Tales Of The Unexpected Paths with Ben Simmonds
In this episode, Debra Caldow’s guest is Ben Simmonds, who shares his experiences from being diagnosed with autism, being nonverbal until the age of five, moving through school and university, and then to employment. He discusses how autism impacts his life in...
Our Focus
Young people with additional needs should have the opportunity to live independently in a way right for them. The podcast is about sharing stories and sharing solutions that enable parents and carers to support them on this path to greater independence.
Independence for most people consists of three things:
1) Having a Purpose for the day – usually paid employment, but possibly a place to go to make a contribution to the world.
2) Having the Daily Living skills for independence – being able to look after ourselves, cooking, shopping.
3) Having Relationships with family, friends and maybe even a partner one day.
There is also an additional consideration that serves as the foundation of all these – Financial. Like it or not money often dictates how we live our lives, and we need to confront the issue of how our children will survive financially when we are gone.
For more information visit redgiraffesolutions.com
All Episodes
209 A Model Approach To Building Independence with Debra Caldow
In this episode, host Debra Caldow explores the impact we can have as role models for our children with additional needs. She talks about the importance of consistent behavior modeling and why it is so effective in teaching a variety of skills. Debra also shares some...
208 Shifting The Focus From Difference to Uniqueness with Alison Thomas from Unique & Loved
In this episode, Debra Caldow continues her conversation with Alison Thomas from Unique & Loved talking about uniqueness. Alison discusses the pressure to conform and the societal tendency to highlight differences rather than uniqueness. She talks about some...
207 Embracing Our Uniqueness with Alison Thomas from Unique & Loved
In this episode, Debra Caldow’s guest is Alison Thomas from Unique & Loved, who shares her journey as a parent. She discusses the challenges of feeling isolated and the societal fears surrounding children with additional needs and why embracing uniqueness has...
