Navigating Puberty and Relationships with Safety and Respect

We really don't wanna wait until it's too late or in an unsafe situation.

Puberty and relationships are a regular and normal part of human development, yet we seem to shy away from these conversations.

And instead of talking about them when they're happening, we should be talking about them younger.

So even when kids are three, four, five years old, let's start having these conversation.

Um, you know, a lot of autistic individuals receive really limited education in this area.

You know, I was just at a recent talk by Peter Gerhardt.

I love him, by the way.

Um, but he was talking about how kids are pulled out from classes because, you know, of attending or what have you, and, you know, lots of kids with autism are pulled out of spec ed class- or not spec ed classes, but they're pulled out of the classes where, um, the puberty instruction happens, or maybe they don't understand the puberty instruction and it's not broken down for them in a way that they can understand.

And we seem to avoid these conversations and avoid teaching them, um, in a way that they can understand.

Um, but the problem with that is that it really does increase their vulnerability and it increases their confusion.

You know, I worked with a, like many students and, you know, one student in particular I remember, you know, he was really confused when his body started growing and changing, and then he thought there was something wrong with him.

And that's when we're like, "Oh, right, we, we need to have these conversations." And that's when I was a younger BCBA, and now it's like that reminds me on a regular basis that, no, no, we need to start these conversations earlier and earlier.

So we need to make sure that as BCBAs, we have to be a part of supporting these skills.