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Aug 3, 2026
The Middle School Transition Every Parent Should Prepare For
The Middle School Transition Every Parent Should Prepare For
00:00
1:39:41
Transcript
0:00
Welcome to the Wilco Texas Insider Podcast where we bring you the conversations shaping Williamson County.
0:07
From local leaders and elected officials to business owners, educators, developers, historians, and community change-makers, we go beyond the headlines to explore the people, projects, and ideas driving one of the fastest growing regions in Texas.
0:24
Whether you're a lifelong resident or new to the area, this is your inside look at the stories that matter most. I'm Josh Rusz, and this is the Wilco Texas Insider Podcast.
0:36
[upbeat music] There's something special about the Williamson County Fair and Rodeo.
0:41
It's where neighbors become friends, traditions are passed down, and our community comes together to celebrate the best of Williamson County.
0:50
From exciting rodeo action to live entertainment to agriculture, local exhibitors, and family fun, there's something for everyone.
0:58
As a proud official media partner of the Williamson County Fair and Rodeo, Wilco Texas Insider is bringing you exclusive stories, behind-the-scenes access, and everything you need to know leading up to the fair week.
1:13
Join us this fall at the Williamson County Fair and Rodeo, and we'll see you at the fair. Wilco Texas Insider, proud official media partner of the Williamson County Fair and Rodeo. [upbeat music] Today's guest is Dr.
1:30
Monica Diaz, a licensed psychologist with Perkins Psych Care who has dedicated her career to helping children, families, and individuals navigate some of life's most challenging moments, whether it's supporting students through major school transitions, helping families process grief after a life-changing diagnosis, or separating facts from fiction.
1:53
In today's world of online health information, Dr. Diaz brings practical evidence-based guidance that people can apply in their everyday lives.
2:03
In this conversation, we'll explore mental health, resilience, parenting, education, and why trusted relationships and reliable information matter more than ever. Dr. Diaz, welcome to Wilco Texas Insider Podcast. Hello.
2:19
Um, so basically, Dr. Monica Diaz, she holds a PhD in clinical psychology, a master's and bachelor's in psychology, and a provisional license in psychology through the Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council.
2:35
She practices under the clinical supervision of Dr. George Chavez, uh, who is actively welcoming interns and post-doctoral candidates seeking a supervision site.
2:49
Uh, you can contact him at perkinspsychcare.com to connect with him. Dr. Diaz grew up in Atoka, Tennessee. Uh, she was the daughter of a father who struggled with active substance use.
3:04
She was held back in second grade and graduated high school at the age of 19.
3:10
Uh, she stated research shows the clinicians with lived experience of adversity demonstrate higher empathy and stronger therapeutic outcomes across a diverse population.
3:21
Uh, this foundation is the heartbeat of Perkins Psych Care, a clinic built for everyone regardless of background, income, or circumstances age two to 102. There's no judgment, no hierarchy of struggle.
3:39
Uh, she is a wife of 11 years. She's a mother of three, and they are, have inspired her to keep going along the way.
3:47
By the end of the year, she will be entering a post-doctoral master's degree program in psychopharmacology, working towards becoming a prescribing psychologist. Yes.
4:00
So that sounds like you got a lot of [laughs] things on your plate to- Yes... to, to do this year. Yeah, yeah. For sure.
4:06
And to set the record straight, Texas does not have prescribing psychologists right now, but it would be for other states that are. Hopefully Texas eventually comes around, so we'll see. [laughs] All right.
4:16
Well, let's, let's kinda start at the very get-go. Let's, let's talk about your story, what kinda led you up to this. Uh, you said you're from Atoka, Tennessee. Mm-hmm. Uh, so- Yeah... let's go into that Yeah.
4:30
So I was born in Killeen, Texas. Okay. Um, and then one summer, probably around, I think it was third or fourth grade, uh, we went to go live with my dad who lives outside of Memphis, Tennessee, which is Atoka.
4:44
It's a little country town where a lotta people know everybody. They grew up there, you know, lots of people, um, generations, they just build and build off those little areas that I came from.
4:56
But I left the day after I graduated with my maternal grandparents to come back and do college here- Mm-hmm... at Central Texas College right afterwards, so. Okay. Yeah. So I will say Tennessee raised me.
5:08
[laughs] Texas, m- I was Texas born, Tennessee raised- There you-... and then came back. Yeah. [laughs] There you go. [laughs] There you go. Yeah. All right. So what kinda got you into, you know, psychology? Yeah.
5:19
So initially when I was growing up, I was very big on computers. I don't know if you remember at that time in the '90s- Oh, yeah... like, all of us were on our AOL. [laughs] Yeah, AOL Dial- Yeah...
5:30
I remember the game Chisholm Trail. I think that was it. Yeah, yeah. Or Duke Nukem. Yeah. Like, you know, like- Yeah, yeah. Yeah There's a lotta stuff. I mean- Yeah... uh, Sega Genesis. Mm, mm, mm.
5:39
I, I, I'm not too much of a gamer nowadays, but I do remember- [laughs] Me either. I... Final Fantasy was my thing. Okay. All right. Final Fantasy VII and VIII were my thing. But, um, I wanted to do tech, like IT. Okay.
5:50
Um, and I was gonna go to Southwest Tech College in Tennessee right after I graduated, but then I took a psychology class- Oh...
5:57
in high school, and I was like, "Oh my God, this is really interesting," and I started pursuing that. So when I went to CTC I was getting my, uh, general studies- Mm-hmm...
6:06
with a focus in psychology And that's kind of like where I went, you know? Yeah. With this. Yeah. Yeah. So that kinda got you into this field.
6:14
And then, um, tell me a little bit about like, like where was your starting point, like working with kids, working with adults? Yeah. So I, uh, the first job I ever had was at Crystals in Millington, Tennessee. Okay.
6:29
If you're unfufil- if you're unfamiliar with it, it's like a White Castle. Right.
6:33
Um, so I started there, graduated, and then my big girl, my first big girl job was, um, as an adult was working with, uh, at-risk youth- Okay...
6:43
in an RTC, which is a residential treatment center for long-term and short-term, um, needs for kids, teenagers, and, uh, some geriatric. Yeah. Um, so I started there, really loved it, you know, gave my whole heart to it.
6:58
At that time, I was under the age of 21 and there was like something that changed with the law where you had to be 21 to work with kids in Texas. Okay.
7:07
Or it's, I don't remember, it was years ago, something like that, and so they had to let anyone go who was under the age of 21. Um, which, you know, broke my heart.
7:16
And then after that, um, we moved, I moved on to the prison. [laughs] Oh, okay. Yeah. Okay. And, uh, I started in the prison 2009, February.
7:30
Uh, my first unit was Connolly, which was a maximum security prison for men out there in between Corpus and San Antonio. Then I transferred over here to Hughes, Gatesville. Um, it was a wonderful unit, wonderful staff.
7:43
All, uh, anything you could ask for if you showed up to work, right? Yeah. Uh, climbed through the ranks, became a lieutenant. At some point in my life, I was like, "Do I really see myself doing this until I'm 60?"
7:53
[laughs] You know, fighting grown men and- Yeah, yeah... just the force and dealing with all the- Oh... drama and chaos that comes with working in a prison. And I was like, "No."
8:02
Um, so I left and I lived off my retirement for a little bit while I was, um, you know, pursuing my academic dream.
8:08
Got my bachelor's, then jumped into my master's, jumped into my PhD and I just finished PhD in November 2025. Really? Yeah. So you kinda got started in it like not even going to school. You just kinda jumped into it.
8:22
Yeah. Uh, your story's a little bit different from mine. I was, I, I got into this game with the schools. Mm-hmm. So I graduated, I always wanted to become a coach and a teacher and- Yeah...
8:33
I didn't really know where I wanted to teach at. Mm-hmm. I just wanted to become a coach and- Yeah... they stuck me in, um, uh, my first job was working with students with severe behavior issues. Mm-hmm.
8:45
So, um, you know, I think their mentality was, "Well, you're a dude." [laughs] "We're just gonna stick you over there, see how things work out." Yeah. It was hard. Yeah. I mean, it was, it was a struggle.
8:53
I mean- Those kids are tough. Yeah. They are tough. Yeah, yeah. They are tough. Life has- Yeah... toughened them up, unfortunately. Yeah. So.
9:00
So I mean, the thing is like when you talk about residential treatment facilities, that was one of the things that we always worked on, like that was the last resort. Mm-hmm.
9:09
Like in schools it was something that you had to, you had to document how many behavior intervention plans you were doing. Did you go back and retweet the behavior intervention plan? Yeah.
9:18
And it was, it, it just seemed like this never ending lead up to the residential treatment facility. Yeah. And like I always thought like whenever we had those hard meetings with the parents, they were pretty tough.
9:31
I mean- Yeah... they were, they were intense situations and, you know, I always looked at a residential treatment facility as it's not punishment, it was the intervention that was needed. Yeah.
9:42
And can you talk to us a little bit about, um, you know, how those facilities run?
9:48
Like for parents that, you know, uh, maybe they're hearing something in the schools that, "Hey, look, we're starting to look at that residential treatment facility area." Well, there was just- Mm...
9:58
recently, remember the, uh, uh, just a couple days, maybe a week there wa- I forgot what state it was, but there were girls who ran away from there. Oh, okay. Okay. From some type of residential- Really?...
10:07
treatment center that I saw when I was scrolling TikTok. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I think a lot of times what parents should understand is it is hard for the parent to even put their child- Yeah...
10:20
you know, in some, some type of facility like that, right? There's guilt, there's shame, there's like this pressure of like, "Am I a good parent if I'm doing this? Where have I failed?" Yeah. Right?
10:29
But these, these are not things that a lot of parents could prevent, or if they get to a point where it's so exasperated that like people are in danger in their home- Yeah... right?
10:40
They have to think of it from the aspect of are, if they're doing it for their child, then it's selfless, right? Yeah. If, if their child needs the help, that's where it is.
10:50
Now on the flip side of that, I understand kind of like the institutional feeling that children get when they're first placed in there. Yeah. It's different. It's new. There's lots of new structure.
11:00
Maybe they didn't have the same structure at home. They don't know these people, so they come and they just are, you know, feeling lonely probably- Yeah... in the first part of that, you know, being there.
11:11
Um, I know when I worked for the RTC, um, there was a mix of insurance kids and a mix of some kids that were wards of the state.
11:19
Um, and so it was very difficult for a lot of those kids to just get dropped off and then see their parents leave.
11:25
Even, even the kids with the worst behavior you can think of, they still have this notion of like, uh, safety is with their parents. Yeah. You know? Yeah. No, and it's hard.
11:35
I mean, I, when I was in, in it, it was before I had kids and, and like n- now the thought of like dropping my kid off at, I, it's hard for me to drop my kid off at daycare. Yeah. I feel bad. Yeah. You know?
11:47
It's just like, man, like- Yeah... that's my little buddy, you know? [laughs] Mm-hmm. Um, so it, it's definitely now looking from the, the parenting lens of the- Yeah... the situation, um, it's, it's very hard- Yeah...
12:00
to, to go that direction and, and I understand, you know, why parents are so not really for it at first. Yeah. And it's just, you know, you're sending your kid- Out there and- Yeah...
12:13
you, you just, I mean, that's your kid. Yeah. [laughs] You know? 100%. So.
12:16
Um, uh, there's a lot of, I think, lack of just like understanding what tools and resources are out there for kiddos who, you know, have these behavioral issues. Yeah.
12:25
A lot of these kids that go to RTCs, they have trauma, right? Yeah, yeah. Um, there's trauma, there's some type of abuse that occurred or neglect or abandonment, right?
12:33
There's something in these kids during their developmental years, um, that is impacting them being rational and understanding, you know, societal norms and peer relationships and parental relations.
12:45
So there is something that- Yeah... is, you know, happening, whatever it may be. Um, when parents look at different resources, therapy is really a great option- Yeah... if kiddos go through trauma.
12:58
I know a lot of people are like, "Oh, therapy, you just go, you talk to somebody like your best friend." You should not be going to therapy talking to someone like your best friend. Yeah, you shouldn't.
13:05
You should be going to therapy- [laughs]... expecting- Tell, tell me all the things I wanna hear about myself... Yeah. You know- [laughs] You know?... um, it's like when you go to therapy, it is an intervention. Yeah.
13:15
And that's the way a, a lot of us in the field look at it, right?
13:18
It's, it's in the same aspect, like a good example, if you sprain your ankle or break your foot or something, right, and you need to regain your ability to walk again or whatever it may be, you go to physical therapy.
13:29
Yeah. You meet with the physical therapist. You make a plan. You follow the plan outside of therapy, inside therapy, all of that, right? Yeah.
13:37
So when you show up for therapy for your kiddos who have trauma or whatever else may be going on, um, it, it's important to look for a therapist who is focused on improvement- Yeah... not just talking. Yeah.
13:52
Um, talking is good. Setting the safe place is good. This is what we do in our therapy program, is we start off maybe the first month or two just building safety with each other, building rapport.
14:03
Um, I don't wanna get into things that are too heavy for someone, and they're not ready, so we just build that rapport. Yeah. So about after the two-month mark, we start doing the intervention work.
14:12
We start doing the hands-on stuff, or if they tell me they're ready sooner, we do. Um, so the program that we have for therapy is about nine months, uh, give or take. It just depends on the person, right? Yeah.
14:22
But you should not be in therapy for four years. Yeah. You know? Yeah, yeah. And, uh, like I understand, like sometimes with therapy, it's like,
14:30
you know, it's like y- especially when you're dropping your kid off with a, a person that's gonna do the therapy- Yeah... they, they still gotta get to know the kid. Yeah. You know?
14:38
Um, I remember reading this book, I wanna say it was, uh, you, you might've heard of it, something about, uh, maybe the boy who was raised by wolves or something. Oh.
14:50
Um- I don't think I've read it, but I think I un- I think I've heard something around it before.
14:54
Yeah, and, and I know the therapist in there, one of the very first interventions w- what he did was sit, sit down and just color- Yeah... with the kid. Yeah. Just to build a relationship. Mm-hmm.
15:04
So it's, it's not one of those things that, you know, "Oh, I'm gonna just drop my kid off, and they're gonna get fixed like right then and there," you know? No. [laughs] Even, hey, adults think the same thing.
15:13
Yeah, yeah. Like. [laughs] Yeah, yeah. No, I, it, I tell adults just like I tell my kiddos, "Hey, this is, this is a progress. This is a marathon- Yeah... not a race." Yeah.
15:21
Like, it is not gonna happen for you overnight, and even if you do go into remission, there are still gonna be things that will trigger you back. Yeah. But by that time, you should have the skills, right? Yeah.
15:30
Same thing, you sprain your ankle, it starts raining. The symptom comes up. Yeah. What do you do? You take a Tylenol. That's the same thing that therapy teaches you. Yeah.
15:38
I mean, I, I, I honestly think, like, you know, one of my biggest things is, like, I feel like, I don't wanna say I'm going in, this is probably gonna give my age away- [laughs]...
15:47
but you know it is what it is, uh- We're probably the same age. [laughs] Don't you worry about it. [laughs] I think I'm going in, like, 20 years of being in the education field. Yeah.
15:55
And, you know, like, when I had kids, I felt like, man, I was trained to deal with kids. [laughs] I wasn't. [laughs] No. [laughs] No. Uh, they sent us to a bunch of trainings- Mm, mm, mm...
16:06
that I thought I would get- Yeah... to be able to, to, you know, deal with my own kids. Yeah. And sometimes it's hard. It is.
16:12
I mean, especially when you're coming from, you know, like different types of families where it's a blended family. Yeah. Um, that's one of my toughest things, you know.
16:21
Um, me and my wife got married, and she had a kid in a previous marriage. Mm-hmm. And it's like trying to deal with that as well, you know.
16:28
It's like, um, just some of the things that come across, where, "You're not my dad. Blah, blah, blah." Yeah. And it's like, hmm- It's tough... I know it, girl. I know. It's tough. But. [laughs] Yeah.
16:39
You have to think from the perspective of the kiddo, too. Like, biologically, we are wired to love our parents no matter what they do. Yeah. Yeah. Right?
16:47
Even when we go no contact or, or things like that, biologically, we still have some type of love no matter what- Yeah... with, it's just the way that we're wired. Yeah.
16:55
So it's almost like for some kids, that they feel like they have to, like, not like you to be, you know, in defense of their parent. Yeah. Yeah. And, and, and it's complicated when it is blended, right? Yeah.
17:07
But what I tell some of the my step-parents that come in for therapy when they're kinda dealing with that is, make sure you're not setting expectations that you would set for your own children, because at the end of the day, whenever this, whenever you got the child, if you di- if you got, you know, blended after the child was a bit older, you're gonna handle it much different, right?
17:27
Like, the expectations and the things that have already been instilled in her are there. Yeah. Right?
17:31
And so you're not gonna demand more from her, because you're like, "Well, if this was my actual child, I would do this, that, and the other," right?
17:37
I think that's where stepkids or stepparents kinda get themselves flustered with it. It's not personal. Yeah. It really isn't.
17:44
It's just a child that's confused and trying to, you know, stand up for a parent that's no longer there. Yeah, yeah. No, I, I get it.
17:51
You know, sometimes I'm like, "I got all these tools in my tool belt," and then, you know- Yeah... "You're not my daddy." And I'm like, "Oh, man, I, I- Yeah... I don't, well, wh- where's that tool at?" [laughs] Yeah.
18:02
You know? [laughs] And I, usually if a parent said, I don't even know what to say to that one, but I would say- Yeah... "I know, I know that I'm not- Yeah...
18:08
you know, your biological dad, but I do want to be a good stepdad." Yeah. And just remind them that in that moment, like, "I know I'm not. I'm not trying to take Dad's place, but I would love to have a place." Yeah.
18:18
You know? Yeah. Just letting them know that. Yeah. So I know we got off on a tangent here- Yeah [laughs]... but, uh, let's kinda- Which, yeah... [laughs] bring it back... pretty sure we know.
18:27
[laughs] I, I, I was, I, I've been looking forward to this because, uh, previously, uh, you know, I, I spent, I wanna say, 13, 14 years as a behavior specialist in schools. Yeah.
18:37
So just kinda, you know, this, uh, even though I, I've transitioned out into, in, into a different part of the world in, in the school system, this still is, like, you know, my baby. Like- Yeah. [laughs]...
18:51
this is, this is the start for me in schools- Mm-hmm... and I kinda understand a lot of it.
18:55
Um, and it's just one of those things that, um, I did talk a lot on it, and I've been to trainings, and I've spoken conferences- Yeah... and things on that nature. So, um, anyway, so let's go back.
19:07
So what is Perkins Psych Care, uh, who does it serve, and w- you know, what kinda difference does it make? Yeah, yeah.
19:15
So for Perkins Psych Care, uh, we are creating our mission, vision, and values of being affordable l- at a very high, uh, almost, like, expectation.
19:28
Like, we're affordable, but we also present all of our work as exceptional. Yeah. So j- I know a lot of people, they go and they're like, "Oh, this is cheap. It must not be that great."
19:38
You know, like, "Don't go to a Groupon doctor," or something like that. [laughs] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's like, no, no, no, that is not it.
19:45
It's just the fact that we now have tools in our belt that we can use where it doesn't take me hours to spend on a report or to analyze the data, you know, things like that. So I make it affordable.
19:55
I make it easy access for everyone in the community. It doesn't matter where you are. We serve all of Texas. We can do telehealth if needed. Um, we, uh, service law enforcement.
20:06
We do law enforcement, uh, pre-employment, um, reinstatement, or retire/rehire evaluations. Uh, we do veteran, uh, disability evaluations. We do Social Security Administration evaluations.
20:20
And we do a lot of, um, IEP 504 program, uh, evaluations- Okay... for kids- Okay... in the school. Um, we do a lot. So TBI, um, any dementia or thing, things like that, we do a neuropsych.
20:34
We have a full neuropsych eval we can do for those things.
20:37
Um, we do therapy, um, but we also have a model that, um, is kinda different from a lot of what people do, is it's almost like, um, a replica of, like, when you go to your PCP. Yeah. Right?
20:49
You're like, "Hey, I got the flu. Um, I don't know what to do," right? And you go, you have your little 30-minute appointment. You pay your fee, and you move on, and they give you what you need, right?
20:57
That's kinda like what we do, but we do it with mental health symptoms. So, like, example, let's say you have a kiddo who's autistic, right? And sometimes they don't have really good days. Yeah.
21:07
Uh, but the school needs a note or your, your work needs a note, or you just need to, you just need to come in, y'all need to vent, we need to talk about it, I need to give you some tools, some skills.
21:17
You come in, 30 minutes I see you, you get a note, and then you get next steps, and you get intervention recommendations.
21:23
And if it's therapy or anything, we move you in, get you scheduled either that day or the next day.
21:29
Uh, right now we have open availability, or the way that we've kind of made our model is I can get people in as soon as they call. I can get you in the next day, you know? Gotcha. And, and work with you.
21:40
And, and our turnaround times for reports are about three to seven days, sometimes a little faster. It just depends on the caseload.
21:47
Um, so we are predominantly 90% testing, so if you're looking for psychological testing, evaluations for whatever it may be, personality, mood, um, uh, accommodation, disabilities, we do it. Um, we do therapy as well.
22:03
Uh, we're about 10% therapy. Um, so I see all therapy clients here, or Dr. Chavez will see at his, uh, office. He'll see his therapy, too, if, when we refer.
22:14
It just depends on, you know, if you have a preference for a male or a female. Yeah. You know? Um, we like to cater to our clients and everybody that comes in. So we also have donations. Uh, or not donations, I'm sorry.
22:26
We also have, like, food, beverages, because the populations we serve with our, with one of our major contracts, oftentimes we know that they may be homeless or without.
22:36
And, um, we have snacks and drinks and, and even formula and just to help out in between if we get a client that shows up and is like, "Hey, I'm in need. I don't have anything."
22:47
Another really great thing is we are now gonna collab with Bailba Psych- Psychiatry in Austin for medication management referrals and things like that, too. Oh, good.
22:57
So, like, when clients come and it's been, sometimes we see clients, uh, based on the contract that we have, who, who can't get in to get their medication for 30 days or, you know, they've been without.
23:07
And so now we have a referral pipeline for those clients where we can say, "Hey, we work closely with these people. They're ethical. They're, they're great," you know, and we can now refer- Yeah... over there to them.
23:18
Cool, cool. Man, that sounds- Yeah... sounds really great. Um, so let's slide on into our next subject, and I, I think this is a, a big one and definitely am ready to hear your take on it.
23:31
[laughs] The psychology gap in Texas. Yeah. Um, so the shortage of school psychologists and diagnosticians and what it means, uh, practically for families.
23:42
Um, so kinda looking into that, I know there is a shortage of psychologists in schools. Um, I, you know, I'm, being in schools, being around schools, ah, they're always hiring. Like, they can't even- Yeah...
23:55
it's, it's so hard to even get a school psychologist, and they always gotta contract out through, I think they go through one of the regions- Mm-hmm... the school regions, um, to get some of that in here. So, you know,
24:09
why do you think that is? Is it- Well, I'll tell you that nationally we are short psychologists, period. Right?
24:17
And I think when we, I think it's a great thing that everything that we're doing, we're transitioning with that we have a specialty for school psychologists and things like that.
24:25
It does take a long time to go through those programs. Yeah. Also, the internships are really hard to get for some people sometimes.
24:32
Um, there's just a lot of gaps because there's not a lot of people opening doors to help fill those gaps, right? Yeah. For, like, internships, post-docs, things of that nature. Um,
24:44
I think for a lot of the schools that, you know, need this, it's a great thing that they've done it.
24:49
It's a great thing that they've opened up this resource, 'cause I remember when I was going to school this was not available. Yeah.
24:54
You know, these, these types of programs were never available growing up for me, so I think it's wonderful that they now have them. Um, but it's getting them in, right? Yeah.
25:03
Hiring somebody, finding somebody who can come, you know, especially with the rural area schools. Yeah. Which we reach out to. Um, if, if any rural or any school is, like, without or backed up, like, reach out to us.
25:16
Yeah. I don't mind coming to the school and helping. You know, I think it's important for those kids to get their testing done as soon as possible so they can get their accommodations- Yeah... you know, in place.
25:27
'Cause the sooner the a- accommodations in place, the better trajectory of their success. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
25:33
And sometimes it, you know, that was one thing dealing with the school is, like, sometimes kids would come in and then there's no trail of paperwork or anything. Yeah.
25:41
And, you know, sometimes you're dealing with major behavior problems. Um, and it's just trying to get these kids tested. Yeah. Um, and testing takes a while, you know? It does.
25:51
It's, it's not something that, you know, they, they can sit and take- Mm... a standardized test and be like, "Well, you know, this is what it is." Yeah. I mean, there's a lot of observations that go into that. Yeah.
26:00
And then visits, like, into this classroom, uh, you know, if you need a behavior intervention plan. It's not like something, "Well, we're just gonna give them rewards." Yeah. It's like- Yeah...
26:09
you gotta find the function of the behavior and even then, you know, I think it's... The, what's interesting is
26:17
there's a lot, like I, I just went to a conference and I spoke at a conference in, um, South by Southwest in Austin, the education conference. Mm-hmm.
26:25
And, like, the things with autism, uh, the new, uh, I, I mean there's, there's so much different things coming out with autism. I don't even know how to keep up with all that stuff. Yeah.
26:35
Half the time I'm like I, I don't even, am I telling people the right stuff or has it all changed, you know? Well, I will tell you, autism is ongoingly being researched- Yeah...
26:44
for, um, you know, the cause and effect, right? Yeah. Uh, right now it's, it's pl- very preliminary in what we're learning. Yeah. And it is not Tylenol that is causing autism. [laughs] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
26:56
We can just clear that up. Yeah. Yeah. But, like, there are they, it mostly it we're f- we are finding that it is forming during, um, uh, development in the womb.
27:05
So it is something during the process of when the brain is being developed that there's something that is, you know, happening during that process that- Yeah...
27:14
is what we're, what research is kind of like leaning towards what- Yeah... could be the potential. And there's just so much stuff out there.
27:21
Like, I, I don't even, I mean, if you believe in one subject area of what it is, and it's like you get so much fl- you know, debate on another side of it. Yeah.
27:30
Um, I, I know there's a lot of things that I'm seeing is like, um, ABA therapy, man. ABA therapy, like you see action behavior and I, I don't endorse them. I don't, you know, I don't [laughs]- Yeah. But- Yeah...
27:42
you see one of those on every corner of, they're, they're almost like a, a Starbucks. They're just popping up everywhere. It happens like this- Uh...
27:49
that, and a lot of people don't know this, and we're actually seeing more of this because of how interconnected we're able to be now, right? Yeah. How much information we're able to actually access now. Yeah.
28:01
Um, but it's always, it's always like a boom, right? Anytime, there was, when ADHD in, like, the '80s and stuff, and that big old stereotype from that, you know, every kid who was hyper got Ritalin or something. Yeah.
28:12
You know, like- Uh, uh... it stigmatized a lot of that. But, like, it happens like this often where there's this big boom and push about new diagnosis and disorders because no one had that information before. Yeah.
28:24
It's the same thing with bipolar, same thing with ADHD, same thing with PTSD, like all of those, and it's really good that it's now able to be pushed out.
28:33
But there is a lot of misinformation of course now that's out there- Yeah... that, um, you know, is easy to correct when you see it. Yeah.
28:40
And, and I, I feel like there's a big community coming in saying ABA is like, um, you know, traum- traumatic and I, you know, I don't know enough. Yeah.
28:49
I think- But like my thing with it is, is like I, I've seen some of the interventions that I feel like are not as traumatic. I mean, I don't know what they're talking about. I'd have to research more into it. Yeah.
28:59
But, uh, there has been this big push on that and it's like, okay, so we're saying ABA is traumatic or it's- Yeah... it's, it's, so what is- Well, I would, I would say- You know?...
29:10
ABA, um, it, for some autistic kids could be traumatic. Yeah. You have to think about it from the autistic level and, and their thinking, right? A lot of them don't wanna be touched, they don't wanna be interacted with.
29:23
Yeah. They don't wanna be forced to go to this appointment, you know, like, they don't like it. Yeah. So for some of them it is.
29:29
I think at the ABA level though, they're able to assess that and say, "Okay, this is probably gonna do more harm than good." Gotcha. So yeah, it could be potentially- Yeah...
29:38
based on the child's perception of what's going on. Yeah. Um, but I have seen it do miracles. Yeah.
29:44
I, I saw a, a kiddo who was five years old who had autism, and I couldn't tell because he had been in ABA therapy since like, like two or three. Yeah. And you could tell a little bit, but you couldn't tell as much.
29:57
Like, he was able to like, you know, talk to you, socialize with you. Yeah. He was like a level two autistic child. Yeah. But he was, he was quirky. He was, you know, smiling. He was happy, you know.
30:07
They started him off fairly early, so I've seen it work. Yeah. Um, I've also seen where adults go their whole life without the diagnosis and they suffer. Yeah.
30:15
Uh, I've seen several adults in therapy who sh- who should have had an autism diagnosis when they were younger and got the services they needed, but they never got it. So ABA is wonderful. Yeah.
30:26
We actually partner also with an ABA company. Uh, I'll give you their information. Okay. Yeah, yeah. I don't have it with me right now, but they do virtual. Yeah.
30:34
And that is really good because, like, areas in Palestine, I know I had a client up there, they were looking for therapy- Yeah... for ABA and like, like, those areas are very short- Yeah... of those resources.
30:45
So they actually offer this online for those who are, you know, in rural areas. Yeah. It's really awesome. Well, that was o- one of the, uh, [laughs]
30:53
that was one of the things that I always looked at, is just, like, the, the autism community, the, the whole research, the everything behind the interventions. It's like a, a constant changing world. Mm-hmm.
31:07
And it's like everything, you know, you, you get out of it for a year, and you come back, and it's just something totally new. Mm-hmm. Um, and so it's, and that was very frustrating for me to see everything.
31:18
I mean, so how do you keep up with everything on that end? Like, you know- Yeah... it's just... Well, first- Uh... and foremost, I am required to be up on it, so [laughs] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
31:27
Lots of reading, lots of research, lots of, like, digging through what's going on right now. I also look at, like, social media trends. Yeah.
31:33
Like, what is trending right now for people that's misinformation or good information, you know, because where do... People are opening their phone to TikTok like a newspaper now- Oh, yeah. Yeah...
31:42
versus actually opening a newspaper- Yeah... right? Like [laughs] Yeah.
31:46
So I look at that, too, from the perspective of, 'cause I'll have clients who are seeing the same material, so I wanna know, like, what they're seeing- Yeah...
31:54
and how I can navigate the conversation better to, like, maybe clear up some misinformation for them. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, I, I do a lot of literature reading. I do a lot of follow-up.
32:03
Like, if I have a client who presents with something that I potentially have never worked with, I'll read on it. I'll get with Dr. Chavez. We'll work together on it.
32:11
But it's really all about just keeping up with the literature, the research. What are the scientists saying- Yeah... behind these diagnoses? And I trust them. Yeah. And I trust them 100%. Yeah.
32:21
They have their PhDs, their MDs. Uh-huh. They have been doing this for a really, really long time. I- So is there, like, something, like, for parents, like, if they wanna read into the literature?
32:29
'Cause I, like, I know for me, I always had to buy into the literature. Like, I always- Yeah... read out of the Positive Behavior, the Journal of Positive Behavior- Yeah... Intervention Supports. Yeah.
32:37
And, uh, that was really interesting, but, you know, is, like, for a parent- Yeah... that's trying to pool this information, and I don't know, I, you know, I haven't used AI yet.
32:48
I don't know if AI is being able to pool that intense information. Yeah, it can. Um- So I know that, I know that OpenAI, uh, has a research feature. Okay. Okay. So if... And, and it does really well. Okay.
33:01
And it, it doesn't, you don't have to, like, look... I, I wouldn't say ask it questions and, like, believe everything it says. Yeah. But I would say, "Do this research for me." Yeah.
33:10
And, and it has that button, and you hit it, and it'll pool some of those for you. But for parents, a lot of them don't wanna read the literature, 'cause it's jargon. Yeah. Yeah. There's a lot of jargon in it. Yeah.
33:21
Um, there are a lot of really great resources in the local area for people who are adults and- Yeah... children who have autism. I would, you know, I would say, "Hey, go reach out to those peer groups," you know. Yeah.
33:32
If you have a kid who's an adult or a child, they have networking events. Yeah. They have a Discord. Um, I just recently found all of that for, you know, one of my, um, people, and it's wonderful. Yeah.
33:44
Like, the tools are great. I think for parents it's, um, you have to find what works well for you when you're, uh, digesting the information about whatever is going on with your kiddo, right? Yeah.
33:58
It, even if it's not autism. Yeah. It's just, um, it's just understanding that the diagnosis of autism is not anything that you could have prevented. Yeah. You know? Yeah.
34:09
And I think, I think that hangs a lot of guilt on the, the parents, too. Oh, yeah. I mean, you know, it's kinda like, yeah, the whole perspective of, you know, did I do something wrong- Yeah... during pregnancy? No.
34:23
I mean, that's, like, how can you tell a mom that? It really- You know? [laughs] Honestly, a lot of us in the field were very upset when all of that came out, because it was demonizing women- Yeah...
34:34
during their pregnancy. Yeah. You know? Uh, the doc- her, their doctors told her, "It's okay for you to take Tylenol." I think I would trust the doctor- Yeah... you know, that that is okay.
34:44
And I don't know if a lot of people know this, but I think they also give...
34:47
Well, when I was pregnant with my oldest, who's now 18 and is off to her Corpus Christi college with Texas A&M for her MD, um, pathway, uh, they were giving out Vicodin. Oh, wow. Yeah. So, um, I, I just, yeah.
35:02
I would definitely trust the MD over- Yeah... someone who's throwing Tylenol out there as- Yeah... a potential. So, like, I mean, uh, this probably drives us into the political arena, and, like, I don't know.
35:15
I, I'm, I... To me, you know, politics, um, I'm like, uh, it's just, like, division at its core. Yeah.
35:22
Um, but at the end of the day, you know, we had this MAHA, Make America Healthy Again, and it's just like, I feel like, and I've seen this, like, some parents are all about the diet.
35:33
You know, you, you're trying to change the diets, and I, I don't know. Man, I, like, I, I'm like, I... To me, it's, like, so hard to even pinpoint, 'cause, you know, it's like, okay, well, let's go all natural, organic.
35:47
I mean, how do we know it's organic? Yeah. You know? Like- Yeah... and then how, how do you know if it wasn't sprayed with chemicals that- Yeah... you know. So it, it's, I mean, it's this rabbit hole. It's, yeah.
36:00
You know? [laughs] I think what we have to start doing as a society is stop putting pressure on parents so much- Yeah, yeah...
36:05
when they're just trying to do right by their kid, just because it's something you would disagree with, right? Yeah.
36:10
Just because it's something you would disagree with, that you wouldn't do with your own child, that parent is doing it because they think it's the best thing to do for that kiddo. Yeah. Yeah.
36:19
And we've just gotta stop putting pressure on them. Yeah. And if, if they don't, and there's a lot of parents that are holistic, and they don't wanna go to the doctors. Yeah. They don't wanna do the ABA.
36:27
They don't wanna do any medicine, and that is their right as a parent for their child, right? Now, it's very different if it's, like, a medical, life-threatening thing. Yeah. You know? That's a very different aspect.
36:38
But then I would think a parent who's more holistic in that way would still take the- Yeah... heed and the advice if it was life-threatening. Yeah.
36:46
Yeah, so, like, diet is actually, yes, it's 100% linked to your mental health, too, right? Yeah. Working out.
36:53
Um, when you work out, um, research has shown that it does the same thing that medication does, you know, for your brain. So there's a lot of-... like there's this high, like- Mm-hmm...
37:03
um, uh, yeah, I mean, definitely working out is one of those things that- Yeah... keeping your kids active and yourself active, I mean, it's crazy.
37:11
Uh, we just, I just started going back to working out, like three weeks ago. Yeah. And I keep telling my wife, I'm like, "Man, there's this high that I'm just like getting from this- Mm-hmm. Yeah... that feels so good."
37:22
Yeah. You know? And, and, you know- Well, it's so funny because one of my professors, he had a really great, uh, we had a really great lecture one time right before I was done with his class, and he's right that we are,
37:37
we were created to be primitive, right? Yeah. So we're often, you know, looking in that aspect of things, what are we doing from before? Yeah. You know?
37:48
And, um, we, the, the fact is that now we have replaced the lions, and the tigers [laughs] - Yeah, yeah... and the bears with other people. [laughs] Yeah. Exactly. So, yeah.
38:00
[laughs] So we've replaced that, and now we have that, so now of... And because we no longer do that, and we, that is the way that we were created to be- Yeah...
38:08
in, in the most primitive sense, we do see that society is more depressed. Yeah. More, you know, because now we're looking at each other as the lions and- Yeah, no... the tigers.
38:18
[laughs] I'll tell you, I, sometimes- Yeah... I have to remind myself, I'm like, "Man, I'm not facing a lion." Yeah. [laughs] Like, stop stressing out. Yeah. Like, we're not dying. Yeah. [laughs] You know?
38:26
Like, we're good. [laughs] Yeah. This is, this is just a problem, we can figure it out. Yeah, yeah. This is not a bear attack. Yeah, and especially- You know?... if you have an overactive vagus nerve. Oh.
38:34
It's like we're not dying, we're not fighting. [laughs] Yeah. No. Yeah. I mean, that's, that's the thing. Um, you know, speaking of like holistic, I feel like, you know, it's like a give and take, you know?
38:44
Like I get the holistic world. I was, I was trying to do holistic stuff with myself. Um, I, I recently had to go in for, uh, a heart surgery. Mm-hmm. And so it was, um, a pulse field ablation. I had irregular heartbeats.
38:59
Oh. And, and it kinda, I think a lot of it was stress- Yeah... um, that I put on it. Just with the seven year, or like I, I ended up getting diagnosed at 35, and they told me, "Well, you're gonna have to go under."
39:12
I was like, "No, I'm not." Mm. "I'm not going under." Yeah. I, I tried everything. Vitamins, I mean everything. And- Yeah... they forced me. I had to go 'cause it, it just, I had to go back in and- Yeah...
39:24
finally trusted the doctors. And then coming out, I mean, that's one of the biggest things I'm sure you see, um, the whole 2020 pandemic and, and actually trusting doctors, um- Yeah... again. Yeah.
39:38
And, and the medical world. Um, I think the big push was the whole COVID shot, and everybody was like, "Well, you know, if you're gonna get this, you're gonna get blo- like arteries- Yeah... and all that stuff." Yeah.
39:49
And I'm like- You're gonna turn into a zombie and... [laughs] Yeah. If it was the other- Yeah...
39:53
if it, if it was, if it was coming from the other end of this, the, of the political agenda, it would've been totally different.
40:00
But- I mean, it's just a whole- Honestly, when it comes down to medical care, I, I think we've been like this for a long time. Yeah. You know? Yeah.
40:07
And, and I think the access we now have to everyone and all the information that's coming from the top down- Oh, yeah. Yeah... it's like people...
40:15
A- and, and politics is very, uh, finicky because we have, we've gone from a very like traditional where, yes, we can have, we can like elect different presidents. Yeah.
40:27
That group can still like come together and have conversation. That has changed a lot since, uh, I wanna say around, uh, Bush and Obama it- Gotcha... started changing, right? So Bush was like our, our dad almost. Yeah.
40:40
Like the way he led was like he was like a, a parent, parental figure. Yeah. Obama came in, he was our hope figure, right? Yeah. He was like gonna change the world. And so people started identifying with these things.
40:51
And then Trump came in, and then of course then it really blew up, right? Yeah. Yeah. And so it's like, what side are you on? You know? Yeah, exactly. [laughs] Yeah, yeah.
40:59
And it's like, it's like at, at some point it has become our identity. Yeah. It has become- Yeah... like people are like, "I'm, I'm Republican, I'm you know- Yeah... Democratic. I'm this, I'm that."
41:11
Just act a- Yeah, yeah... separate each other, you know? And, and, and that's just because society shifted us- Yeah... that way, right? Yeah.
41:17
And we all kind of went through this whole thing of like what is the identity, right?
41:21
And so whatever information is coming out based on the identity that you, you know, you feel most connected with, you're gonna believe. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's what it is at the end of the day.
41:30
And so it's, it's just kind of one of those things, it goes back to we get a lot of our information from like TikTok. I mean, like- Yeah... you're, you're 100% right. Mm-hmm. Like, I feel like Dr.
41:40
TikTok is the person that's telling us everything. Yeah, yeah. And the thing is, is that thing is building your algorithm based on what you look at. Yeah. So, you know, it's, it, it's, ah.
41:53
And, and big shout-out to the doctors that are on there that are debunking misinformation. Yeah. Because I think it's very important to do, because when you put this information out, it's almost like it, it, it...
42:04
And for, for me and maybe other people in the community, it's like, it's, it's almost malicious, right? Yeah. Because a lot of times people don't really understand what you're saying about this.
42:15
So if you're giving out like half-truths about something, they're gonna grab it. Uh. They're gonna, "Oh, no, no, no." Uh. "This is what, we're never proof here." Yeah. You know?
42:24
And I just didn't, I don't think it's fair to- Yeah... us as a population to misinform us when it- Well, uh- I just think it's careless. Yeah, no, I, I feel you.
42:33
I mean, I, speaking of doctors on the internet or TikTok, I, you know, I'm, with my heart issue, I, I have several different, you know, s- so-called heart doctors that pop up in there. Mm-hmm.
42:46
And you got one story completely different from the other story. Yeah. So it's like, what do you believe? Well, here's- You know?...
42:51
the thing that you also have to understand is every physician or every doctor, like myself, we all come in with our different experiences- Yeah... our different knowledge, our different passions.
43:02
Like some of those doctors you're seeing that are different than the others, it's because some of them are actually going deeper- Yeah... into the research because that's their niche, right? Yeah.
43:10
That's, that's their thing, and so they know all about it. And the other doctor may not, right? Yeah.
43:15
They may not be deep diving into that because they're, they're passionate about something else that's a branch off of that, right? Yeah.
43:21
And so like at the end of the day, it's like all these things need to be taken into account. Yeah. You know? Either way. Yeah, I guess it goes back to- What it is, it's called an individualized intervention. Mm-hmm.
43:34
Personal or what it, we call it an IEP, uh, individual education plan. Yeah. [laughs] So it'd be individual for that person. Mm-hmm.
43:42
Like, so my recommendation is, is yeah, you can listen to all this stuff on, you know, the TikToks and everything- Yeah... but, you know, go see some- somebody. You know? I- Go, go get your take on.
43:55
What I like to say is I like to say when you're listening to the information, don't listen to it with the eagerness of, "Oh, yeah, I identify with this. I, yeah, yeah." Yeah. Yeah.
44:05
Listen to it with, like, a critical thought. Yeah. Like, what is this actually saying to me? Yeah. And then do your own follow-up. Like, I'll tell you Google AI is great. You just- Uh-huh... type, what is this?
44:15
I've had to do it myself a few times. Mm-hmm. I'm like, "I've never heard this term before. What is this term?" You know? And because everything on social media now is different. Yeah. We had LOL, BRB, TTYL.
44:25
These kids now have all kinds of stuff, you know? [laughs] Oh, yeah. So I have to Google, what does this word even mean?
44:29
But, like, I would say it would be very beneficial if, have that critical thinking piece so you're not, like, jumping right- Yeah... headfirst. Take just the pause. Read it. Digest it. Go look up some things. Yeah.
44:42
And then make your own conclusion. Uh, it, it, I mean, it's scary as a parent. I mean, I- I'm, I'm dealing with my first big challenge of sending my kid to the... It's a, it's an operation for the dentist.
44:56
Um, kid got several cavities. Oh.
44:59
And you know, you go in there, and they're just like, "He got s- this many cavities," and you're just, I feel so bad because, you know, I'm the parent and, you know, it's like, you know, brushing your kid's teeth was always a challenge and- Mm-hmm...
45:13
and they, they like to eat sweets. And then, then you start researching, you know, the, they gotta put him to sleep, and then it's all the, the negative stuff that go with it.
45:23
Well, you know, there's some deaths that could occur and- Mm-hmm... it starts scaring you. Yeah. I mean, it's, it, it freaks you out as a parent. Mm-hmm. And then you get that whole,
45:33
you know, the whole perspective of like, "Well, did I do this? Did I cause this harm? Now my kid has to go through this operation."
45:41
And I know it's something simple as just getting teeth fixed, but, you know, putting that level on each parent, you know, with whatever challenge- Mm-hmm...
45:50
that especially when it comes to, you know, their, uh, like the medical challenge- Yeah... it's, it's hard. I mean- Yeah... sometimes as a parent you're just like, you feel so bad 'cause you love your kids so much. Yeah.
46:03
Yeah. And it, it, it, like, tears you up. Mm-hmm. And then it's just like, oh, just trying to, like, you know, just thinking of this operation my son has to go through, and it's not even...
46:13
It's just getting his teeth fixed. Yeah. And it's, it is like I'm in this mental state of mind that I'm just like, stop. Yeah. Stop. You, you, you're, you're thinking so negative- Mm-hmm...
46:22
because of the things that you've seen come through Dr. TikTok. [laughs] You know? That it's just like- Yeah... you know, hey, you, you're, you're, you're freaking yourself out. Yeah. Yeah.
46:32
And so that, that's probably not good as parent, with, with parent, but I'm sure that's a lot of, of what parents are thinking whenever they gotta start looking at- Yeah... a psychological therapy.
46:45
Um, I mean, what do you tell parents- Yeah... on that end? Um, my big thing and is giving yourself grace. Yeah. You are living for the first time just like anyone else, you know?
46:57
And you're living with the, with the kids that you love, that you have, and you're navigating that in the best way that you possibly can. Yeah. You have to give yourself grace.
47:06
If, if you're gonna nail yourself to the wall every time they get a, get a cavity, you're just gonna lower your resilience. It's gonna put you into anxiety. And give yourself grace.
47:15
That kid probably would've gotten cavities regardless of- Yeah... if you were in there brushing the teeth for him or not, you know? Yeah. Yeah. It's hard. You gotta look at it from that perspective.
47:23
Like, take yourself out of the equation. 'Cause sometimes it's, uh, Dr. Chavez taught me this, and he's like, "You have to ask yourself, does this serve me or does it serve the other person?" Yeah. Right? Yeah.
47:34
So your guilt, does it serve you in the sense of, "Oh, I should've been in there, you know- Yeah, yeah... brushing his teeth," or is it really, is this beneficial to, to your kid- Yeah... to do? Yeah. It is.
47:45
And he'll probably get a couple more cavities. Yeah. Who knows? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, it's just unfortunately it's part of life. Yeah. I will tell you, we never went to the doctor when I grew up. We never went.
47:53
We were very, very poor. Um, and when I finally, when my s- my parents kind of split, my dad and my step-mom, they split, I had a teacher. I was on my own. I was like, you know, uh, paying for my own bills.
48:06
I was living with my paternal grandma. She was wonderful. She paid the rent and stuff, so I had a place to live. I had a roof over my head, but I didn't have medical insurance, and a teacher helped me get on TennCare.
48:17
That's what is, like a, almost like what Medicaid or Medicare is. It's for Tennessee. I don't know if they still have it. I went to my first dentist appointment at 17 years old. Oh, wow. Well, I'll take that back.
48:28
It wasn't my first. It was my first one where we actually got the intervention. Yeah. Um, and I had 17 cavities. Oh. Yeah. Yeah.
48:36
So it wouldn't have mattered if, you know, they were in there brushing the teeth for me or not. It was just gonna happen. Yeah. Yeah.
48:44
I mean, it's just one of those things that I think about is like, man, y- you know, like, I always look at it like, I wish I can go through this myself instead of sending my kid down that line.
48:55
Um, you know, and, uh, it just, man, being a parent gives you a whole different mindset- Yeah...
49:02
of, you know, looking at when I was working in behavior, I wish I was a parent then, 'cause I would've came with a different mindset. Yeah.
49:09
Um, but now knowing as a parent, I'm just like, ugh, I, I mean, I, I, I feel so bad for a lot of these parents that have to go through this. I mean, it's, it, it's, it, it can be mentally crushing. Um, you know- Well-...
49:25
it's just like- I think it's because parents-... are just nailing themselves to the cross- Yeah... for things that are very normal. So like, let's say ADHD, right? Yeah. Like, you have a kiddo at school.
49:37
He was doing really great, maybe elementary. Now middle school comes along, and he's struggling, right? It could potentially be that he had an attention issue. Yeah. That's not something you could have prevented. Yeah.
49:47
You know? Like, there are a lot of research- there's research on ADHD and how it comes about. But at the end of the day, it's almost like, well, if you have to have glasses, you're gonna go get glasses, right? Yeah.
49:57
You're not gonna feel guilty about the glasses. You shouldn't, right? Yeah, yeah. It's just something they need. It's a tool that they need, right? Yeah. It gives...
50:04
And what I tell clients is, when you come to therapy or you come to get an evaluation, it's helping give you language you never had before.
50:11
So as the parent, now you have new language to understanding what's going on with kiddo and how to navigate that, right? Yeah. And how to fix it. Maybe have some preventative interventions.
50:21
I work with parents on how to navigate, you know, things of complexity where they feel bad. 'Cause sometimes it is cultural, too. Yeah. You know?
50:28
When it comes around, like, medical care or mental health care, it- there's a lot of stigma still around it. Yeah. Yeah, there's a lot.
50:36
Speaking of, uh, interventions, um, I know we talked about, um, one of the things, uh, Texas school mental health programs. What are some of the programs out there most parents do not know exist?
50:48
[laughs] Well, I know that they have some behavioral programs inside the school for those who have behavioral, you know, issues.
50:55
Also, IEP 504, those are programs that are set in place for kids who need, um, accommodations. Mm-hmm. They need to be able to... For example, my son has ADHD, and so he has a 504 program.
51:09
Um, and they give him extra, you know, tools and stuff at school. Like, he can type instead of writing. Yeah. He gets a little stress ball if he needs it. When he was in elementary school, his teacher was so wonderful.
51:18
She, I forgot her name, but she was great. She went and she got him, like, one of those little, like, um, desk rubber bands where he could just, like, kick his feet up.
51:25
So those things, even though they seem like they're playful or, you know, giving kids something to play with, they're not. Because the ADHD brain is always looking for stimulation. Yeah. You got a nail biter. Yeah.
51:36
It's because it's always looking for s- stimulation. So those are some of the programs out there that many parents aren't aware of. Yeah. That they can actually go to the school and say, "Hey, I- I'm noticing this.
51:47
Could you get him, could you get him in for testing?" And the school will do the testing for free. Yeah. It's just they're backlogged. Yeah. You know, things like that. Yeah, I mean, they are.
51:56
I mean, like, just working for the school, it, it's, um, it- it's, they're, they're, they're busy. Mm-hmm. I mean, and I think, um, I think the, one of the biggest ones was the, uh,
52:09
I wanna say it was the American Freedom Act that was passed where, uh, it was the, in Texas, where kids can receive money to go to any school, school choice type stuff. Oh, yeah, that just happened. Yeah. Yeah.
52:24
So that just kinda happened, and I know that was a big discussion of, like, um, I think now school districts, public school districts have to test, um, anybody.
52:35
But there, there, there, there also a process that goes with that. Yeah. Um, but it's just one of the things that, um, you know, it's gonna take some time. It's not gonna be- Yeah. And, and if I could s- if the...
52:49
I would say to the schools who are having, uh, backlogs, if they would reach out to some of the clinical psychologists in their area and see if they do those IP- or if they do the, uh, IQ and the achievement testing to look for learning disorders, um, that it would help them tremendously, right?
53:07
Yeah. It would help them fill the gap in the meantime while they're looking for, you know, a school psychologist. It'll give them the baseline at least, right? Yeah. We also do the Woodcock-Johnson as psychologists.
53:17
Okay. Uh, clinical psychologists. So, like, I know that's a primary one that they do. Yeah. But I know school psychologists go into more depth from the educational perspective than just the clinical, right? Yeah.
53:27
But if they get the clinical first and then combine it with the educational, it's just better. Yeah. And the kid doesn't wait.
53:32
The school is now on the right path, because I believe they're required to have some type of accountability for this, um, program that they're supposed to have available for the kids. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So- So...
53:45
I think if, if they really looked outside the box of, like, what they could do to help, there wouldn't be a bunch of kids waiting for, for testing. Yeah.
53:53
Um, there's a lot of resources out here, um, for psychologists who will help. Like, for us, we'll go to the school if we need to. Yeah. We have our little tablets, our little laptops. We are here to help, right? Yeah.
54:05
I, we, we built this clinic because we wanted to give back, and we wanted to help. And w- my biggest thing is, like, we wanna bridge gaps, you know, and care and help people. And it starts with the schools. Yeah.
54:15
It starts with our kids, you know? Well, and I, I mean, that's the thing. It's, it's, the schools have something that's called, like, Child Find. Mm-hmm.
54:22
And it's, like, it, it starts at that, I, I believe that below pre-K level that, I think they even go visit kids that, I wanna say they go visit kids that are not even in school yet. Mm-hmm.
54:34
They're, they're up to three- Mm-hmm... three, three years of age. Um, from my understanding, I, I just didn't work in that level. I just always heard stories about it from the psychologists. Yeah.
54:44
Um, so I mean, they're, they're constantly trying to, to find these students that need the interventions. Yeah. I mean, the, the support's there, the help's there.
54:54
It's just trying to get them tested and, and processed through so that they can get the interventions- Yeah... that they need- Yeah... within the school.
55:01
Um, so speaking of clinical versus, you know, educational psychology, um, what's the difference? Um, you know, you talked about education psychology, psychology, they kinda go more in depth with it in the school.
55:17
What does the clinical side do?
55:18
Is there, like, if, if I have a student or one of my kids that is seeing a school psychologist, um, but is not really getting therapy, is it something that they can get therapy outside of the school? Mm-hmm.
55:33
Or is, is it, like, I always heard this term in the schools of Well, like if they're going through therapy, uh, s- go- some counseling, you wanna kinda keep that counseling the same with the same person because there might be different perspectives tied into it.
55:49
Mm-hmm. Um, is that true? Or what, what's that whole per- what's that whole side of the story? Like when it comes to like counseling- Yeah... situations- Counseling and-... things like that.
55:56
Um, honestly, th- this is what I, this is what I believe. I believe you have to find someone that you feel confident that, you know, that you're gonna work well with. Yeah.
56:08
So find that person, and don't feel bad if you show up and you're like, "Oh, this is not for me. This is not the person for me." You find the person for you, right? Yeah.
56:18
Um, a lot of times when I have clients, uh, most of them become my clients, but if it's not a fit, I'm like, "Hey," and a lot of us feel like this in the field. Like, "Hey, if, if I'm not a fit, there is a fit for you."
56:31
Yeah. "And this is your treatment, and I want you to get the treatment even if it's not from me," right? So you gotta find who works the best in therapy for you or for your child.
56:41
Um, and honestly, a lot of us go into this and we wanna do the best we can, you know? Yeah.
56:47
And as far as like school counselors go, yeah, it would be a great collaboration for whoever's treating the kiddo to also collaborate with the school counselor on things that might help the school counselor. Yeah. Right?
56:58
Like, if the kiddo has, uh, extreme behavior issues, right? Like, what, what can the counselor help the kid do to pull them down? Yeah. His therapist would be a great collaboration- Yeah...
57:08
you know, to have if parents are okay with that. Yeah. I think you gotta get, like, ah, they're, um, especially in the ARDs, I mean, I think you can bring all these outside people in. Yeah.
57:18
Um, it's just based on the parent and then when the kid, uh, hit- hits a certain age, I think 18- Yeah... they, they become the person that- Yeah... pass their body.
57:27
I will tell you I love a counselor who goes hard for their kids. Yeah. I had one one time and I loved it. Like, we worked together and she, she went hard for them. Yeah.
57:35
A lot of times when you have kiddos, like let's just say in the system, right, and they come to a new school, they're gonna have lots of things. Some- sometime teachers don't have the patience, right? Yeah.
57:47
And so it escalates because their whole life no one had patience with them. Yeah. Now they've got like this freedom from the people who have, like, taken it from them, so they're gonna act out more. Yeah.
57:56
Um, and I had, you know, counselors who are like, "No, that teacher was wrong. This person, this, this kiddo needed more accommodation." Yeah. I love a counselor who's like, "No. Mm-mm." Yeah. You know?
58:07
That will advocate hard for their kids. So. Yeah. Yeah.
58:10
I mean, and, and the thing is, is like, you know, one thing in the schools that I do see is, like, counselors, again, you know, they're, they're not, they don't have that, that, what is it, that P- PLC, um, background.
58:21
They're, they've, they've gone through school counseling. Um, so they are trying to, from my understanding, deliver, you know, like a tier one approach.
58:31
They may go into a tier two approach where they're doing more individualized things, but, um,
58:37
I would say when it comes more intense, when you're looking into that tier three, um, and looking very much individualized, it's more like, okay, um, if they can get in touch with an outside counselor.
58:49
Now, I know schools, they can't, they're not gonna sit here and try to recommend anybody, but- Mm-hmm... as, as a parent- Yeah... you know, you gotta kinda look into that.
58:58
And unfortunately, like, um, schools are kinda, th- there's a lot of kids there. Yeah. [laughs] You know? So, um, with that more individualized support- Mm-hmm...
59:08
you're probably getting a lot more better services, um, through, you know- Yeah... somebody like you. [laughs] Well, it better, not in a sense of like better. I'm sure counselors, they do their best, right? Yeah.
59:22
It's more or less like they're, we, when they come to us, it's not just a talk session. Yeah, yeah. Like, usually the, the school counselors, they're very limited on what they can do.
59:31
They can't give intervention or anything like that. They can, like, help bring them down, calm them down, do whatever it is they need to do. Yeah.
59:37
But when they come to someone like me for therapy, I'm working with them hands-on. You know, we're talking. We're doing some, some tools and some exercises.
59:46
So it's very different from if they go to a counselor at a school, right? Yeah. Yeah. But that's because they're limited. Yeah. No, it, I mean- Yeah... they're limited. Um, I mean, there, some schools have 500 kids.
59:58
I mean, and- Yeah... you know, the thing is, is like, there, there's a lot of kids that need intervention. Mm-hmm. And so that's one of the things that I always look in schools.
1:00:09
Um, what's crazy was I did a topic on, um, are schools starting to become more mental health hubs? Um, and I think, I think schools can go that route if they would just bring in more of the mental health- Yeah...
1:00:24
programs that, that kinda help out and that- Yeah... I mean, uh, a bit.
1:00:28
That would be great honestly, but I understand probably recently, uh, uh, in the last few years that, what, they've cut funding for most of the schools, so- Yeah... it's just an ongoing thing.
1:00:38
I will say, like, I, I really love that they've tried to create programs that help behavioral kids in school to kind of diminish the pipeline to prison stereotype for schools. Yeah. Right?
1:00:50
But sometimes those programs are probably worse, that they need to be accountable for- Yeah... and look at.
1:00:57
Like, especially if you're running around, like jumping on kids and restraining them, and you know, they're getting hurt and things like that.
1:01:05
It's like you really need to look at, like, is that productive and conducive to- Yeah... what actual interventions tell you to do to deescalate and, you know, try to change the dynamic before you can...
1:01:17
Now, there are kids, 'cause I've worked out in RTC. I know there are kids at some point that are a danger to themselves and others- Yeah... that you have to kind of do that.
1:01:25
But I would say for each school, just assess your program. Yeah. You know? Compare it up to other programs. Call other schools. How... Call schools that are doing really well in their programs. Yeah.
1:01:33
Like, what are you doing well that we could implement it, and things like, I don't know if they do this. I've never worked in the school system. No.
1:01:38
I mean, they do, but, like, I feel like, you know, we can go down a whole rabbit trail on- [laughs] Probably... uh, intervention at the, the middle school to high school level.
1:01:48
Like, I feel like- In my opinion, looking at everything, man, I, I've seen interventions where with their, their alternative school, they had the military drill sergeants involved- Yeah...
1:01:59
and the, the school has hired that, and I was like- Like the scare tactic? Yeah, the... And I, I'll be honest, I, I never seen it work. It never worked.
1:02:06
I mean, these, these kids, you know, th- they're gonna continue to do the same thing because they know at some point they can get away with it. Yeah.
1:02:14
Um, now, what I would advocate, and I do think that this needs to start changing, is, um, I think there needs to be more, especially at that middle school level, is, middle school to high school level, is more, um,
1:02:29
student to employability training. Mm. Um, I, you know, I worked in classrooms where I always had some of the teachers come to me talking about, "How do you get this kid to do anything?"
1:02:39
You know, like, "He's such a major behavior problem in my class. Like, what are you doing differently?"
1:02:45
And I'm like, "Well, I'm taking them out to the, the local employment, and we're doing-" You're showing him something nobody has shown him. You know what I mean? Yeah. Hey, I was that behavioral kid. [laughs] Yeah. Yeah.
1:02:55
Yeah. I was that bad kid in school- Yeah... that they wrote off. Yeah. And I am a doctor now. Yeah. Yeah, I had teachers telling me I was gonna end up in prison. Yeah. Well, I did, but I was a lieutenant. [laughs] Yeah.
1:03:04
Yeah. So I was never, like, on the other side. But yeah, um, behavioral kids, it, it's really because there's something missing at home- Yeah... right? Yeah. Or, or something has happened to them.
1:03:16
Um, m- I have my nephew who also, uh, is in a behavioral program because of some of the things that have happened to him in his life. Um, and so it's just, like, you have to remember at the end of the day, this is a kid.
1:03:29
Yeah. You know? And y- they might talk to you like they're grown, but it's a child, you know?
1:03:34
Well, that, and that's my thing is, is, like, the problem with schools is it was tr- eventually, it was designed to, like, hey, let's, let's try to get them through i- into college and into the next levels.
1:03:48
And a lot of these kids look at high schools that the dynamics have changed. Yeah. I mean, these kids make friends over TikTok, the- Mm-hmm...
1:03:57
whatever social medias they have nowadays, and it's like, do they really need school to go to socialize?
1:04:04
It was like, back in our day, we, yeah, you, you- [laughs] I mean, I remember wanting to go to school because your friends were there. Yeah. Now it's, it's a total different ballgame.
1:04:13
But, um, I, I have seen just taking these kids to different workplaces to volunteer through the schools of doing job trainings. They just want someone to say- Yeah... they're worth something. Oh, yeah. You know? Yeah.
1:04:26
And when you take them to do something responsible- Yeah... they feel like you trust them, and they feel worthy. Oh, yeah.
1:04:32
And I, I've completely seen the cha- And so I'm like, I don't know, you know, if this is a, uh, eventually some kind of change with alternative schools and schools.
1:04:41
It's like, I think an alternative school needs to be where, yes, we're providing the mental health, um, and the special education supports that are needed there. Yeah.
1:04:51
Um, but also this is a, a, a program where we're gonna train your kids how to be productive citizens and adults within- Yeah... the working world. Yeah. Give them a why. I mean, at the end of the day- You know-...
1:05:01
it's like [laughs]... when I was growing up, I don't know if the schools still do this or not, but when I was growing up, uh, we had marketing class in high school. Yeah. And even in middle school, they would...
1:05:10
The high school marketing class would come to our middle school and do, like, a, uh, career- Yeah...
1:05:14
where you get to select a career you want, and then you get some money, and then you have to, like, budget and all this. It was, like, a little fun thing that we did.
1:05:21
I don't know if they still do that or not, but it was, like, kind of beneficial to taking that because they, uh, taught us how to write checks. They taught us how to, you know- All that stuff. Yeah...
1:05:30
yeah, all that, that stuff. Yeah. Yeah. It's, I mean, it's there. I mean, I, I know- Oh, what, what is it called? Uh- I'm sorry. It's, uh, it's a Tennessee DECA. Uh-huh.
1:05:39
I was in Tennessee DECA, and it's, like, for, uh, future business kids- Yeah... and stuff like that. Yeah. I don't know if Texas does anything like that.
1:05:47
Oh, um, I know that, I mean, there's some schools that are, are trying to do more. So career technology education is huge now in the schools. Yeah. And the reason why is, is because...
1:06:00
I, I was actually listening to a podcast recently of, uh, uh, oh, God, what's his name? The guy that did dirty jobs. Mm-hmm. Um, and he was talking about how the America need...
1:06:12
There's a huge gap in welders and electricians. Yeah. And so they're trying to fill those gaps. Yeah, because the whole go to college. Yeah. It, it's not. You and me don't, don't- It's not...
1:06:22
our parents who were trades- Yeah... who did trades, construction- Mm-hmm... plumbing, they didn't want us to do that. Yeah. They wanted us to go to school, be business people- Yeah... get good jobs.
1:06:33
So we were all sold this dream about college, and then the trades are now going down because of it. They're going down, and, and there's a huge gap.
1:06:39
And from my understanding with the whole data center push, whether you want to jump on that train and be supportive of it, or you want to- Yeah...
1:06:47
be non-supportive of it, um, i- it's one of those things that are happening. And the, apparently it's this race to AI with, uh, from my understanding, China. Mm.
1:06:58
So they're, they're trying to get a lot more people involved in- Yeah... becoming an electrician, becoming a welder. I know he was talking about how China built a thousand ships last year.
1:07:10
We've only built three because we don't have that many welders- Mm-hmm... in, in the country. So, um, I know CTE is being pushed big time within the school setting. Um- You also have to thank COVID did a lot of this too.
1:07:23
Did, yeah. Yeah. I remember talking to a manager who was part of a major, um, construction company, and they just couldn't find work. Yeah. Like, it, it just wasn't happening during COVID.
1:07:34
Um, so a lot of that, COVID changed it too. Yeah. You know, a lot of people were like, "I don't want to be around and be a hazardous, you know, around other people." So some of that changed too. Yeah.
1:07:44
It was, it was the push for college education, which is great. Um, but it also left us with lots of trade that is not being filled. Yeah. Yeah. And so I mean, that's, that's one of the biggest things that-
1:07:56
I know especially with the middle school kids and high school kids, it's like, I've literally seen every intervention of, like, provide some positive behavior supports and to go down this route.
1:08:07
And, you know, they, they come in with behavior intervention plans, and just taking them out to do, like, different... going to different job sites- Yeah... and giving them st- from em- student employability training.
1:08:20
They get so excited because now they're out in the world and they're- Yeah... they're like, "Oh, this is so cool." Yeah. And then they ask me, "What are you doing differently?"
1:08:28
And I'm like, "Well, I take them out to jobs." It's the, it's the field trip theory, right? Yeah. Yeah. So you know field trips were originally created for children of poverty who couldn't go to certain places. Oh, yeah.
1:08:39
So it gave a lot of kids opportunities to see things they would never see. Yeah. So it's just the same thing. Yeah. It's like the field trip theory. Yeah.
1:08:45
It's like you take the kids out of something, you apply to them and say, "Hey, here's some responsibility." Yeah. They're probably hearing, "Oh, you're immature." Yeah.
1:08:54
All kinds of things, but here you come and you say, "No." Yeah. "I think you're worthy of responsibility." And they're like, "Oh, crap, now my loyalty is with you." Yeah. Right? Yeah.
1:09:02
And they wanna do a good job- Yeah... because you make them feel like they are worth something. Yeah. And that's all it is. And that's it. And, uh, and like I'll tell the teachers, "Oh, man, I just...
1:09:12
We're, we're going to different job sites. That's it." And they love going to different places to- Yeah... to see the different work. And, and sometimes it's, uh, as boring as just folding silverware.
1:09:22
And I mean, I just... I, when I saw that for the first time, I was like, wow. [laughs] Like, this is where the alternative schools need to go to. I mean, it's...
1:09:33
You should walk into, in my opinion, you should walk into an alternative school, and they should have the, the special education supports there.
1:09:39
They should have the mental health supports there, as well as what are we doing to prepare these kids- Yeah... to get into the working environment. Yeah. I mean, so.
1:09:48
It's, it's the, it's the, I don't know, maybe, uh, catch-22, right? Yeah. You're cutting all the school's funding and then complaining about how the population is changing differently- Yeah...
1:09:58
with mental health and stuff. Yeah. Well, you're cutting it at the core, right? Yeah. Where do all of our children go when they're ready to go to... they go to school. Yeah. Public school or private school, right? Yeah.
1:10:07
And if you cut off the, continue cutting off the access, we're just gonna continue seeing the issues that you don't like. Yeah. Yeah. You know?
1:10:14
And instead of, instead of taking from the school, I think we need to give more to the school- Yeah... so they can build those programs. Yeah. And if they have funds for it, they need to use it. Yeah.
1:10:23
You know, they need to allocate it. Yeah. Right? It's very important. Well, and, and that's been my thing is like, you know, you got all these, uh, businesses coming into the Williamson County area. The growth is there.
1:10:33
Everybody's like, "Oh, there's just too much growth." I mean, I, I do see that a lot, but I'm just like, man, with all these major industries coming into the, the, the county- Yeah...
1:10:43
it's like schools should see that as a plus and be like how can... And, and I know some of them are doing, like, you know, there's, uh, Taylor ISD has a internshipping with Samsung. Yeah.
1:10:54
And it's just like bringing these kids in, into those places. Yeah. I'm glad you brought that up because we also have an internship. Okay. Yeah, yeah. We had two high school kids. One is leaving off to college.
1:11:05
One's moving. Um, and, uh, so yeah, we offer that. I haven't reached out to the schools yet.
1:11:11
I'm waiting for the new school year, but if there are any schools that are in the area of Round Rock that have like a psych class, and- Yeah...
1:11:17
and if the psych teacher wants to collaborate, I would love to do an intern, teach them some of, like, you know, boutique healthcare, 'cause that's what we are- Yeah... right now, and how that kind of operates. Yeah.
1:11:28
I love that. Yeah. Like, if... Yeah, we're bu- That's our whole goal is like to build these pipelines where kids can come, they can learn, they can see, "Oh yeah, this is what I want."
1:11:37
And then they go off to college, and then they're l- and then we offer them to come back, and they can do- Yeah... their internship with us and things like that. Yeah.
1:11:43
So yeah, it's like building the start from the school till they finish- Yeah... and they have somewhere they know they can go to get the hours they need, and then get their- Yeah... whatever it is that they're going for.
1:11:53
Yeah. You know? And, and, and it, it satisfies their why in life. Yeah. You know? Yeah.
1:11:58
So I mean, that, that's one of the biggest things that, you know, there's so much opportunity with the development and the growth coming.
1:12:06
Yes, I understand infrastructure's problems, and there's things that we have to solve. Yeah. Like, I get it. Yeah.
1:12:12
Um, but with all the growth coming here, it's just like, man, uh, the stuff that schools can get involved with and, and it's important.
1:12:21
Honestly, I feel like those major corporations that are coming into the communities of ours should be looking at ways that they can actually pour into our schools- Oh, yeah. Yeah...
1:12:31
versus, you know, taking from our schools. Yeah. Yeah. Right? Like, in what way can you help the local schools- Yeah. Yeah...
1:12:36
so that they can build these good pipelines for kids to know, like, when they leave high school, they have a job. Yeah. You know? Like- Yeah... they can support and su- Yeah...
1:12:45
you know, do whatever it is that they wanna do. I think they should do more of that. I mean, that's what I... Yeah.
1:12:49
Like, if I was a superintendent, I'd be like, "Hey, man, the reason why you wanna come to our school- Yeah. [laughs]... is because we have direct connections to this p- th- th- this, uh, industry, this one." Yeah.
1:13:00
All, all the big ones you see coming in, yeah. Yeah. Man, we're tightly connected to them. Mm-hmm. Um, you know, like I, I don't understand why s- you know, there's...
1:13:10
Sometimes it's like how come some of those industries can't bring in people to, to help teach some of the class? Mm-hmm.
1:13:17
Bring in hands-on, hands-on stuff that's happening in the real world, saying, "Hey, you know, this is what is what we're trying to train." Yeah.
1:13:25
Um, you know, I know, like, sitting in a math class or whatever, some of those classes are probably boring. It's like- Yeah... bring it to them. Yeah. But I, like, I, I don't, uh...
1:13:35
And, you know, maybe I don't know what I don't know. Yeah. But it's just like [laughs] Yeah. Um. Listen, we can sit here and talk about perfect world all day long. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
1:13:44
But there are nuances and things- Yeah. Yeah... and, you know. But it would be great if we could get more into the schools because, honestly, that's where it starts with our society, our kids. Yeah.
1:13:55
So let's kind of go into psychological testing, needs by, uh, age, pre-K through early college. Um, I know, like I said, we can definitely talk about that all day long. [laughs] Yeah.
1:14:08
Uh, it's definitely interesting topics. Yeah. But, uh, what are we looking at for each ind- uh, developmental stage and why timing changes everything?
1:14:17
So, like, I know, um, intervention at the earliest stage is probably the best that you can get. Yeah.
1:14:25
Um, and so like I know each developmental stage, especially w- the field that I'm in right now, uh, I, I deal with a lot of, uh, students' employability, working with kids that receive special education services- Yeah...
1:14:39
and trying to get them connected to the workplace. Mm-hmm. Um, and I know there's different milestones for each level. What are, what, what should parents start looking at on that, uh, end of the game? Yeah.
1:14:53
So we see kiddos, uh, age two for autism testing all the way, uh... We see kids two plus for m- almost everything, but specifically for autism we do see them around two.
1:15:04
A lot of providers don't like to see them at that age, but sometimes you can actually really see that there, there is autistic symptoms there. Yeah. Right? Like, they do meet the threshold.
1:15:15
Um, if you feel like something's different, you know, off or, you know, you just can't put your thumb on it, but it's like there's something there that's missing, it's, reach out. Yeah. You know?
1:15:26
S- there's nothing wrong with a psychological evaluation. I know it gets stigmatized as like, "Oh, I don't wanna get a full psych." Like, no, it just tells you what's going on.
1:15:35
It gives you the language to understanding, you know, either yourself or the kiddo. Yeah. You know? And, um, it's really a great report to have to- Yeah... just, like, understand.
1:15:45
And I say this because I use this example of, like, the chicken brain and the language brain, right? Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
1:15:50
Like, I, I think I told you before, but, like, our, our chicken brain and then our language brain, it's like when we don't have the language it's hard for us to fix the problem. Yeah. Right?
1:15:59
And so the psych evals and the testing gives you that language to help you solve the problem. Yeah. Yeah.
1:16:05
No, and, and, and that's kinda where it's at is like, uh, somebody was telling me, um, you know, when we look at, for example, if we go to the doctor and get diagnosed with cancer, um, you know, you think, "Oh, what a sad day."
1:16:19
Mm-hmm. You know? And actually you gotta look at that from a different perspective of, no, it's not a sad day. That's the day you figured out that you had cancer. You had cancer yesterday.
1:16:29
You probably had cancer the week before. Yeah. Maybe you're gonna have cancer tomorrow and the next day and, and so on. Mm-hmm.
1:16:35
But the day you found out you had cancer is the day that now we can start putting intervention to it. Yeah, yeah. So it's like, man, when you go in with that mindset, it's like, wow, that's a different perspective.
1:16:46
So if, um, I, I can go in a- and get answers and, and, and ask people like psychologists or, or mental health providers, you know, "These are the things that I'm seeing with my kid. What, what kinda help can I get them?"
1:17:01
Yeah. You know, the intervention kinda starts at that per- perspective, you know? Yeah. So. I will say this, there is grief that should be grieved, right? Yeah. When you get a diagnosis either of cancer or- Yeah...
1:17:13
your kiddo gets a diagnose- diagnosis of a mental health disorder, right? There is a grief there that you should grieve. Yeah.
1:17:18
That you should take the time to feel the way that you feel, but then also give yourself the grace and then the objectivity to be able to be like, "Okay, this is sad." Yeah.
1:17:30
"This does hurt, but there's a way for us to possibly get better," right? Yeah. "And so let's look towards that," right? Yeah. I don't want... I always tell people, "Don't just gloss over your feelings," right? Yeah.
1:17:44
When you gloss over, you push it down, you don't give it the language, it comes up in different ways, right? Yeah.
1:17:50
It's almost like the Mentos commercial where you put the Mentos inside the Coke and then it explodes, right? Yeah. At some point that little Mento will make everything else come to the surface.
1:17:58
So grieve the feelings, grieve, grieve the loss of the idea that you had, right? Yeah. 'Cause that's really what it is at the end of the day. You have this idea that there was nothing wrong, right?
1:18:09
Or maybe what you were thinking was you were overthinking or over-exaggerating, right? Like, grieve those feelings. Yeah. But don't stay in them, right? You have to create the plan to get better. Yeah, yeah.
1:18:22
And I mean, and that's the thing, it's, uh, it's just trying to get out of that grieving- Yeah... mentality. Yeah. Um, but yeah, no, that's, that's, that's some definitely some good advice. Yeah.
1:18:32
I say this to parents a- often, like, yes, I totally understand, 'cause I'm a parent as well. But you are doing something for your kiddo that is going to change their life for the better. Yeah, yeah.
1:18:46
So you talked about middle school, when kids who were holding it together start not holding it together. Mm-hmm. What do you mean by that? What do you- Yeah. Oftentimes it comes in they were doing so well last year.
1:18:57
Okay. They had straight As. Now this year they have Cs and Fs and they're failing at math. Yeah. Or they're failing in English. And it's like, okay, well, what's going on and what's different now? It's more challenging.
1:19:07
Middle school. Yeah. [laughs] You have to think more. There's more things that challenge you. Yeah.
1:19:12
And oftentimes in elementary school the teachers are really good about being very, very hands-on with helping them pass along the way. Yeah.
1:19:20
And then when they get to middle school, of course the teachers start backing off a bit more because that's just the process, right? Hands-on, a little bit of hands-on, no hands-on, then you're on your own, right? Yeah.
1:19:29
That's just the way it kinda works. So when they go to middle school and they don't have that teacher who's like, "I know you have this problem," it's different, right? Yeah. They're gonna start struggling.
1:19:37
They're gonna... You know, especially if they have focus issues and no one has, like, diagnosed it or- Yeah... you know, tried to treat it or give it an accommodation. Like, it's gonna show up, right? Yeah.
1:19:47
And middle school is t- uh, challenging. You know, I, I always look at middle school as, like, think of it as kinda like, you know, your kid's entering kindergarten. Yeah.
1:19:56
Like, we're not doing elementary anymore, but we're doing a whole new- Yeah. Mm-hmm... uh, level of school now. Yeah, yeah. Like, and this is different from elementary, but it's kind of the new, it's a next chapter.
1:20:08
It's a new beginning. Yeah. You know, your kids are gonna go through their hormonal changes. They're gonna, uh- There's a lot of pressure- Yeah. Yeah... in school, especially middle school. Yeah.
1:20:18
There's a, the, the pressure in, in elementary school is just finding people to play with mostly- Oh, yeah. Yeah... right?
1:20:24
And then you go to middle school and it's like finding people that you're, like, clicking with- Uh-huh... and you're hanging out with, right? Yeah. It's very different. There's lots of pressure for those kids.
1:20:31
There's a lot of moving parts in middle school. Yeah. I mean, kids go to eight different classes. Mm-hmm. They're transitioning during the hallways eight different times. There's a lot of things- Yeah...
1:20:41
that happen within the middle school, um, that can trigger different feelings. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and it's so hard to keep up with. You know, it's like- Mm-hmm...
1:20:50
I remember just working with students, it's like, man, one period they're great, next period, you know, they're, they're upset. And you're like, "What happened?" Yeah.
1:20:58
And you're like, oh, something happened in the hallway, but there's so many kids in the hallway, like, I can't even keep up. Yeah. You know, so- Yeah... it, it's, it's, it's different. Um- It is...
1:21:07
and so I think middle school is where they're trying to understand their feelings. Uh, I think they're trying to develop where their, um, who they are. Yeah. You know?
1:21:18
I'll say that what I see mostly, um, usually just for me, and it may be different for a lot of other people, is, uh, when I get those types of situations, it's usually ADHD ininattentive type that, because they're daydreamers, right?
1:21:32
Okay. And, and there's been a teacher that's been able to pull them out and keep pulling them out, and then they go, and there's no teacher that has the time anymore to, like, "Come focus, come focus." Yeah.
1:21:42
So when they don't understand it, they zone out into their daydream, right? Yeah. They don't understand it or it's boring, so they're just daydreaming. For me, growing up, I was a doodler.
1:21:51
I remember I had, I have ADHD combined type growing up. Um, I probably s- I do still have it. [laughs] Um, but I manage it very well.
1:22:00
Um, there's a teacher who said, "If you doodle on one more paper, I'm gonna take 10 points off every time." [laughs] And so I had to stop doodling. Yeah. Yeah. You know? And, um, it's almost the same thing.
1:22:10
It's like you go and the teacher knows that you have these symptoms, but they just don't have the time to, like, apply it unless you have the accommodation in place- Yeah... then they're required to. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
1:22:20
No, it's, it's, I mean, it's, it's tough. Um, I, I have a kid that's gonna enter sixth grade this year, and it's gonna be a whole different ballgame.
1:22:29
[laughs] Uh, um, you know, and it's just like, you know, y- I think I started seeing a lot of it in fifth grade.
1:22:36
You know, it's like they're friends with one person and then all of a sudden they're not friends with that person anymore. Oh, gosh, I know. I have a- It's-...
1:22:44
I have a fourth grader, and the friendship dynamics are just so funny these days. Yeah. It's like one minute they're like, "I don't like her," and the next minute they're besties- Yeah...
1:22:52
and they're fighting like sisters. Yeah. You know, like, the, yeah, yeah. I, I, I just, uh, I'm trying to navigate that and I'm like, man, maybe y'all just need to go see somebody. [laughs] Like, um, it's different.
1:23:04
But, um, you know, and it's the same thing when you go into high school. Um, but again, like, I, this one subject we're gonna touch real quick, um, the college document- documentation gap families discover too late.
1:23:20
Um, you know, part of kids being in school, I feel like as a school person, we, we get them in school, we support them all the way through, um, we hold their hand a lot. Yeah. Like, walk them through everything.
1:23:37
We provide a lot of intervention that we, you know, that's, that we can provide through the school system. Yeah. And then it's like slowly trying to transition them into that adult life is where the, "Uh-oh- Yeah...
1:23:52
we're not ready for that yet- Yeah... uh, comes." And it's like, man, I, like, I'll have to talk to parents about like, "Hey, when the bus stops coming, what are you gonna do?" Mm. You know?
1:24:02
And start having those conversations. Yeah. Like, what's next for your kid? Yeah.
1:24:07
Um- What I did with my own kids is, my daughter now who's going to Texas A&M in Corpus, she's going, she's going on the MV track 'cause she wants to be a veterinarian. Yeah. Yeah.
1:24:16
Um, I, before, when she came to me and was like, "I want to date. I'm almost in high school," and I was like, "I'm not allowing you to date until you do the research on what you want to do when you, when you graduate."
1:24:27
Yeah. Yeah. And so she actually did it. Yeah. And she was like, "This is what I want to do," and she found a school she wanted to go to.
1:24:32
So, like, I made her be responsible before I gave her, like, privileges of things of that nature. Yeah. 'Cause for some kids, I, for me personally, I just didn't want her to get hung up in dating- Mm-hmm...
1:24:44
and not have a plan, right? Yeah. So I would say prepare, right? Yeah. Prepare them ahead of time, like freshman year, right? Mm-hmm. "Hey, you've got four years. We've got to get this going on track," right?
1:24:55
Even with my son now, he's decided he no longer wants to go into the Air Force. He wants to go to college. Yeah. So now he's researching the colleges he wants to go to for IT, right? Yeah.
1:25:05
And so I think tasking them with it and instead of doing it for them is really beneficial. Yeah. They, they can create their own plans. Like, what is your plan when you graduate? Yeah. You now have to create this plan.
1:25:17
It's funny you say that, 'cause like- [laughs]... um, we started doing that with my daughter, just like, 'cause she likes to be on the computer and, or the, you know, her cell phone. Mm-hmm. I'm not trying to limit that.
1:25:27
It's just like when you try to limit it, it's a, it's just an argument and then it's just like a, it can be a full-blown knockout, drag-out fight, and you're just like, "I do not feel like doing this- Yeah...
1:25:38
this round." So, like, trying to, uh, you know, when we go on vacations or we go... She does talk about colleges. We'll research that. Yeah. I want you to come up with a PowerPoint project or a PowerPoint presentation.
1:25:50
That's what I made her do. [laughs] Yeah. Like, like, like we were talking about Disney World and, um- Yeah... we're like, "Well, you know, what are the cool places to go to?"
1:25:59
Well, how about you go, like, me and her mom know. Yeah. Like, we've done research. Yeah. [laughs] You know? And, uh, but we act like, you know, tell us about the places.
1:26:09
What are some of the cool things that they do there? Yeah. You know? And it is amazing the PowerPoint presentations they bring, and then they- Yeah... she's like, "What else do you want me to look at?" Yeah.
1:26:19
I'm like, "Uh," you know? Yeah. It's like, okay, so you're telling me- That you can zone out to whatever, I call them dumb, stupid shows or whatever- Yeah... uh, YouTube. I'm just like, "Oh my goodness." Yeah.
1:26:34
Like we, as an educator, I'm like, we so need school throughout the summer, 'cause I'm a full believer in there is a regression stage. [laughs] Like, let's keep these kids in school.
1:26:45
[laughs] But I, I know all the teachers out there- Yeah... are probably like, "Shut that dude up." Yeah. [laughs] They're like, "Scroll." Yeah. [laughs] I'm done. He doesn't know what he's talking about.
1:26:56
[laughs] But you know, it's just trying to provide a task for them and, and like the... and, and that's the thing is, like, start getting them, like, mentally prepared for that at, at freshman. It's like- Yeah...
1:27:09
"Hey, you only got four years, and that four years is gonna go by so fast." That's... Yeah, and she just found that out. Yeah. She, she goes off August 28th, and we get to move her in, and- Yeah... she's excited.
1:27:20
And yeah, she's like- Yeah... at the end she's like, "Oh my God, I can't believe I'm gonna be an adult." I'm like, "I told you." Yeah. "You kept rushing it." Yeah, yeah. "You wanted to be here." Yeah.
1:27:28
"It's gonna be here before you knew it."
1:27:30
Well, you know, and, and I know sometimes this is harder with some parents that can't afford it, um, but the ones that can, um, I know we'll do the schools, like, uh, you know, I know they do vacation, or not vacations, field trips to different colleges- Yeah...
1:27:46
and things. And this was one of the things that me and my wife were talking about, um, there are very... there, there's, like, really good schools in Texas. They are.
1:27:55
And, and, and I'm not saying, um, not to go to those schools. Like, the, you know, the debates between right now is, like, UT and, and, and Texas A&M, and you got Baylor, and you got- Yeah...
1:28:07
Texas State, and those schools are, like, right next to us. I mean- Yeah... and I know you got Texas Tech and you got these other ones, but it's, it's just, like, the programs that they have in schools now.
1:28:17
You can get dual credit- Yeah... and you can get all that stuff. And then, man, even going to UT is like, "Hey, man, you know, I, I'll, I'll set you up down there." Yeah. Like, "You don't have to live with us." Yeah.
1:28:27
"You can live on campus- Yeah... and do your thing."
1:28:30
Um, but you know, one of the things that I always talk about is, like, if you're gonna go through school and you want to go to your graduate level, because I, I, I feel like
1:28:39
now you kind of need that graduate level for a lot of things. Yeah. Um, I mean, y- I could probably be in a debate all day long and lose this, but- Yeah, we could- [laughs]...
1:28:48
because I just said years ago- Yeah, yeah, yeah... I was like, "At some point we're probably gonna need a letter from the Pope- Yeah, exactly... [laughs] to be eligible for these jobs." Exactly. So. [laughs] Exactly.
1:28:58
Like, exactly, but you know, like I, I, I talk about, um, yeah, you know, I never went to Ivy League schools. I didn't either. [laughs] But I look at- Well, I take that back.
1:29:07
I went to Harvard Business School Online- Oh, there you go... for a certificate program. There you go. There you go. So I've been to Harvard now. [laughs] There you go.
1:29:13
Um, but like I look at schools now as, okay, if I can redo college again, I, I'm looking at a college that will give me connections. Because I, I'm, I'm a true believer in like, yeah, you can go study there and- Yeah...
1:29:27
do all this stuff, but the, the connections that you want to get out of college are what you're gonna need to be s- set up in success, to succeed. Well, I don't know if you know this, but Texas A&M actually does this.
1:29:39
Really? Yeah. Okay. So they hire Texas A&M. Okay. Yeah. So it's like if you're from Texas A&M, they have, like, this whole...
1:29:47
And I think it's, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it is Texas A&M, because we did the tour in, uh, Bri- Okay... we did the tour in Bryan, and I remember the girl saying, um, that they like to hire their alumni.
1:30:02
Yeah. So if you go to Texas A&M, and it's on the thing that your alumni will actually h- be like, "Yeah, let's hire this person." So they do that.
1:30:09
They network, and they collaborate on, like, their alumni between each other. Yeah. So it's pretty cool. Yeah, yeah.
1:30:16
No, and, and I mean, and that's the thing, like, we, we talked about, like, just, um, if you know some of the schools that you think your kids are wanting to go to, go out there and visit those schools- Yeah...
1:30:27
as a family. Do some vacation things around there so they get those core memories. Yeah. Um, and, you know- By the way, they have a wonderful veterinarian program- Oh, I took the-... program out there in, in Bryan.
1:30:37
Bryan. Okay. It is, it is amazing. Yeah. We did the tour. Yeah. And it, it's beautiful. It's gorgeous. I have to do the tour, because- It is amazing... my daughter's all about wanting to be a veterinarian. Take her.
1:30:47
She, she's middle school now. Yeah, yeah. And I'm like, you know, like, I wanna continue to reinforce that behavior, you know? Like- They have a whole building for it, and they have, like, a whole farm. Oh, yeah.
1:30:57
They have horses. Like- Wow... all kinds of things, and the community can even come in and bring their animals and stuff like that. Wow. They have a lab where they have old, like, animals and, like, little...
1:31:06
like, a typical, like- Yeah... a spooky movie lab- Yeah... with, like, brains and stuff. Yeah. Like, it's really, really cool. Yeah. Again, it's excellent. Yeah. No, we- we're gonna have to do that.
1:31:16
I, I know another intervention that we started was, uh, when your kids start talking about colleges and different colleges- Yeah... like, you can sign up for, like, their newsletters and things- Yeah...
1:31:26
and put their name on it. Mm-hmm. Like, and, and when you're signing up, and they'll send, like, they'll send their information with your kid's name on it- Yeah...
1:31:34
and be like, "Hey, girl, man, you got something from Texas A&M." Yeah. Texas A&M ain't looking at them right now. [laughs] But you know, like- Yeah, yeah, yeah... it kind of motivates them- Motivates them, yeah...
1:31:42
and, and, and kind of like, "Oh, wow," you know? Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Um, just to try to, you know, reinforce that drive that- Yeah... they have and, and that perspective. Well, that's what I wanted to do with my kids.
1:31:52
Because when I was growing up, it was when you're 18, you're getting out, right? Yeah, yeah. That was the conversation. Go figure it out on your own, right? Yeah.
1:31:58
Um, I wanted my kids to have more of, like, an understanding of life- Yeah... and understanding that there is something after you graduate high school. Yeah. You can go to college. Yeah. You can go into the workforce.
1:32:08
You can go into the military, right? Yeah. So for me, and maybe even a lot of parents, like, it's, it's not that you are pr- don't go in and do it for them. Yeah. Have them start preparing themselves- Yeah...
1:32:20
you know, ahead of time. Because at some point you're not gonna be there to help them. That's what I told my kids. At some point I'm not gonna be here to make your doctors appointments. [laughs] Yeah.
1:32:28
Well, and, and that's the thing. It's like, man, when your kid goes to college, it's like- Um, you know, depending on where they're going, it, it, it could be a culture change, it could be a whole different- Yeah...
1:32:39
you know, if, if you're, they're all about high school and they all, and they created this, this persona of a person that they, who they are in high school- Yeah...
1:32:48
and then s- smack, four years later, they get smacked in the face of, "You're graduating, what do you do now?" And you're not prepared for that. Um, it's really- Yeah...
1:32:59
that, I think that's where ha- like, getting homesick and, and it's like, man, like, trying to provide those teaching and interventions for your kids at that- Yeah...
1:33:09
at high school to prepare them, like, so it's like, "Hey, girl-" Yeah... "Hey, buddy," like, dude, high school is... Yes, you can create your, your, a great time in high school- Yeah...
1:33:20
but that's not, like, that, that's only four years- Yeah... of your life. You got the rest of your, you know. Well, there's a program TWC has, too. Okay.
1:33:28
It's a vocational program that helps kids, uh, that are about to graduate- Yeah... get, uh, testing done and other resources to help them along the way- Yeah... of their career journey.
1:33:39
It's a vocational program TWC does. Okay. Yeah, Texas Workforce? Yeah. Uh, yeah. So I know through the schools, we definitely try to get them connected with Texas Workforce. Yeah.
1:33:48
Um, because I- I've been to some of those conferences as well, and they're, they're trying to... They're- there's a big unemployment gap that they wanna- Yeah... you know, close.
1:33:58
And, um, so it's, it's interesting of what's going on. I mean, it's just not like, you know, don't think your kid has to go to college. There's so many other programs out there- Yeah...
1:34:09
that can prepare them for the next- Look for their skills early on. Yeah, yeah. You know? Uh, do they like to build things? Yeah. You know, do they like to... Are they artists? Yeah. You know, things like that. Yeah.
1:34:20
So I mean, that's huge.
1:34:22
Um, now looking at it, and I always go back to this, of especially living in Williamson County, um, if you notice the, uh, the corn fields, they're, they're all, they're all dried out, which tells me school's about to start.
1:34:36
[laughs] Yeah. [laughs] I tell you, that's my indicator. All the poor teachers are like, "Oh." [laughs] That's my indicator. Yeah, when they start plowing those fields, I'm like, "Yep." It's that time. Yeah. Sure is.
1:34:46
School's about to start. Yeah. So the back to school special and evaluation process that you have going on here- Yeah... what, tell us all about that. What is- Yeah. So our standard tests right now are 375. Okay.
1:35:01
A flat rate.
1:35:02
Um, you pay up front and we bill your out of e- or we send your super bill to your out of network, and then it will, whatever it is for your out of network benefits, it'll, you know, send it reimbursement to you. Okay.
1:35:16
Um, just depending. We help with all that. We can talk you through that and, and educate you a little bit more.
1:35:21
But we've discounted it to help, um, the schools, to help the parents who are on wait list, you know, or help the schools that are backlogged and they need help, right?
1:35:32
The parents can come in here and they can do the flat rate, 275, get a full psychological report that includes behavioral, mood, um, intelligence, achievement. They can get all of that. Yeah.
1:35:44
And it'll output and it will give the school an understanding of the baseline of where this child is, right?
1:35:49
The school does a little bit more where they talk to the teachers when they do their assessments, and they bring in a lot of, like, the educational piece.
1:35:55
But this one, it will bring you to where you need, where the school is now required to initiate the accommodation. You don't have to wait on the school, right? Okay.
1:36:04
Um, but if you cannot afford it, um, the school does it for free. Like, if you're noticing things and you haven't ever gone to the school and said, "Hey, I've been noticing something. Could, could I get testing?"
1:36:15
You can go to the school and request testing, and they are required- Yeah... to do it for free. Yeah. Okay. Um, so that's all the back to school information you wanted to get out.
1:36:25
Now Rural, Rural ISD outreach and mobile clinic, um, tell us what you got on that. Yeah. So we're building a program to try to do some outreach in rural areas. I've reached out to a few schools. I haven't heard back yet.
1:36:39
I'm waiting to see where the interest is before we just dive into that. But we are trying to build a program where we actually come and do outreach for people to do testing. Like, like, you know, a big bus. Yeah.
1:36:49
You know, like the blood draw when they come and do your blood work? Yeah, yeah. Something like that, right? Yeah. Like, you have this little bus, they come in, we do the testing right there.
1:36:56
Um, we get the reports together, and then we send them off to the school, right? Okay. Like, something to that, that's the program that we're trying to build and we're reaching out for. Okay. Cool, cool.
1:37:05
And then your current projects that you're working on, you talked about veteran pay care, how to work with Endeavors and the TRICARE contract process. Um- Yeah.
1:37:15
So we have a, a veteran psych care program, and it is for those veterans who are looking for an independent medical evaluation for their mental health. Yeah.
1:37:24
Um, so for example, they may go get their physical done, and they get a disability for the physical, but then they need a mental portion. They can come to us and we'll do the mental portion. Yeah.
1:37:34
And we'll put all of the things in there, like the GAF and things that, you know, are required for the VA. Um, and it's just, it's easier for them to do. It's also, uh, for them, it's 375- Cool, cool... flat.
1:37:46
So we like to make it affordable, um, reachable. We do use out of network benefits. Uh, we're pending our TriWest agreement. They're, they gave us notification several weeks ago that they're working on it.
1:37:59
Um, don't know how long that'll take. We'll see. [laughs] Yeah, yeah. Um, we are in network with Medicare, and we have applied and our application has been accepted for Medicaid, so now we're just waiting on that.
1:38:10
Cool, cool. So I, I know we covered a lot today, and I mean, to be honest with you, there's so much topics, I, I think we're gonna have to come back and do another- [laughs] Come on back...
1:38:19
another, another episode on something different. Yeah. Uh, like, uh, I mean, I'm sure there's so many different topics that we can cover. There is. There is, yeah.
1:38:27
Um, so I think this is kinda good for the back to school session. Um, you know, uh, it's gonna happen here in, uh, probably a couple weeks. Mm-hmm. And, you know, the kids are gonna need- Yeah... intervention. Yeah.
1:38:40
Yeah. The, um, the promo is good until August 18th. Okay. It ends August 18th at midnight. Um, you can book in advance, too. It doesn't have to be, uh, any specific date.
1:38:51
So if you're like, "Oh, I wanna do this in September," you get the, the promo if you book now before the 18th. All right. All right. Well, it was good meeting with you. Yeah. Me too.
1:39:01
Um, like, definitely, like I said, we'll, we'll have to come back and do another one. Yeah. I love it. All right. All right. [laughs] Bye. [laughs] Thanks for joining us on the Wilco Texas Insider Podcast.
1:39:11
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1:39:20
Follow Wilco Texas Insider on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, YouTube, and wherever you get your podcasts for more local news, stories, and conversations. Until next time, I'm Josh Russ.
1:39:34
Thanks for listening, and we'll see you on the next episode. [outro music]
WILCO TX INSIDER
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