Week 1 Welcome Video
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Sara Intonato: Hello! Hello! I'm Sara Intonato, and if you're new to my work, welcome, I'm glad you're here. I am not only a yoga teacher and practitioner of 20 plus years, not only a business owner, a coach, but also the parent to 2 children.
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Sara Intonato: My oldest is a non speaker with autism. He is currently in high school. He's a teenager, and he is the only non speaker in a school of over a thousand typical kids. And you might hear this and think, Oh, wow! You know
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Sara Intonato: this is really something. He must be the type of kid who never struggled with self-injurious behaviors. You probably never struggled with health issues like parasites or gut problems. You've certainly never had sleep problems. If he's able to go and thrive in an environment like that
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Sara Intonato: that could not be further from the truth. I have dealt with all of those things.
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Sara Intonato: and sometimes still manage those things, but I have tools in my toolbox that allow us to manage them successfully, so that he can thrive, but so that we can all thrive.
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Sara Intonato: and we are simply evidence. It is possible for your family, too. If you've shown up here today, believing with a sliver of possibility that this is something that can happen for you. Great. You're in the right place, you might be thinking sounds great. I want this. You don't have to sell me on it, Sarah, but I have no idea how to get there.
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Sara Intonato: You're in the right place, this
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Sara Intonato: focus group, this pathway is designed to get you addressing your most intense challenges first, st so that you can move through them successfully
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Sara Intonato: and actually see the results that you've been working for, probably for a long.
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Sara Intonato: In order to do that, we are going to be starting with mindfulness practices for you.
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Sara Intonato: breathwork, meditation tools that you can use to manage stress in real time. Now you're probably going to hear this and say, Sarah, I don't want to do that. I don't have time to do that. I've got a kid who needs me, and I need to put everything I have into helping them.
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Sara Intonato: I hear you, I am you.
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Sara Intonato: You will hit a limit of how much help you're able to give them effectively. That really transforms your lives. If you are carrying stress yourself
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Sara Intonato: in my work. One of my foundational beliefs that all of you will come to believe as well is that the parent is the change maker for their child who's non-speaking, not school, not your doctors, the parent you.
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Sara Intonato: And you can't be a change maker if you are so overwhelmed by stress that you can't even read your email.
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Sara Intonato: It's a broken strategy. So we start with you.
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Sara Intonato: We start by empowering you, building you up so that you have the energy every day to go. Be your best
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Sara Intonato: to help your child with clarity.
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Sara Intonato: so that you can see their trajectory
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Sara Intonato: and know what to do next
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Sara Intonato: in terms of importance, so that you actually get results in your lives.
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Sara Intonato: If you don't do that, it probably feels like how you're feeling right now, like you're chasing your tail.
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Sara Intonato: putting all your energy into going round and round and never getting anywhere
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Sara Intonato: that stops now. But it stops because you start with you
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Sara Intonato: after we dive into our 1st half
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Sara Intonato: of work together, which is that mindfulness component. We're going to be attacking the biggest issues in your life individually, and you're going to choose your own adventure in terms of starting where you need the help most. Maybe that sleep disruption. Maybe that is continuing to work on your own stress, etc. Maybe it is dealing with your child's behaviors, meltdowns, self injurious behaviors, etc.
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Sara Intonato: You get to choose what your next most important step is. Now I want to start by saying here that when we get to that point
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Sara Intonato: you might, as a parent to a non-speaking child have been told by people far and wide that that's just how autism is. Oh, your child doesn't sleep at night sucks for you. That's just how autism is. You might have even gone to experts, doctors, clinicians, to help you with things like that to help you manage your child's aggressive behaviors, and you're told the same thing. That's just how autism is.
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Sara Intonato: Stay home. Don't go out and live your life.
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Sara Intonato: One of the other foundational beliefs we have here is that there is a solution to every problem.
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Sara Intonato: If your child is acting, behaving in a certain way, whether that's involving sleep or avoiding public situations.
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Sara Intonato: we believe that behavior is communication. They are trying to tell you something, and if they can't tell you with words, they're going to tell you in another way. So instead of just labeling them as behavioral, or a kid who doesn't need sleep, which is the stupidest thing I've ever heard.
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Sara Intonato: We actually start to go deeper and probe. Why might that be happening? How can we handle this in the short term quickly, so that we actually get some relief
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Sara Intonato: and take some stress off of our lives.
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Sara Intonato: but also in the long term, can we get curious around preventing it in the future, so that we can go live our life and do the things that we've always wanted to do as a family. So everything is figure outable here.
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Sara Intonato: We don't label kids as, oh, it's autism. This is just how it is and use that as an excuse.
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Sara Intonato: We look.
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Sara Intonato: We are curious. We're non-judgmental of ourselves in the process, but we take action from people who've been through it.
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Sara Intonato: I have lived through all of this, and this is why I'm here as your guide today.
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Sara Intonato: I also want to call out that the reason my child is spelling to communicate is because
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Sara Intonato: I followed my intuition and became a provider just to help him.
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Sara Intonato: I only had the energy to do this and stay committed because I took good care of myself. He's only in a high school with mostly typical kids.
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Sara Intonato: because I had the energy to care for myself, so I could keep advocating even when it was hard.
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Sara Intonato: and it was hard. We've been through home instruction for several months. He has been kicked out of schools. You name it.
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Sara Intonato: and now he's thriving, so I know you have dealt with situations that most families will never have to deal with.
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Sara Intonato: I know you've been told by experts not to believe in your child.
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Sara Intonato: how the things you want for him or her are not possible, and you shouldn't even try.
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Sara Intonato: We don't listen to that here.
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Sara Intonato: We trust you, the parent, to be the expert in your child.
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Sara Intonato: and if you believe in your child, and you trust there's a way we're here to help you find the way forward
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Sara Intonato: through this program and taking it step by step, starting with yourself, managing your own stress and then moving forward to handle issues that are present in your lives that need attention with tools that are research, proven and successful. You will all start to thrive
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Sara Intonato: when I meet someone new who I work with.
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Sara Intonato: I always start by telling a new client. Hey? You know what you're an amazing mom.
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Sara Intonato: or you're an amazing dad.
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Sara Intonato: And the fact that you're here watching this video tells me you are an amazing parent.
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Sara Intonato: And if when I say that you feel yourself start to cry or get a lump in your throat. I just want you to know I have walked in your shoes
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Sara Intonato: the 1st time someone said that to me
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Sara Intonato: it was a mentor for my child who I still work with.
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Sara Intonato: I burst into tears because I was giving everything I had to my kid, who was non-speaking. I felt like I was getting nowhere. I felt like, no matter what I did. It wasn't good enough.
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Sara Intonato: and she was the 1st person to acknowledge me and say, Hey, you are doing a really good job. Your kid is lucky to have you, and I'm saying the same to you now. The fact that you're here seeking solutions tells me everything I need to know about you being able to be the change Maker for them.
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Sara Intonato: and I promise if you just do the work step by step, and you keep going with commitment, you will see results for them.
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Sara Intonato: I remember I was so deep in my shame when my son was little.
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Sara Intonato: and at the same time I was willing to do whatever it took to help him, that I was often embarrassed to have people in my home, because if he went into his room I had black paper blinds on the windows, because he was so sensitive to light and sleeping that I wanted all the sunlight out of his room, so he would actually sleep past 5 Am. And as a result his room looked pretty ridiculous, you know he had really nice furniture and beautiful light fixtures. And then these paper blackout curtains.
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Sara Intonato: and I remember a woman came to my home once, and she had to look in Rocco's room, and I was so embarrassed to show her that I started nervously explaining myself like I owed her an explanation, telling her about Rocco's sleep issues, and how I was doing everything I could to remedy them.
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Sara Intonato: and she just stopped and looked at me.
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Sara Intonato: I could get emotional, even telling you the story. And she said, Sarah.
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Sara Intonato: I have a brother whose special needs
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Sara Intonato: and my parents just couldn't handle it.
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Sara Intonato: They still can't handle it.
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Sara Intonato: They just were not able to help him.
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Sara Intonato: They were not creative. They were not strong enough.
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Sara Intonato: and he really struggled because they were not able to be leaders, she said, when I come in this room.
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Sara Intonato: and I see the paper blinds on the wall, I can tell you're really embarrassed about it.
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Sara Intonato: I see a mom who's willing to do anything for her kid
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Sara Intonato: so that her kid can thrive in life.
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Sara Intonato: I truly had never thought of it that way. I was looking at it as one more thing. I hadn't done right.
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Sara Intonato: My house looked crazy, and she looked at it and thought, wow!
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Sara Intonato: This is a mom who'll stop at nothing props to her.
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Sara Intonato: of course, that made me cry. Of course I needed to hear it so badly. So I want you to step into that energy. Now you are a mom or dad who will stop at nothing.
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Sara Intonato: and with the right guide in me as someone who's lived through this still is
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Sara Intonato: standing shoulder to shoulder. With you all things are possible. So it's time to ditch the excuses at the door
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Sara Intonato: ditch, the hopelessness at the door.
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Sara Intonato: and give yourself permission to have hope, even if you've been burned by so many other things and experts who are not able to help you.
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Sara Intonato: Now is your time to thrive.
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Sara Intonato: Let's dive in together. I'll see you on the next video. Thank you for being here. It's an honor to stand shoulder to shoulder with you.
