Episode 280 - Neurodiversity, pt. 2 - The Neurodiversity Panel w/ Alex Astrella, Michelle LaFrance, + Brian Middleton

Meet Your Podcast Guests

Alex Astrella is a visual artist based out of Orange County, California. Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder at the age of 2, Alex was told that he’d never be able to hold a job as an adult. 24 years later, Alex has won numerous awards and has garnered nationwide praise for his documentary films and screenplays. You can follow him on Instagram or his website, Blue Star Productions. Michelle LaFrance (M.Ed, BCBA, LABA) is a neurodivergent BCBA born and raised just south of Boston, Massachusetts. She has a BA in music with a minor in psychology, a M.Ed from Bridgewater State University and completed a Graduate Certificate in ABA from Umass Lowell. She is a current BCBA and holds Massachusetts licenses in Applied Behavior Analysis and Teaching (Moderate Special Education preK-8). Michelle has worked in a variety of roles and settings within the field of ABA but is most passionate about working as a BCBA in public schools with students with a variety of diagnosis’ and behavioral needs. She incorporates and disseminates trauma informed and neurodiversity affirming ABA practices into her daily work. She also supervises neurodivergent graduate students in ABA programs both in person and virtually. Michelle lives near Boston with her husband and dog & is a very proud auntie to twins. In her spare time Michelle enjoys sewing, crafting and singing with BSU’s alumni chorus. Brian Middleton is a human. He believes that this view is essential to increase prosocial engagement. Brian is also neurodivergent. He is AuDHD (autistic & ADHD) and has a reading disability and has hearing impairments. Brian worked as a special education teacher for 7 years, 5 of which was as a middle school behavior specialist, before transitioning to being a full-time behavior analyst. He has a dual Bachelor's degree in social science composite and special education and a Masters of Education with administrative endorsement from Southern Utah University, and a post-master's certificate in Applied Behavior Analysis from University of Cincinnati. He presently works as a BCBA in disability services and he specializes in assent-based, neurodivergent centered services, and in behavior analytic applications of Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Relational Frame Theory (RFT). Brian started his social media persona, the Bearded Behaviorist, in December 2018. He started it with the intent to make learning behavior science fun and interesting. In January 2020, Brian started the Oh Behave! Podcast with the intent to disseminate behavior science learning with an open-source education approach. He is also the creator of the Functional Contextualist Newsletter.