09. How I Became the Autism Dietitian
Are you wondering how exactly I became the Autism Dietitian?
While there is no autism nutrition certification, there are definitely avenues that you can take to educate and cultivate your knowledge. I will be sharing about my journey through college, my career, and the resources that I used to get to where I am today!
SUBSCRIBE ↓
IN THIS EPISODE
Importance of educating healthcare providers on autism
My personal story, and what inspired me most in the field
How I took the leap to start my private practice
LINKS
Join the Autism Nutrition Library
Follow @AutismDietitian on Instagram
Business Coaches I have personally worked with:
TRANSCRIPT
Welcome to the Nourishing Autism Podcast where you take a deep dive into the research on autism and dietary changes, nutrition supplements, and lifestyle modifications. Every week, we break down nutrition topics and an easy-to-understand way for you to feel less overwhelmed and feel confident on your nutrition journey with autism.
Hi, everyone! Welcome to the Nourishing Autism Podcast. I'm your host Brittyn Coleman the autism dietitian. This week's episode is a little different than the others. And I'm sharing about how I became the autism dietitian. I get questions multiple times per week from other dietitians and aspiring dietitians.
Who wants to go into autism and are just wondering how I got here. So I figured I would make an episode for those of you who are wondering, or if you, weren't wondering, now you get to know a little bit about my training and the heart behind what I do.
First things first, there's no autism nutrition certification. There's so much information about nutrition for autism that there should be, but there's not. So a lot of people are wondering how I became the autism dietitian? What kind of certification I got? And I wish there were one, you kind of have to pave the way yourself in this area until hopefully one day there is one. So autism is not a topic that is often studied in the conventional healthcare program, which is totally shocking.
I think so, at least I think that every single healthcare provider should have to go through some kind of autism training because there's no doubt that everybody is going to come across somebody with autism at some point as a healthcare provider. The only healthcare programs that I've heard actually talk about autism are occupational therapy and speech therapy.
And of course, it's studied in psychology and other mental health professions. But for dietitians, nurses, doctors, among others, autism is typically never addressed. And if it is it's the bare minimum, which is such a disservice to the autism community. Because this causes them to be so underserved A few episodes ago I spoke about being swept under the autism rug, and if you haven't listened to that I definitely recommend going to listen to it. And this is the most common reason why that healthcare providers are just not educated in autism, which is sad because one in 48 kids are diagnosed on the spectrum
So you might be wondering, how did I get involved in autism? And some of you may know that my younger brother is autistic and he was diagnosed when he was two, and he's now 26. So autism has been a part of my life for nearly 25 years now. So this gave me firsthand experience with autism, where I saw the need for nutrition support.
He was an extremely picky eater. And early on, all he ate was yogurt, Lay's potato chips, and MOTS unsweetened apple sauce. I remember those three things, in particular, he would even, he still does this actually, he will dip his potato chips in the applesauce. And that is his favorite snack, but he would do that with yogurt too. But that was all he would eat. And then a few years later he would eat McDonald's nuggets and fries.
But that's it. And my mom was really ahead of the times and consulted functional medicine practitioners and got him on a supplement regimen to help fill in the gaps and then worked with speech and OT to help expand his diet. So I grew up with this all around me and funny enough, I grew up wanting to be a veterinarian because I love animals, but I think some part of me always knew that I would likely work with kids with autism. But I just didn't know in what capacity.
So fast forward to my first year of college, where I was pre-dental and then pre-med, and I just couldn't exactly decide on what I wanted to do. And I saw an enrollment counselor and she asked me about my interest, and then let me know based on my interest that my school had a nutrition program and I was so excited.
And I changed all of my classes that day and perfectly every single class that I needed into had one last opening. So, I got into all the classes that I wanted to be in. I changed my major. I applied to nutrition school and got in the next semester. So it was divine intervention. I choose to believe it lined up perfectly. And it's true, I know, my reason why I'm here is to support families and kids with autism.
At the time that I applied, I wasn't putting it all together, nutrition and autism. But I remember one of the first days of school, we had to go around and introduce ourselves and say why we were interested in nutrition, and what area we were interested in there. Most people, you said they were interested in diabetes, cancer, and renal nutrition.
And when it finally got to me, I just blurted out that I wanted to work with kids with autism, and everybody turned around and looked at me and had these confused faces. And at that moment I knew that that was what I was supposed to do because it was so obvious to me that it was such a need, but even my peers and my teachers had no idea how much of a need it was. And to me, I was like "that seals the deal this is what I'm supposed to do".
So from that moment on, I took every opportunity in school to do every single paper and project on autism and nutrition. Any kind of research that I could do, I would on autism and nutrition. I begged to be placed with clinics that specialized in autism to do my practice hours. And I did get placed at an inpatient and outpatient center for kids with developmental disabilities in Norman, Oklahoma. It's called JD McCarty Center. I learned so much from the speech and occupational therapist, and this is where I learned about feeding therapy and how much of a difference it made for kids with autism.
I even would then volunteer my time at other clinics that worked with children, inpatient, and outpatient, to do food fun programs so that I could help learn how to serve kids the best.
From there, I decided to get my master's degree to further research nutrition for autism. And I also applied for a fellowship called LEND, which stands for leadership education and neurodevelopmental and related disabilities. Many schools have these programs. So if you're an aspiring autism dietitian, you can research these programs across the country to help determine the best fit for you. And they often take one intern from every discipline, at least that's what mine did, and I was the nutrition intern. So here I was able to get more experience from all the different disciplines.
We had somebody from every school. We had people from the med school, nursing, psychology, occupational therapy, speech, and then we also had a parent advocate and a self-advocate. It was a really incredible experience and I recommend it to everybody. And this is where I really got the experience to learn how to best serve children and adults with neurodevelopmental disabilities from all angles of healthcare, and learn to be a part of that integrative team.
So from there, I also did my thesis in autism, which was titled Food Aversions and Nutrient Deficiencies and Autism Spectrum Disorders. It was an amazing process. I never got around to publishing it because I got a job and started my private practice, and put it on the back burner, but I always think what if, what if I would have published it? So maybe someday, I think it's too late to publish at this point, but I wish I would have published.
So while I was in graduate school, I got a part-time job as a dietitian at a clinic for children with disabilities in Oklahoma City. And I was able to practice alongside speech, OT, feeding, PT, and psych. And it was an incredible experience, though since I was working part-time, I decided to start my private practice.
I won't go into all the work it takes to start a private practice, but it's so worth it. And I was so glad that I had my private practice already started up because that clinic that I was at actually ended up going under, and I was able to jump into my private practice and go full time. And I don't know that I would have fully taken advantage of my private practice if that wouldn't have happened.
So I took all the knowledge I gained from my personal and professional experiences and created what I knew was lacking in the world of autism and nutrition. And started off working with families one-on-one and now I run a membership for families called the Autism Nutrition Library, and I run group programs and have just found that there was such a gap in what parents needed and the kind of support that they needed and what was available.
So I was able to fill in the gaps and create what is now Autism Dietitian and my private practice. And it looks so much different from where it started. I did not do this on my own. I worked with some incredible business coaches like Libby Rothschild and Lesli Bitel who are both very critical in building my business with me, and I am always so grateful for them.
So now here we are. So, for those of you who are interested in nutrition for autism, please, please, please do it. We need you. There are not enough to go around. And if you're a practitioner who is interested in training, I do intend on creating a training program and you can get on the waitlist on my website and the healthcare provider section at autismdietitian.com.
You can click on the little contact tab and there's a dropdown that says "health care provider in students". If you are a student, I do occasionally have different availabilities for internships. So if you're interested, go check there as well. And I hope that this helps out whoever's out there who is interested in furthering their career in nutrition for autism.
I would love to connect with you on Instagram if you're on Instagram. And thank you everybody for joining me this week on the nursing autism podcast, we'll be back to your regularly scheduled programming next week. All about nutrition for autism. But until then please click subscribe so you can be notified when new episodes are published, and I would be so appreciative if you also left a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts. I will see you next week!
This podcast is brought to you by the Autism Nutrition Library, a one-stop hub, and community for all things autism nutrition created to help you explore evidence-based nutrition approaches that have proved to be effective to help individuals with autism feel their best, do their best and be their best.
Join now by clicking Autism Nutrition Library or by stopping by my Instagram @AutismDietitian. See you next week.
Transcribed by Descript
ABOUT Brittyn Coleman, MS, RDN/LD, CLT
I’m a Registered Dietitian, Autism Nutrition Expert, and the Creator of the Autism Nutrition Library.
I work with parents of children with autism to optimize their child’s diet, supplements, and lifestyle based on their unique needs. I help expand accepted foods for picky eaters, improve digestion and gut health, find the root causes of many symptoms, and ultimately help them feel their best so that they can do their best and be their best.
Not only do I relate to families on a professional level, but also on a personal level. I have been a part of the autism community for over 20 years, as my younger brother was diagnosed on the spectrum at a young age.
I look forward to working with you to uncover the root cause of your child’s symptoms and help your child be the best version of themselves!
