Funding, Legal, & Guardianship Episodes

Where will my profoundly autistic adult child live when school ends and nothing nearby fits? Host Mike Carr speaks with Debra Caudy, founder of 29 Acres, an intentional community just north of Dallas-Fort Worth where about a third of clients have high support needs. They talk about mixing support levels, Texas waiver funding, staffing and training, and giving a nonverbal adult real choices. Questions this episode answers Where will my profoundly autistic adult child live? How to find residenti...

What actually happens when your autistic child turns 18? For many families, this transition brings overwhelming questions about guardianship, SSI, financial planning and long-term independence. But what most parents don’t realize is that guardianship is not always required and in some cases, it may not be the best option. In Part 2 of this conversation, Mike Carr speaks with special needs planning attorney Melissa Donovan to break down the real decisions families face as their child approache...

What happens when your autistic child turns 18? For many families, this transition brings unexpected legal and financial challenges and without the right plan, it can put your child’s care and benefits at risk. In this episode of Autism Labs, Mike Carr sits down with certified elder law attorney Melissa Donovan to break down the essential steps parents need to take before their child reaches adulthood. Melissa specializes in special needs planning, including guardianship, government benefits ...

What happens to your child with autism when you’re no longer there to care for them? In this episode of Autism Labs, Mike Carr shares a deeply personal and practical guide to future planning for children with autism especially those with higher support needs. After a moment that exposed how unprepared systems can be, Mike walks through a 9-step planning checklist designed to reduce fear, uncertainty and costly mistakes. You’ll learn: • Why getting on Medicaid waiver lists early can mean acces...

What if the biggest breakthroughs in autism therapy aren’t happening inside the therapy room? In this episode of Autism Labs, Mike Carr sits down with Diana Danu, an autism parent from Bucharest, Romania, to explore what truly drives progress for children with autism and what many systems overlook. After years of navigating therapy, education, and limited resources, Diana shares the turning points that changed her son Gabi’s development. From discovering the importance of joint attention and ...

Autism Transition Starts Earlier Than You Think When should autism transition planning actually begin? In this episode of Autism Labs, Mike Carr sits down with Will Renfro, Transition Coordinator, and Patti Cole, special education teacher, from Round Rock ISD to break down what families need to know about preparing autistic teens and young adults for adulthood. They share real-world insights from working with over 70 students across different levels of support, including those with higher nee...

Raising a profoundly autistic child comes with some of the most difficult questions a parent can face, especially when school-based support ends and adulthood begins. In this episode, Mike Carr, founder of Autism Labs and father to a 36-year-old son with profound autism, shares the five most common fears families experience: loss of services after age 21, long Medicaid waiver waitlists, confusion around SSI and SSDI, guardianship decisions and lifelong care planning. But the conversation doesn’t...

For families supporting an autistic child with significant support needs, planning for adulthood can bring difficult questions: Where will they live? What services will they need? How will those services be funded? And what happens when the school system ends? In this episode of Autism Labs, Mike Carr speaks with Ann Hart, a longtime autism advocate, past president of the Autism Society of Texas and mother of a 40-year-old son with severe autism. Ann brings decades of experience volunteering wit...

What happens when the school bus stops coming? For parents raising a severely or profoundly autistic teenager or young adult, the transition out of school can feel like standing at the edge of a cliff. IEPs end, familiar routines disappear, and families have to figure out what comes next. In this episode of Autism Labs, Mike Carr shares lessons from 35 years of raising his profoundly autistic son, Michael, and explores practical ways families can begin building a meaningful adult life beyond ...

What happens when a family depends on Medicaid to support a loved one with profound autism and that funding becomes uncertain? In this episode of Autism Labs, Mike Carr discusses autism funding options and financial planning strategies that families may want to understand as they prepare for adulthood and the transition out of school services. Drawing from his family's experience supporting his son with profound autism, Mike provides a high-level overview of several potential sources of support,...