Dr. Gwynette: Hello and welcome to the Autism News NetWORK Podcast. My name is Dr. Frampton Gwynette. You can follow me at Dr Gwynette on Instagram and Twitter. We are joined today by a very special guest, Ms. Reagan Gwynette.

Reagan Hello.

Dr. Gwynette: Welcome Ms. Reagan. Tell the audience how old you are.

Reagan I’m 13.

Dr. Gwynette: Okay, and what grade are you in?

Reagan I’m in eighth grade.

Dr. Gwynette: All right, wonderful. Of course, you are my daughter and we thought we’d take advantage of the quarantine because we can’t go to work, we can’t go to school, so we’re stuck at home under one roof. We thought we might just record a little podcast about you and your life as we know it. All right, sound good?

Reagan Yeah.

Dr. Gwynette: Okay, cool. Well, of course the hot topic these days is the coronavirus and I just want to start out and say, how do you feel like the virus has impacted you the most?

Reagan Socially. I haven’t seen anyone except for my family, in five weeks.

Dr. Gwynette: Oh, my goodness.

Reagan I haven’t been outside yet. You went, you’ve been to the grocery store and stuff. [inaudible 000:01:03] is going to be going to gym. Mom goes to get bread boxes or something. But I have not been outside at all.

Dr. Gwynette: You have not left the property?

Reagan Yes.

Dr. Gwynette: Not at all. Have you walked around the neighborhood or something like that?

Reagan I’ve done that.

Dr. Gwynette: Okay.

Reagan Like four times.

Dr. Gwynette: But you haven’t gone to the grocery store or Target or anything?

Reagan No. I haven’t done anything.

Dr. Gwynette: Complete quarantine.

Reagan Yeah.

Dr. Gwynette: Wow. How are you keeping in touch with your friends?

Reagan Just texting, FaceTiming. I did Zoom with one of my friends too.

Dr. Gwynette: Okay.

Reagan It’s okay.

Dr. Gwynette: Now, I know you young kids like to communicate sometimes in multiple ways at once, right? Tell us about that.

Reagan Yeah. Four days ago or something around that, I was texting my friends, FaceTiming my friends, and Zooming with one of my friends all at the same time.

Dr. Gwynette: Whoa. Golly. Did you have enough battery juice in all those devices?

Reagan Yes. Well, actually I had to charge my iPad up. It almost died. It’s okay.

Dr. Gwynette: How many people total were on those conversations you think?

Reagan Honestly, I think it was like the same six people the whole time.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah. Oh, gosh. You’re having one conversation on text, one on Zoom.

Reagan Yeah. Yeah.

Dr. Gwynette: Okay.

Reagan You’re talking to different people. You’re updating people on what you’re talking about. You’re making a full circle of conversation.

Dr. Gwynette: How do you keep up with all that?

Reagan The power of a teenage girl.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah, and the mind. Absolutely.

Reagan Willpower.

Dr. Gwynette: That is hilarious. Well, you guys are having to adapt, aren’t you?

Reagan Yes.

Dr. Gwynette: How many weeks have you been out of school now?

Reagan Five weeks. Yeah.

Dr. Gwynette: Five weeks?

Reagan That’s when I started quarantine.

Dr. Gwynette: Okay. When you’re doing your classwork, would you say, are you guys on Zoom or what are you on most?

Reagan Yeah. All of them are on Zoom.

Dr. Gwynette: Okay.

Reagan That’s been really good.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah. Really, you haven’t missed a beat too much with the schoolwork?

Reagan No. I think it was like the first couple of days when we didn’t have anything. It was still getting set up. Then we’ve been like full blast. Usually, I have a class at eight and we end around two.

Dr. Gwynette: Okay.

Reagan We have some breaks. We could have a much as an hour break in between, so it’s not too bad.

Dr. Gwynette: You guys are going full speed now?

Reagan Yeah.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah.

Reagan Yeah.

Dr. Gwynette: Oh, that’s great. How much longer do you think this quarantine is going to last?

Reagan I don’t know. Did you see the news notification that Tennessee and Georgia are opening things up again, like planning to at least?

Dr. Gwynette: Mmm-hmm (affirmative).

Reagan I mean, they’re nearby obviously, so we could be close. We didn’t have that many, you know?

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah, that many cases?

Reagan Yeah. We’ll see.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah. I think our governor opened things up officially on Tuesday, but it remains to be seen if the businesses he said could open up actually will open up.

Reagan Yeah.

Dr. Gwynette: I know the Charleston area beaches are officially allowed to be open, but I think they’ve all individually decided they’re going to stay closed, so a mixed message. It’s a big question mark right now, isn’t it?

Reagan Yeah.

Dr. Gwynette: Do you feel like the lockdown has helped everybody or made sense?

Reagan It’s made sense for sure. But then there are still people not doing it and it’s just aggravating for other people because it’s still being spread obviously. Then you’re having people sacrificing like me, five weeks of their life, not seeing anybody, and you have other people just hanging out every day. Just pissed off too like, what are you doing?

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah. Are some of your friends not really doing the quarantine?

Reagan Two of my friends have been hanging out though, like go back and forth into each other’s houses.

Dr. Gwynette: Oh.

Reagan I’ve heard people quarantined together, but they were literally going back and forth, so that wasn’t the best idea.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah, so maybe not the best idea.

Reagan Yeah.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah. Okay. Well, I wanted to switch gears right now about a new addition to your family.

Reagan Yes.

Dr. Gwynette: Tell us about that.

Reagan We just got a puppy named Milo. He’s four months old?

Dr. Gwynette: Yep.

Reagan Yes, four months old. He’s pretty lazy. All he does is lie around. I’ll go outside like, “Hey, where are you?” He’ll be lying in a bush just sitting there. Whenever I go anywhere, he’s just sitting there.

Dr. Gwynette: He sleeps a lot?

Reagan Yeah. He’s pretty lazy.

Dr. Gwynette: Why do you think he’s sleeping so much?

Reagan Everyone wants to sleep.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah. The life of a puppy.

Reagan Yes.

Dr. Gwynette: He’s grown a lot too, hasn’t he?

Reagan Yeah, but he’s skinny at the same time. It’s like a weird look on him.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah. Our puppy is super skinny, but really long legs. He looks like a horse.

Reagan Yeah.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah. Okay. Is it fun having a puppy in the house in a quarantine?

Reagan Well, I don’t leave my room that much, but yes, it is fun. Unless I have to go put it outside involuntarily, then it’s not fun.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah. Luckily, we’ve been having amazing weather, right?

Reagan Yeah. It’s been really nice. But we can’t enjoy it.

Dr. Gwynette: I know. Not to the fullest.

Reagan Yeah.

Dr. Gwynette: You’re reading a very famous book right now, right? A famous play?

Reagan Well, yeah. I just finished it.

Dr. Gwynette: What is it called?

Reagan Romeo and Juliet.

Dr. Gwynette: Oh. Spoiler alert, what’s your favorite part of the book? How’d you like it?

Reagan Honestly, it was aggravating because it was one of those perfect scenarios where everything just crushes and everyone dies and that was really aggravating. I prefer to read something else because you already know how it ends. Like, what am I doing here?

Dr. Gwynette: Oh, you knew how it was going to end?

Reagan Everyone knows how it ends.

Dr. Gwynette: Oh, really?

Reagan Yeah.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah. I guess it’s like the ultimate spoiler?

Reagan Exactly. It was like, oh, okay.

Dr. Gwynette: Did you think the language was beautiful?

Reagan It was okay.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah, I guess a lot of that middle English is lost.

Reagan Yeah, for sure.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah. TikTok.

Reagan Yes.

Dr. Gwynette: You spend a lot of time doing that.

Reagan Yes.

Dr. Gwynette: Why?

Reagan Well, it’s fun. It’s like a short little video. It doesn’t take up too much mind space and you can just enjoy it. Like, ah ha. Then you can go to the next one. The most it’s going to be is a minute long.

Dr. Gwynette: Right.

Reagan That’s like a tweet, but in video form.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah. You’ll watch videos. What do you like to do when you’re watching them?

Reagan Sit there.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah. Well, don’t you do dance moves and stuff?

Reagan Yeah. Sometimes I’ll learn. I haven’t posted anything, but I’ll just learn for fun because there’s nothing else to do.

Dr. Gwynette: Yes. Yeah. A lot of dance moves going on in the house and I think that’s all over the world, isn’t it?

Reagan I’m a dancer.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah. Who are the big people on TikTok you like to watch?

Reagan I get most of the dances I learn from Charli D’Amelio. I like Addison Rae too, but I don’t really watch her.

Dr. Gwynette: Who is the other one?

Reagan Addison Rae. She’s big too. Yeah.

Dr. Gwynette: You like to listen to music a lot while you’re studying, right?

Reagan Yes.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah. What does the music do for you?

Reagan It makes me less distracted. It calms me, so I’m not focusing on other stuff. It’s like I have the two things I’m focusing on, so I don’t have room for another thing.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah. Do you feel like the music gives you energy to keep going?

Reagan I wouldn’t say that. I feel like it calms me, but not to the point where I’m losing energy, if that makes sense?

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah.

Reagan It’s like, I’m not stressed as much. But it’s not a bad thing where like, “Oh she’s so … ”

Dr. Gwynette: She’s jamming.

Reagan Yeah.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah. I was like that too when I studied and grew up. I used to always listen to music.

Reagan Yes.

Dr. Gwynette: It used to help a lot. Who are some of your favorite musicians?

Reagan I’ve been listening to Pink a lot.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah?

Reagan Yeah. I’m enjoying her. There is this one singer, Christina Terry I think. I have been listening to her album nonstop. I was listening to her album for midterms and I’ve been just all the time listening to it now.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah.

Reagan It’s really good.

Dr. Gwynette: Who’s that one like [inaudible 00:08:40] or something?

Reagan Oh, Dua Lipa. Yeah, she hasn’t posted. She hasn’t had anything new that I really like that much.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah. Super popular though?

Reagan Yeah.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah.

Reagan Yeah.

Dr. Gwynette: Next question, what is your favorite quarantine food?

Reagan I like jelly beans.

Dr. Gwynette: Jelly beans? Yeah. You’ve been binging on those haven’t you?

Reagan Yeah, because you got me like … I don’t even know how big this is. I don’t know how big that was. It’s like, I don’t know, three-fourths?

Dr. Gwynette: Like three-fourths of a pound of jelly beans?

Reagan Yeah. I was given one and my sister was given one and I ate both of them and there were these smaller bags, like a Ziploc bag full of jelly beans. There were different types and I ate both of those. Then there were just different jelly beans in Easter eggs. I ate all of them.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah. That wasn’t me. That was the Easter Bunny who brought those?

Reagan Yes. Yes.

Dr. Gwynette: Okay. You’re brushing your teeth regularly I hope?

Reagan No, I haven’t brushed my teeth in seven years.

Dr. Gwynette: Man, you’re going to give dad a heart attack. Okay. We’re getting towards the end. I just had one more question and I want you to answer it honestly. You promise?

Reagan I’m scared, but yes.

Dr. Gwynette: Cross your heart and hope to die?

Reagan No.

Dr. Gwynette: Okay. How many minutes or hours per day do you spend in front of the mirror practicing TikTok dance moves?

Reagan I don’t need to practice. I’m perfect at it. I’m so good. You don’t even know.

Dr. Gwynette: That’s not an answer to the question.

Reagan I was born a dancer.

Dr. Gwynette: How many minutes or hours?

Reagan Like an average 20 second dance, it’s probably like 15 minutes I guess because you try to get it and then you want to perfect it.

Dr. Gwynette: Maybe 15 minutes to half an hour a day would you say or more?

Reagan Yeah, it depends on how many dances you’re learning a day. I’m not learning that many any more. I was trying to do a little fun challenge because I was bored, where I was trying to learn every dance that Charli D’Amelio had on her page because [inaudible 00:10:32]. That’s insane. But I was trying to do that, but I gave up. I gave up. Too hard.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah. Well, I’ve been seeing you doing a lot of dancing and a lot of new moves.

Reagan I was born to dance.

Dr. Gwynette: Born to dance. You are going out for the cheerleading team again this year?

Reagan Yes.

Dr. Gwynette: Okay. How are you doing your try-outs this year?

Reagan So far, she’s saying it’ll be virtual, but it really depends on what the governor is going to be saying because then it depends. She’s probably going to push it back then, so we can just do it in person.

Dr. Gwynette: Well, cheerleader try-outs, that’s got to be an essential service, right?

Reagan Yes, of course. Who is going to cheer us on when we all win?

Dr. Gwynette: Yes, absolutely.

Reagan We [inaudible 00:11:11].

Dr. Gwynette: Well, I hope if they are virtual, I’d love to see how they do those. Do you think it will be Zoom?

Reagan No, I think we will be sending videos. I don’t think it will be live.

Dr. Gwynette: Okay.

Reagan Because the music can be off or something and then it will look like we’re off, but we’re not really off. We’ve got to do it with video.

Dr. Gwynette: Okay. You can do a TikTok cheerleader audition.

Reagan Yes.

Dr. Gwynette: Okay.

Reagan We’ll do a TikTok cheer.

Dr. Gwynette: Awesome. How are you and your sister getting along?

Reagan It’s getting harder day by day.

Dr. Gwynette: Yes, it is.

Reagan You know what she did? I was in the middle of class, [inaudible 00:11:41] comes in and she decides she’s going to sit on my bed and take a nap. I’m like, “You need to leave.” Then she lies on the floor. That is exactly what I’d do, but it’s not fair.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah, exactly because you’re working hard and she’s taking a nap right in front of you.

Reagan Yeah. No, it’s just like, “What are you doing? You’re being very distracting.” But I was doing that last night. I just was [inaudible 00:12:03].

Dr. Gwynette: Exactly.

Reagan I was just lying on the floor.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah. Exactly. Well, as we wrap up here, I was going to ask you, what do you think of the Autism News NetWORK?

Reagan I think they’re cool beans.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah?

Reagan I think they’re pretty cool.

Dr. Gwynette: Yeah. What do you like most about what they do?

Reagan I think it’s cool how much you guys progress. If you see the first video, it wasn’t the best.

Dr. Gwynette: No.

Reagan It’s gotten really good. You have the two cameras. It’s going good. I’m proud. Proud mama bear.

Dr. Gwynette: Thank you. Shout out to all the Autism News NetWORK participants. Any other words of wisdom before we wrap up Ms. Reagan?

Reagan TikTok all night long.

Dr. Gwynette: That is the theme of the month.

Reagan Just kidding. Only eat beans.

Dr. Gwynette: Okay. Beans for the quarantine. Well, thank you for joining us Reagan. We appreciate you being here.

Reagan Of course.

Dr. Gwynette: Thank you to our audience for joining us. This has been the Autism News NetWORK Podcast. I’m Dr. Gwynette. You can follow me at Dr. Gwynette on Instagram and Twitter. Please be sure to check out our website, theautismnewsnetwork.com and we look forward to seeing you next time.