How Adversity Can Be A Catalyst To Discover Your Strengths

Episode Transcript

Dr. Nicole Beurkens: 

Hi everyone, welcome to the show, I am Dr. Nicole, and on today’s episode, we’ve got a really special topic that we’re covering. We’re going to be talking with a mom who knows what it’s like to have a child diagnosed with special needs and to help him on his journey throughout his school and growing up years and now into adulthood. Sylvia Farbstein has used their experiences to bring greater awareness to the needs and issues people with differences face, particularly in the realm of cyberbullying, which is, unfortunately, a growing problem that I know many of you listening are facing and we’re going to delve into that with Sylvia today. She’s an amazing person who brings so much hope to those that she encounters. I know you’re going to love listening in on this conversation. 

Let me tell you a little bit more about her. She writes, “Our life presents us with unexpected twists and turns that can shake us to our core, stop us in our tracks or provide a catalyst for an exciting change.” Sylvia’s professional world took a leap from the predictable and defined realm of private banking in New York city to one of few answers and no blueprint when her son, 20-year-old Brandon, was diagnosed at the age of 2 with a rare form of dwarfism, metatropic dysplasia. Their experiences with navigating a world not designed for his stature has forced her to seek out ways to innovate, adapt, advocate and embrace a mindset that has led to the discovery of incredible life lessons and an entrepreneurial career path for both mother and son.

After severe cyberbullying by Brandon’s high school peers, they both testified at the Virginia General Assembly to bring forth anti-bullying legislation. Sylvia helped Brandon launch his full-time professional speaking career at the age of 19, and together they travelled the country for speaking engagements for schools, conferences and businesses. Brandon’s book, 10 Feet Tall shares life lessons he’s learned in dealing with challenges and transforming them into opportunities. While Sylvia and Brandon are passionate about personal growth, they walked on fire at Tony Robbins’ Unleash the Power Within, love that! And strongly feel the journey inward is far more significant than external growth. They’re working to elevate empathy in mindset so that youth and adults widen the lens through which they see their own world. Human connection is the common denominator, we are more alike than different. 

Sylvia, I couldn’t agree with all of that more, it is such an honor and such a pleasure to have you on the show today. 

Sylvia Farbstein:

Thank you so much for having me, I’m excited to spend this time with you. 

Dr. Nicole Beurkens: 

I had the opportunity to meet you and Brandon at an event a few months ago now and we had such great conversations and I said at that point, I have to have you on the show because our listeners will just so benefit from your experiences and your insights. And I think that so often, when families have challenges that arise with a child, regardless of the diagnosis or the issue, there is a tendency to focus a lot on the negative and what’s wrong, and what I love about the perspective that you bring and that your son brings, it’s like — Let’s focus on all of the things that are right and let’s focus on how to use this, as you said, as a catalyst for positive change and I just love that that’s your focus. So, let’s dive in. I think it would be helpful if we can even maybe start back a little bit more at the beginning. So you had Brandon. When did you become aware of his condition? How did the diagnosis come about?

Sylvia Farbstein: 

Absolutely. So I took Brandon on his two-year checkup and the pediatrician gave him raving reviews and said, “He looks awesome, he looks great, take him home!” And I said, “My gut tells me that something is going on. His older sister, Brooke, two and a half years older, at this age, was changing sizes quite frequently every few months and Brandon has been wearing this size for a while, and I feel like while his torso seems to be growing in length, his limbs seem to be shorter.” And the doctor said, “You know what, why don’t you get him undressed one more time, let me take a closer look.” And sure enough, he realized that something was going on. 

The lightbulb went off in my head at that moment, that I realized — we moms especially need to trust our gut and go with our intuition and we can not be intimidated if there’s a medical professional who tells us that everything is right when we feel that something is wrong. And that day, he sent us to a geneticist who then sent us to a hospital to get full skeletal X-Rays and so many doctors looked at the X-Rays, perplexed, not knowing what they showed. They ended up sending them off to the UCLA skeletal dysplasia registry, and six months later, we received a diagnosis. So it kind of came out of nowhere and at that time, there were really no Facebook support groups, there was no tribe that I could turn to. There were only these outdated medical books that showed these children who had all kinds of deformities and it gave us absolutely no information on what to expect, and we would ask the doctor, and he said, “You know what? It’s so rare.” And to this day, it’s a very rare form of dwarfism, less than 100 documented medical cases. 

So what we realized is, “Okay, we have no blueprint. We have no one to ask, nothing to rely on. We’ve got to figure out how to enable Brandon to live the best life that he could.” We never questioned, we never cried, we never got angry, because those are things we can not control. What we could control is our mindset and how we made Brandon feel and we decided, my husband Steve and I, right then and there, that we were just going to focus on letting him have an incredible life, just like we did for our daughter Brooke. 

Dr. Nicole Beurkens: 

Oh, I love that. What strikes me when you talked about your experience with the physician initially — that issue of parents, and it tends to be moms, but parents trusting their gut, I think that is so important because I know so many of the parents listening can relate to that, whether it was a concern, maybe, that they had about their child’s physical growth, or maybe a physical symptom going on with them or their development or their communication or something, and being able to stand in that and advocate for that and say no, something doesn’t seem right, even when people in white coats are telling you, “Oh mom, don’t worry about it, everything is fine!” And you really had to stand in your own power there and advocate that and say, “You know, something doesn’t feel right”, and I think so many parents don’t do that.  

Sylvia Farbstein: 

It’s so very true, we, especially in our generation, we were raised not to question authority. They were the experts and we are not used to standing against what they’re saying, but there is a way to do it respectfully, and there is a way to look at medical experts as part of your team. But it doesn’t mean that we need to conform to everything they tell us, and it doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t question things that don’t seem right. 

Dr. Nicole Beurkens: 

Absolutely, and in some ways, that experience right from the get-go that you had with getting the diagnosis and what so many other parents face with that is just giving you a taste of what the rest of life is going to be, right? Standing up for and advocating for your child, especially as they are still going through those growing up years — that really is a role that parents take on, right? That in some ways, nothing prepares you for — you think, “Oh yeah, all parents are advocates for their kids,” but when you have a child with unique needs, that whole advocacy role, that takes on a whole different meaning, doesn’t it?

Sylvia Farbstein: 

That is 100% true. And the fact of the matter is that my husband and I quickly learned that Brandon — and actually Brooke, and no child is a direct extension of us, and we really need to widen our lens and see things through their eyes. And with Brandon, we were forced to do so very early on because of the fact that his stature was so significantly different from his peers, so we had to learn to find adaptive tools and figure out how to make things work, things that most people take for granted, and that included a lot of creativity and also a lot of questioning. There would be times that we would be told, “Well, this is the only way it could be done.” But we never took no for an answer, and I think that helped him find his voice. He grew up seeing his parents not try to make him conform to everything because that’s the way things were built. He realized that it’s okay to question and to sort of redesign things and make them work, so that you are in a position of equity. You’re not always going to be equal, but you need to be able to both literally and physically reach things, just like everyone else can. 

Dr. Nicole Beurkens: 

Right. Absolutely. And I think that whole piece about not just accepting what the standard or the norm is, whether it’s “Well, this is typically the therapy that’s done” or “This is typically the device that’s used” or in the case for some parents, it’s “Well, this is all that you should expect for your child. A child now at age two or three or whatever has been diagnosed with this, you know, this is how this is going to go and here’s what your expectation should be” — and I love what you’re saying is, yeah, you can take that information in, but that doesn’t need to define what your experience and what your child’s experience is. I’ve always been one to say we should have all the expectations in the world for kids, no matter what their disability, no matter what their challenge. Just because a physician or somebody has said “Well, this is kind of the trajectory for this.” That doesn’t have to be the experience for that family or that child. 

Sylvia Farbstein: 

That’s exactly right. Who are we, even as parents, to say “This is the life that you’re going to have”? We don’t want them to be confined or defined by their diagnosis or their life circumstance. And I think the greatest gift that we can give to our children is to help them dream bigger. 

Dr. Nicole Beurkens: 

I love that. You know, one of the areas that really exemplifies what you were talking about with the advocating to come up with new creative ideas, do some things that nobody had done before in order to meet Brandon’s needs is around mobility, right? Because Brandon has a very unique way of getting around. I’d love to have you share that with our listeners. 

Sylvia Farbstein: 

It’s a very interesting story. So at the age of 14, we took Brandon to his orthopedic specialist and Dupont Children’s Hospital in Delaware, and that’s the other thing. I would tell all parents out there with differently-abled kids, please do not limit yourself to your local medical professionals. Widen your lens and figure out who the experts are and get your insurance to cover those visits, because it’s really important to go to someone who is familiar with the condition. So anyway, he went for the checkup, he explained to the doctor that his legs hurt after walking more than one city block. And at that point, Brandon had two significant leg surgeries previously at Johns Hopkins and this orthopedic surgeon said to him, “Listen, I can not look you in the eye and tell you any surgery is going to take the pain away.” And I absolutely love that doctor for being so honest instead of saying, “Well, we’ll try, we’ll do this or that”. He really was so honest and he said, “Brandon, I really think it’s time for you to start thinking about a mobility device.” 

And Brandon said, “Well, what are my options?” And the doctor said, “Oh, I don’t know. You know, a wheelchair or motorized scooter.” And Brandon started thinking about that and he said, “Look. Those two things would put me even lower than I am now. Why should I look up at the world more than I already do? And the fact of the matter is my legs still work. So why would I put myself in a position to not use them?” So the doctor looked at him and said, “Well, what else is there?” And Brandon said, “Oh, well, I don’t know — what about a Segway?” And the doctor said, “I have never heard of anyway using a Segway as a mobility device, but try it — go for it.” And that opened up a whole world of possibilities. 

And as synchronicity would have it, a few months later, I was at a trade show — I’m in the promotional products industry. So we do anything and everything with a logo on it. I’m in Orlando a few months later, and in a booth in a trade show is something that looks like a mini Segway. It was amazing! I went over to the distributor and I said to him, “What is this thing!” and he said, “Oh, it’s just a high-end toy for rich people.” And I said, “No, there is a population out there that might be able to use this as a mobility device,” and I told him about Brandon, and he thought I was a little crazy, but we ended up buying that device a few months later and Brandon has since thankfully — Segway has created a miniature version, so he now uses one that is manufactured by Segway. But it is amazing how randomly, after thinking about it, I ran into this. And it taught me the power of just opening up our minds and connecting wherever we go. There is such magic and power in that, and the more you do that, the more you realize that the dots truly connect in so many areas of your life. You just have to be open to it. So that was when Brandon started using the Segway as his mobility device. 

Dr. Nicole Beurkens: 

And so many pieces of that that are so great, but I think going back to the piece about advocating and partnering with medical professionals, finding a team who is willing to be open and listen, right? Like you said, this specialist didn’t say, “Oh that’s not going to work” or “No, these are the options that you have.” He was like, “Well, try it — let’s see.” And that openness and that willingness to partner with you and Brandon to come up with some creative possibilities, I think it’s so important for families to look for practitioners who will partner with them and be open to that. 

Sylvia Farbstein:

It is so very important. Absolutely. And now, every time we go back to see Dr. McKenzie, I truly feel like he is part of our extended family and part of our team. And to feel that kind of support in an unknown world, where you can’t really predict your future, but really — can any of us? But you know, when you are a kid who gets diagnosed with a rare medical condition, you really don’t know what to expect and to have a doctor that is just so open and so enthusiastic to exploring different solutions is a beautiful gift. 

Dr. Nicole Beurkens: 

Yeah, and so I would say to all of the parents listening that those are the kind of people you want on your team, you want to seek out people, as Sylvia said, not just who maybe happen to be in your community, but you want to seek out people who are willing to be creative and listen and partner with you in that way, and if you don’t feel like you have those people on your team now, continue to look and see. The internet has made it easier than ever to connect with more people and get recommendations and find practitioners to partner with because this really is a journey and you want people on your team who are willing to look at possibilities and have higher expectations and think creatively with you about these challenges. 

Sylvia Farbstein: 

Absolutely. And through that practice at Dupont Children’s Hospital, we were able to connect with other families who have kids who have Brandon’s condition, so it is amazing once you begin to realize that you’re not the only one and that has been a wonderful thing for Brandon to see both individuals younger and older than him that are successfully navigating through life with the condition. 

Dr. Nicole Beurkens: 

Yeah, and as you mentioned back when he was young, you know, you and I have kids about the same age. We didn’t have the internet to go to like now! There are so many possibilities for parents and individuals to connect, which is great. To me that’s one of the things of using the internet for good. Right? Especially when your child has more of a rare or challenging condition and there are not other families in your community that are dealing with the same things. To be able to use the internet in that way is an amazing gift. 

Sylvia Farbstein:

Absolutely. 

Dr. Nicole Beurkens: 

I want to switch gears a little bit because you mentioned Brooke, Brandon’s sister who is a couple of years older, and I want to touch on that because I think many of our listeners have multiple children, and one of the things that comes up when you have a child with — whether it’s special medical needs or developmental needs or whatever it may be, the impact that that has on the sibling, on the relationships with the families — I wonder if we could talk about that, what that was like raising both of them pretty close in age, whether it was for her growing up with younger brother who really just needed more attention, right? 

Sylvia Farbstein: 

Yeah. So my husband Steve and I did our very best to provide her with love and attention and try to make it as equitable as possible, but it really never was because for one reason or another. We sometimes had to rush to one specialist or another with Brandon or during his surgeries, we had to figure out what extended family would take care of her. We live in a state where we don’t have family around us, so we thought we were doing the best we could by shipping her out to family. And they all gave her a good time, but what we came to realize a few years later was that it was difficult on her. It wasn’t something that she articulated, unfortunately, so we didn’t know. But during her middle school years, which are challenging for any child, it sort of came out, and I began to realize that she felt that she was not seen as much as her brother was. I remember instances where we would go on outings and when Brandon was young, he has this beautiful blond hair. And people would literally stop us and say, “Oh, he’s so cute! His hair looks highlighted.” They would make all these comments, and she would be standing right there and they wouldn’t say anything to her. 

Those are the moments as a kid that kind of stick with you. So we went through our years of challenges where I could tell things were bothering her, but she didn’t really articulate them, and it sort of started coming out when she was in high school and we did the best we could. We talked about it, and I definitely respect all of her feelings, but it made me realize that even if you have an “average” child, there’s nothing average about their experience. And I am so proud to share that my kids now live together, two hours away from me, and they have become such close friends, but it didn’t always feel that way. There definitely was a rivalry between them. Brandon not only got attention for his condition, but he also started acting when he was 8, so he would be doing a lot of local theatre production. So he was getting accolades for so many different things, and she was kind of in the background. But now they are 20 and 22 and Brooke is an incredible young woman with a career and definitely has stepped into herself, but it is something I don’t feel enough people are talking about. It’s not enough to just talk about being the parent of a child who is differently-abled. It is something that we also need to focus on is the other kids in the family and just having these real authentic conversations. 

Dr. Nicole Beurkens: 

Absolutely, and I think that it’s something that so many parents struggle with, as you articulated for you and your husband, that recognition that we need to try and give both of them attention, but then there’s just the reality of it, right? And especially if you’re a parent listening who has a child with more significant kinds of needs whether that’s medical or behaviorally or whatever it may be, you can be doing your very best, and still, it can be a real struggle to make sure that everybody is getting some time and attention and you do the best you can. I agree with what you said, Sylvia, you do the best you can to try to and meet everybody’s needs.

Sylvia Farbstein:

And you have to also, I believe, give yourself grace, because you are not ever going to be the perfect parent and there is nothing wrong with your kids. Like they didn’t get enough of this or enough of that. Just know that you did your best with what you had at the time and we can’t go backwards, we can’t go back and we’re human. And hey, I think it’s just a big life lesson for all family members all around, but the key is just to be able to talk about it. 

Dr. Nicole Beurkens:

And that communication piece is so important. As you said, you were willing to allow Brooke to have whatever feelings she had around that, and not telling her that it was okay to feel that way or not okay, but letting her have her feelings and communicating about it and being open about it, I think that’s really the best approach. 

Sylvia Farbstein:

Absolutely. And I think she was able to discover a sense of resilience and resourcefulness from that entire experience. So, from our pain and struggles come some of our greatest life-lessons. And we, parents, sometimes try to overcompensate to make up for the difficulties that the other sibling may have, but I’m an advocate of kind of letting them feel and letting them figure it out. And it’s okay, it’s okay, we don’t always have to be the rescuers and the saviors of the hard feelings. 

Dr. Nicole Beurkens:

Love that. So important. I want to switch gears and talk about this issue of bullying and particularly cyberbullying because unfortunately, this is something that we’re seeing more and more and that parents are dealing with with their kids, I think across the board, but particularly when we’re talking about kids who may have something that is clearly different about them, right? Whether it’s stature, as in the case of Brandon or whether it’s odd stereotypical kinds of behavior or social interaction or whatever it might be. The world of the internet and social media has unfortunately really become a tough place and created many challenges for kids. I’d love to just delve into that about what your experience was with that and why you think that’s become so prevalent.

Sylvia Farbstein:

Absolutely. So in Brandon’s situation, the cyberbullying began the first week of high school. He was using his Segway device to get around school, and unfortunately there were kids that couldn’t understand why did he have that privilege instead of realizing of that he was significantly smaller in stature and his legs don’t carry him the same distance as yours do. But in any case, some very hurtful video was posted online with horrific commentary and I very proudly can say that Brandon right away went to administration, made them aware of it, they found out who it was, I was amazed to learn it was a senior young lady. You hear about the females being so much more mature than males in high school, but that obviously was not the case in this situation and the school took whatever steps they needed to discipline someone and so forth.

And Steve and I told Brandon “We’re so sorry this happened to you. This might only be the beginning of what you deal with, so you’re going to have to learn how to navigate around this issue.” So we obviously were there for his emotional support, but we did not feel like we needed to fly in and rescue him and pull him out of school at that point. So he did navigate for the next two and a half years and when he was a junior in high school, someone created a fake Instagram account taking images from his TED talk — he did a TEDx talk when he was 15. They took those images, they distorted them and they wrote the most horrific commentary including anti-semitic rhetoric. And they also included a videotape of him in his high school hallways, so it was very evident to us that this, again, came from his high school peers. 

He went to administration, they started an investigation, the police were involved. And what we quickly learned was that the advances of technology far exceed the protections that we have in our legal system and because of that, Brandon said, “I have no idea who did this and what they’re going to continue to do, and I can no longer walk in to this toxic environment.” 

So he asked us to pull him out of school. And we did that. He created his own solution by meeting with administration and telling them that he wanted to finish up his high school career online. In the meantime, we continued the police investigation, it basically went nowhere, so we decided to testify in front of the Virginia General Assembly. And before I go into that, I do want to address with you — you asked why we are seeing more and more cyberbullying? I truly feel that the kids that are doing the bullying are so hurt and have absolutely no dialogue to ask for help. There are many times that we as parents think that we’re parenting out of love, but what we’re doing is parenting out of fear when we consistently tell our kids, “You have to take all the AP classes and all the honors classes and you must get straight A’s because you need to go to this university, because in order to have a successful life, this is where you need to go”, and it’s causing so much stress on these kids. A lot of parents are just throwing their hands up in the air and saying, “I don’t know what to do with all this social media!” And I do agree, social media plays a large part, but we as parents are contributing to so much stress and anxiety. 

In raising Brandon, I realized there is no one narrow path. Each child is entitled to their own unique path. And that may not be a straight linear path to the college that you feel your kid needs to go to. So we parents need to sort of take a step back and just instill in our kids the motivation to the best they can and to put forth effort, but it doesn’t always mean that we need to push them to such high standards that they are going to break. And I feel like a lot of these kids, instead of saying, “Mom, dad, I can’t do this anymore, I need help.” They are unleashing their pain and their suffering onto others, and that comes in the form of bullying, and for many, cyberbullying is just an anonymous way to vent and I’m sure so many of these kids do not want to see the victims of cyberbullying killing themselves or turning to drugs or doing whatever they need to do to cope, but that’s what’s happening, and it’s a vicious circle. 

Dr. Nicole Beurkens:

I think you’re so right that what we’re seeing, and the research supports this, is that kids, as they are getting into those preteen and teen years now are dealing with stresses of all kinds in bigger and bigger ways. And as you said, whether it’s parental pressures and school pressures to perform and it’s other kinds of issues, whatever it may be, I would wholeheartedly agree as a psychologist that kids who bully, that’s coming out of their own unmet needs and their own need to be heard, and unfortunately, it’s very misguided and it ends up hurting more people in the process, but we can step back and look at it and have empathy for everyone involved in these situations, right? Both the person who is experiencing the bullying, as well as the person who is doing the bullying, and we just don’t have good systems in place to address these things and to address these needs, and particularly not in a school setting. 

Sylvia Farbstein:

Absolutely. And I feel like so many parents are in competition with each other and so many times they feel like the best way to parent is for their kids to do more and have more than they had during their childhood. And that might have worked for our parents’ generation, but I think we need to break that cycle. There is more to life than getting stellar grades and going to Ivy League schools. Success is something that does not discriminate based upon your grades or whether or not you go to college. 

Dr. Nicole Beurkens:

Ah, you’re singing my song there because as a professional and a parent of four kids — but as a professional, working with so many of these young people, I love what you’re saying: There is no one narrow path. And kids come to us with all different strengths and challenges and gifts and abilities, and the path needs to be their unique path. And what’s hard as a parent is to set aside our own expectations, our own anxieties, our own whatever it is that’s causing us to say, “Oh my gosh, if you don’t continue on this particular path, life isn’t going to work out for you” — and instead, embrace that we can create a path, and our kids can create a path for themselves that uses their gifts and strengths and talents in the best way possible, no matter what the level of challenge or issues that they have, but that idea of “There are lots of paths” and I really hope that people who are listening can hear that and can hear what you’re saying about that because I think that alone would reduce the stress and the anxiety that goes on in so many families. 

Sylvia Farbstein:

Absolutely. I mean my big life lesson that I’ve learned throughout this entire journey is we need to see our kids for who they are and not the vision of who we want them to be. Many years ago, when I sat there picturing Brandon’s future, I was full of fear. And the reason I was full of fear is because I thought he needed to experience everything that I experienced, and how will he do that? Will he ever go to prom? Will he go to homecoming? Will he do this? Will he do that? Once I learned to let go of that and realized he is in charge of making those decisions and he did not want to go to prom, he didn’t want to go to homecoming, but his life has been so rich in so many other experiences that most adults don’t even have — I realized we are not there to design their life. We are there to support them, but it’s okay for them to figure it out and it’s okay for them to decide that certain things are not for them, and we as parents can’t take that personally, they are not an extension of us. 

Dr. Nicole Beurkens:

So beautifully said, and I love that really, this has continued to be your mission, not only with your own kids, but in spreading this to other people and other parents, which is really what you and Brandon now do, is go around and spread this message and this information to people all over. I want — I’d love for you to share a little bit about some of the work that you’re doing. I know Brandon’s got a wonderful book. I’m lucky enough to have a copy, it’s fantastic — tell us a little bit about the kinds of things you and Brandon are doing and where people can find out more about that. 

Sylvia Farbstein:

Absolutely. So Brandon is always having opportunities to either speak at schools or conferences or businesses and what has been amazing is that I’ve had the pleasure of managing his speaking career, so I travel with him throughout the country. What I’ve come to realize over the past year, particularly when he speaks at schools, is that administrators and parents are looking for a parent to share their experience and their insight. So I have been doing different talks and breakout sessions that involve parents and it’s been amazing because like anything else, once you start opening up, it makes it okay for others to open up. And I think there are so many of us parents that have been dealing with these challenging times in silence, and we really need to build a tribe. There’s no reason why we need to deal with all of this on our own. So it’s been an incredible opportunity to not only share our experiences, but watch the connection happen amongst parents in their school communities. 

Dr. Nicole Beurkens:

Absolutely, and what I love about what Brandon is doing, he’s really speaking to his generation, that Gen Z, so many teens and young adults we see more and more of them every week at the clinic, who just feel stuck and spinning and he has this message that really, I think resonates of, “Look! You can create something amazing for yourself”, using both his own story, but just the encouragement and I think that’s so powerful, it’s something this generation and their parents need to hear. Tell us a little bit about the book, Ten Feet Tall. 

Sylvia Farbstein:

Yeah, so Brandon wrote this book when he was 18 years old and basically, it summarizes the various experiences and life lessons that he has garnered over the years. The personal development that he and I have done individually and together has been incredible. One of the talks that he did locally here in Virginia led to someone introducing him to Tony Robbins, and we were guests of Tony’s at his Unleash the Power Within event, and just spent the three and a half days doing so much personal inward excavation that it made us realize that there’s really no teen out there that is articulating these lessons in a way that youth will listen. And it’s not just youth, he has spoken to audiences of senior citizens and they relate just as well because it’s a universal message of innovating your own solution and using what you have and not focusing on what you don’t have and those are universal truths of gratitude and human connection. Truthfully those are the things that make life experiences so much more vivid, no matter what challenges we’re dealing with.

Dr. Nicole Beurkens:

So the book can be found on Amazon and on the website? Okay, great, and what is the website that people can go to?

Sylvia Farbstein:

brandonfarbstein.com, and if they love to hangout on social media, he’s both on Facebook and Instagram, but Instagram is his preferred platform, and that is just his last name, Farbstein. He loves to add value and share content and connect. And we would love anyone reaching out because at the end of the day, all of us humans want to feel like we are here for a purpose, to impact and make a difference, and it is such an incredible gift that he and I have, to be able to connect and share a story with people like you who are also changing so many incredible lives. And I feel like the more awareness we put out there, the more connected our society can become. 

Dr. Nicole Beurkens:

Absolutely, and I highly recommend that all of you listening check out the book and the website if you have a child who is at an age that they’re old enough to be on social media, have them follow Brandon, have them check out his book, just great stuff. Sylvia, this has been such a wonderful conversation, I really, really appreciate you taking the time to share with us today. 

Sylvia Farbstein:

Thank you so much. I’m very, very appreciative of you for doing this and giving a voice to parents and practitioners who work with kids that are differently-abled and have all kinds of needs, and I know that you are a remarkable resource. 

Dr. Nicole Beurkens:

Thank you so much. And thanks to all of you for listening, we’ll catch you back here next week for our next episode of The Better Behavior show.