Everyone Gets a Juice Box: For Parents of Neurodivergent Kids

I disciplined my ADHD daughter all wrong. This saved our relationship.

Psychotherapist and ADHD expert Merriam Saunders spent years locked in daily battles with her strong-willed daughter. No form of discipline worked. Then one ordinary blow

School refusal: Strategies for getting your child back in the building

Jessica is off this week, but we didn’t want to leave you without something great to listen to. So, in honor of back-to-school, we’re sharing an episode about school refu

Why I stopped hiding my kid’s neurodivergence

For years, Margaret Ables believed the kindest thing she could do for her autistic child was to help them blend in. Then a single article reframed everything she thought

Guiding a neurodivergent kid through grief (by breaking all the rules)

Alynda Wheat Savage and her husband Dave were never big rule followers. They brought that punk rock spirit to parenting their son, Jack, who is neurodivergent. So when Da

No dyslexia tutors, so this mom became one

Melena Blanton is a clinical psychologist and mom of two neurodivergent kids in Eastern Kentucky. She’s had to fight through lack of resources and small town prejudice to

Hyperfocus: PMDD: Why women with ADHD are 4x more likely to struggle

In this episode of our sister show Hyperfocus, listener Jenna Plonsky opens a raw conversation about ADHD, late diagnosis, and the mental health struggles many women face

How neurodivergent kids helped build a better children’s museum

Rainy Saturdays just got a whole lot better. Leslie Bushara, chief program officer of the Children’s Museum of Manhattan, reveals how she’s taking notes from neurodiverge

First-gen parents, neurodivergent kids, and redefining excellence

Alison Cho grew up in a tight-knit Korean American family where Harvard and medical school weren’t just dreams, they were expectations. Alison had undiagnosed ADHD and au

We didn’t know we had ADHD. Then motherhood hit.

Two experts in ADHD went decades without realizing they had it themselves. Katie Severson, a speech pathologist, and Lori Long, a child psychologist, co-run The Childhood

I’m an ADHD expert. My kid still can’t get help.

Rae Jacobson has spent her career covering ADHD and neurodivergence. She hosts the Hyperfocus podcast and helps lead Understood’s editorial team. But even with all that k

The hidden grief of parenting a neurodivergent kid

Brittney Crabtree, mom of four and co-host of the Moms Talk Autism podcast, gets refreshingly honest about what she calls “grieving the gap.” That’s the particular sadnes

Debbie Reber on homeschooling a neurodivergent kid

Debbie Reber tried everything to make traditional schools work for her neurodivergent kid. Three schools. An IEP. Therapists. OTs. Educational consultants. But homeschool

Parenting with ADHD: Balancing chaos and consistency

Parenting is hard. But parenting with ADHD adds a whole new layer of complexity.  In this episode, journalist and documentarian Danielle Elliot shares her experience as

Math mystery: How we discovered my daughter has dyscalculia

Laura Jackson thought her daughter’s struggles with math were just a normal part of school — until tears, anxiety, and frustration revealed something more. After a long

The myth of work-life balance with a neurodivergent child

Laura Mayer opens up about the challenges of balancing an ambitious career with the nagging feeling that she needed more space for her neurodivergent daughter.  She shar

Parenting regrets and giving yourself grace after an ADHD and autism diagnoses

After ADHD and autism diagnoses reshaped his family, Dion Chavis began looking back at how he parented his teenage daughter — and forward at how he’s raising his young so

Advocating for your child when school systems won’t bend

Our episode today starts with that call from school every parent dreads… Jessica talks with mom and education advocate Tricia McGhee after a classroom discipline inciden

When “fine” isn’t fine: A dyslexia story every parent should hear

Some kids don’t fall apart in public. They save it for home — because it’s the one place they feel safe enough to let go. When teachers and professionals say a child is “

Meltdowns, mysteries, and multiple diagnoses

Parenting can feel like a detective mission, especially when your kid has more than one diagnosis. Mom (and yes, a very insightful therapist) Camila de Onis shares her s

Mom rage: Overwhelm and burnout don’t make you a bad parent

Most of us have been there. Your kids are full tilt. You’re overstimulated, overbooked, and running on empty. Losing it happens — and so do the guilt and shame that follo