Neurodiversity Podcast

Why Forced Transitions Dysregulate the Autistic Brain with Pete Wharmby

When autistic kids struggle, their difficulties are often treated as behavioral non-compliance or a lack of social desire, when it's often a direct mismatch with the lear

The Myth of the Uncoachable Athlete

In competitive sports, athletes who struggle to follow plays, miss subtle social cues, or freeze during high-pressure moments are often branded as uncoachable, unmotivate

Understanding Yourself: A Process to Finding the Person Inside

Today's episode is a heartfelt conversation about the importance of helping neurodivergent children understand themselves and their brain profile, and how this understand

The Wall of Awful: Why Starting Feels Impossible

When people with ADHD struggle to start, return to, or finish a task, their inaction is frequently mislabeled as laziness, poor motivation, or chronic procrastination. In

The Asynchrony Paradox: Why Capable Kids Struggle with the Basics

When raising or teaching gifted, twice-exceptional, and differently wired children, adults often face the emotional whiplash of asynchronous development. A child might en

Neurodivergent Capacity: Why Can They Do It Sometimes But Not Every Time?

When supporting neurodivergent kids, adults often struggle to balance when to gently challenge a child and when to pull back to prevent nervous system overload. Pushing t

Learning Differences And Emotional Well-Being Aren't Separate, and Here's Why

It's easy to view academic difficulties and mental health challenges as two separate issues when a child struggles. However, the emotional toll of an unaddressed learning

The Evolution of Assessment: It's More Than Just a Score

As public understanding of neurodiversity continues to grow, evaluators face a shifting landscape when assessing clients whose traits don't match traditional, less nuance

Autistic Girls Are Going Undiagnosed or Misdiagnosed

Often, autistic girls are called shy, introverted, perfectionistic, confused, anything BUT autistic. There is a pervasive impression, even in the medical community, that

The Right to Be Heard: Reclaiming Communication Autonomy

The baseline premise of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) rests on the fundamental principle that communication is an inherent human right rather than a pr

What We're Learning About (Pervasive) Pathological Demand Avoidance

When an autistic child or teen consistently pushes back against daily expectations, traditional parenting and teaching methods often default to high-pressure enforcement.

The Parenting Long Game: Finding the Problem Under the Problem

Today we talk about how parent reactivity, historical family patterns, and systemic overwhelm inadvertently trap families in cyclical power struggles. Emily Kircher-Morri

The Rewards and Punishment Paradox with Alfie Kohn

Within traditional educational and parenting paradigms, behaviorist strategies such as token economies, behavior color charts, and positive reinforcement models are frequ

Educator Burnout: Why "Remember Your Why" Isn't Enough

The high statistical prevalence of burnout in the education system has moved past the realm of speculation and into undeniable systemic reality. While modern teacher prep

Deconstructing Gifted Burnout

When highly capable children spend years cruising through an educational system where academic rigor is geared toward the average, they fail to develop the neurological m

Waiting for Sleep: Chronobiology and Neurodivergence

When a neurodivergent child or teen struggles with daytime focus, emotional volatility, or low frustration tolerance, caregivers naturally look for behavioral or psycholo

Understanding ADHD Children

Parents often believe they know their children, when in reality they haven't made the effort to really understand them. That understanding can be even harder when adding

From Special Ed to Law School: Redefining Autistic Potential

When creating policies and environments for neurodivergent students, schools frequently rely on outward observations, behavioral data, and the opinions of non-autistic pr

The Secret Ingredients for Emotional Regulation

When a student or child is dysregulated, adults often focus entirely on finding the right words to say or the appropriate consequence to give. But what if the most critic

Beyond Motivation: Why We Struggle to Start

How often do we label someone "unmotivated" or "defiant" when they fail to start a task? What if the barrier isn't a lack of will, but an inability to simulate the future