TPP 514: An Introduction to Neurodiversity-Affirming OT, with Dr. Bryden Carlson-Giving
Full-Tilt Parenting: Strategies, Insights, and Connection for Parents Raising Neurodivergent ChildrenShow Notes
Today, I’m joined by Bryden Carlson-Giving, an occupational therapy practitioner and the creator of the EMPOWER model, the first neurodiversity-affirming OT framework. Bryden is both neurodivergent and disabled himself, and his work focuses on helping practitioners challenge ableism and create more supportive, affirming environments for neurodivergent individuals.
In our conversation, Bryden walks us through the EMPOWER model and what it looks like in practice, especially when it comes to evaluations, goal-setting, and therapy approaches. We talk about how ableism can show up in subtle and systemic ways, and what it means to truly shift toward inclusive, affirming care. This is a thoughtful, important conversation about reimagining support — not just in therapy, but across education and systems more broadly.
About Bryden Carlson-Giving
Bryden Carlson-Giving, OTD, OTR/L is a neurodivergent and disabled occupational therapy practitioner (OTP) with experience in pediatric outpatient, inpatient, and school-based settings. Bryden earned his post-professional doctorate from Boston University, where his research focused on creating a toolkit to support OTPs in challenging ableism within the OT profession. This work led to the development of the first neurodiversity-affirming occupational therapy model, the EMPOWER model. He received the 2024 Emerging Leader Award from Boston University, and is the editor of the first neurodiversity-focused occupational therapy book, titled Neurodiversity-Affirming Occupational Therapy: Empowering Approaches to Foster Neurodivergent Participation.
Things you'll learn from this episode
How Bryden’s journey into occupational therapy led to creating a neurodiversity-affirming toolkit
Why the Empower model centers strengths-based practice, anti-racism, disability justice, and trauma-informed care
How inclusive evaluations can look in practice, especially within school-based systems
Why implementing neurodiversity-affirming approaches in bureaucratic settings comes with both challenges and opportunities
How ongoing self-reflection and unpacking internalized ableism are essential for practitioners
How parents, educators, and therapists can take practical steps to amplify neurodiversity-affirming work
Resources mentioned
Neuridivergent Nexus (Bryden’s website)
Neurodiversity-Affirming Occupational Therapy: Empowering Approaches to Foster Neurodivergent Participation edited by Dr. Bryden Carlson-Giving
Bryon Carlson-Giving on Instagram
Activist Emily Ladau on Demystifying Disability (Tilt Parenting podcast)
Kassiane Asasumasu (coined the term neurodivergence)
Dr. Destiny Huff on Neurodiversity-Affirming Advocacy in School (Tilt Parenting podcast)
Dr. Jade Rivera and Strength-Based Assessments (Tilt Parenting podcast)
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
More from Full-Tilt Parenting: Strategies, Insights, and Connection for Parents Raising Neurodivergent Children
Journalist and author Jessica Slice comes back to the show to share her family’s experience with PANS, or pediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome, which began when her daughter experienced a sudden and severe change in behavior and functioning following a viral illness. Jessica recently shared her story in a viral article in New York Magazine, and today she takes us deep into what happened to her daughter, the medical dismissal her family encountered, and the long path toward getting a diagnosis and treatment. We also dig into why PANS and PANDAS remain controversial, what researchers believe may be happening in the brain, and what Jessica learned through both her family’s experience and her reporting. And importantly, we talk about what parents can do if their child experiences a sudden, dramatic onset of symptoms that they suspect could be PANS or PANDAS, including where to begin and how to advocate for care.
Beth Gellman-Beer spent her whole career fighting for kids with disabilities — first as a student written off as “lazy,” then as a federal civil rights attorney who found her dream job protecting students like her younger self. But on one ordinary night, a phone call changed everything: Her entire office had been eliminated.
Psychologist, speaker, and author Dr. Mona Delahooke talks about her new book Brain-Body Parenting, and the power in understanding and responding to children's complicated behavior as a symptom rather than a problem.
Today I’m welcoming Amanda Diekman back to the show to talk about her new book, The Parents Handbook for Kids in Burnout: A Low Demand Approach to Healing and Thriving, and what parents need to understand when their child is experiencing burnout. Amanda will explain what burnout actually is, how it can show up differently across childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood, and why it’s so often mistaken for anxiety or depression. We talk about the signs parents may miss, what’s happening beneath the surface when a child can no longer meet the demands of everyday life, and how a low demand approach can create the conditions for healing. And importantly, Amanda shares what recovery can look like, how parents can support their child without inadvertently adding more pressure, and why healing from burnout requires us to rethink our expectations, timelines, and ideas about progress.
Dr. Lori Desautels (author, Connections over Compliance: Rewiring our Perceptions of Discipline) helps educators, parents, and adults who work with children shift the way they think about discipline by reaching for sustainable behavioral changes through brain state awareness rather than compliance and obedience. She’s actively pushing back against reactive and punitive practices that can potentially reactivate the developing stress response systems of children, and is advocating for stronger co-regulation practices and regulated brain and body states for adults.