TPP 507: A Conversation with Dr. Destiny Huff About Neuroaffirming Advocacy in School
Full-Tilt Parenting: Strategies, Insights, and Connection for Parents Raising Neurodivergent ChildrenShow Notes
Today we’re diving into what it really looks like to advocate for our neurodivergent kids in school in a way that’s truly aligned with who they are. My guest is Dr. Destiny Huff, a trauma therapist, advocate, and educator whose work is deeply informed by her own lived experience as a late-diagnosed autistic mother.
In our conversation, we explore the limitations and pitfalls of traditional IEP processes, what a genuinely neurodiversity-affirming approach can look like in practice, and how families can build more effective, collaborative relationships with schools. Destiny shares both big-picture reframes and practical strategies, offering a grounded, honest look at how to navigate systems that weren’t designed with our kids in mind, while still holding onto possibility and meaningful change.
About Dr. Destiny Huff
Dr. Destiny Huff, LPC, is a late-diagnosed Autistic and ADHD mental health therapist, non-attorney special education advocate, and national speaker. She is the founder of Destiny Huff Consulting, where she supports families and schools in implementing neuroaffirming practices and navigating the IEP process.
As the mother of two neurodivergent learners in public school special education, Dr. Huff brings both lived and professional experience to her work. She focuses on dismantling deficit-based narratives in education and addressing the intersection of race, disability, and trauma.
Dr. Huff has presented nationally and co-hosts The Affirming Village Podcast, where she explores advocacy, disability justice, and the realities of navigating special education systems.
Things you'll learn from this episode
How Dr. Huff’s journey from parent to advocate informs her approach to neurodiversity-affirming support
Why individualized, meaningful IEPs matter more than compliance-driven plans
How systemic barriers like underfunding and lack of training impact school support for neurodivergent students
What distinguishes traditional IEPs from neuroaffirming ones—and how that shows up in real life
How documenting data at home can strengthen advocacy for accommodations and services
Why supporting kids in understanding themselves and building self-advocacy is essential, alongside leveraging community and advocacy to create change
Resources mentioned
Neuroaffirming Advocacy: A Neuroaffirming Guide to Special Education Advocacy
Destiny Huff Consulting
Advocating for Kids, Inc. (Cheryl Poe)
Affirming Village Podcast with Lisa Baskin-Wright
Dr. Destiny Huff on Instagram
Dr. Destiny Huff on Facebook
Lisa Baskin Wright
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.