Building a Sustainable New Year for Your Neurodivergent Family | Ep. 146
Autistic and ADHD Kids Parenting Strategies: Every Brain is DifferentShow Notes
In this final episode of the year, Samantha and Lauren discuss the societal pressures of New Year's resolutions and advocate for a more realistic approach, especially for neurodivergent individuals and parents of neurodivergent children.
They highlight the overwhelming nature of setting too many goals and emphasize the importance of focusing on one or two manageable objectives at a time to avoid burnout and shame.
They also stress the importance of self-compassion and creating a supportive environment for personal growth and effective parenting.
More from Autistic and ADHD Kids Parenting Strategies: Every Brain is Different
Samantha and Lauren discuss why children may struggle with tasks they seemed able to do the day before (like getting dressed, brushing teeth, or doing homework) and how parents can respond without assuming laziness or defiance.
Samantha and Lauren discuss Samantha’s son’s years-long struggle with chronic, debilitating pain (legs, back, migraines) and how a pain clinic evaluation led to a new explanation: sensory processing disorder with heightened interoception. After extensive normal test results, a multidisciplinary team suggested his internal body-signal sense may be “turned up,” intensifying pain perception.
Samantha and Lauren interview Susan Minor, a certified relationship coach trained in the Laura Doyle method, about rebuilding connection in marriage, especially for parents under the stress of raising neurodivergent children.
Samantha and Lauren interview Dalisse, an autistic author and mom of two autistic boys, living in Barcelona, Spain, who wrote the five-book Loving Pieces series. Dalisse shares her family’s journey since her oldest son's diagnosis at 17 months, discussing early challenges such as meltdowns, guilt, grief, and uncertainty, and advises parents to give themselves time, take things one day at a time, and not treat bleak predictions as fixed outcomes.
Samantha and Lauren discuss out-of-the-box ways to teach neurodivergent kids kitchen skills. They share practical strategies to include kids without overwhelm by breaking cooking into clear steps, assigning specific tasks, and using visuals, play kitchens, and practice activities like pouring between measuring cups or “mud pie” measuring. They cover progressive knife and cutting practice with kid-safe tools, softer foods, and Play-Doh, while emphasizing safety routines.