Specialized support for parents of neurodivergent children and teens in autistic burnout recovery
For many parents of neurodivergent children, bedtime is one of the hardest and most stressful times of the day. If this is true for you and your family, you’re not alone, as many neurodivergent individuals find sleep challenging. In this episode, I chat with Laura Hellfeld, neurodivergent nurse and sleep consultant. Here are some of […] Read more…
Today, I am joined by Elen Nathan from The Playful Place to give us insight into ARFID (Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder). Here is what we chatted about: What is ARFID? What causes ARFID and how can we know if our child (or we) are affected by ARFID? What can we do as parents to […] Read more…
In this solo episode, I talk about a topic that is often shut down in parenting communities. The topic of experiencing grief for various aspects of our parenting journey. In our Instagram society, where we just see the highlights, the happy moments the joyful moments of parenting we can feel ‘wrong’, ‘broken’ and isolated because […] Read more…
Today on the show I chat with Kate Kleinau, who you may know from her Facebook and Instagram accounts as Raising PDA Kids. In this episode, Kate and I chat about: How her son’s autistic burnout in his early childhood years led her to discover that he was PDA. The things she and her husband […] Read more…
Today on the show we chat with Pip Brun, a neurodivergent human, a mum of 6 and a passionate advocate for the rights of disabled people. Pip is a passionate member of the Enabling Good Lives mid-central leadership group in New Zealand. In this episode, we chat about: Additional information and resources for the Enabling […] Read more…
Today I am joined by occupational therapist and sensory integration practitioner, Elen Nathan. In this episode: To get your free sensory system screening tools: https://sensationalbrain.com/free-resources You can connect with Elen Nathan here: Website: https://theplayfulplace.co.nz/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThePlayfulPlace Click here to find out more about the Neurodivergent Family Toolbox If you would like to join the conversation […] Read more…
A mum in my newsletter community recently reached out to me for advice with parenting her neurodivergent teen soon-to-be young adult. She shared that her autistic daughter was in her last year of high school and was contemplating going to university next year (college for those of you in the USA).
The mother asked me if our family could record an episode of our family podcast sharing the things, we did to prepare our eldest child and ourselves in the year leading up to them leaving home and moving away for university.
I read the email four times.
I reflected on her words and contemplated what the episode would look like. I thought about all its benefits… And then I remembered what actually happened in the year leading up to them leaving home.
I arrived at the conclusion, that in all honesty, this was something I unfortunately could not do. Read more…
Many parents whom I work with struggle with getting on the same page with and nurturing their relationship with their partner while co-parenting their neurodivergent children.
Parenting is one of the hardest and most complex jobs we will ever do as a person. We are literally responsible for taking care of and shaping the life of another human being. The pressure to get it right can feel intense!
A person would think with such high stakes and the momentous importance of the task at hand we would receive intensive training to match the significance of the job. However, that is sadly not the case. Many of us stumble into parenting having learned more about the mechanisms of giving birth than what it takes to raise a child.
In this blog I share some of the things my husband and Wayne, and I did to keep our marriage together while raising our three neurodivergent kids. Read more…
Autistic burnout is a very real and serious condition that can affect all autistic children, teenagers and adults. This chronic condition can cause extreme exhaustion, loss of executive functioning and social skills and an increased risk for depression, anxiety, self-harm and suicidal ideation.
All autistic people are at risk for developing autistic burnout (even little children). However, the risk of developing autistic burnout is increased significantly if you are undiagnosed and or in the adolescent years or the transition years between teenager and young adult.
This blog explores what autistic burnout is and how you can protect your autistic child or teen’s mental and emotional wellbeing.
Read more…
Rejection sensitivity dysphoria (RSD) is when you experience severe emotional pain because of failure or feeling rejected.
RSD is linked to ADHD, Autism, BPD and CPTSD and experts suspect it happens due to differences in brain structure. These differences mean your brain can’t regulate rejection-related emotions and behaviours, making them much more intense.
For a person who experiences RSD, their brain is wired to interpret neutral events/feedback as negative, and their brain is wired to discount positive events/feedback and their brain is wired to amplify the negative events/feedback. Read more…