Authentically ADHD with Carmen

Where the chaos of ADHD meets self-acceptance, growth, and a whole lot of authenticity
  • 4.6 (5)
  • Mental Health
  • Updated Weekly

Hi! I'm Carmen, a late-diagnosed ADHDer, ADHD life coach, and early childhood special education teacher who wants to spread awareness, relate to other ADHDers, and have fun while talking and learning about the difficulties, awesomeness, and new research behind the neurodiverse ADHD brain. ARE YOU READY?? Let's get started! carmenauthenticallyadhd.substack.com

  1. Aug 7

    The First Bell Is a Nervous-System Event

    Back-to-school season is often presented as an exciting fresh start—but for neurodivergent children, AuDHD families, parents, and educators, the first bell can feel more like a full-body nervous-system event. In this episode of Authentically ADHD, Carmen explores how the transition back to school can affect autistic and ADHD children through sensory overload, executive dysfunction, anxiety, disrupted sleep, social demands, changing routines, and emotional dysregulation. A child may be excited about school while also feeling overwhelmed by unfamiliar teachers, noisy cafeterias, uncomfortable clothing, abrupt transitions, new expectations, and the pressure to appear calm and compliant. Carmen explains why intelligence and access are not the same thing, why children may successfully complete a task one day but struggle with it the next, and why behavior that looks like defiance, refusal, or attention-seeking may actually be communication from an overloaded nervous system. Listeners will learn the RAMP framework for supporting neurodivergent students: * Reduce uncertainty * Adjust the demand * Make support visible * Plan for recovery The episode includes realistic back-to-school examples, practical classroom accommodations, sensory regulation strategies, visual supports, transition tools, after-school decompression ideas, and communication scripts for parents, teachers, paraprofessionals, and school administrators. It also addresses autistic masking, after-school restraint collapse, school refusal, sensory processing differences, working-memory overload, emotional regulation, teacher burnout, parent-school communication, and the importance of repairing with children when adults misunderstand their behavior. Because a successful school year is not one where a neurodivergent child causes the least disruption. It is one where the child feels safe, supported, understood, and able to learn without abandoning themselves. Children should not have to fall apart before adults believe that something is difficult. They should not have to hide their disability, suppress their sensory needs, or perform calmness to earn belonging. Sometimes the child does not need another consequence, sticker chart, or lecture about making good choices. Sometimes they need adults willing to get curious, reduce the barriers, and build the damn ramp. Thank you for tuning in! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit carmenauthenticallyadhd.substack.com/subscribe

  2. Aug 1

    Priory? I Barely Know Her

    Why can an AuDHD brain create an elaborate plan, color-code the entire week, and still have absolutely no idea what to do first? In this episode of Authentically ADHD, Carmen explores the complicated relationship between AuDHD, executive dysfunction, planning, and prioritizing. For adults with both autism and ADHD, planning is rarely as simple as “make a list” or “choose what is most important.” ADHD may crave novelty, urgency, interest, and immediate rewards, while the autistic brain may need structure, predictability, clarity, and enough time to prepare. The result can feel like two nervous systems arguing over the same calendar while your laundry quietly becomes sentient. Using research and neuroscience, this episode explains how working memory challenges, time blindness, task initiation difficulties, cognitive flexibility, sensory overload, emotional regulation, and nervous-system capacity can make everyday planning feel overwhelming. Carmen also breaks down why AuDHD adults may understand exactly what needs to happen but still struggle to organize the steps, choose a priority, transition into action, or recover when the original plan changes. You’ll hear relatable real-life examples, including productive side quests that replace the actual priority, appointments that trigger all-day waiting mode, and perfectly organized schedules that collapse after one small interruption. Most importantly, this episode offers four realistic, neurodivergent-friendly planning strategies: choosing one anchor task, one maintenance task, and one bonus task; turning vague goals into visible next actions; planning around energy, sensory load, and transition costs; and using external supports such as timers, visual reminders, checklists, and body doubling. This episode is for late-diagnosed AuDHD adults, autistic adults with ADHD, neurodivergent people struggling with productivity, and anyone tired of being told that a planner will magically fix their brain. You are not lazy, careless, or failing adulthood. Your brain may simply need planning systems built around its actual wiring—not systems designed for a fictional person with unlimited energy, perfect time awareness, and matching storage containers. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit carmenauthenticallyadhd.substack.com/subscribe

  3. Jul 27

    Your Student Isn’t Refusing to Learn—Their Brain Is Busy Surviving the Classroom

    Neurodivergent students can know the answer, understand the lesson, and still be unable to access learning in a classroom that feels loud, unpredictable, overwhelming, or emotionally unsafe In this episode of Authentically ADHD, Carmen explores what autistic, ADHD, and AuDHD students may need before their brains can fully engage with instruction. We break down the neuroscience behind sensory overload, working-memory challenges, stress responses, executive dysfunction, and co-regulation—and why behaviors that look like avoidance, laziness, defiance, or inattention are often signs that a student’s nervous system is working overtime. You’ll learn practical ways to create more accessible learning environments through visual supports, predictable routines, movement, sensory accommodations, meaningful choices, smaller task-entry points, and connection before correction. Because support is not coddling. Regulation is not the same as compliance. And a student should not have to prove they can survive the classroom before they are allowed to learn in it. Thank you for tuning in! Follow me! This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Guide for Parents and Teachers The Ready To Learn Guide For ND Students First we reframe the behavior, then check access barriers, then build supports, scripts, and a one-week action plan. It includes: * A ready-to-learn access ladder * Behavior-reframing chart * Sensory and environmental access scan * Predictability and transition planner * Working-memory and task-entry supports * Movement, choice, and flexible participation tools * Co-regulation scripts * A response plan for overload, shutdowns, or escalation * Home-school communication tracker * One-page student learning access profile * Seven-day support experiment * Quick-reference page for adults * Research and resource notes The strategies are grounded in current classroom accommodation guidance, Universal Design for Learning, executive-function and stress-response science, co-regulation research, and studies examining sensory access in autistic students. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit carmenauthenticallyadhd.substack.com/subscribe

  4. Jul 25

    The AuDHD Freeze Response

    Why can you care deeply about a task, fully understand what needs to be done, and still feel physically unable to begin? In this episode of Authentically ADHD, Carmen explores the AuDHD freeze response—the frustrating gap between intention and action shaped by task-initiation struggles, autistic inertia, cognitive disengagement, transition friction, overwhelm, and nervous-system protection. We break down why this is not laziness, defiance, or a lack of discipline, and why shame often makes the freeze even worse. You’ll learn how to identify what kind of “stuck” you are experiencing, reduce invisible steps, create gentler transition ramps, use body doubling and external cues, and choose a first step small enough to actually access. Because sometimes your brain is not refusing to cross the bridge. The bridge simply has no ramp, no lighting, no signs, and one deeply unqualified raccoon in a hard hat yelling, “Figure it out.” This episode is for every AuDHDer who has ever spent an hour thinking about standing up—and then blamed themselves for still sitting. Research and Show-Notes References * Buckle, K. L., Leadbitter, K., Poliakoff, E., & Gowen, E. First-Hand Accounts of Autistic Inertia. Frontiers in Psychology, 2021. * Rapaport, H. et al. “I live in extremes”: A qualitative investigation of autistic adults’ experiences of inertia. Autism, 2023/2024. * Lage, C., Smith, E. S., & Lawson, R. P. A meta-analysis of cognitive flexibility in autism spectrum disorder. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 2024. * Hoofs, V. et al. Task switching in autism: An EEG study on intentions and actions. Neuropsychologia, 2018. * Willcutt, E. G. et al. Validity of the executive function theory of ADHD: A meta-analytic review. Biological Psychiatry, 2005. * Diamond, A. Executive Functions. Annual Review of Psychology, 2013. * Becker, S. P. et al. Cognitive Disengagement Syndrome–Clinical Interview. 2024. * Yücens, B. et al. Examining cognitive disengagement syndrome in an adult ADHD evaluation sample. 2024. * Roelofs, K. Freeze for action: Neurobiological mechanisms in animal and human freezing. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 2017. * Arnsten, A. F. T. Stress signalling pathways that impair prefrontal cortex structure and function. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 2009. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit carmenauthenticallyadhd.substack.com/subscribe

  5. 3d ago

    My Brain Has Plenty of Goals—It Just Misplaced the “Go” Button

    Why can an AuDHD brain write an entire podcast episode, reorganize a whole room, or research a random topic for three hours—but still feel physically unable to answer one email or move the laundry? In this episode of Authentically ADHD, Carmen breaks down the neuroscience of dopamine, reward anticipation, effort, executive function, and motivation variability in ADHD and AuDHD. We explore why dopamine is not simply the brain’s “happy chemical,” why delayed rewards often fail to create enough momentum, and how urgency, novelty, interest, pressure, sensory needs, and emotional meaning can dramatically change our ability to begin. This episode also examines the uniquely chaotic experience of AuDHD motivation—when the ADHD brain wants stimulation and novelty while the autistic nervous system craves predictability, safety, and time to transition. Through relatable examples involving dishes, emails, appointments, hyperfocus, and the emotional betrayal of a “good executive function day,” Carmen explains why caring deeply does not always translate into immediate action. Most importantly, this episode challenges the shame-based belief that inconsistent motivation means laziness, immaturity, or a lack of discipline. Your unfinished tasks are not evidence against your character. Your brain may need clearer steps, faster rewards, lower sensory friction, external support, medication, rest, or a deadline that has finally grown teeth. You are not broken. Your internal project manager is simply a dopamine-dependent raccoon with no formal qualifications. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit carmenauthenticallyadhd.substack.com/subscribe

  6. Jul 18

    Why Does My Brain Have 47 Tabs Open and None of Them Are Loading?

    In this episode of Authentically ADHD, Carmen explores why AuDHD brains can feel like they have 47 tabs open and none of them are loading. We break down the overlap between ADHD executive dysfunction and autistic overload, including sensory processing, decision fatigue, transitions, emotional regulation, and nervous system shutdown. This episode explains why overload is not laziness or drama — it is often a bandwidth issue. With research-backed neuroscience, real-life examples, dark humor, and practical tools, you’ll learn how to reduce input, shrink tasks, use scripts, create transition handrails, and support your brain when everything feels like too much and nothing is moving. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit carmenauthenticallyadhd.substack.com/subscribe

  7. Jul 6

    Still Exhausted After Rest?

    In this episode of Authentically ADHD, Carmen breaks down why AuDHD recovery is so much deeper than simply lying down, sleeping, or taking a “lazy day.” For autistic ADHD brains, exhaustion is often not just physical — it can be sensory, cognitive, emotional, social, demand-based, transition-based, or masking-related. Still Exhausted After Rest: Why AuDHD Recovery Is Not Just Lying Down explores the frustrating experience of resting all weekend and still feeling like your brain is wet cement and your nervous system is running on 3%. Carmen explains how burnout, sensory overload, executive dysfunction, transitions, masking, guilt, and chronic stress can keep the body stuck in survival mode even when we look like we’re “doing nothing.” With research-informed insight, dark humor, and lived experience, this episode helps listeners name what kind of tired they actually are and choose recovery that matches the real load they’re carrying. Carmen offers practical tools like identifying your exhaustion type, creating a decompression bridge, building a recovery menu, reducing sensory input, lowering demands, and using scripts for boundaries, cancellations, guilt, and overstimulation. This episode is a compassionate reminder that AuDHD recovery is not laziness, weakness, or drama. It is an access need. You are not failing to recharge — you may simply need safer conditions, fewer demands, less input, and more honest support. Because collapse is not the same thing as rest. And lying down while your nervous system is still sprinting through a haunted corn maze? That’s not recovery, babe. That’s burnout in pajamas. Thank you for tuning in! Thanks for reading! This post is public so feel free to share it. This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit carmenauthenticallyadhd.substack.com/subscribe

  8. Jul 2

    Live Recording Replay - AuDHD with Carmen

    Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app. Tom Owens I did answer the question you left on my post! In this episode of Authentically ADHD, Carmen turns a Substack Live AuDHD Ask Me Anything into a clear, compassionate, and deeply relatable conversation about what it actually means to be both autistic and ADHD. This episode breaks down the biggest questions people have about AuDHD, including how autism and ADHD can coexist, why the traits can feel so contradictory, why routines help but also feel impossible, and how executive dysfunction, sensory overload, masking, burnout, emotional intensity, transitions, and social exhaustion show up in real life. Carmen explains AuDHD in a way that is research-informed but actually human — because nobody needs another cold clinical checklist when they are trying to understand why their brain wants structure, novelty, silence, stimulation, connection, and isolation all in the same afternoon. Whether you are newly diagnosed, self-identifying, late-realizing, supporting someone you love, or just trying to understand why “simple tasks” are not simple for neurodivergent brains, this episode offers validation, language, and practical insight. It is part education, part nervous system hug, and part “oh my god, I thought this was just me.” You are not broken. You are not lazy. You are not too sensitive. Your brain has layers — and bestie, we are finally naming them. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit carmenauthenticallyadhd.substack.com/subscribe

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4.6
out of 5
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About

Hi! I'm Carmen, a late-diagnosed ADHDer, ADHD life coach, and early childhood special education teacher who wants to spread awareness, relate to other ADHDers, and have fun while talking and learning about the difficulties, awesomeness, and new research behind the neurodiverse ADHD brain. ARE YOU READY?? Let's get started! carmenauthenticallyadhd.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    Where the chaos of ADHD meets self-acceptance, growth, and a whole lot of authenticity
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    253
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Carmen Irace
  • Show Website
    Authentically ADHD with Carmen

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