The Profound Parent Podcast - with Dr. Dana Johnson

The Profound Parent Podcast Parenting a child with profound autism and complex support needs requires a depth of knowledge, courage, and advocacy that few people truly understand. The Profound Parent Podcast is for parents raising children with high support needs—including nonspeaking or unreliably speaking children—and navigating a world that doesn't always know how to see the whole person. A Profound Parent isn't defined by a diagnosis. They're defined by the depth of knowledge, resilience, and fierce advocacy they develop along the way. This podcast explores what it really means to raise a child with profound autism, complex support needs, and significant communication challenges while holding two truths at once: a child can have profound, lifelong support needs and be thoughtful, intelligent, curious, and capable of learning. Difficulty demonstrating ability is not the same as an absence of ability. Each episode brings you real stories, practical tools, honest conversations, and mindset shifts for navigating communication, advocacy, education, AAC, daily life, and the complicated realities of high-support-needs parenting. We talk about what it means to presume competence, support communication, understand behavior, and advocate fiercely—even when the world underestimates your child. Because understanding profound support needs should never mean underestimating the person. The Profound Parent Podcast: Understanding profound needs without underestimating the person.