I’m constantly hearing about great resources on this show, and I think Holly has really wonderful insights for parents of autistic children.

I just listened to 12/5/2023: 3 Reasons Neurodivergent Children DON’T Self-Advocate, and 3/12/2025: Self-Advocacy for Neurodivergent Kids: Why It Matters & How to Support It. Oh. My. Gosh!!! I need to re-listen to both, while reading the transcript, and typing notes, lol. This is giving me so many flashbacks to my childhood. And I’m worried this is why my son won’t tell me about his assignments or his feelings, or explain his OCD fears! So, I’m a neurodivergent mom. Wasn’t diagnosed with anything until age 30. Then, got my OCD diagnosis. In my 40’s, added ADHD. And around age 55, added Autism. I’m 56 now, soon to turn 57 in a few months. Each new diagnosis was an “Aha!” moment. Suddenly, a huge chunk of my childhood made so much more sense! Oh, this is why this skill wasn’t automatic! Oh, that’s why I couldn’t socially connect. Oh, that’s why I pretty much had a meltdown panic attack when I couldn’t get my brain to wrap around one chapter of my physics class! My son was diagnosed as on the Autism spectrum at age 2.5 years. In his early teens I saw symptoms of OCD, and a psychiatrist agreed. And lately I see some issues he has, like executive dysfunction, that I’ve learned are symptoms of ADHD, symptoms I’ve also seen in myself! I feel bad as I know there are times when I minimized what my son was feeling, forgetting that his feelings are valid, and I needed to acknowledge them. Saying “it will get better” or “everyone feels like that at some point” or “calm down, this isn’t that big a deal!” Yeah, for a neurodivergent mom, I sucked at raising a neurodivergent son!!! But maybe I can help him as he approaches adulthood. Thank you for your work! Happy to have you as another resource I can count on. :)

As an ADHD mom to ADHD kiddos, this podcast is so helpful!!

Love the examples and “lived experiences” offered!