Not everyone looks forward to Christmas – and that’s ok Not everyone says this out loud. Because they’re afraid of being judged. Afraid of what it might make people think about their child. Or about their parenting. But many neurodivergent families feel it deeply. Christmas is a time of huge expectation. It’s sold as magical, […]
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They don’t melt down. They just fade. This time of year has a way of shining a light on things we usually manage to hold together. It’s always been very clear with my PDAer when school was too much. The sensory overload – too loud, too smelly, too bright, too many unpredictable children brushing past.
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When you’re trying so hard to carry a life no one understands When I look back at the very early days of trying to get school and professionals to understand what was going on, I can can see how hard I was working just to hold everything together. I was constantly explaining, anticipating, firefighting, trying
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If you’re bracing yourself for Christmas, I get it Every year, as soon as Halloween is out of the way, I notice things start to shift in our house. Anxiety creeps up before any of the “fun” has even begun. And it’s funny, because Christmas is actually liked here. There’s excitement. There’s genuine anticipation. There’s
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When School Rewards Create More Stress Than Support This week I want to talk about something that has come up again and again in conversations with parents of PDA children – and has shown up loudly in the past few days with families I know. It’s the topic of rewards. Points. Stickers. Charts. Climbing ladders.
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The forgotten children I created a post on Facebook this week that went – I guess you’d say – viral?! At the time of writing, it’s had over 1.9k reactions, 324 comments, and 853 shares. I think that’s testament to just how strongly this hits home for so many parents in a similar situation. It’s
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The things the world never sees Over the years, I’ve met many families whose children mask. Some of their stories will stay with me forever. One mum told me her daughter was known at school as the perfect pupil – polite, kind, no trouble at all. But the moment she got home, she’d go on
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Why some of our kids are drawn to horror With Halloween just around the corner, it’s felt like the perfect time to talk about something I’ve noticed in our house lately. Halloween has always been a big favourite here – the costumes, the decorations, the excitement of it all – but this year there’s been
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Has the Hunter’s Moon thrown anyone else off balance this week? So it’s been a full moon this week – the first super moon of the year, known as the Hunter’s Moon. I wonder if you saw it? It was quite spectacular. I’m not sure about you, but I always notice that when there’s a
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The day school broke our trust I’ve seen this come up on social media recently and it dug up a particular memory for me. Even now, I still feel really deeply affected by it. It was one of the more traumatic things that happened – for both my child and me. So many parents go
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