Complicated Kids

Angela O'Brien and I sat down to discuss the ways in which her complicated kids have changed her life. From a challenging toddlerhood with her first child, to her second child's unexpected Down Syndrome diagnosis, Angela helps put it all into perspective, having survived and thrived, along with her children.    We talk about the moment she realized that she needed to really start listening to what...

Complicated Kids can sometimes struggle with constipation -- even if they're pooping every day! Join me and Dr. Kiley Gibbs, pelvic floor physical therapist, as we investigate some of the reasons kids become constipated and how to help them.   Visit www.kcgpediatricpt.com to find out more about Kiley and her practice.

Join Scot Marken and me to talk about post high-school placements for neurodivergent kids. There are more and more opportunities for college-bound ND teens, as well as more and more supports for students who need them.   We'll talk about some of these programs as well as mental health conditions and supports that are available beyond high school. Becoming responsible for their own medication, beco...

Cai Graham joined me today from the UK to talk about anxiety in teens (and parents). Trained as a coach and NLP practitioner, Cai's approach is practical, forward-looking and simple (though not always easy). Her no-nonsense way will have you leaning in for more all the way through this episode. Stay tuned till the end for an elegant and neuroscience-based way of dealing with anxiety!    To find ou...

Argavan Nilforoush, Pediatric Registered Dietician and Founder and CEO of Baby Steps Nutrition, talks to us about nutrition and kids today.   Argavan describes how the principles of nutrition are applied differently in children vs. adults. We chat about the brain - gut connection, her process in interpreting the data she collects, the emotional aspects of working with parents, and how the gut can...

Author and child psychologist, Dr. Daniela Owen, joined me today to talk about her children's book, Right Now I am Fine. Developed during the pandemic, this book, and the others in the series, embeds emotional processing skills and strategies that parents and caregivers can use in the moment when children are experiencing difficult emotions. Join me for this dynamic conversation about validation,...

Join Jen and me as we discuss her parenting journey from awareness to worry, to diagnosis, to the continued ups and downs of raising her wonderful, ebullient, loud and loving autistic child. We touch on the initial shock she felt when getting the diagnosis, what she finds are the most effective ways to help herself, coregulation, and lots more.   Find out more about Jen and the Raising Orchid Kids...

Join psychotherapist Jennifer Glacel and me for a lively discussion on ableism, neurodiversity, autistic nervous systems, and so much else! This was a wide-ranging conversation that got me thinking, as I hope it will get you thinking as well.   To find out more about the great work Jennifer is doing to empower neurodivergent individuals, visit https://www.wing-dmv.com . To find out more about Jenn...

As Dr. Ortiz writes in his New York Times piece , it turns out that experiencing independence can do as good a job as exposure therapy for anxious kids.   Dr. Camilo Ortiz is a clinical psychologist and a professor of clinical psychology at Long Island University. He currently specializes in anxiety and parenting.   Join us for this fascinating conversation.   To learn more about Dr. Ortiz, visit...

In this week's interview, we're talking about the choreography of parenting through attunement and attachment with the amazing Judith Wides. When it goes well, the dance of parent-child interaction is fun and easy. But for some parents and kids, that dance can be full of missteps. Join us as Judith shines light on how to help parents form unbreakable bonds and open to their children's needs.   To...

Kelley Coleman knew that raising kids would be challenging, but she wasn't prepared for all the things she would need to learn, all the people she would need to find and all the skills she would need to acquire when her second son was born with multiple disabilities. With humor and directness, Kelley has written the book she wished had existed when her son was born, and outlined what parents of co...

Jason DellaValle - creator of Live Action Fitness - is not your average fitness instructor. He's not even your average adaptive fitness instructor. Jason has developed an inclusive program for kids 10 and up that brings gaming, motivation, executive functioning and social learning into an environment where Complicated Kids are happy to work out and make progress on their fitness goals. What?!   Jo...

Moms in Motion is a fabulous Virginia-based organization that I was delighted to discover recently. Anna Thomas joins me to talk all things Virginia Medicaid Waiver, including: how people qualify (spoiler alert: the waiver is based on the income of the person with the disability!); what services are offered by Moms in Motion; and how to access them. You won't want to miss this conversation about a...

This week I am joined by Whitney Ortiz of Eliana's Light, an organization that focuses on providing the care needed for whole families who have a family member with a serious or life threatening medical complexities.   In this powerful interview, Whitney and I talk about her story of the struggles that her and her family experienced while caring for Eliana through her heart condition. Whitney shar...

Is mouth breathing just annoying or can it massively affect your health? Speech Language Pathologist and myofunctional expert Dr. Dawn Moore joins me to talk about the importance of nose breathing and how it influences many aspects of our lives. We talk about Dr. Moore's personal and professional experiences with tongue thrusts, how the size and shape of human faces is changing (and not for the be...

When the family of a child with disabilities or delays gets support alongside that child, they all thrive. CEO and Founder of Grounded Learning, Martha Hoffman joins me to discuss the importance of a whole family approach to therapy and support. Martha is a long time educator who stresses the importance of prioritizing the needs of each, individual family member in order to help deal with the uniq...

As a teen, Jerry Bures had a conflicted relationship with his authoritarian father. So, he decided that when he had children, he would be a different kind of parent to his 6 children (including one with severe and complex medical needs). It sounded simple enough, but it isn't an easy journey. Join us for this conversation about Crisis Parenting, parenting complicated kids, balancing sibling relati...

Who is forgiveness for? Whom do we need to forgive? And Why? Dr. Layla Salek is a psychologist who works with families of children with developmental disabilities. Those are some of the questions that we talked about in a conversation about growing up with and then treating kids with trauma, as well as lessons learned from those experiences.   To find out more about Dr. Salek, visit her website at...

Pathological Demand Avoidance or Pervasive Drive for Autonomy -- what is PDA? Join me and Casey Ehrlich, of At Peace Parents, to unpack the acronyms and what they mean. We'll talk about kids' nervous systems and the high levels of stress that kids with an ASD (autism spectrum disorder) PDA profile have. We'll make sense of their behavior and discuss some "bad parenting" techniques to make things s...

This week's episode of the Complicated Kids Podcast features fellow SLP, Ayurvedic health counselor and founder of Evolved Therapy, Erin Browning. Erin shares with us her extensive experience and innovative approach to therapy. We talk about how traditional education in speech and language therapy often focuses narrowly on specific aspects without considering the broader context of a person's need...

I was delighted to be joined by Ayelet Marinovich, founder of Learn with Less. We covered a RANGE of topics, including how becoming parents changed the way we think about our roles, how Ayelet leveraged her need for connection as a new mom into the programs she now runs for families and facilitators, how all of child development is interrelated, and how toys are OPTIONAL. As we gear up for the hol...

Ron Shuali came on the podcast to not only inform with his knowledge of child development and education but also to entertain and delight with his "neurohacks" for staying calm and his larger-than-life persona. Suffice it to say that we both had a blast recording this episode. We hope you have a blast listening to it: there are so many nuggets!   To find out more about Ron and how you can get him...

What are Emotional Support Parents? Well, they are NOT Helicopter Parents or pushovers or permissive parents. They ARE parents who are highly attuned to the needs of their highly sensitive (often anxious) children. Being an ESP is often necessary (because the child in question has a lot of emotional needs) but also exhausting for parents. Join us to talk about Emotional Support Parents and how par...

Dr. Taylor Day is a child psychologist in private practice who is thinking about autism a little differently from many others in the field. She and I sat down to discuss how to support all the family members, not just the autistic ones; why early intervention and early diagnosis is so important, and how an autism diagnosis can be made as early as 14 months.   (DON'T WAIT!) We talk about "Mommy Gut...

Kelly Mahler is an occupational therapist who specializes in interoception, and I was so happy to have recorded this interview with her.    Kelly sheds light on how interoception, the awareness of our internal body signals, significantly impacts children's (and adults'!) emotional well-being. Discover how interoception is distinct from other sensory processes and how it influences so many aspects...