Exploring Neurodiversity with Adina Levy from Play. Learn. Chat

In this episode, I had the joy of chatting with Dr. Katherine Sanchez, a speech pathologist, science communicator, and lecturer. We talk about the nuances and complexities of what 'evidence-based practice' really is, including the importance of integrating lived experience into clinical decisions, how to assess research critically, and tools to facilitate evidence-based practices. And we go there…...

In this episode I examine the question: Is a Neurodiversity Affirming approach to behaviour support a permissive approach? We talk about whether 'permissive' is a bad word, saying yes before saving no, boundaries, and I share examples of different approaches to supporting behaviour.   LINKS Grab you FREE CHEATSHEET: Neurodiversity Affirming Approaches to Supporting Behaviour - https://playlearncha...

In today's episode, I'm keeping it short and sweet. I'm going to share eight of my biggest hopes for the kids, today and tomorrow. I'll also share a few wonderful hopes that some beautiful folks shared on Instagram. I have such desire to go deep into commenting further on each one of these hopes. Into the practical, how we get there, but I'm going to leave that for myself in future episodes. I thi...

In today's episode, I'm going to run you through five simple shifts that you can make to take your practices from what we might call old ways towards a truly neurodiversity affirming approach. We're going to cover interest based learning, accepting old play as valid, understanding and honoring sensory challenges or differences, whether we should be teaching children to learn flexibility or not, an...

In this episode, I had the absolute pleasure of sitting down for a wonderful chat with Stephanie Robertson, who is a great friend colleague and really wise autistic ADHD. She's an occupational therapist and has many other identities as well. This chat that we're going to have is about the intersection between being an autistic ADHD and how it's sometimes work for us or works against us.    Keep le...

In this episode, I wanted to share with you a brief section from my recent webinar, Collaborative Connections, where I talked all about how you can actually get children involved in their collaborative teams.   I'm going to share practical suggestions about how you can actually involve children in these situations so that they can be a core part of their own journey. Their self advocacy ability ca...

In this episode, I'll share my journey to identification as an Autistic ADHDer. I recently got an email from another speech therapist who is in the neuro questioning phase. And she asked me this "As I understand you were late diagnosed. I wanted to ask you about your experience getting diagnosed and what you feel have been the benefits and drawbacks of it" and I really, really thank you for this e...

In this episode, I'm going to be sharing some practical ideas about how you can tackle a challenge that a lot of us experience. Whether you're a therapist, a teacher, a parent, or a carer of a neurodivergent child. At some point when supporting this child, you're going to be interacting with a team around them. And at some point you're going to be experiencing different approaches to how you will...

In this episode, I'm super excited to be talking about a topic that is just deeply embedded in my clinical practice, in my worldview and in how I support autistic children in my whole life. And that topic is Responsive relationship strategies for building connection with the autistic children in your life. We'll be outlining some of the ideas behind what forms responsive relationships. And the opp...

Self-advocacy is not as simple as just learning one skill or one isolated thing. In the neurodiversity affirming world and in the therapy world, we love talking about self-advocacy, but what is it and how do you get there?     I like to think of the components of self-advocacy is being broken up into four main sub parts: Supportive Environment & Community - Safe people and spaces that encourage, b...

In this episode, I explore the reasons and impacts of masking for high-masking autistic people (who are often, but not always girls, AFAB, or non-binary folks). I talk some ways that high-masking autistic people can appear in the world, and share my hope for the future of Autistic kids and people everywhere to feel freer and more comfortable to know and be themselves!   Yellow Ladybugs Conference...

📺 Watch the video of our chat on YouTube: https://youtu.be/22ZWxDEFtSw?si=V0OqWgrIsYkNenh3       Get in touch with Chelsea Luker: www.connectuspsychology.com @Connectuspsychology (Instagram) - https://www.instagram.com/connectuspsychology/ Connect Us Psychology (FB) - https://www.facebook.com/connectuspsychology   Grab her book Square Me Round World https://connectuspsychology.com/product/square-...

Complete the 3 minute podcast survey to help me plan 2024! playlearnchat.com/survey Neurodivergent business owners, please join me for the Aligned Business Workshop! Through my new business Neurodivergent Business Coaching & Consulting - https://differentlyaligned.com/workbook/   Podcast Link:  https://pod.link/1625478932 Website:  www.playlearnchat.com Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/play.l...

It's non-negotiable to be supporting, modelling, using, teaching multimodal communication to autistic kids. And I share why in this episode.   Here are my 5 reasons why multimodal communication is essential for autistic children: 1. We all use multimodal communication 2. It is a human right to be able to access communication in different modes 3. Speech or mouth words can be hard for many reasons....

I'm sharing 3 strategies that we need to leave in the past, and 3 strategies that are more aligned with a Neurodiversity Affirming approach - let's call them 'Old way' and 'new way'!   OLD WAY: First do the boring 'work' task, then do the fun activity NEW WAY: Use intrinsic motivation: Ensure that the 'main' activity is motivating for the child   OLD WAY: Intrude - Insert yourself into the child's...

In this episode, I'm sharing with you the ingredients that go into a Neurodiversity Affirming speech therapy assessment. We'll talk about my framework 'CPIE' — Child, Partner, Interaction, Environment — and how it frames our approach to understanding the communication skills of Autistic children within the context of their relationships & worlds.   Whether you're a speech therapist, educator, pare...

This episode is a very personal one where I'm going to share my experiences and insights as an autistic ADHDer who was pregnant at the time of recording, with a particular focus on the positives and negatives that I've experienced throughout the pregnancy in terms of how I've been supported (or not...) through the medical system.   I also share some points about where I think things need to improv...

SHOW NOTES: In this episode, I delve into the world of auditory sensitivities as experienced by an autistic person... that's me! I give you a glimpse into my own personal journey with significant auditory challenges. First I discuss how I navigate and process my unique auditory experiences. Then I shed light on some effective strategies that benefit me and also my daughter. Whether you're supporti...

SHOW NOTES: 'Naughty' and 'lazy' are two words that I can't stand, especially when it comes to describing young kids, neurodivergent kids.   I don't believe, in the vast majority of cases, neurodivergent kids are lazy or naughty. However, unfortunately, these are some of the labels that often get placed onto these kids by people who don't understand them much.   In this episode, I break down these...

Show Notes: In this episode I share my answer to this question I hear often: Is it Neuroaffirming to Work on Pretend Play Skills with Autistic Children?   And my short answer is... it depends! Tune in to hear the things you need to ask yourself and keep in mind to weigh up a more personalised answer to this question.     LINKS:  Allied Health Professionals, you're invited to my FREE on-demand webi...

Show notes:  In this episode, I chat with the amazing Hat, also known as Harriet Richardson, a significant voice in the neurodivergent community. Hat not only is an autistic ADHDer but also shines in her roles as a speech and language therapist, blogger, and public speaker. We discuss AAC, Internallised Ableism, Joy of claiming ND identity, mental health, consent for goals, and her beautiful dog M...

Show Notes: In this episode I share a few practical ideas of what it actually looks like to be changing the world around a child, to be most supportive and enable positive social interactions and connections for neurodivergent children. I talk about changes to the world around the child in 3 ways: • changes to other people • changes to the physical environment • changes to schedules and expectatio...

Show Notes: In this episode I chat with the fabulous Chrissie Davies, from Chaos to Calm Consultancy and author of books including the wonderful 'Love Me Love my ADHD' and 'Love your Brain'.   We discuss all kinds of big ideas around trauma-informed practice in schools, tips for families supporting neurodivergent children, practicing radical acceptance, and building trusting relationships with chi...

Sharing 3 key strategies for therapists supporting Autistic children: 🤫 The Power of Silence 🤗 Valuing Relationship-Building Time 🗣 Growing into Advocacy   This is a shortie version of my free webinar for Speech Therapists who support Autistic Children - Turning Affirming! Speech Therapists ➝ You're welcome to register to get the full webinar free - https://playlearnchat.com/free-speechie-webina...

Today I'm sharing a shortie, practical episode - all about how you can teach neurodivergent children about self-advocacy in these 3 ways:   - Explicit teaching (this doesn't mean swear words!) - Model when you did and didn't self-advocate - Incidental teaching as natural opportunities arise   Listen in to hear some ideas for how these teaching strategies can look in action with the neurodivergent...