Parents Unheard

This week we sit down with Vicky Finlayson — naturopath, nutritional therapist, and author of Flourish — for a deeply honest conversation about what it really means when a child is diagnosed with autism, and why that label so often marks the end of a medical investigation rather than the beginning of one. Vicky opens up about her daughter Rose's early years: a traumatic birth involving hypoxia...

What does it actually look like to watch your non-verbal, severely autistic child come back to you through food? In this episode, Joe and Kayleigh sit down with Lyndsy Moffatt, GAPS coach and founder of the Autism Biomedical Research Foundation, who did exactly that. Lyndsy's son was diagnosed at three with severe autism. Meltdowns lasting over an hour, elopement, extreme picky eating, 28 food all...

What do Ronnie's blood results actually mean? A functional medicine deep dive Most parents of autistic children have heard the same thing from their GP: "The results are normal. There's nothing to worry about." But what if normal isn't the same as healthy? In this episode, Joe sits down with Alan Lee, functional medicine practitioner and Ronnie's own clinician, to walk th...

What if the therapy system isn't failing your child — it's just starting in the wrong place? Erinn Askin is an occupational therapist and founder of OTEAM, a clinic that layers advanced neurotechnology onto traditional OT and speech therapy. She calls it neuroadaptive therapy, and the core argument is simple: most children are being handed a top-down approach before their brain and nervous...

If your child is minimally verbal or non-speaking, there's a question that almost nobody in the system will ask — and it might be the most important one of all. Could it be apraxia? In this episode, we speaks with New York-based speech-language pathologist Alonna Bondar, who has spent 25 years specialising in childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) — a motor planning disorder that research suggests...

What if the 'autism' label was getting in the way of actually helping your child? In this episode, Joe and Kayleigh sit down with Lara Barnes, founder of Brain Development UK, who spent years navigating her son Archie's developmental challenges before discovering a root-cause approach that changed everything. Lara walks us through her son's early signs — a back-to-back birth, a wea...

Del Bigtree is an Emmy award winning producer. Today he's the founder of The Highwire and Informed Consent Action Network. He was also Communications Director for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s 2024 Presidential Campaign. Then after all that, in 2026, he graciously agreed to come on our pokey little podcast. And what an honour it was. We discuss: The truth about disgraced doctor Andrew Wakefield. His...

Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride trained as a neurosurgeon, neurologist and nutritionist. She's the creator of the GAPS (Gut and Psychology Syndrome) protocol, a dietary and lifestyle intervention that has helped thousands of families worldwide. Her own son recovered from severe autism. She knows what she's talking about. In this conversation, Natasha doesn't pull punches. She explains why...

What does it actually mean to give a non-speaking child a voice? In this episode, we sit down with Sammy — a special needs teacher with over a decade of experience working with autistic children and children with profound and multiple learning difficulties. Sammy is also the founder of Spectrum Patronum, an online platform and resource shop built around one core belief: every child deserves a mean...

Zack Ponder didn't plan on becoming a special education teacher — he stumbled into it as a substitute para educator and never looked back. In this episode, Zack joins the show to share his five years in the classroom working predominantly with non-speaking students diagnosed with autism, the lessons that shaped his perspective on human potential, and why he eventually traded the classroom for...

Why has autism become one of the most contested diagnoses in medicine — and who is paying the price? In this episode, we sit down with Dr Sami Timimi, child psychiatrist and fierce critic of mainstream psychiatric diagnosis, to ask a question that doesn't get asked enough: what happens when a diagnostic label expands so far it stops meaning anything — and what does that cost the children who n...

What if everything we thought we knew about non-speaking autism was wrong? In this episode of Parents Unheard , Joseph and Kayie sit down with Steven May, the founder of Presume Competence . Steven isn’t a doctor or a parent—he is a dedicated researcher who has distilled the wisdom of over 120 books written by non-speakers to uncover a startling truth: the problem isn't intelligence; it's...

As parent carers, our default mode is often "survival." We are the masters of managing our children’s appointments, therapies, and needs, but in the process, we often strike our own names off the priority list. We’ve all heard the cliché that "you can’t pour from an empty cup," but how do we actually refill it when our lives feel like a constant sprint? In this episode, we sit...

A heartfelt conversation with Danielle, mother to Van, whose journey through autism has been one of patience, persistence, and hard-won progress. From a child who didn't speak until seven, struggling through his early school years, to a young person who now finds genuine connection in education—Van's story defies simple narratives. We discuss the gap between low and high support needs auti...

Ashley Blaker is a comedian and writer based in London and New York. Ashley has six children, three of whom have an SEN diagnosis. Between endless meetings, countless therapists, public humiliations, failed playdates, surreal monologues and occasional violence, it’s certainly not what anyone would call a ‘normal’ household – but would he want it any other way?

In this episode, we sit down with Sinead Kerley-Dunne to explore gestalt language processing (GLP) and what it means for autistic children and their families. Sinead breaks down the prevalence of GLP among autistic children and shares practical insights for parents navigating this language development pathway. We discuss how to identify gestalt language processing in non-speaking children, challen...

Taiba Bajar is a  TEDx Speaker , Award-Winning Author, and Founder of Autism Brain Empowerment. She helps parents turn confusion into clarity and create real progress for their autistic child by focusing on what they can change at home. When Taiba’s son regressed at 20 months, stopping eye contact, no longer responding to his name, and losing speech, she quickly discovered that the system meant to...

In this episode, I’m joined by Gemma Herbertson from Neuro Frontiers to explore how neuroplasticity therapies can support autistic individuals across their lives. We unpack common misconceptions, discuss why proper neuroevaluation matters, and look at how personalised programmes can unlock meaningful change. What we cover: The four neuromyths surrounding autism What neuroplasticity really means, a...

In this episode, I sit down with Greer McGuinness to talk about what happens when a parent refuses to accept “there’s nothing more we can do”. Greer shares her personal journey as a mother of a child diagnosed with autism at the age of two, the limitations she encountered in conventional medicine, and the turning point that led her back to university to study health science. Drawing on 15 years in...

Hannah Joy is on a mission to ensure that every child's right to communicate is upheld and every parent has the chance to achieve successful communication with their child. Hannah will help you discover the power and joy that comes from celebrating the communication and language that exists beyond speech. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter — https://uncommonaspect.kit.com/newsletter

A powerful conversation with online “dadvocate” Tyler Hudson, father to Lyric, his nearly 18-year-old, minimally speaking, profoundly autistic son. Their bond, so visible in the videos Tyler shares, sets the tone for an honest and deeply human discussion. We explore Lyric’s regressive autism, the impact on family life, and how siblings navigate a landscape that shifts as needs change. Our discussi...

In this episode, we sit down with Lucinda Miller of Nature Doc to explore some of the most challenging — and often misunderstood — areas of childhood nutrition. We discuss ARFID and practical ways families can support children with restrictive eating, the benefits and considerations of gluten- and casein-free diets, and what current evidence tells us about pica. Lucinda also shares insights into t...