TILT Parenting: Strategies, Insights, and Connection for Parents Raising Neurodivergent Children

My guest this week is Blake Boles, the self-directed learning advocate behind Unschool Adventures and the author of several books on unschooling, including T he Art of Self-Directed Learning , Better Than College , and College Without High School , as well as the host of the Off-Trail Learning podcast.  Now… you may be reading this and thinking, I’m not homeschooling my child or “unschooling” isn’...

This episode is the first of several solocasts I’ll be doing focusing on homeschooling—not so much the nuts and bolts of it, although I will eventually share some strategies —but more the emotional side of what it was like to make the decision to homeschool. Because, as I’ve said in previous episodes, I was very much a ‘reluctant homeschooler.’ In this episode, I’m going to tell you exactly why th...

Amanda Morin of Understood joins Debbie for a special back-to-school episode to help families prepare for easing into the coming school year with as much confidence and serenity as possible.

In this reverse interview, Debbie Steinberg-Kuntz of Bright & Quirky talks to Debbie about how to forge a path when school isn't working out.

If you are a parent of a neurodivergent kid with a diagnosed learning disability, you likely have had experience with Individualized Education Plans, otherwise known as IEPs. And if this is you, my hunch is you have some feelings about IEPs and the whole process — the stresses, the unknowns, the fact that it might feel like you have to understand a completely different language just to get the ser...

I get a lot of requests for different topics to cover on this show, and bullying is a theme that has come up multiple times. And understandably, since we know that children and teens with learning disabilities, ADHD, autism, are much more likely to experience bullying and social rejection. And we know that being on the receiving end of bullying can be traumatic and have long-lasting negative impac...

Author, psychologist, and Summit Center executive director Dr. Dan Peters talks about how we can best support differently wired teens and prepare them to successfully launch.

Author, speaker, and activist Julie Lythcott-Haims (How to Raise an Adult) takes us inside her powerful, inclusive new book, Your Turn: How to Be an Adult.

Educator, social worker, and mother of two differently wired children Stephanie Malia Krauss talks about her new book, “Making It: What Today’s Kids Need for Tomorrow’s World," and how parents can prepare children for an uncharted future.

My guest for this conversation is Dr. Gwen Palafox, a psychologist who has been supporting disabled and neurodivergent young adults in the transition to adulthood for more than twenty years. I brought Gwen on the show to talk about helping our teens and young adults “launch” into adulthood, specifically how to prepare for and help them acquire the skills and support that would help them move into...

To close out this Summer season I’m bringing you a special double episode all about college , specifically, how families can navigate the application process and what’s changed since Covid, as well as understanding the ways in which colleges may, or may not, support their neurodivergent students and what families should be looking for when exploring potential schools. In the first half of this epi...

In this special kid’s POV edition, Asher and I talk about screen time. Like many families with children (differently-wired or not), the issue of screen time — how much, what kind, and when — is something we are constantly grappling with. And because like many other differently-wired kids, Asher is really into the games and projects he’s got going on in his virtual world, we’ve struggled to come up...

NPR Journalist Anya Kamenetz discusses her new book "The Art of Screen Time" as well as her takeaways on the latest research surrounding screen time and differently wired kids.

My guest today is Dr. Katie Davis, a researcher on the impact of digital technologies on young people’s learning, development, and well-being, and the author of the fascinating new book, Technology’s Child: Digital Media’s Role in the Ages and Stages of Growing Up. The world of technology is ever-expanding and its integration into our lives so seamlessly that we often don’t stop to consider what e...

Many of our kids spend a LOT of time engaging on screens and with technology, and I don’t know about you, but for me it feels like this is an ever-changing, and fast-changing landscape, and one that can be hard to stay on top of. Whether we’re talking about assistive technology, videos, games, or social media, these forms of media continue to offer new ways of interacting, developing relationships...

Are you worried about your child’s video gaming habits? If so, here’s interesting conversation with Eric Lanigan about two topics that I know are relevant, and perhaps concerning, to many listeners out there — video gaming and motivation. I reached out to Eric after learning about an online course he runs for parents called Making Peace with Gaming , because I was curious to know just exactly how...

Today is an important conversation about online communities and internet rabbit holes. And I felt pulled to tackle this topic for the show because I know that the past few years in particularly has been a time where differently wired kids have been a) spending a LOT more time online and connecting with people they may not have even meant in real life, and b) doing their identity development largel...

Dr. Devorah Heitner, a digital media and technology expert and the author of "Screenwise" talks about how parents can mentor their kids to develop a healthy relationship with screens (phones, online games, and more).

I married a gamer and my 19-year-old is also a gamer, so I’m no stranger to the reality of video games being a significant part of daily life. But where’s the line between healthy gaming and unhealthy gaming? How much gaming is too much? And when does a gaming habit evolve into gaming addiction? These are some of the questions regarding screen time that I hear from many parents, and they highlight...

Welcome to this week’s show, where I’m so excited to be talking, bringing back to the show my friend, colleague, and my most trusted mentor when it comes to all things kids and tech and screens, Dr. Devorah Heitner. Today, we’re going to be talking about such a pressing consideration for anyone raising a kid these days — what it means for today’s generation of kids to grow up with very public live...

My guest for this episode is the brilliant Julie Lythcott-Haims., the author of the New York Times’ bestselling, and in my opinion, majorly game-changing-in-the-parenting-space book, How to Raise an Adult . She wrote it after noticing that prospective college students at Stanford University, where she was dean of admissions, were being over-parented and as a result, were lacking the resources to d...

We’re talking about what we often call in the neurodivergent space, long runways, for our emerging young adults, specifically alternative paths for differently wired students who are graduating high school but may not either be ready for a “typical” college experience or for whom college isn’t part of the plan. We do get a little update from Dave on the admissions landscape, but most of the this e...

As many listeners know, Asher is doing a gap year this year, having graduated from high school last summer. And so I’ve been pretty immersed in this topic, but I’ve been getting so many questions from families who want to know more about navigating gap year. And in fact, I’ve been hearing more and more about the benefits of gap years for ALL students, not only neurodivergent kids, especially since...

If you have a child approaching their college years, this episode is packed with invaluable advice. I’m thrilled to have Dr. Perry LaRoque here to discuss what neurodivergent students need to successfully navigate college and his book Taking Flight: College for Students with Disabilities, Diverse Learners and Their Families. So, what does a “successful college experience” actually mean? Perry brok...

Clinical psychologist, life coach, and author Dr. John Duffy talks about his new book, "Parenting the New Teen in the Age of Anxiety" and shares insights for how parents raising teens can be the emotional support they need and crave.