Improving the Anxious Lives of Neurodivergent Kids

Today’s classroom can feel like an alien environment for neurodivergent learners, and the resulting anxiety can derail and disrupt their educational experience. Simple and easily-implemented accommodations can completely change outcomes.  How important is placement for a child’s happiness and well-being? What do psychological professionals understand that educators often don’t? Creating an educational environment for neurodivergent kids in a system that isn’t made for them, on episode 99 of the Neurodiversity Podcast.

ABOUT THE GUEST - Dr. Laura Anderson Kirby is a licensed clinical psychologist, providing evaluations and therapy for children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). While ASD is her specialty, Dr. Kirby has broad training in child clinical psychology and works with children and families from various backgrounds with a wide range of presenting problems including anxiety, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and depression. She’s also the parent of two children.

​Dr. Kirby has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Duke University, a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Maryland, College Park, and completed her pre-doctoral internship and post-doctoral fellowship at the Yale Child Study Center. At Yale, she was trained in the Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE) program, which is a parent-training program recently found to be quite effective for decreasing childhood anxiety.

She’s the author of a children’s book called Henrietta’s Thistleberry Boots.