Full-Tilt Parenting: Strategies, Insights, and Connection for Parents Raising Neurodivergent Children

Kelly Hirt, a public school elementary school teacher and the parent of a homeschooled 2e child shares her strategies for "boosting" exceptional children to they can thrive in school and in life.Connect with Tilt Parenting Visit Tilt Parenting Take the free 7-Day Challenge Read a chapter of Differently Wired Follow Tilt on Twitter & Instagram Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Special needs advocate and educator Rich Weinfeld explains how parents can best advocate for their children in their education, and answers listener questions on advocacy in schools.Connect with Tilt Parenting Visit Tilt Parenting Take the free 7-Day Challenge Read a chapter of Differently Wired Follow Tilt on Twitter & Instagram Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Montessori education Simone Davies talks about why the Montessori philosophy can be a great fit for many differently wired children and describes how parents can be their child's best "guide."Connect with Tilt Parenting Visit Tilt Parenting Take the free 7-Day Challenge Read a chapter of Differently Wired Follow Tilt on Twitter & Instagram Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

My guest this week is Blake Boles, the self-directed learning advocate behind Unschool Adventures and the author of several books on unschooling, including The 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’t my thing. But I’m going to encourage you to listen to what Blake has to say. Because regardless of your child’s educational circumstances, there is wisdom to be gleaned from Blake’s philosophy on self-directed learning and helping our kids grow up into intrinsically motivated humans who understand themselves and are driven to seek out the information and resources they need to achieve their goals. I also love that Blake’s approach beautifully challenges those traditional timelines that our differently wired kids often don’t meet anyway. So… have a listen and let me know what you think. I’m curious to hear how this lands with you. Blake Boles is the founder and director of Unschool Adventures and the author of The Art of Self-Directed Learning, Better Than College, and College Without High School.  He hosts the Off-Trail Learning podcast, speaks for alternative schools, writes for The Alliance for Self-Directed Education, and has keynoted multiple homeschooling conferences.  Things you’ll learn from this episode  What unschooling actually is (in comparison with traditional or eclectic homeschooling) The most common myths and assumptions surrounding unschooled kids How intrinsic motivation is the key to helping a student learn what they want to learn when they’re ready to learn it The ways in which unschooling and self-directed learning respects a child’s unique timeline What the transition from a traditional educational model to unschooling might look like might look like What a transition to university looks like in the U.S. for children who’ve been homeschooled, and how to do it How parents who are homeschooling their child can play the role as “consultant” rather than teacher, and giving child the room to become truly self-directed Tips for parents looking to dip their toe into unschooling Resources mentioned for what is unschooling?  Blake Boles’ website Unschool Adventures Off-Trail Learning  The Art of Self-Directed Learning: 23 Tips for Giving Yourself an Unconventional Education  Better Than College: How to Build a Successful Life Without a Four-Year Degree  Support the showConnect with Tilt Parenting Visit Tilt Parenting Take the free 7-Day Challenge Read a chapter of Differently Wired Follow Tilt on Twitter & Instagram Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If you have a differently wired child who is athletic and/or is into sports, this episode is for you. My guest is Susan Stout, the founder Own Beat Athlete, a new resource aimed at helping athletic coaches understand their athletes who march to a different beat. Susan knows from personal experience as an athlete herself, a former coach, and the parent of an athletic differently wired child, that many great athletes can be challenging to coach because of their wiring—they can be easily frustrated, disruptive, forgetful, inconsistent. But she also knows that they can be a teams’ greatest asset. Susan’s goal is to equip others with what she wishes she knew when she was a coach, and support and bring out the best in the many athletes who didn’t fit the mold, with a specific focus on athletes with ADHD, learning differences, and anxiety.This is a really interesting conversation and Susan’s resources are a great starting point for listeners who want to bridge that gap of knowledge between their child’s behavior and their sports coach. I hope you enjoy it.Susan Stout is an advocate for athletes who are wired differently and struggle to participate or reach their potential in sports. She specializes in ADHD, learning differences and anxiety. Susan is the founder of Own Beat Athlete, a project to provide athletic coaches with the understanding and tools they need to help their differently wired athletes thrive. She brings to the work her perspective as a swimmer, coach, teacher, lawyer and mom to an avid and talented young athlete with ADHD and dyslexia. Things you’ll learn from this episode How and when parents should let athletic coaches know about a child’s wiring What kind of unique gifts differently wired athletes bring to their sports What the common challenges are for differently wired kids participating in sports How parents can talk with their kids about learning how to self-advocate for themselves with their coaches Susan’s thoughts on how willing coaches are to better understand and support their differently wired athletes How Own Beat Athlete supports coaches (and parents of athletes) to know how to practically support and problem solve with challenges related to neurodifferences What parents should look for to know whether or not they should step in  Resources mentioned for coaching differently wired athletes Own Beat Athlete Own Beat Athlete / Susan Stout on Twitter Susan Stout on Facebook Own Beat Athlete’s Coaches’ Toolkit Support the showConnect with Tilt Parenting Visit Tilt Parenting Take the free 7-Day Challenge Read a chapter of Differently Wired Follow Tilt on Twitter & Instagram Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s been a while since I’ve done a show focused primarily on ADD/ADHD and this is a really powerful one. My guest is Dr. Sharon Saline, a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in working with children, adolescents, and families who are dealing with ADHD and other learning disabilities. In addition to being a regular contributor to ADDitude Magazine, Sharon is the author of the new book, What Your ADHD Child Wishes You Knew: Working Together to Empower Kids for Success in School and Life. In today’s episode, we cover a lot of ground—everything from what a child’s emotional journey is like as he or she comes to understand and accept the way their brain is wired and the correlation between anxiety and ADHD, to how parents can help ADHD kids reduce outbursts and more successfully collaborate with their kids. Sharon also shares with us what she calls her “5 C’s of ADHD Parenting”—her key to successfully supporting these creative kids—as well as gives us her thoughts on medication and ADHD. Get ready for a multitude of takeaways and insights for parents of all differently wired kids, not just those with kids who have attention issues. I hope you enjoy our conversation.Things You'll Learn from this Episode: Sharon’s “5 C’s of ADHD Parenting” — self-control, compassion, collaboration, consistency, and celebration What a child’s emotional journey typically looks like as they come to understand what it means to have an ADHD brain Why reward systems and praise can work well for kids with ADHD as most are not wired to be intrinsically motivated Ways we can support our child through their negative thinking or negative self-talk The most common emotional challenges faced by kids with ADHD The relationship between ADHD and anxiety Sharon’s thoughts on medication as a tool for supporting kids with ADHD Resources Mentioned: Dr. Sharon Saline’s website What Your ADHD Child Wishes You Knew: Working Together to Empower Kids for Success in School and Life by Dr. Sharon Saline Dr. Saline on Twitter Dr. Saline on LinkedIn Dr. Saline’s Facebook Page  Dr. Saline on YouTube Support the showConnect with Tilt Parenting Visit Tilt Parenting Take the free 7-Day Challenge Read a chapter of Differently Wired Follow Tilt on Twitter & Instagram Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tilt Founder Debbie Reber talks about the importance of having a self-care practice, and shares her best strategies for making self-care a regular part of daily life.Connect with Tilt Parenting Visit Tilt Parenting Take the free 7-Day Challenge Read a chapter of Differently Wired Follow Tilt on Twitter & Instagram Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Author, coach, and mother Kayce Hughlett shares the story of how she handled, processed, and grew through her differently wired (ADHD) son's struggles with drugs when he was a teenager.Connect with Tilt Parenting Visit Tilt Parenting Take the free 7-Day Challenge Read a chapter of Differently Wired Follow Tilt on Twitter & Instagram Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode I’m talking with Debbie Steinberg Kuntz, the woman behind Positive Impact Family coaching and therapy practice and the Bright & Quirky Child Online Summit. Debbie is a licensed marriage and family therapist, parent coach, speaker, whose passion is bringing the latest information to parents raising differently wired kids, who may struggle with symptoms of ADHD, high functioning autism, learning challenges, anxiety, or oppositional defiant disorder.Today, Debbie is going to walk us through a 6-step strategy that parents can employ to help their child thrive that fits the unique way they are wired. We’ll also talk about the most common challenges facing parents like us and how to help our kids who might be more rigid thinkers develop more flexibility.  THINGS YOU’LL LEARN FROM THIS EPISODE: What Debbie’s sees as the most common challenges facing parents raising differently wired kidsHow How and why parents should work to look at their child with a new lens The importance of getting real about identifying both challenges and strengths of our children (and ourselves) How the Japanese philosophy of Kaizen can be applied to our role as parents The role of continuous experimentation in our families and how our kids benefit from trial and error  RESOURCES MENTIONED: Bright & Quirky (Debbie’s website) Bright & Quirky Summit  Child Mind Institute Ned Hallowell Support the showConnect with Tilt Parenting Visit Tilt Parenting Take the free 7-Day Challenge Read a chapter of Differently Wired Follow Tilt on Twitter & Instagram Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 develop the resilience, resourcefulness, and inner determination necessary for success.In this episode, Julie and I talk about about what it takes for a child to be successful—looking at how we define success along the way—and explore what we as parents can do to help our child develop the agency they need to become self-actualized adults. I loved having this conversation with Julie and am still noodling on the many takeaways and aha moments I experienced. I hope you get a lot out of it. Julie Lythcott-Haims' How to Raise an Adult has been published in over two dozen countries and gave rise to a TED talk that became one of the top TED Talks of 2016 with over 3.5 million views and counting, as well as a forthcoming sequel on how to be an adult, for young adults. Two years later Julie published Real American: A Memoir, a critically-acclaimed and award-winning memoir which examines racism through her experience as a Black and biracial person. Things you’ll learn from this episode What is at the root of fear-based parenting Why Julie says most parents are raising kids from a place of love, ego, and fear Challenges and hardships every child should face in order to be ready to be an adult How we do our children a disservice when we “become” their default executive functioning How we can (and need to) redefine what success looks like The connection between successful adults and a child doing chores (and how to get started if you’re not doing it now) Why happiness in our kids stems from love The benefits of hands-on work for kids developing a sense of agency How to help our kids bolster their self-advocacy skills  Resources mentioned for helping differently wired teens launch Julie Lythcott Haims’ website How to Raise an Adult: Break Free of the Overparenting Trap and Prepare Your Kid for Success  Real American: A Memoir  Julie’s TED Talk: How to Raise Successful Kids Julie’s TEDxGunnHighSchool Talk: Throw Out the Checklisted Childhood Julie’s TEDxStanford Talk: Be Your Authentic Self How to Be An Adult  Support the showConnect with Tilt Parenting Visit Tilt Parenting Take the free 7-Day Challenge Read a chapter of Differently Wired Follow Tilt on Twitter & Instagram Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices