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Neurodiversity Podcast

Neurodiversity Podcast

By: Emily Kircher-Morris
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The Neurodiversity Podcast talks with leaders in the fields of psychology, education, and beyond, about positively impacting neurodivergent people. Our goal is to reframe differences that were once considered disabilities or disorders, promote awareness of this unique population, and improve the lives of neurodivergent and high-ability people.2026 Neurodiversity Alliance Hygiene & Healthy Living Parenting & Families Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Relationships
Episodes
  • What We're Learning About (Pervasive) Pathological Demand Avoidance

    What We're Learning About (Pervasive) Pathological Demand Avoidance
    Jul 8 2026
    When an autistic child or teen consistently pushes back against daily expectations, traditional parenting and teaching methods often default to high-pressure enforcement. This pattern routinely triggers escalating defensive behaviors, creating a continuous loop of friction that strains the entire family system. In this encore conversation, Sandra McConnell, an advocate known as the PDA Mama Bear, joins Emily Kircher-Morris to unpack the nuanced framework of pervasive demand avoidance and explore how it reshapes typical social navigation. They talk about ways to shift the focus away from top-down behavior tracking, and why common behaviorist tools like point charts or sudden restrictions fail to foster authentic growth for youth with this cognitive profile. TAKEAWAYS PDA represents a distinct neurodivergent profile rooted in a protective baseline of sensory anxiety and a heightened resistance to coercion. Traditional behavioral adjustments such as top-down discipline, sudden restrictions, and performance rewards lose their utility when applied to youth with deep demand avoidance patterns. Apparent behavioral compliance can hide severe internal masking and exhaustion, which often surfaces later as profound burnout and sudden academic avoidance. Manifestations of demand avoidance often vary between protective escape patterns and a desire to control the immediate household environment. Shifting the caregiver approach from a position of top-down authority to that of an instructional mentor lowers daily pressure and builds authentic family trust. Protecting a child's long-term social and emotional development requires moving away from absolute compliance demands to focus instead on reducing baseline nervous system stress. This week's special CE training for mental health professionals features Dr. Christopher Willard, and is titled, "The New 3 R's: Mindfulness-Based Resilience, Regulation, and Relationships." The training is live online Friday, July 10 from 2:00 to 3:30 pm Eastern, and is approved for 1.5 APA and NBCC continuing education hours. Everyone who registers can earn those credits by watching the event live, or can choose to watch it later. Register here. Sandra McConnell is a blogger, speaker, and trainer on Autistic Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA). She conducts webinars, workshops and conferences all across the country to train and inform people about PDA. She has two graduate certificates in Learning Differences & Neurodiversity specializing in Executive Functioning and Autism (Landmark College, 2021); a certification in PDA through the UK-based, OCN-accredited organization Neurodivergent Education Support and Training (NEST, 2020); a master's degree in Forensic Psychophysiology (Argosy University, 2006); and a bachelor's degree in Psychology and Criminology (UNM, 2000). Sandra lives in Maryland, USA, with her husband, who's ADHD, her 13-year-old son, who's PDA, her 10-year-old son, who's ADHD, and her 6-year-old daughter, who's TBD. BACKGROUND READING Sandra's website The Neurodiversity Podcast is on Facebook, Instagram, BlueSky, and you're invited to join our Facebook Group. For more information go to www.NeurodiversityPodcast.com If you'd like members of your organization, school district, or company to know more about the subjects discussed on our podcast, Emily Kircher-Morris provides keynote addresses, workshops, and training sessions worldwide, in-person or virtually. You can choose from a list of established presentations, or work with Emily to develop a custom talk to fit your unique situation. To learn more, visit our website.
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    41 mins
  • The Parenting Long Game: Finding the Problem Under the Problem

    The Parenting Long Game: Finding the Problem Under the Problem
    Jun 24 2026
    Today we talk about how parent reactivity, historical family patterns, and systemic overwhelm inadvertently trap families in cyclical power struggles. Emily Kircher-Morris welcomes Diane Dempster, a professional coach, author, and co-founder of ImpactParents, to talk about how urgency often drives parents out of an objective problem-solving mindset, and toward reactionary behaviors that over-manage their kids, rather than supporting their neurological growth. They talk about the family as an interdependent system, and about how interpersonal traps of the traditional drama triangle can cause family members to cycle through the roles of villain, victim, and rescuer. They also discuss the ImpactParents framework, which categorizes parenting modalities into four intentional roles: director, collaborator, supporter, and champion. By learning these roles, parents can safely allow productive struggle while maintaining connection. TAKEAWAYS Responses to acute childhood dysregulation are often heavily influenced by an internalized fear of the future, childhood parenting histories, and secondary social pressures. Executive functioning challenges can often be lessened by a clear shift from top-down behavior modification rules to collaborative family agreements. Effective parent scaffolding can be structured across four situational modalities: the director, the collaborator, the supporter, and the champion. The upcoming CE training Emily talks about on this week's episode features Dr. Christopher Willard, and is titled, "The New 3 R's: Mindfulness-Based Resilience, Regulation, and Relationships." The training is live online Friday, July 10 from 2:00 to 3:30 pm Eastern, and is approved for 1.5 APA and NBCC continuing education hours. Everyone who registers can earn those credits by watching the event live, or can choose to watch it later. Register here. Diane Dempster, MHSA, CPC, PCC is a professional coach, speaker, and co-founder of ImpactParents.com and ImpactADHD®, where she helps families navigate ADHD with a practical, neuro-informed approach. A 2025 CHADD Hall of Fame recipient, Diane blends behavior management with change management to empower parents and caregivers to support kids, teens, and young adults in building independence and long-term success. Diane is the co-host of the Parenting with Impact podcast and co-author of Parenting ADHD Now!. Through her coaching, teaching, and speaking, she guides families toward sustainable, inside-out change, helping them create more connected, effective, and supportive environments for neurodivergent individuals. BACKGROUND READING Diane's website, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube The Neurodiversity Podcast is on Facebook, Instagram, BlueSky, and you're invited to join our Facebook Group. For more information go to www.NeurodiversityPodcast.com If you'd like members of your organization, school district, or company to know more about the subjects discussed on our podcast, Emily Kircher-Morris provides keynote addresses, workshops, and training sessions worldwide, in-person or virtually. You can choose from a list of established presentations, or work with Emily to develop a custom talk to fit your unique situation. To learn more, visit our website.
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    38 mins
  • The Rewards and Punishment Paradox with Alfie Kohn

    The Rewards and Punishment Paradox with Alfie Kohn
    Jun 17 2026
    Within traditional educational and parenting paradigms, behaviorist strategies such as token economies, behavior color charts, and positive reinforcement models are frequently treated as standard mechanisms for human development. However, these compliance-driven metrics often collapse under long-term evaluation, obscuring the critical psychological friction they introduce. Alfie Kohn, a prominent educational theorist and author of Punished by Rewards, joins the program to systematically critique the reliance on traditional behavioral modification systems, including school-wide positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS). Emily and Alfie break down the critical neurodivergent intersections of these models, explore the hidden psychological cost of praise, and discuss ways of shifting focus away from surface-level behavior modification and toward the collaborative cultivation of student-led problem-solving. TAKEAWAYS Behaviorist interventions like rewards and punishments function as temporary methods of external control rather than sustainable catalysts for authentic development. Extrinsic rewards actively diminish intrinsic motivation by shifting focus away from the task itself and toward the acquisition of the reward. Conditional rewards and continuous verbal praise implicitly communicates that fundamental human worth is tethered to performance and utility. Applied behavioral modification techniques often target observable surface actions while systematically ignoring the underlying physical, emotional, and sensory needs driving those behaviors. Cultivating a child's authentic self-regulation requires shifting from unilateral adult control to active, collaborative decision-making processes. Check out our continuing education courses for educators through our online platform, the Neurodiversity University! Find them here and here. Alfie Kohn is a prominent author, lecturer, and progressive education advocate whose work challenges traditional frameworks in schooling, parenting, and human behavior. He holds a bachelor's degree from Brown University and a master's degree from the University of Chicago. He has authored 14 books, including seminal titles such as Punished by Rewards, The Schools Our Children Deserve, Unconditional Parenting, and The Myth of the Spoiled Child. Described by Time magazine as perhaps the country's most outspoken critic of education's fixation on grades and test scores, Kohn's insights have significantly shaped the practices of educators, parents, and managers worldwide. His work has been profiled in major publications like the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times, and he has been featured on hundreds of TV and radio programs, including The Today Show and two appearances on Oprah. Based in the Boston area, Kohn lectures extensively at universities, national education conferences, and parent organizations while maintaining his comprehensive digital archive at alfiekohn.org. BACKGROUND READING Alfie's books, website, Twitter/X The Neurodiversity Podcast is on Facebook, Instagram, BlueSky, and you're invited to join our Facebook Group. For more information go to www.NeurodiversityPodcast.com If you'd like members of your organization, school district, or company to know more about the subjects discussed on our podcast, Emily Kircher-Morris provides keynote addresses, workshops, and training sessions worldwide, in-person or virtually. You can choose from a list of established presentations, or work with Emily to develop a custom talk to fit your unique situation. To learn more, visit our website.
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    32 mins
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Wow! I’m so grateful for these riveting podcasts with people who are specialised in this subject. I’m at the beginning of understanding this topic, desperately wanting to understand more because I have family members who are neurodiverse, and I’m neurotypical.

Absolutely riveting!

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