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

Today we’re talking about one of my favorite topics — what it really means to connect, collaborate, and let go of control as our kids grow into themselves as they enter the transformative teen years. My guest is Dr. Ann-Louise Lockhart, a pediatric psychologist and parent coach who helps overwhelmed parents raise confident, emotionally healthy kids and teens, and the author of the brand new book, Love the Teen You Have: A Practical Guide to Transforming Conflict Into Connection. In our conver...

Today we’re diving into the ways our own trauma can shape how we show up as parents, and how we can begin to break those inherited cycles with Dr. Robyn Koslowitz, a clinical child psychologist, trauma treatment expert, and author of Post-Traumatic Parenting: Break the Cycle, Become the Parent You Always Wanted to Be. In our conversation, Robyn shares insights from her book, including the concept of “secret ACEs,” the “trauma app” that can override our instincts, and the different subtypes of...

Everyone faces big, difficult challenges at some point in life — it’s part of being human. And when we encounter these challenges while parenting, it’s up to us to help our kids make sense of things in healthy ways that foster resilience. But how exactly do we do that? My guest, author-illustrator Sara Olsher, is a strong advocate for talking to kids honestly about the big things happening in our families. She speaks from her own experience, having navigated difficult conversations with her d...

In this episode featuring a listener question, executive function coach Seth Perler joins Debbie to discuss how to prepare a fifth grader for the transition to middle school. They emphasize the importance of proactive planning and open communication with the child, provide strategies such as creating a study space, using calendars and planners, touring the school, setting up meetings with teachers, and decluttering and organizing, and discuss the possibility of homeschooling certain subjects....

Today we’re diving into a topic that’s not just timely but that can transform education for all students: creating neurodiversity-affirming schools. Joining me to share their vision for what’s possible in education are two extraordinary advocates and experts, Amanda Morin and Emily Kircher-Morris who have collaborated on a wonderful new book on the topic, just out today in fact, Neurodiversity Affirming Schools: Transforming Practices So All Students Feel Accepted & Supported. In today’s ...

If your child has extreme food aversions, anxiety around eating, or struggles with a very limited diet, you won’t want to miss this conversation. Today we’re diving into ARFID — Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder — or as my guest calls it, “picky eating on steroids.” To talk about ARFID, I circled back to Zoë Bisbing, a licensed psychotherapist who specializes in treating eating disorders and body image concerns with an affirming, neurodiversity-friendly approach. In this fascinating c...

This week I’m joined by Zach Morris for a thoughtful conversation about the challenges of parenting neurodivergent teens who are approaching adulthood. We dig into a listener question about an almost-18-year-old who’s still really struggling, despite years of support. Zach and I explore the pressures parents face, the grief that can come up, how to hold boundaries with empathy, and why we need to rethink what success and failure actually mean. We also talk about the importance of understandin...

I’m thrilled to welcome back two favorite podcast guests and just all around wonderful humans, Dr. William Stixrud and Ned Johnson. You might know them from their bestselling book The Self-Driven Child, which I often refer to on this show as one of the most important resources in my parenting life. Well, Bill and Ned have a new phenomenal resource that I can’t wait to share with you — a workbook based on their beloved book called The Seven Principles for Raising a Self-Driven Child. Tod...