DEEP DIVE: Kate Swenson of "Finding Cooper's Voice" on Parenting Autism

About this episode

Kate Swenson discusses her experiences as a mother of a child with autism and her advocacy work.

This Deep Dive series revisits some of our past episodes about the joys and the challenges that come with raising kids with differences and disabilities. Kate Swenson writes and creates videos about her life as a mother of four and and an autism advocate for ⁠"Finding Cooper's Voice⁠," a living, thriving community of people who not only advocate for autism, but also make the world a better place for individuals with disabilities and their families. We discuss Kate's book ⁠Forever Boy: A Mother's Memoir of Autism and Finding Joy⁠ and her nonprofit ⁠The More Than Project, ⁠which supports the needs of special needs families that go beyond the needs of their special needs child. Kate tells us about: Kate's journey to finding the correct diagnosis for her child what led her to put her story out into the world the sometimes-loneliness of special needs parenting, and how the Finding Cooper's Voice community offers insight, support, and fellowship Get FOREVER BOY in our Bookshop store: https://bookshop.org/a/12099/9780778311997 and follow @findingcoopersvoice on Facebook and Instagram. What Fresh Hell is co-hosted by Amy Wilson and Margaret Ables. We love the sponsors that make this show…

People in this episode

Hosts: Amy Wilson, Margaret Ables

Guest: Kate Swenson

Topics covered

• parenting autism
• special needs
• community support
• motherhood
• autism advocacy
• personal journey

Keywords

• autism
• parenting
• special needs
• community
• support
• memoir
• advocacy
• motherhood

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Finding Cooper's Voice, The More Than Project

Books & works: Forever Boy: A Mother's Memoir of Autism and Finding Joy

More episodes of What Fresh Hell: Parenting, Relationships, and Making Life Better, with Two Funny Moms

• Can We Make Youth Sports Fun Again? · September 9, 2026 · 42 min
• DEEP DIVE: When Kids Fight You on Everything · September 7, 2026 · 42 min
• BEST OF: How to Make the Back-to-School Transition a Little Easier · September 4, 2026 · 40 min
• Overfunctioning · September 2, 2026 · 42 min
• DEEP DIVE: Jennifer Wallace on Achievement Pressure · August 31, 2026 · 33 min
• Fresh Take: Dr. Stuart Slavin on The Pressures Causing Depression, Anxiety, and Burnout in Our Kids · August 28, 2026 · 39 min