Wonderfully Wired

I loved my conversation with Casey Anley talking about burnout in the Wonderfully Wired. What does it look like to acknowledge each person's unique energy and work with the available energy instead overrding each body's need for rest. What should you look out for in yourself and in your child? Casey Anley is an educational psychologist. She wears many hats - neurodiversity advocate, executive function coach trainer and supervisor. She's built a career in helping neurodivergent minds untangle the chaos, build systems that actually work, and, most importantly, stop beating themselves up in the process. Casey has trained, mentored, and supervised executive function coaches worldwide. From students drowning in deadlines to professionals juggling a million tabs (in their browsers and their brains), Casey is all about practical, real-life strategies that make life easier. With experience as a teacher, learning support coordinator, therapist, lecturer, coach and her current focus as coach supervisor - not to mention her own journey with neurodiversity - she gets it.

Dr Jade Rivera is professor at the Bridges Gradual School for Cognitive diversity with a passion for 'a strength based world for neurodivergent humans' She's been a force for change in education for wonderfully wired kids for over fifteen year designing 'micro schools' that serve niche communities in creative ways showing ideas like project based learning and grade less classrooms aren't just fanciful dreams. Anyone who spends a bit of time on Dr Rivera's newsletter on Substack will quickly see her depth of knowledge and infectious passion. I've invited her on the show to talk to us about her most recent baby, and maybe greatest contribution in running the STRENGTH based assessment lab at Bridges: where we get to pack away all we've learnt about assessment, all our stress and anxiety and see in action something significantly different.

"If the research shows that Working Memory is a better indicator of academic success than IQ, then why aren't we honing in on this skill in education?" This compelling question is posed by Dr. Erica Warren, our guest on this month's Wonderfully Wired podcast. For quite some time, we've understood that IQ isn't the sole predictor of a child's academic success. Children can exhibit areas of extraordinary IQ yet struggle academically. What if enhancing the Executive Functioning skill of working memory is the most practical way to improve academic performance? Dr. Warren certainly thinks so.

This month we are featuring the incredible insights of Dr. Liz Angoff from ExplainingBrains.com. Dr. Liz's approach to assessments is transformative, focusing on celebrating the strengths of a child's brain, recognising challenges, and using a child's language to understand the uniqueness of their brain. This process is inherently more collaborative and respectful, involving feedback to the child and the family that is empowering and celebratory of neurodiversity right from the very start.

In this episode, I speak with Victoria Bagnell from Connections in Mind. Victoria specializes in training teachers and executive function coaches. Her organization is dedicated to supporting children in developing their executive functioning skills. We begin by understanding what executive functioning is and why children need support in this area. Victoria provides insights into what executive function coaching looks like and discusses the necessary changes in classrooms to address unconscious bias against children struggling with executive functioning. We also explore strategies for creating a sense of belonging to prevent children from masking or acting out. Additionally, we cover techniques to help children stay motivated and how Connections in Mind assists adults in developing their executive functioning skills. Join us as we explore these critical topics and learn how to better support children and adults in enhancing their executive functioning abilities.

I took what I thought was a diversion into talking about physical disability inclusion with Scott Whitney of All4Inclusion and found that to see difference, to support challenges and to really celebrate gifts we must hear real stories of people with lived experience different to our own. As part of creating teacher training material on inclusion I collaborated with Scott Whitney to talk about living with disability and what it would take to create more inclusive schools. "The strong cannot be brave. Only the weak can be brave; and yet again, in practice, only those who can be brave can be trusted, in time of doubt, to be strong. The only way in which a giant could really keep himself in training against the inevitable Jack would be by continually fighting other giants ten times as big as himself. That is by ceasing to be a giant and becoming a Jack." Heretics, G.K. Chesterton

Meet Jessica McCabe, the force behind "How to ADHD." Seven years ago, Jessica embarked on a transformative journey, evolving from a place of self-doubt to becoming an advocate for understanding and working with the ADHD brain. In her own words, she shares: "Seven years ago, I didn't respect myself; I thought that I just needed to try harder. I dropped the shame, embraced the way my brain works, and developed strategies to accomplish anything I set my mind to. Now, I want this to be the norm—a world where discussing our working memory is as natural as talking about our eye color." Jessica's insights are a breath of fresh air, and this month, she unveils her latest creation, the book "How to ADHD: Working with Your Brain, Not Against It."

Whilst we know that being "out of the box" is a good thing, it often creates difficulties for both us as parents and our children, when it results in explosive, difficult behaviour. Dr Greene offers so much hope and practical teaching to parents like you and I pulling out our hair, desperate to help a child who is often in trouble (or in distress!) due to his inability to consistently manage his frustration in an adaptive way. "Seeing your kid struggle isn't fun." says Dr Ross Greene. "The trick is to pay close attention to whether she needs your help or can manage it on her own. And the magic is in how, if she does need your help, you handle things from there." I'm so excited to give you real tools in knowing just how to 'handle things from there' this month! Dr Greene explains the Collaborative Proactive Solutions (CPS) approach with clarity and practical examples.