At Peace Parents™ Podcast

Are you thinking about taking your PDA child or teen out of formal school for homeschooling? Or perhaps you've already done so and are finding what you've gotten into to be pure chaos? This episode is for you! Kelly Edwards is the mother of a PDA child and founder of 90-Minute School Day (https://90minuteschoolday.com/), an organization that helps parents homeschool and unschool their neurodivergent children and teens. I loved speaking with her and know her insights will be supportive for so many of you great parents out there! Are you ready to start working to deeply understand and support your PDA child or teen and lead your family to peace? Join the waitlist for the next cohort of my signature Paradigm Shift Program at https://www.atpeaceparents.com/paradigm-shift-program To learn more about and figure out if your child or teen is PDA, you can take my FREE Clarity Masterclass at www.atpeaceparents.com. You can also connect with me on: Instagram - www.instagram/atpeaceparents TikTok - www.tiktok.com/@atpeaceparents Facebook - www.facebook.com/atpeaceparents YouTube - www.youtube.com/@atpeaceparents And information on my Courses, Programs, and Coaching is at my At Peace Parents website, www.atpeaceparents.com Thanks for listening! You are an amazing parent. xoxo, Casey

Raising a PDA child or teen is extremely challenging. Trying to be perfect in your implementation of accommodations makes it impossible and unsustainable. But here's the good news - you don't have to be perfect! Not when your child is in burnout, and certainly not when they're in equilibrium and you need to bring some nuance to your caregiving. I explain these distinctions in this episode, which I hopes helps you breathe a little deeper and recognize what a great job you're already doing! Are you ready to start working to deeply understand and support your PDA child or teen and lead your family to peace? Join the waitlist for the next cohort of my signature Paradigm Shift Program at https://www.atpeaceparents.com/paradigm-shift-program To learn more about and figure out if your child or teen is PDA, you can take my FREE Clarity Masterclass at www.atpeaceparents.com. You can also connect with me on: Instagram - www.instagram/atpeaceparents TikTok - www.tiktok.com/@atpeaceparents Facebook - www.facebook.com/atpeaceparents YouTube - www.youtube.com/@atpeaceparents And information on my Courses, Programs, and Coaching is at my At Peace Parents website, www.atpeaceparents.com Thanks for listening! You are an amazing parent. xoxo, Casey

Are you ready to start working to deeply understand and support your PDA child or teen and lead your family to peace? Join the waitlist for the next cohort of my signature Paradigm Shift Program at https://www.atpeaceparents.com/paradigm-shift-program To learn more about and figure out if your child or teen is PDA, you can take my FREE Clarity Masterclass at www.atpeaceparents.com. You can also connect with me on: Instagram - www.instagram/atpeaceparents TikTok - www.tiktok.com/@atpeaceparents Facebook - www.facebook.com/atpeaceparents YouTube - www.youtube.com/@atpeaceparents And information on my Courses, Programs, and Coaching is at my At Peace Parents website, www.atpeaceparents.com Thanks for listening! You are an amazing parent. xoxo, Casey

Are you dreading the start to school with your PDA child or teen? 😬 You are not alone! During this free training, I explored seven steps to help you feel more confident and empowered with skills that can help you solve problems and get your child or teen the support and access to learning that they deserve and have a right to 💪. Structure of the free mini training: 👉Tough love and radically accepting the constraints we can’t change in the moment. 👉Identifying decision points vs. strategies for advocacy 👉 Strategic communication with schools 👉Identify specific needs and solutions (one problem at a time) 👉 PLATO framework for making non-violent communication requests (Citation: Marshall Rosenberg, Non-Violent Communication: A Language of Compassion) 👉Collect data on response (e.g. Yes, No, but… or No) to inform decision making. These are skills we apply, practice, and refine in the context of your real life and home in our signature Paradigm Shift Program (https://www.atpeaceparents.com/paradigm-shift-program) To learn more about and figure out if your child or teen is PDA, you can take my FREE Clarity Masterclass at www.atpeaceparents.com. You can also connect with me on: Instagram - www.instagram/atpeaceparents TikTok - www.tiktok.com/@atpeaceparents Facebook - www.facebook.com/atpeaceparents YouTube - www.youtube.com/@atpeaceparents And information on my Courses, Programs, and Coaching is at my At Peace Parents website, www.atpeaceparents.com Thanks for listening! You are an amazing parent. xoxo, Casey

In this episode I talk through the steps you can take to accommodate your PDA child or teen as they equalize against you. This is not easy stuff, but can be life changing over time. Are you ready to start working to deeply understand and support your PDA child or teen and lead your family to peace? Join the waitlist for the next cohort of my signature Paradigm Shift Program at https://www.atpeaceparents.com/paradigm-shift-program To learn more about and figure out if your child or teen is PDA, you can take my FREE Clarity Masterclass at www.atpeaceparents.com. You can also connect with me on: Instagram - www.instagram/atpeaceparents TikTok - www.tiktok.com/@atpeaceparents Facebook - www.facebook.com/atpeaceparents YouTube - www.youtube.com/@atpeaceparents And information on my Courses, Programs, and Coaching is at my At Peace Parents website, www.atpeaceparents.com Thanks for listening! You are an amazing parent. xoxo, Casey

Are you ready to start working to deeply understand and support your PDA child or teen and lead your family to peace? Join the waitlist for the next cohort of my signature Paradigm Shift Program at https://www.atpeaceparents.com/paradigm-shift-program To learn more about and figure out if your child or teen is PDA, you can take my FREE Clarity Masterclass at www.atpeaceparents.com. You can also connect with me on: Instagram - www.instagram/atpeaceparents TikTok - www.tiktok.com/@atpeaceparents Facebook - www.facebook.com/atpeaceparents YouTube - www.youtube.com/@atpeaceparents And information on my Courses, Programs, and Coaching is at my At Peace Parents website, www.atpeaceparents.com Thanks for listening! You are an amazing parent. xoxo, Casey

In this episode Donna Georgen - one of the expert coaches with At Peace Parents - shares her own amazing story of being a single mother raising two PDA daughters, one of whom also has Down Syndrome, into adulthood. Donna is a true inspiration, and a wonderful human. I feel so fortunate that she now brings all of her wisdom, empathy and practicality to her private coaching clients, and her work as a moderator in the Paradigm Shift Program online community. Want to learn more about coaching with Donna? Here's her coaching page: https://www.atpeaceparents.com/donna-coaching Interested in her support as part of the Paradigm Shift Program? Learn more here: https://www.atpeaceparents.com/paradigm-shift-program Or if you're still trying to figure out if your child or teen is PDA, you can take my FREE Clarity Masterclass at www.atpeaceparents.com. You can also connect with me on: Instagram - www.instagram/atpeaceparents TikTok - www.tiktok.com/@atpeaceparents Facebook - www.facebook.com/atpeaceparents YouTube - www.youtube.com/@atpeaceparents And information on my Courses, Programs, and Coaching is on the At Peace Parents website, www.atpeaceparents.com Thanks for listening! You are an amazing parent. xoxo, Casey

In my work with hundreds of families one thing I see often is that parents are wrongly made to feel shame for their parenting by well-meaning but shortsighted "experts." In this episode of the podcast I debunk the arguments and "evidence" that these experts use and show that none of us need to feel ashamed of the herculean parenting we're doing. Are you ready to dive deeper with me, my team and a cohort of other understanding families facing the same challenges you do? If so, I recommend joining the waitlist to get early access for enrollment in the next Paradigm Shift Program. (Last enrollment every spot filled.) Here's the link: https://www.atpeaceparents.com/psp-waitlist Or if you're not sure if your child is PDA, you might find my FREE Clarity Masterclass, as I designed it to help you determine if your child fits the PDA profile: https://www.atpeaceparents.com/clarity You can also connect with me on: Instagram - www.instagram/atpeaceparents TikTok - www.tiktok.com/@atpeaceparents Facebook - www.facebook.com/atpeaceparents YouTube - www.youtube.com/@atpeaceparents And information on my Courses, Programs, and Coaching is at my At Peace Parents website, www.atpeaceparents.com Thanks for listening! You are an amazing parent. xoxo, Casey

This episode is a MUST listen! Kendahl Damashek, a gifted PDAer and parent coach with At Peace Parents, walks us through her experience as a PDA child and young adult. With vulnerability and courage, Kendahl shares her experience with burnout in her college years and her story of how she learned to balance raising four PDA children and her own access needs. I am grateful that I get to work with Kendahl every day as a member of the At Peace Parents team. She shares her wisdom in the online community of the Paradigm Shift Program (https://www.atpeaceparents.com/paradigm-shift-program) which she helps moderate - she actually told her story in a private session of the PSP, but it was too good for me not to share more broadly - and in one-on-one coaching with families, many of whom come to her for her personal experience being 2E (twice exceptional - gifted and PDA) and raising 2E children. You can learn more about her and her coaching services at https://www.atpeaceparents.com/kendahl-private-coaching-1 To learn more about and figure out if your child or teen is PDA, you can take my FREE Clarity Masterclass at www.atpeaceparents.com. You can also connect with me on: Instagram - www.instagram/atpeaceparents TikTok - www.tiktok.com/@atpeaceparents Facebook - www.facebook.com/atpeaceparents YouTube - www.youtube.com/@atpeaceparents And information on my Courses, Programs, and Coaching is at my At Peace Parents website, www.atpeaceparents.com Thanks for listening! You are an amazing parent. xoxo, Casey

We can use time-tested scientific methods to determine the best ways to parent our PDA children and teens. In fact, many of you likely already do so, and in this episode I discuss how we all can. To learn more about and figure out if your child or teen is PDA, you can take my FREE Clarity Masterclass at www.atpeaceparents.com. You can also connect with me on: Instagram - www.instagram/atpeaceparents TikTok - www.tiktok.com/@atpeaceparents Facebook - www.facebook.com/atpeaceparents YouTube - www.youtube.com/@atpeaceparents And information on my Courses, Programs, and Coaching is at my At Peace Parents website, www.atpeaceparents.com Thanks for listening! You are an amazing parent. xoxo, Casey

In this episode Dr. Alex Klein, clinical psychologist, discussed strategies for parents of children with both PDA and OCD, and how to handle violence and hitting, especially with the added challenge of keeping siblings safe. Also, Dr. Klein mentions two other practitioners in this episode, Dr. Melissa Neff (https://www.melissaneffphd.com/) and Dr. Jeremy Shuman (https://mindfulstl.com/providers/jeremy-shuman-psy-d/) To learn more about and figure out if your child or teen is PDA, you can take my FREE Clarity Masterclass at www.atpeaceparents.com. You can also connect with me on: Instagram - www.instagram/atpeaceparents TikTok - www.tiktok.com/@atpeaceparents Facebook - www.facebook.com/atpeaceparents YouTube - www.youtube.com/@atpeaceparents And information on my Courses, Programs, and Coaching is at my At Peace Parents website, www.atpeaceparents.com Thanks for listening! You are an amazing parent. xoxo, Casey

The subject of this podcast can be triggering, but I'm committed to talking about it because so many parents of PDA children and teens encounter violence - and I am sending love and, compassion and deep empathy to all of you - and because part of the mission of At Peace Parents is to reduce violence at the individual, household and societal level. To learn more about and figure out if your child or teen is PDA, you can take my FREE Clarity Masterclass at www.atpeaceparents.com. You can also connect with me on: Instagram - www.instagram/atpeaceparents TikTok - www.tiktok.com/@atpeaceparents Facebook - www.facebook.com/atpeaceparents YouTube - www.youtube.com/@atpeaceparents And information on my Courses, Programs, and Coaching is at my At Peace Parents website, www.atpeaceparents.com Thanks for listening! You are an amazing parent. xoxo, Casey

In this episode I talk with At Peace Parents coach Kendahl Damashek about parenting twice exceptional children - who are both gifted and PDA. Kendahl shares her personal experience being 2E and raising 2E children. You can learn more about her and her coaching services at https://www.atpeaceparents.com/kendahl-private-coaching-1 To learn more about and figure out if your child or teen is PDA, you can take my FREE Clarity Masterclass at www.atpeaceparents.com. You can also connect with me on: Instagram - www.instagram/atpeaceparents TikTok - www.tiktok.com/@atpeaceparents Facebook - www.facebook.com/atpeaceparents YouTube - www.youtube.com/@atpeaceparents And information on my Courses, Programs, and Coaching is at my At Peace Parents website, www.atpeaceparents.com Thanks for listening! You are an amazing parent. xoxo, Casey

In this episode I share how Polyvagal Theory - cutting edge understanding of how the human nervous system works - can help us parent our PDA children and teens. Specifically, I look at how it helps us answer the following paradoxical questions: 1 - Why do things seem to get worse after I dive in on accommodating? 2 - How can my child turn their responses on or off if the behaviors truly aren't under their conscious control? 3 - Similarly, how can equalizing be social in nature if not under their control? 4 - Why, after making so much progress with my PDA child, do I personally feel so awful in my own nervous system? To learn more about and figure out if your child or teen is PDA, you can take my FREE Clarity Masterclass at www.atpeaceparents.com. You can also connect with me on: Instagram - www.instagram/atpeaceparents TikTok - www.tiktok.com/@atpeaceparents Facebook - www.facebook.com/atpeaceparents YouTube - www.youtube.com/@atpeaceparents And information on my Courses, Programs, and Coaching is at my At Peace Parents website, www.atpeaceparents.com Thanks for listening! You are an amazing parent. xoxo, Casey

In this episode I share the lessons I learned THE HARD WAY about advocating for my PDA son. Because you are truly not alone if you're feeling angry and exhausted after trying to convince teachers, doctors, therapists, grandparents, even spouses what your child needs and why - I've worked with hundreds of families who have gone through this. I share these lessons in the hope that it will short cut the process for you, so you can preserve some of your limited energy. Interested in the two books I mention - Non-Violent Communication and Boundary Boss. You can find links to both on our resources page, and if you buy through those links a commission will go towards our scholarship program. www.atpeaceparents.com/resources To learn more about and figure out if your child or teen is PDA, you can take my FREE Clarity Masterclass at www.atpeaceparents.com. You can also connect with me on: Instagram - www.instagram/atpeaceparents TikTok - www.tiktok.com/@atpeaceparents Facebook - www.facebook.com/atpeaceparents YouTube - www.youtube.com/@atpeaceparents And information on my Courses, Programs, and Coaching is at my At Peace Parents website, www.atpeaceparents.com Thanks for listening! You are an amazing parent. xoxo, Casey

Parents often ask me how their three-year-old PDA child could possibly be masking before they've even started preschsool and seen much of how other kids behave. It's a great question, and one I asked many times as well. In this episode I dig into the answer, according to Polyvagal Theory. To learn more about and figure out if your child or teen is PDA, you can take my FREE Clarity Masterclass at www.atpeaceparents.com. You can also connect with me on: Instagram - www.instagram/atpeaceparents TikTok - www.tiktok.com/@atpeaceparents Facebook - www.facebook.com/atpeaceparents YouTube - www.youtube.com/@atpeaceparents And information on my Courses, Programs, and Coaching is at my At Peace Parents website, www.atpeaceparents.com Thanks for listening! You are an amazing parent. xoxo, Casey

In this episode Dr. Alex Klein and I answer questions that families submitted. If you'd like to submit a question for one of our future conversations, here is where you can do so: https://www.atpeaceparents.com/submit-question-klein-ehrlich Here's some of the questions we took on for this episode: How do you know if the behavior you are observing as a parent is from ADHD or PDA? What are the differences and similarities?Why are psychologists so resistant to recognizing PDA? (Asked as “What is wrong with Psychologists that they can’t see this as a neurotype!?!” 😊)Are psychologists helpful at all if they aren’t PDA themselves? Is it even worth trying to find a psychologist?What do you do if ABA is recommended by a doctor, but intuitively you don't think it is the right fit? To learn more about and figure out if your child or teen is PDA, you can take my FREE Clarity Masterclass at www.atpeaceparents.com. You can also connect with me on: Instagram - www.instagram/atpeaceparents TikTok - www.tiktok.com/@atpeaceparents Facebook - www.facebook.com/atpeaceparents YouTube - www.youtube.com/@atpeaceparents And information on my Courses, Programs, and Coaching is at my At Peace Parents website, www.atpeaceparents.com Thanks for listening! You are an amazing parent. xoxo, Casey

Does your child refuses to write or draw? In this episode I share my story of my son's avoidance of both and how supporting his nervous with PDA accommodations enabled him to come back to them over time. The story also illustrates the general logic of supporting a child through and out of burnout. To learn more about and figure out if your child or teen is PDA, you can take my FREE Clarity Masterclass at www.atpeaceparents.com. You can also connect with me on: Instagram - www.instagram/atpeaceparents TikTok - www.tiktok.com/@atpeaceparents Facebook - www.facebook.com/atpeaceparents YouTube - www.youtube.com/@atpeaceparents And information on my Courses, Programs, and Coaching is at my At Peace Parents website, www.atpeaceparents.com Thanks for listening! You are an amazing parent. xoxo, Casey

Knowing the difference between boundaries and rules, and when to use each, can be really helpful when parenting a PDA child or teen. To learn more about and figure out if your child or teen is PDA, you can take my FREE Clarity Masterclass at www.atpeaceparents.com. You can also connect with me on: Instagram - www.instagram/atpeaceparents TikTok - www.tiktok.com/@atpeaceparents Facebook - www.facebook.com/atpeaceparents YouTube - www.youtube.com/@atpeaceparents And information on my Courses, Programs, and Coaching is at my At Peace Parents website, www.atpeaceparents.com Thanks for listening! You are an amazing parent. xoxo, Casey

In this episode I reconnect with my longtime dear friend, Lauren Stern Noel, who is also a developmental therapist and DIR-Floortime therapist working with Autistic children and children with developmental disabilities. We talk about playing with PDA children, and how it can look different than what parents might have expected. Lauren serves families and schools directly in the greater Chicago area and you can learn more about her services and work at her website: https://www.playtimekids.org/about-lauren Lauren's full bio is here: Lauren Stern Noel has been working with children with autism spectrum disorders and developmental differences since 2003. She is a credentialed Developmental Therapist through the Illinois Early Intervention program, a certified Infant Mental Health Specialist through Erikson Institute, and a Fellows-level certified DIRFloortime® therapist through Profectum™ Academy. Lauren believes that relationships and a strong social-emotional foundation are the basis for play, development and learning. Lauren earned a Bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Michigan and a Master’s degree in child development from Tufts University. To learn more about and figure out if your child or teen is PDA, you can take my FREE Clarity Masterclass at www.atpeaceparents.com. You can also connect with me on: Instagram - www.instagram/atpeaceparents TikTok - www.tiktok.com/@atpeaceparents Facebook - www.facebook.com/atpeaceparents YouTube - www.youtube.com/@atpeaceparents And information on my Courses, Programs, and Coaching is at my At Peace Parents website, www.atpeaceparents.com Thanks for listening! You are an amazing parent! xoxo, Casey