Neurodiversity Podcast

As public understanding of neurodiversity continues to grow, evaluators face a shifting landscape when assessing clients whose traits don't match traditional, less nuanced pictures of autism. Many individuals—especially women and girls—learn to navigate daily social interactions through pattern recognition and learned strategies rather than intuitive processing, masking their traits enough to miss early identification. Dr. Jeremy Sharp, a licensed psychologist, founder of the Colorado Center for Assessment, and host of the Testing Psychologist Podcast, joins Emily to unpack the realities of camouflaging and what it takes to catch these less obvious presentations during a diagnostic evaluation.
TAKEAWAYS
The increasing prevalence of self-identification and online research requires evaluators to look beyond traditional, high-support presentation models when assessing for autism.

Camouflaging and masking rely on active cognitive problem-solving and pattern recognition rather than intuitive social processing, creating high internal fatigue that standard testing environments can miss.

Structured, one-on-one assessment settings can artificially boost a person's immediate social performance, making ambiguous or unstructured interactions essential during clinical observations.

Traditional assessment tools like the ADOS can be less sensitive when evaluating females, who often demonstrate higher surface social fluency and culturally common special interests.

Arriving at an accurate diagnostic picture requires gathering broad collateral information from parents, partners, and teachers rather than relying on a single test score.

You can register now for our upcoming continuing education course for mental health professionals, Clinical Implications of Late-Identified Neurodivergence: Strategies for Identity Integration and Therapeutic Support. The course will be presented by Dr. Amy Marschall, author of the book Neurodiversity-Affirming Therapy, and will be available both as a live event on Friday, August 7 from 2:00 - 3:30 PM Eastern, 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM Pacific, and afterwards in video form. Both versions are worth 1.5 hours of APA and NBCC-approved CE credits. Register here.
Dr. Jeremy Sharp is a licensed psychologist and Director at the Colorado Center for Assessment, a multimillion-dollar private practice that he founded in 2009. He specializes in psychological and neuropsychological evaluation with kids and adolescents.
As the host of the Testing Psychologist Podcast and consultant for clinicians, Dr. Sharp provides private practice coaching for psychologists and other mental health professionals who want to start or grow assessment services in their practices.
In 2020, Dr. Sharp partnered with a seasoned software developer to co-found Reverb, the premier AI report-writing platform for testing psychologists that helps clinicians write faster, better reports and get their time back for what matters most.
Dr. Sharp earned his undergraduate degree in Experimental Psychology from the University of South Carolina before getting a Master's and PhD in Counseling Psychology from Colorado State University. He lives in Fort Collins, Colorado with his wife (also a therapist) and two teenagers.
BACKGROUND READING
Jeremy's website, Testing Psychologist podcast, Facebook, LinkedIn
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.

Often, autistic girls are called shy, introverted, perfectionistic, confused, anything BUT autistic. There is a pervasive impression, even in the medical community, that autism occurs in boys vastly more often than girls. The result is, autistic girls are missing out on services and tools that are available to them. Holly Blanc Moses is a therapist, and the host of the Autism ADHD Podcast, and she joins Emily Kircher-Morris in this encore presentation to talk about missing autism in girls.
You can register now for our upcoming continuing education course for mental health professionals, Clinical Implications of Late-Identified Neurodivergence: Strategies for Identity Integration and Therapeutic Support. The course will be presented by Dr. Amy Marschall, author of the book Neurodiversity-Affirming Therapy, and will be available both as a live event on Friday, August 7 from 2:00 - 3:30 PM Eastern, 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM Pacific, and afterwards in video form. Both versions are worth 1.5 hours of APA and NBCC-approved CE credits. Register here.
Holly Blanc Moses is a Licensed Psychological Associate, a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor, and an ADHD Certified Clinical Services Provider with over 23 years of experience in ADHD, Autism, and anxiety. Over the last 23 years, she has provided mental health therapy in the areas of emotional regulation, anxiety, social interaction, depression, parent-child relationship, and school success. She is the host of The Autism ADHD Podcast and Autism ADHD TV. Holly is also the mother of two neurodivergent children.
BACKGROUND READING
The Autism ADHD Podcast, Autism ADHD TV, Facebook parent group, Facebook professionals group, Holly's private practice, Holly's education and course 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.

The baseline premise of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) rests on the fundamental principle that communication is an inherent human right rather than a privilege to be earned through baseline cognitive compliance. Too often, school systems and clinical providers inadvertently stall access to verbal alternatives by requiring non-speaking students to prove communicative readiness or complete repetitive testing metrics.
Brenda Del Monte, an AAC specialist and author, alongside Sarah Kinsella, an assistive technology specialist, join Emily Kircher-Morris to discuss ways to reverse this traditional framework. They work to dismantle the clinical assumptions that hinder expressive access.
TAKEAWAYS
Communication should be an absolute human right that must be provided without pre-qualifying conditions, compliance mandates, or prerequisites of demonstrated cognitive readiness.

Implementing top-down testing protocols on assistive devices turns natural expression into an artificial performance.

The usage of hand-over-hand physical guidance to steer a student's selection on an assistive device overrides physical autonomy and lessens authenticity.

Changing communicative environments requires a baseline differentiation between a user's current physical selection skills and their potential capabilities.

Introducing descriptive, speech-generating tools does not reduce a child's internal drive to develop natural verbal language, and actively enhances social interaction.

Our latest CE course for mental health professionals is available now online. It's called The New 3 Rs: Mindfulness-based Resilience, Regulation, and Relationships, and is facilitated by Dr Christopher Willard. In this course, we explore how resilience develops, what stress and overwhelm do to the developing nervous system, and why relational safety is not simply a nice addition to an intervention. The training video is available now, and is worth 1.5 APA- and NBCC-approved CE hours. Click here to take the course now.
Brenda Del Monte is a speech language pathologist and an assistive technology evaluator and facilitator. She worked as an SLP in Washington state public schools for 7 years. She is currently a private practitioner in AZ where she does home based therapy, as well as AAC evaluations and trainings. Her background includes experience in the medical setting, private setting and birth-to-three. Her role at SETC involves teaching webinars and classes, creating video tutorials, and collaborating with districts on implementing assistive technology with children with a wide range of physical and cognitive abilities. She published the book I See You In There in October 2021.






Sarah Kinsella is a Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) passionate about empowering students with complex communication and learning needs through Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). Holding a Master's degree in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Sarah has been providing support and training to children (birth-21), their families, and educators in WA state for nearly two decades. She currently works for the Special Education Technology Center (since 2015) where, in addition to providing technical assistance and training, she co-hosts and develops content for the "Awe and Wonder AAC & AT Podcast". Her background includes 11 years as a public school SLP, serving 6 of those years as district Assistive Technology (AT) Specialist.
BACKGROUND READING
Special Education Technology Center website, SETC on Facebook, Brenda's Technically Speaking website, Technically Speaking on Instagram, Technically Speaking on 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.

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.

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.