Everyone Gets a Juice Box: For Parents of Neurodivergent Kids
Journalist and radio host Jessica Shaw swaps celebrity interviews for a new beat: parenting kids who learn and think differently. As a mom of two, she shares the chaos, victories, and everyday struggles of neurodiverse parenting. The podcast is a space for parents to laugh, vent, celebrate wins, and tackle the messy realities of raising neurodivergent children.
Episodes
My son was scared of food
Tehrima Rai spent years being told her son was “just picky.” Relatives blamed her parenting, and she struggled to get help. But Tehrima, a pediatrician herself, trusted her instincts and kept searching until she found the real answer: ARFID, an extreme fear of food that’s more common in neurodivergent kids. Through feeding therapy, logbooks, and her own experimentation, she helped her son eat 
I disciplined my ADHD daughter all wrong. This saved our relationship.
Psychotherapist and ADHD expert Merriam Saunders spent years locked in daily battles with her strong-willed daughter. No form of discipline worked. Then one ordinary blowup led to an unexpected realization: The problem wasn’t defiance, it was an ADHD skills gap. And, crucially, she realized it wasn’t her daughter’s job to fix it. Merriam shares what happened the moment she chose connection ov
School refusal: Strategies for getting your child back in the building
Jessica is off this week, but we didn’t want to leave you without something great to listen to. So, in honor of back-to-school, we’re sharing an episode about school refusal from another Understood podcast, called In It.
Why do kids sometimes refuse to go to school? And what can families do about it, both in the moment and to avoid it in the future?
In this episode, hosts Gretchen Vierstra and Rac
Why I stopped hiding my kid’s neurodivergence
For years, Margaret Ables believed the kindest thing she could do for her autistic child was to help them blend in. Then a single article reframed everything she thought she knew about acceptance and disclosure, and what her kid actually needed from her. She and host Jessica Shaw dig into the messy, evolving work of showing up as yourself in a world that isn't always built for you. This is a candi
Guiding a neurodivergent kid through grief (by breaking all the rules)
Alynda Wheat Savage and her husband Dave were never big rule followers. They brought that punk rock spirit to parenting their son, Jack, who is neurodivergent. So when Dave was diagnosed with glioblastoma, they threw out the rulebook to help Jack process and grieve in a way that worked for him.
Alynda shares how they protected Jack through diagnosis, decline, and loss. Her story is sometimes funn
No dyslexia tutors, so this mom became one
Melena Blanton is a clinical psychologist and mom of two neurodivergent kids in Eastern Kentucky. She’s had to fight through lack of resources and small town prejudice to get her kids the help they need. That’s meant driving hours for evaluations, training as a tutor herself, and building a scrappy sisterhood of moms doing the impossible. This is what advocacy looks like when the system is broken.
Hyperfocus: PMDD: Why women with ADHD are 4x more likely to struggle
In this episode of our sister show Hyperfocus, listener Jenna Plonsky opens a raw conversation about ADHD, late diagnosis, and the mental health struggles many women face in silence.
From postpartum depression to PMDD, this episode explores how hormonal shifts intersect with neurodivergence — and why so many go undiagnosed for decades. It’s an honest look at shame, self-perception, and the turnin
How neurodivergent kids helped build a better children’s museum
Rainy Saturdays just got a whole lot better. Leslie Bushara, chief program officer of the Children’s Museum of Manhattan, reveals how she’s taking notes from neurodivergent kids and their parents to build a space that’s welcoming to every kind of learner, including yours. From muted paint colors to reimagined animations, Leslie shares what happens when you actually listen to kids.
For more on thi
First-gen parents, neurodivergent kids, and redefining excellence
Alison Cho grew up in a tight-knit Korean American family where Harvard and medical school weren’t just dreams, they were expectations. Alison had undiagnosed ADHD and autism, and she often felt like she was letting her parents down. Now she’s raising two neurodivergent kids of her own. And she’s navigating the same cultural expectations she grew up with, this time as the parent. In this funny and
We didn’t know we had ADHD. Then motherhood hit.
Two experts in ADHD went decades without realizing they had it themselves. Katie Severson, a speech pathologist, and Lori Long, a child psychologist, co-run The Childhood Collective and host the Shining With ADHD podcast. But both received their own ADHD diagnoses only after becoming mothers. They talk about late diagnosis, the shame that came before it, and how it shapes their parenting.
For m
I’m an ADHD expert. My kid still can’t get help.
Rae Jacobson has spent her career covering ADHD and neurodivergence. She hosts the Hyperfocus podcast and helps lead Understood’s editorial team. But even with all that knowledge, she still can’t get the school to evaluate her daughter for an IEP. Here’s how she’s supporting her daughter while they wait for school services.
For more on this topic
Listen: The Hyperfocus podcast with Rae Jacobson
The hidden grief of parenting a neurodivergent kid
Brittney Crabtree, mom of four and co-host of the Moms Talk Autism podcast, gets refreshingly honest about what she calls “grieving the gap.” That’s the particular sadness of watching your neurodivergent kid fall behind their peers. She talks about building a “friendship portfolio,” vetting safe people to open up to, and why actually feeling your feelings is the best strategy.
For more on this top
Debbie Reber on homeschooling a neurodivergent kid
Debbie Reber tried everything to make traditional schools work for her neurodivergent kid. Three schools. An IEP. Therapists. OTs. Educational consultants. But homeschooling? That was a hard pass.
Then her husband got a job offer on another continent and her options got very small, very fast. What followed was six years she never planned for — and wouldn’t trade for anything.
For more on this top
Parenting with ADHD: Balancing chaos and consistency
Parenting is hard. But parenting with ADHD adds a whole new layer of complexity.
In this episode, journalist and documentarian Danielle Elliot shares her experience as a single mom navigating routines, decision-making, and the small daily choices that shape a child’s world.
From sleep training to following her love of travel, Danielle is learning to embrace her own neurodivergence — and discover
Math mystery: How we discovered my daughter has dyscalculia
Laura Jackson thought her daughter’s struggles with math were just a normal part of school — until tears, anxiety, and frustration revealed something more.
After a long journey, Laura discovered her daughter has dyscalculia. So Laura worked closely with experts and used targeted strategies to support her learning. Today, her daughter is excelling in algebra and geometry, building confidence, and l
The myth of work-life balance with a neurodivergent child
Laura Mayer opens up about the challenges of balancing an ambitious career with the nagging feeling that she needed more space for her neurodivergent daughter.
She shares the gut-wrenching moments of juggling long hours and the many to-dos that come along with a new diagnosis. In the end, trusting herself led to bold choices. They not only reshaped her priorities but led her to a career shift tha
Parenting regrets and giving yourself grace after an ADHD and autism diagnoses
After ADHD and autism diagnoses reshaped his family, Dion Chavis began looking back at how he parented his teenage daughter — and forward at how he’s raising his young son. In this conversation, he shares the lessons he learned about academics, connection, anger, grace, and apologizing. It’s an honest look at how parenting evolves and what happens when you decide to grow alongside your kids.More o
Advocating for your child when school systems won’t bend
Our episode today starts with that call from school every parent dreads…
Jessica talks with mom and education advocate Tricia McGhee after a classroom discipline incident forces a bigger conversation about neurodivergent kids and school systems that just aren’t built to flex.
In this episode, we’re also looking at what happens when getting a diagnosis doesn’t lead to help or services — and why co
When “fine” isn’t fine: A dyslexia story every parent should hear
Some kids don’t fall apart in public. They save it for home — because it’s the one place they feel safe enough to let go. When teachers and professionals say a child is “fine,” we parents are often left questioning our instincts. They’re the experts, right?In this episode, psychologist and mom Dr. Arielle Schwartz shares how trusting her gut led her to uncover her son’s dyslexia and sensory differ
Meltdowns, mysteries, and multiple diagnoses
Parenting can feel like a detective mission, especially when your kid has more than one diagnosis.Mom (and yes, a very insightful therapist) Camila de Onis shares her story of tracking her daughter’s meltdowns, sensory triggers, and unexpected behaviors to figure out that her daughter has ADHD and OCD — and is academically gifted to boot. From mysterious school episodes to blowups at home, she tak
Mom rage: Overwhelm and burnout don’t make you a bad parent
Most of us have been there. Your kids are full tilt. You’re overstimulated, overbooked, and running on empty. Losing it happens — and so do the guilt and shame that follow.Today, Jessica sits down with therapist and mom Michelle Puster to talk about the overwhelm, guilt, and burnout behind mom rage, especially when raising neurodivergent kids. They share their own strategies (like mindfulness and
Can AI make life easier for parents of kids with ADHD?
In our very first episode of Everyone Gets a Juice Box, Jessica gets real with fourth-grade teacher and mom Bayla Weisman about using AI to support kids with ADHD at home and in the classroom. From visual schedules and social stories to doom piles, busy sports calendars, and picky eating, Bayla shares what’s actually helping her family stay afloat. Turns out AI can be an amazing tool — not a crutc
Welcome to Everyone Gets a Juice Box
Journalist and radio host Jessica Shaw is swapping celebrity interviews for a whole new beat: parenting kids who learn and think differently. As a mom of two, she knows the chaos, victories, and everyday struggles that come with the territory.Everyone Gets a Juice Box is a space for parents to laugh, vent, celebrate wins, and tackle the messy realities of neurodiverse parenting. Nothing is off-lim
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