ADHD Mums

Somewhere in almost every ADHD conversation, someone eventually says it.

'There weren't kids like this when I was at school.'

Or the slightly more polite version:

'Why are there suddenly so many ADHD kids now?'

And if you're a parent of a neurodivergent child, you've probably heard this one too:

'Maybe it's just screens.'

This episode pulls that myth apart.

Because the truth is far more complex — and far more interesting.

ADHD didn't suddenly appear in the last 20 years.

What has changed is how classrooms work, what children are expected to do inside them, and how visible neurodivergence becomes when the environment shifts.

In this episode, we unpack one of the biggest myths about ADHD and neurodivergence:

Are there actually more neurodivergent children now?

Or are we finally recognising what was always there?

– The myth that 'there were no ADHD kids in the past'

– Why increased diagnosis does not mean ADHD is suddenly more common

– How modern classrooms have changed dramatically over the last 30 years

– Why language demands in early schooling are much higher than they used to be

– What happens when school expectations exceed a child's nervous system capacity

– The difference between developmental opportunity and underlying neurodevelopmental differences

– Why early learning environments play a crucial role in supporting neurodivergent kids

– The societal changes affecting children's development, play and independence

– How pandemic stress and modern family pressure has reshaped childhood environments

– Why blaming screens oversimplifies a much bigger developmental conversation

One of the most cited global studies on ADHD prevalence analysed 175 international studies and found that ADHD rates have remained relatively stable over time.

What has changed is recognition and diagnosis, not the existence of neurodivergent children.

Global prevalence research:

https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/135/4/e994/33967/Prevalence-of-Attention-Deficit-Hyperactivity

This systematic review, published in Pediatrics, remains one of the most widely referenced papers estimating ADHD prevalence worldwide.

In Australia, population-level data also tells an important story.

The Australian Early Development Census tracks developmental vulnerability across the country and consistently shows that many children are entering school with developmental differences in communication, emotional regulation and social skills.

AEDC National Report:

https://www.aedc.gov.au/resources/detail/2021-aedc-national-report

Importantly, developmental vulnerability does not mean something is 'wrong' with a child.

It tells us that children's environments, expectations and support systems all interact with how development unfolds.

And when school expectations increase, differences often become more visible.

– You have heard someone say 'there weren't kids like this when we were growing up'

– You're navigating an ADHD diagnosis and feeling overwhelmed by misinformation

– You're trying to explain neurodivergence to family members who don't understand

– Your child struggles in modern classrooms but thrives in other environments

– You've wondered whether society has changed more than children have

– You want research-backed information about ADHD prevalence

MORE ABOUT SALLY GALLOWAY & KAT MARRINGTON

Kat Marrington (Speech Pathologist) at www.Talkiplay.com

Sally Galloway (Occupational Therapist) at www.sallygalloway.com.au

FREE ADHD RESOURCES

If you're exploring ADHD for yourself or your child, these free tools can help.

A quick screening tool to help adults identify whether ADHD traits might be worth exploring further.

https://adhdmums.com.au/adhd-self-test/

Guides, articles and practical support for ADHD families.

https://adhdmums.com.au/resources/

Mentioned in this episode:

Give away bad for biz - free resources

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School systems are built to notice disruption.

The child throwing chairs.

The child refusing to sit down.

The child who can't stay quiet.

But there is another group of kids.

The ones who sit still.

The ones who follow instructions.

The ones teachers describe as 'lovely', 'polite', or 'no trouble at all'.

And those are often the kids quietly falling apart.

Because when a child internalises stress instead of showing it outwardly, the education system often doesn't see the struggle at all.

In this episode we unpack what happens to internalising kids inside classrooms — why their needs are frequently missed, and what parents can actually do when the system isn't built to notice them.

We also talk honestly about advocacy, complaints, and the uncomfortable reality that change inside the education system rarely happens unless parents create pressure.

If your child looks fine at school but collapses at home, this conversation will likely feel very familiar.

– Why internalising kids are often invisible inside classroom systems

– The difference between externalising behaviour and internalised stress

– Why schools often rely on children to 'ask for help' even when that is neurologically difficult

– Practical adjustments teachers can make that reduce invisible pressure for internalising students

– How parents can translate what works at home into classroom supports

– Why documenting school failures matters for long-term systemic change

– How complaint processes to regional education offices actually work

– Why data from parents is one of the only ways the education system changes

– The difficult decision many families face when schools push children out

– Why expulsion data matters for education policy reform

– Your child looks like they are coping at school but falls apart at home

– School says 'they seem fine here' but you know the effort it takes for your child to get through the day

– You have an internalising child who doesn't speak up about their needs

– You're navigating school refusal or burnout

– You've considered making a complaint about your child's school but don't know where to start

– You're trying to advocate for your child inside a system that feels impossible to change

Find out more about Bronnie Hammond Vale here

https://www.honeycombadvocacy.com/

📬 Check out my Free Resource Mentioned in THIS EPISODE

The School Complaint & Escalation Guide for Parents

https://adhdmums.com.au/product/school-complaint-escalation-guide/

https://adhdmums.com.au/advocacy/

Camouflaging ADHD & Autistic Traits in Girls (with Millie Carr)

https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/replay-s1-episode-41-camouflaging-adhd-autistic-traits-in-girls-with-millie-carr-re-release/

Neurodiverse Classrooms (with Millie Carr)

https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-33-neurodiverse-classrooms-with-millie-carr/

When School Becomes the Trauma – School Series

https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/s2-ep2-school-series-when-school-becomes-the-trauma-what-no-one-tells-adhd-parents/

The Great Gaslighting: When Schools Say “We Don’t See It” – School Series

https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-7-school-series-the-great-gaslighting-when-schools-say-we-dont-see-it/

📬 Listener Questions & Community

🎙️ Ask a Listener Question (voice)

Voice notes are preferred when possible — hearing your voice helps add context — but you’re very welcome to submit a written question instead.

Send me a WhatsApp voice message here:

https://wa.me/61403457313

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https://form.jotform.com/251238118486864

👥 Join the ADHD Mums Facebook Group

For community, shared language, and conversations with other mums who get it.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/adhdmumspodcast

📬 Listener Questions & Community

🎙️ Ask a Listener Question (voice)

Voice notes are preferred when possible — hearing your voice helps add context — but you’re very welcome to submit a written question instead.

Send me a WhatsApp voice message here:

https://wa.me/61403457313

✍️ Ask a Listener Question (written)

https://form.jotform.com/251238118486864

👥 Join the ADHD Mums Facebook Group

For community, shared language, and conversations with other mums who get it.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/adhdmumspodcast

Mentioned in this episode:

Give away bad for biz - free resources

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You're told your child is doing great at school.

'Wish I had more like her'

'No issues here.'

But every afternoon at 3pm something else happens.

The car door shuts.

And the child who 'had a great day' collapses.

The meltdown doesn't start at school.

It starts when the mask comes off.

For many Mums, this creates a strange kind of confusion.

School says everything is fine.

But home tells a completely different story.

In this episode we unpack the cost of being the 'good' student — the child who holds it together in the classroom while quietly burning through their nervous system capacity all day.

Because when struggle isn't loud, it often gets missed.

And the kids who look like they are coping the best are sometimes the ones paying the highest price.

– Why the child who 'behaves well' can still be in serious distress

– The difference between internalising and externalising stress in classrooms

– How masking hides the real effort many neurodivergent kids are using just to get through the day

– Why teachers often don't see the struggle happening under the surface

– The after-school collapse and what it actually tells you about capacity

– Why asking a child to 'just speak up' about their needs doesn't work for many autistic and ADHD kids

– How small classroom adjustments can dramatically reduce invisible stress

– Why trust between teacher and student matters more than most people realise

– The structural limits inside school systems that leave internalising kids unsupported

– Your child is described as a 'model student' but falls apart the moment they get home

– School says everything is fine but your child is exhausted, anxious or melting down daily

– Your child masks heavily in public but collapses in safe spaces

– You've been told your child just needs to 'ask for help' at school

– You feel like your child's struggles aren't visible enough to be taken seriously

– You're trying to support a child who carries everything internally

Find out more about Bronnie Hammond Vale here

https://www.honeycombadvocacy.com/

📬 Check out my Free Resources on Schools:

The School Choice Kit

https://adhdmums.com.au/product/the-school-choice-kit/

Quiet Exclusion Kit

https://adhdmums.com.au/product/quiet-exclusion-kit/

📬 Check out my Paid Resource on Schools:

Making School Work – Parent Guide

https://adhdmums.com.au/product/making-school-work-parent-guide/

📬 Listener Questions & Community

🎙️ Ask a Listener Question (voice)

Voice notes are preferred when possible — hearing your voice helps add context — but you’re very welcome to submit a written question instead.

Send me a WhatsApp voice message here:

https://wa.me/61403457313

✍️ Ask a Listener Question (written)

https://form.jotform.com/251238118486864

👥 Join the ADHD Mums Facebook Group

For community, shared language, and conversations with other mums who get it.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/adhdmumspodcast

Mentioned in this episode:

Give away bad for biz - free resources

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You’ve sent the emails.

You’ve attended the meetings.

You’ve tried to be calm, collaborative, reasonable.

And nothing changes.

Then suddenly something serious happens — a suspension, an incident, a formal complaint — and overnight the school moves quickly.

So what just happened?

This episode unpacks the moment many ADHD mums eventually hit: the point where being reasonable stops working — and why that happens inside the school system.

Because for many families, the problem isn’t communication.

It’s understanding what schools actually respond to, what they quietly ignore, and how the system itself shapes those responses.

• Why being calm, collaborative and ‘reasonable’ often doesn’t move schools
• What schools actually respond to — and what gets quietly ignored
• Why emotional emails and long explanations often backfire
• The reality behind ‘reasonable adjustments’ under Australian education law
• Why some adjustments are refused even when they appear simple
• The funding model most parents have never heard of: NCCD
• Why teachers may genuinely say they can’t do something — even when it seems obvious
• The difference between fairness and inclusion in schools
• When escalating a complaint becomes necessary (and how to do it properly)
• Why documentation, meeting notes and evidence matter far more than emotion

• You feel like you’ve been polite, patient and collaborative… and nothing has changed
• Your child’s school says they ‘can’t’ implement adjustments that seem reasonable
• You’ve asked for incident reports or documentation and never received them
• Meetings feel confusing or adversarial
• You’re not sure when to keep negotiating and when to escalate
• You’re trying to advocate for your child without becoming ‘that parent’

Sara Hocking

Educational disability advocate supporting families navigating school discrimination, failed adjustments and escalation processes.

Sarah works directly with families across Australia dealing with school-based disability support issues and understands both the legal framework and the practical realities of how schools respond.

Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth)

Disability Standards for Education 2005 (Cth)

These laws outline the obligation for Australian schools to provide reasonable adjustments for students with disability, provided those adjustments do not create an unjustifiable hardship for the school.

Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD)

The NCCD is the Australian Government framework used to determine funding and support levels for students with disability in schools.

Many parents assume funding follows their child directly to the school.

In reality, the system is far more complex — and often much less transparent.

Sara Hocking – Educational Disability Advocate

www.seebeyondau.org

🎧 When School Decides Your Child Is the Problem

https://adhdmums.com.au/adhd-podcast-episodes/when-school-decides-your-child-is-the-problem/

🎧 Raising Strong Children: How to Support Without Always Solving Their Problems

https://adhdmums.com.au/raising-strong-children/

📘 The School Choice Kit

https://adhdmums.com.au/product/the-school-choice-kit/

If you’ve experienced school pushback, refused adjustments, or confusing processes around disability support, you can share your experience here:

https://form.jotform.com/251238118486864

Your experiences help shape future episodes and resources for other ADHD mums navigating the same systems.

Mentioned in this episode:

Give away bad for biz - free resources

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There is a particular kind of confusion that happens when your child likes their teacher.

If you’ve ever thought, ‘But she’s so lovely… why isn’t this working?’ I explore this massive question wth Bronnie Hammond-Vale.

This episode is for you.

WHY THIS MATTERS

Sometimes the problem is the gap between teacher intention and system capacity.

A teacher can care deeply.

A teacher can try hard.

A teacher can be doing their best in a room full of kids who all need something different.

And still… your child keeps escalating, shutting down, falling apart, or being labelled as ‘behavioural’.

Not because your kid is the problem.

And not because the teacher doesn’t care.

But because the system is rigid, under-resourced, and built for compliance — not regulation, flexibility, or neurodivergent reality.

WHAT WE COVER

1. The ‘she’s lovely… but it’s still not working’ gap (teacher intention vs system capacity)
2. Why teachers end up buying sensory tools and resources with their own money
3. What school funding often gets spent on instead (and why it’s not always what kids need)
4. Why neurodivergent supports should be universal, not ‘special’ (the wobble chair example)
5. How rigid systems create the ‘bad behaviour’ narrative when teachers don’t have tools
6. Why fear-based discipline ‘worked’ back then (and why it’s not motivation — it’s trauma)
7. The missing piece: what teachers can do (scripts, toolkits, repair) when punishment is off the table
8. Why a child walking out can be a skill, not ‘truancy’ — and what a supportive response looks like

THIS EPISODE IS FOR YOU IF…

1. Your child likes their teacher but school is still going downhill
2. You’re stuck between ‘they’re trying’ and ‘this is not working’
3. You’re watching schools spend money on optics while teachers fund basics
4. You’ve been told your child is ‘naughty’ when you know it’s dysregulation
5. You’re exhausted from advocating and still feel like nothing changes
6. You want practical, real-world strategies that work in a classroom of 30 — not theory

Find out more about Bronnie Hammond Vale here

https://www.honeycombadvocacy.com/

RELATED ADHD MUMS EPISODES

🎙️ When Teachers Care — But the System Still Breaks Kids

🎧 1️⃣ When School Decides Your Child Is the Problem

https://adhdmums.com.au/adhd-podcast-episodes/when-school-decides-your-child-is-the-problem/

🎧 2️⃣ SCHOOL SERIES – When School Becomes the Trauma

https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/s2-ep2-school-series-when-school-becomes-the-trauma-what-no-one-tells-adhd-parents/

🎧 3️⃣ IEP Meetings Are Broken — Here’s What to Say Instead

https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-9-when-the-iep-meeting-feels-like-a-battle-you-didnt-ask-for/

🎧 4️⃣ Being Judged for Choosing Understanding Over Punishment

https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/being-judged-adhd-discipline-myth

📬 Check out my Free Resources on Schools:

Bullying Response Kit

https://adhdmums.com.au/product/bullying-response-kit-adhd-mums/

The School Choice Kit

https://adhdmums.com.au/product/the-school-choice-kit/

ADHD School Prep Kit

https://adhdmums.com.au/product/adhd-school-prep-kit/

Quiet Exclusion Kit

https://adhdmums.com.au/product/quiet-exclusion-kit/

Explaining ADHD to Kids – Parents Guide

https://adhdmums.com.au/product/explaining-adhd-to-kids-parents-guide/

📬 Check out my Paid Resource on Schools:

Making School Work – Parent Guide ($20)

https://adhdmums.com.au/product/making-school-work-parent-guide/

📬 Listener Questions & Community

🎙️ Ask a Listener Question (voice)

Voice notes are preferred when possible — hearing your voice helps add context — but you’re very welcome to submit a written question instead.

Send me a WhatsApp voice message here:

https://wa.me/61403457313

✍️ Ask a Listener Question (written)

https://form.jotform.com/251238118486864

👥 Join the ADHD Mums Facebook Group

For community, shared language, and conversations with other mums who get it.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/adhdmumspodcast

Mentioned in this episode:

Give away bad for biz - free resources

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You’re sitting in a meeting thinking you’re here to talk about support.

There’s a plan. There are ‘adjustments’.

And yet your child is still escalating… and suddenly the school is hinting at removal, reduced hours, or ‘this isn’t the right setting’.

This episode is the practical middle bit no one gives you:

When a plan exists, but it’s either the wrong plan — or it’s not actually being applied.

WHY THIS MATTERS

When a school says ‘the plan isn’t working’, it often gets translated as ‘your child is the problem’.

But plans fail for predictable reasons:

• they’re too big and unworkable in a class of 28
• no one is actually implementing them consistently
• teachers don’t understand the ‘why’ behind the strategies
• the plan ignores language processing, sensory load, or demand avoidance
• there’s no review cycle, no accountability, no data, just documentation
• the teacher doesn't have the capacity to implement the plan in the classroom due to numbers and workload.

And when the plan becomes a ‘set and forget’ document, you get stuck in a dangerous loop:

‘We tried everything’ → escalation continues → the child gets labelled → exclusion gets normalised.

WHAT WE COVER

• Why an IEP is a start, not a manual
• How ‘too many strategies at once’ makes a plan fail fast
• What to ask when the school says ‘we’ve tried everything’
• How to check if staff actually understand what’s on the plan
• Why ‘accommodation’ can trigger teacher resistance — and how ‘considerations’ changes the tone
• The missing piece in most behaviour plans: language processing and communication load
• How literal thinking, vague instructions, and high language demand can create ‘refusal’ and shutdown
• How to build accountability into the plan (review dates, outcomes, roles, communication method)
• Red flags that the school has decided your child is ‘too hard’
• Green flags that the team is still in curiosity, collaboration, and problem-solving
• Orchid vs dandelion kids: when pushing through builds resilience, and when it becomes trauma

THIS EPISODE IS FOR YOU IF…

• your child has a plan at school but behaviour is still escalating
• you keep hearing ‘we’re doing everything’ but nothing changes
• the teacher looks overwhelmed and the plan feels impossible in real life
• your child gets labelled ‘defiant’ or ‘refusing’ and you suspect it’s processing/demand/safety
• you’re trying to work out ‘do we persist or do we leave?’
• you want practical language for meetings without becoming ‘that mum’

MORE ABOUT SALLY GALLOWAY & KAT MARRINGTON

Kat Marrington (Speech Pathologist) at www.Talkiplay.com

Sally Galloway (Occupational Therapist) at www.sallygalloway.com.au

🎧 EPISODES MENTIONED IN THIS TRANSCRIPT

1️⃣ When School Decides Your Child Is the Problem

https://adhdmums.com.au/adhd-podcast-episodes/when-school-decides-your-child-is-the-problem/

2️⃣ Vanessa LaPointe Episode

Grieving the Child You Imagined — While Loving the One in Front of You

https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/parenting-grief-adhd-mums

3️⃣ Resilience vs Trauma Episode (Emma Rose)

Raising Strong Children: How to Support Without Always Solving Their Problems

https://adhdmums.com.au/raising-strong-children/

🌸 ORCHID & DANDELION REFERENCE

Dr W. Thomas Boyce

Developmental paediatrician and author of The Orchid and the Dandelion

Boyce, W. T. (2019). The Orchid and the Dandelion: Why Sensitive Children Face Challenges and How All Can Thrive. Knopf.

📬 Check out my Free Resources on Schools:

Bullying Response Kit

https://adhdmums.com.au/product/bullying-response-kit-adhd-mums/

The School Choice Kit

https://adhdmums.com.au/product/the-school-choice-kit/

Explaining ADHD to Kids – Parents Guide

https://adhdmums.com.au/product/explaining-adhd-to-kids-parents-guide/

📬 Check out my Paid Resource on Schools:

Making School Work – Parent Guide ($20)

https://adhdmums.com.au/product/making-school-work-parent-guide/

📬 Listener Questions & Community

🎙️ Ask a Listener Question (voice)

Voice notes are preferred when possible — hearing your voice helps add context — but you’re very welcome to submit a written question instead.

Send me a WhatsApp voice message here:

https://wa.me/61403457313

✍️ Ask a Listener Question (written)

https://form.jotform.com/251238118486864

👥 Join the ADHD Mums Facebook Group

For community, shared language, and conversations with other mums who get it.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/adhdmumspodcast

Mentioned in this episode:

Give away bad for biz - free resources

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There is a moment in some school meetings where the language changes.

You walk in expecting support. Adjustments. Solutions.

But then different words start appearing.

‘Safety.’

‘Impact on others.’

‘Capacity.’

‘We’ve tried everything.’

And you can feel the shift before you fully understand it.

You start thinking:

How did this go from help… to risk?

WHY THIS MATTERS

ADHD mums are already carrying invisible labour, school advocacy, therapy coordination, and the emotional regulation of the entire household.

So when a school meeting shifts tone, it doesn’t land as ‘this is complex.’

It lands as threat.

Threat that your child is being positioned as the problem.

Threat that you’re about to be performance-managed as a parent.

Threat that exclusion is quietly being prepared.

And once the language moves from support to safety, your nervous system knows what’s coming — even if no one has said it yet.

This episode unpacks that shift.

What it actually means.

And what you can do before the door quietly closes.

WHAT WE COVER

• The early signs a school is moving from inclusion to managing out
• How ‘we’ve tried everything’ often means the plan was never implemented properly
• Why perceived defiance and PDA profiles trigger exclusion faster than quiet masking
• What ‘regulated and choosing it’ misunderstands about neurodivergent distress
• The difference between documentation for support and documentation for removal
• How modified timetables, wellbeing days, and shortened hours become informal exclusion
• What to ask for when supports ‘aren’t working’
• How to request IEP reviews, fidelity checks, and functional behaviour assessments
• Why building your own paper trail (including positives) matters

THIS EPISODE IS FOR YOU IF…

• You’ve left a school meeting feeling blindsided
• You’re getting more ‘pick up’ calls and reduced hours
• Your child is being described as ‘defiant’ rather than overwhelmed
• You’re hearing leadership speak more than classroom teachers
• You’re scared you’re about to lose your child’s placement
• You’re trying to advocate without burning the entire system down

RELATED ADHD MUMS EPISODES

🎧 SCHOOL SERIES: When School Stops Feeling Safe

https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-19-when-school-stops-being-safe/

🎧 SCHOOL SERIES: Your Child Isn’t ‘Acting Out’ — They’re Burning Out

https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-5-school-series-your-child-isnt-acting-out-theyre-burning-out/

🎧 You’re Not ‘That Mum’ — You Learned to Protect Your Child at School

https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/youre-not-that-mum-back-to-school-edition

📬 Listener Questions & Community

🎙️ Ask a Listener Question (voice)

Voice notes are preferred when possible — hearing your voice helps add context — but you’re very welcome to submit a written question instead.

Send me a WhatsApp voice message here:

https://bit.ly/3ZQl0O8

✍️ Ask a Listener Question (written)

https://form.jotform.com/251238118486864

👥 Join the ADHD Mums Facebook Group

For community, shared language, and conversations with other mums who get it.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/adhdmumspodcast

Mentioned in this episode:

Give away bad for biz - free resources

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You’re functioning. Packing lunches. Showing up. Holding it together.

But quietly, inside, you’ve started believing:

‘This is just how it is for me.’

ADHD mums carry more correction, more visible mistakes, more invisible labour, more system friction.

So when something goes wrong, it doesn’t land as ‘that was hard.’

It lands as proof.

Proof you’re behind.

Proof you’re failing.

Proof this is who you are.

And once shame becomes the explanation, your brain stops looking for options.

Not because you don’t want change.

Because the load is already too high.

1. The difference between a victim moment and a victim identity
2. Why ADHD conditioning makes shame feel factual
3. How ‘nothing works in our house anyway’ protects you from hope
4. The motherhood shame loop that quietly shrinks your life
5. Why waiting for fairness before you move will keep costing you
6. Responsibility without blame — and why that matters
7. The one question that reopens possibility without forcing action

1. You’ve stopped trying in one area because failing again feels unbearable
2. You feel resentful but also guilty for feeling resentful
3. You avoid things before they even go wrong
4. You tell yourself you’re ‘just bad at this stage’
5. Being validated feels relieving… but nothing changes afterwards

🎧 Hidden Cost of Being The Good Girl

https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/goodgirlcost/

🎧 When You Can’t Relax Even When It’s Quiet

https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/why-adhd-mums-cant-relax/

🎧 The ADHD Myth of ‘Just Try Harder’ (Quick Reset)

https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-24-quick-reset-the-adhd-myth-of-just-try-harder/

🎙️ Ask a Listener Question (voice)

Voice notes are preferred when possible — hearing your voice helps add context — but you’re very welcome to submit a written question instead.

Send me a WhatsApp voice message here:

https://bit.ly/3ZQl0O8

✍️ Ask a Listener Question (written)

https://form.jotform.com/251238118486864

👥 Join the ADHD Mums Facebook Group

For community, shared language, and conversations with other mums who get it.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/adhdmumspodcast

Mentioned in this episode:

Give away bad for biz - free resources

Free Resouces

This episode is for ADHD mums who feel like they’re living inside a nervous system experiment.

The kind where everything is technically ‘fine’… until the TV is on, someone’s making mouth noises, a child is asking 400 questions, another one is humming, and your body is trying to exit the situation through the nearest wall.

We talk a lot about overstimulation like it’s a personal flaw. Like you should be calmer. More patient. Better regulated. But what if you’re not failing at regulation… you’re just carrying too much regulation load?

In this conversation with Rachel Few, we get painfully practical about what actually helps when you’re at the edge. Not in an ideal world. In a real ADHD household, with real kids, real noise, real time pressure, and real limits.

– Why overstimulation is not a single moment, but a build-up across days

– The ‘therapy taxi’ burnout cycle and how it dysregulates the whole family

– Why regulation strategies fail when they become another to-do list

– Nervous system mapping: learning your early warning signs before the snap

– ‘Recipe building’ for families: planning around needs, not just appointments

– Why yelling and snapping usually starts earlier than you think

– PDA-aware approaches: when direct help makes things worse

– Side-step regulation tools that don’t rely on compliance

– Real-life resets (including the candle trick, which sounds unhinged until you try it)

– Why acceptance is sometimes the missing strategy, not another technique

– you feel overstimulated before 7am and then blame yourself for it

– your household escalates fast and you don’t know where it starts

– you’re carrying the clean-up after every meltdown (emotional or literal)

– you’re exhausted from scanning for hunger, sensory triggers, and ‘what could go wrong’

– you’re parenting a PDA-ish child and standard advice backfires

– you keep thinking ‘once we get the right support, it will all be fine’ and then it isn’t

– you want tools that actually work when you’re already at your limit

Surviving the Mental Load of the School Year

https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-63-surviving-the-mental-load-of-the-school-year/

When You Can’t Relax Even When It’s Quiet

https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/why-adhd-mums-cant-relax/

The ADHD Myth of ‘Just Try Harder’ (Quick Reset)

https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-24-quick-reset-the-adhd-myth-of-just-try-harder/

– For more information on Rachel Few - see here

-PANDA (Perinatal Anxiety & Depression Australia) is mentioned in the episode

– Maternal mental health research is referenced (mum’s mental health as a key predictor for child wellbeing)

Submit a Listener Question (anonymous option)

If there’s something you want answered on the podcast, you can submit a question here — anonymously if you prefer.

https://form.jotform.com/251238118486864

Share Feedback or Topic Requests

Have a topic you’d like covered, or feedback you want to pass on?

https://form.jotform.com/243189306607864

Join the ADHD Mums Facebook Group

For shared language, lived experience, and conversations with other mums who get it.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/adhdmums

Mentioned in this episode:

Give away bad for biz - free resources

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This episode is for ADHD mums who have ever sat in a car park before an assessment and felt their whole nervous system start negotiating with the evidence.

Because the paperwork looks fine.

The report cards look fine.

Your life looks fine.

And you’re standing there knowing that ‘fine’ is exactly what disqualifies you.

This is the ADHD myth as it actually lands. Not as a hot take online — but as a private internal audit that starts the second you consider asking for help.

It’s the voice that says: ‘Everyone says they have ADHD now, don’t they?’

And the way your body believes it before you even get to answer back.

– The ‘good school report’ trap and why it makes women doubt themselves

– Why visible competence is often just quiet compensation

– How anxiety, eating disorders, burnout and depression get missed when you’re not disruptive

– The internal investigation ADHD mums run before they ever ask for help

– Why ‘you’ve managed this long’ lands as dismissal, not reassurance

– How vigilance gets trained in childhood and then masquerades as personality

– Why gender shifts the cost of impulsivity, mistakes, and social timing

– How hypervigilance becomes the price of belonging

– Why motherhood doesn’t create the load, it exposes it

– The difference between being tired and constantly compensating

– How media narratives about ADHD being a ‘trend’ reinforce silence and shame

– you have ‘good’ school reports and still feel like you’re drowning

– you rehearse what to say before appointments so you don’t sound ‘dramatic’

– you minimise automatically and tell yourself other people have it worse

– you’ve been called controlling when you’re actually doing risk management

– you feel embarrassed even seeking an assessment

– you relate to being ‘a pleasure to have in class’ while quietly falling apart

– you’ve carried the mental load for years and only now it’s breaking through

You Were the Good Girl. That’s Why You’re Falling Apart Now

https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-35-you-were-the-good-girl-thats-why-youre-falling-apart-now/

Making the Invisible Mental Load Visible (Partners)

https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-73-making-the-invisible-mental-load-visible/

The ADHD Myth of ‘Just Try Harder’ (Quick Reset)

https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-24-quick-reset-the-adhd-myth-of-just-try-harder/

– ADHD in women and girls: internalising presentations and delayed identification

– Burnout, anxiety and depression as common outcomes of long-term compensation

– The impact of social conditioning and gender expectations on symptom visibility

Submit a Listener Question (anonymous option)

Send me a WhatsApp voice message here:

https://wa.me/61403457313

If there’s something you want answered on the podcast, you can submit a question here — anonymously if you prefer.

https://form.jotform.com/251238118486864

Share Feedback or Topic Requests

Have a topic you’d like covered, or feedback you want to pass on?

https://form.jotform.com/243189306607864

Join the ADHD Mums Facebook Group

For shared language, lived experience, and conversations with other mums who don’t need convincing.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/adhdmums

Mentioned in this episode:

Give away bad for biz - free resources

Free Resouces