Our Neurodiverse Family

What if the question isn't "why can't my child regulate better?" but "where does this nervous system find regulation more easily?"

In this episode, Alison shares her recent trip to Binna Burra in the Scenic Rim, where she was invited to see the new lodge ahead of its opening later this year. Visiting on the seven year anniversary of the lodge burning down made it an emotional weekend, and it got her thinking about why this place means so much to her as a neurodivergent person. When she arrives there, her brain goes quiet. Not empty, just quiet.

From there, Alison explores why time in nature can feel so regulating for many ND people, and why the environment matters so much more than we give it credit for.

In this episode:

• Why ND traits don't exist in a vacuum, and how the same child who can't concentrate in a busy classroom might spend 40 minutes examining rocks by a creek
• The fascinating (and slightly weird) science of phytoncides, the compounds trees release, and what forest bathing research suggests
• Why nature's sensory input is often slower, more rhythmic and less demanding
• An honest reminder that nature isn't automatically sensory friendly. Sand, heat, bugs and crowds can be awful, so it's about finding the kind of outside that works for each nervous system
• How movement outdoors happens naturally, without anyone announcing "regulation exercises"
• Why nature takes the pressure off performing. A tree doesn't need eye contact, and you can walk beside someone without filling every silence
• A small study showing children with ADHD concentrated better after a 20 minute walk in a park

Alison is clear that nature doesn't cure ADHD or make anyone less autistic, and it isn't a replacement for medication, therapy or support. But it does show that attention and regulation are shaped by context, not just by how hard someone is trying.

And this isn't another thing to add to your to do list. It can be ten minutes under a tree after school, afternoon tea in the backyard, or a quick walk collecting leaves and sticks. It still counts if it's only five minutes, and it still counts if your child brings their device along.

Connect with Alison On IG HERE and Visit the OND Website here
 

A TikTok came across Alison's feed: a woman asked if her partner could join her on a walk, and the honest internal answer was yes, absolutely, but ONLY if he can understand that he will cease to exist for the next forty minutes.

It sounds harsh until you understand what that walk is actually doing. In this episode Alison pulls the whole thing apart and asks the question that changes how you look at everyone's afternoon routines, including your kids': what job is this activity doing for their nervous system?

Because a walk isn't always exercise. A shower isn't always hygiene. And Lego is almost never just Lego.

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Why Is Brushing Your Teeth So Hard? Let's talk about the ND reality of brushing teeth- for adults and kids! 

Why can something so small feel so hard to do? In this episode, Alison responds to a TikTok from a 44 year old woman who has always hated brushing her teeth, and has only just realised it might be more than a personality quirk.

Alison unpacks why a simple two minute task can feel so hard for neurodivergent brains, and what that means for our kids. Because ADHD isn't a disorder of knowing what to do. It's a disorder of doing what you know you need to do.

In this episode:

• Why task initiation, low reward and no urgency make everyday tasks feel so hard
• The sensory side of teeth brushing, from buzzing electric brushes and strong mint flavours to foaming, texture and water temperature
• Why transitions are often the real barrier, and how the resistance might be about stopping what you're doing rather than the teeth brushing itself
• How the same behaviour can look very different underneath for neurotypical, ADHD, autistic and AuDHD kids
• Getting curious instead of pushing harder: sensory swaps, timers, routines, pairing with music or novelty, and giving kids choices within a boundary
• Why the bathroom doesn't have to be the "right" place to brush
• The small changes Alison made to make teeth brushing doable for herself

The goal isn't to teach our kids to force themselves through every ordinary task while wondering why life feels harder for them. It's to help them understand their own brain well enough to ask, what do I need to make this doable?

Mentioned in this episode: Hismile toothpaste and Curaprox toothbrushes.

This episode contains explicit language in the TIKTOK played within the episode

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This episode is a bit different. My podcast producer is in the host seat and I have no idea what she's about to ask me. What came out of it: why I'm not the fun mum and never have been, the difference between the physical hard work of motherhood I expected and the emotional scaffolding I didn't, what rigid thinking actually looks like in a house with four kids, and the phrase I come back to every single time I'm spiralling about something I said or didn't say to my children.

If you've been listening for a while and you know the parenting content but not much about me, this is the one.

We cover masking as a kid who didn't have the words for it yet, what changes when your eldest is 16 and two years off being an adult, and why I genuinely believe you don't have to get it right, you just have to get it half right enough times.

Plus a rapid fire round

In this episode

• Why I can see every angle of a problem and why that isn't always a good thing
• My best habit, and why muscle memory does the thinking for me
• Rigid thinking: I can be talked around, but you'll need to do it gently
• The daily nag that derails me
• Something nobody knows about me, involving the Opera House
• The North Queensland farm, 100 head of cattle, and why cut grass still takes me straight back
• Myself at ten: white knuckling undiagnosed autism and ADHD and masking through all of it
• Did I always want to be a mum? Yes. Is it what I expected? No.
• Why chaos as the underlying base tone means I can't function, even though I can handle last minute
• Not the fun mum, the homing pigeon mum, and the steady one who's at every concert
• Parenting wisdom from the 16 year old mark: you never master a stage, they just change again
• Bigger kids, bigger problems, but shared solutions
• Let it go to the keeper: how I triage mum guilt in the moment
• Rapid fire, including the coffee order that is not rapid fire

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Alison is providing general information only, not prescriptive advice. Please consult your own healthcare practitioners for guidance specific to you and your family.

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Have you ever decided at 9pm that tomorrow is THE day, then woken up and immediately started negotiating with yourself? Just 15 more minutes. I'll go tonight instead,or maybe Thursday is a better day?

In this episode Alison takes you inside her brain in real time, unpacking a TikTok she saw where someone asked how to stop negotiating with themselves. Rather than answering with discipline and motivation talk, she walks through what her brain is actually doing underneath the negotiation, and why that matters more than trying to force yourself.

She covers the 5 reasons ADHD brains procrastinate (and why it's rarely just one at a time), the difference between "I should go to the gym" and knowing exactly why it's on your list, and the single shift that stopped the ongoing internal bargaining for her and her clients.

In this episode:

• Why your first thought or first emotion is usually not the one to run with
• The six reasons ADHD brains procrastinate: task initiation cost, avoidance, immediate reward, time blindness, micro decisions and renegotiation loops
• Why every step in a task creates another opportunity to renegotiate
• How to work out what your brain seeks, avoids, and where it reliably gets stuck
• Moving from "I know it's good for me" to a reason your brain will actually accept
• Deciding what matters when you're regulated, not when you're in the moment
• Using ADHD impulsivity as the asset rather than the obstacle
• Reducing the discomfort side and building in the immediate reward
• Why the decision being already made is the end of the internal conversation

This one is for anyone who has ever laid in bed running the same argument with themselves and lost.

Connect with Alison on Instagram or visit the 
 Website for more info
Alison provides general information only, not prescriptive advice. Please consult your own health care practitioners for specific guidance.

Why does your ND child say "I feel sick" when they don't appear to be sick? Why do they crash into furniture, hug too tight, or melt down at 3:30pm? This episode unpacks interoception and proprioception, the two body awareness systems behind so much confusing neurodivergent behaviour, and why sensory seeking kids so often get read as out of control.

Alison explains interoception as the internal body cues: hunger, thirst, a full bladder, temperature, tiredness, pain, and the physical sensations that come attached to emotions. For neurodivergent children and adults, the body is still sending those signals. The difficulty sits in noticing them, interpreting them, or responding early enough. Which means a child who has no language for overwhelm may only have one word available to them, and that word is sick.

Proprioception is the other half of the picture: where the body is in space, how much force it is using, where limbs are without looking at them. This is the child who jumps off everything, wrestles too hard, snaps pencil tips, leans on people constantly, or loves carrying heavy things and pushing trolleys. Alison walks through the kinds of big muscle group input that genuinely help, from climbing and swimming to carrying the washing basket, and reframes what looks like wild behaviour as a child trying to get something their body is asking for.

She also turns the lens back on parents. Do you recognise exhaustion before you are completely burnt out? Where do you hold tension? Alison shares her own experience as an inattentive ADHD and autistic adult, including hyper focus, movement seeking, and getting better at catching overstimulation before it spills onto everyone else.

The practical takeaway is data collection, not diagnosis. Get curious about what happened beforehand, what the body is doing, what input is being sought, and whether there is a pattern. If these things are significantly impacting daily life, an OT or other qualified allied health professional is the right next step rather than parents trying to work it out alone.

Behaviour makes far more sense once you understand the mind and body driving it.

Follow Alison On Instagram or visit the ONDF Website for more infomation  

Disclaimer: Alison provides general information only, not prescriptive advice. Please consult your own health care practitioners for guidance specific to your family.

Your child gets in the car after school and yells "go away" before their sibling has even finished a sentence. You correct the behaviour, they escalate, and nothing changes. In this episode Alison unpacks the difference between interpersonal skills, the ones between people, and intrapersonal skills, the ones happening inside your child before they ever open their mouth. 

We talk about why parents and teachers focus almost entirely on the social side, sharing, turn taking, speaking politely, coping with no, and why that focus keeps failing when a child cannot yet recognise what is happening in their own body. 

Alison walks through what intrapersonal awareness actually looks like: naming emotions, noticing body signals, recognising hunger, tiredness and sensory overload, and knowing when they are reaching capacity. She uses a real example from her own family, a son who needs silence on the drive home, to show how a child moves from "go away" to "I need twenty minutes on my own when we get in". This episode also turns the lens on parents, because you cannot teach a skill you have not learned yourself. Can you recognise when you are overstimulated, when you are exhausted, when your child's dysregulation is dysregulating you, when you are actually angry at your partner and not your child? Alison covers the shopping centre tantrum and the uncomfortable truth that sometimes what is driving a parent's reaction is not "how do I help my child" but "everyone is looking at us". You will walk away with practical language for building your child's internal vocabulary, why we regulate first and teach later, why open ended exits like "I'm going outside" need a time limit for neurodiverse people, and the reframe that neurodiversity is not an excuse, it is a reason. If knowing what to do and actually doing it feel like two different things in your house, this one is for you.

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Or Visit her Website for more information 

Alison is providing general information only. Nothing shared in this episode is prescriptive or intended as individual advice. As always, listeners should consult their own health care practitioners for guidance specific to their family.

You may have noticed a few things that seem a bit different, like maybe the meltdowns  seem bigger than the moment. The battle to get in the car. The same five foods on repeat. And then the doubt: is this just being a kid? or is this something more?

In this episode Alison walks you through what early signs of neurodivergence actually look like in children under six, why they are so often missed, and the practical steps you can take this week without waiting for a diagnosis.

This one is for parents, and it is also for educators who want to understand what families are carrying before they walk into the centre.

What we cover:

• Why early identification changes the trajectory, not just the diagnosis
• Why milestones are a guide only, and why late talkers and early walkers both muddy the picture
• The reason signs get explained away: "she's just shy", "all boys are like that", "he'll grow out of it"
• Why exhausted parents genuinely cannot see the pattern, and why that is not a failure
• Social and communication signs: parallel play, intense interests, not responding to their name
• Sensory signs: seeking input, chewing, wriggling, strong reactions to hairbrushing and noise
• Emotional regulation: meltdowns beyond what the situation called for, and why one incident is never the data point
• Transitions, and why childcare is full of them
• Attention: the on or off nature of it, and what "not listening" actually looks like in a neurodiverse child
• Daily living: restricted foods, routine, sleep
• What to do this week: observe, take notes, book the educator meeting, book the GP
• The exact questions to ask your child's educator
• What to do if you feel dismissed by your GP
• Inclusion support at childcare and how that process really works
• Alison's take from the other side of the fence as a teacher and childcare centre co-owner
• Why lowering expectations and building decompression time matters more than any strategy

Key takeaways:

• You are looking for a pattern, not an incident. Multiple settings, multiple behaviours, over time.
• Not everything leads to a label. Observing might tell you they are hungry, tired or teething.
• Awareness and understanding is half the battle. Learning what your child can and cannot do changes how you parent them immediately.
• Knowing what to do and actually doing it are two very different things, and that gap is not a character flaw.

**Alison is not a medical professional. This episode is about observation and advocacy, not diagnosis.

Connect with Alison:

Find her on Instagram @ourndfamily_ for daily support for Neurodiverse families.
 Working with a family who needs more than a podcast episode? DM her the word PODCAST to start a conversation.

Visit the Our Neurodiverse Family Website for more info 

The ND Parents Guide To Choosing a Daycare Centre: Choosing the right Daycare centre for your child is challenging and even more so, if you have suspicions your child may be Neurodivergent. Children six and under may show indicators of autism and/or adhd but often won’t have a formal diagnosis. 

So,how do you choose a daycare centre if you don’t yet know if your child is neurodivergent? In this episode of Our Neurodiverse Family, ADHD coach and family dynamics strategist Alison walks parents through exactly what to look for when choosing childcare for a child under six. You’ll learn how to pre-screen centres using their website, socials and the Starting Blocks quality ratings, why an unannounced visit tells you more than a scheduled tour, and the questions to ask the centre director about values, communication, problem-solving and how they triage potential flags for autism and ADHD. 

Alison also unpacks what genuine parenting support looks like inside a childcare centre, why community connection matters for neurodivergent families, and how to observe educators in action so you can tell whether the centre is really living the values it advertises. If you’re returning to work, burnt out, expecting another baby, or simply want to find a daycare centre that will support your whole family, this practical episode will help you trust your gut and back it up with the right information.

Follow Alison here: https://www.instagram.com/ourneurodiversefamily_?igsh=ZDQ5MjBodGlhMnMz

Visit the Our Neurodiverse family website here: https://www.ourndfamily.com

You've read the articles. You've tried the strategies. And you're still lying awake wondering whether you're getting any of this right. If that's you, this episode is the one to start with.

Season two is about understanding your whole family: what daily life actually looks like, feels like, and can become when you're raising ADHD and autistic kids.

In this episode Alison shares her story through the different "versions" of herself: the primary school teacher drawn to the children everyone else found tricky, the new mum who discovered parenting asks for far more emotional intelligence than anyone warns you about, the childcare centre owner hearing the same exhausted question from parents over and over, and her own late diagnosis as an inattentive ADHD and autistic adult. She's also a mum to four neurodivergent children, each one completely different from the next.

At the heart of it is the idea that shaped everything: parents of ADHD and autistic kids don't need another tip thrown on the pile. They need someone to help them connect the dots. Because behaviour is not the child, and everything becomes easier when it makes sense.

In this episode:

• Why more strategies aren't the answer, and what overwhelmed parents actually need instead
• The reframe that changes everything: behaviour is communication, not the child
• What a late ADHD and autism diagnosis changed about the way Alison sees families
• Why raising ADHD and autistic kids can feel like being stuck at a roundabout, going round and round with no clear exit
• What it means to let go of expectations and redesign family life to actually suit your family

Follow Alison On Instagram here and Visit the ONDF Website here