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Temple Grandin endorsed Katie's Book: Your Kids Belong Here

Your child isn’t “too much,” they’re navigating a world that keeps narrowing what counts as normal. We sit down again with author and law professor Katie Rose Pryal to talk about neurodiversity, autism, ADHD, and the hidden cost of masking, especially for kids who learn early that survival means performing. Katie shares a powerful reframe she uses at home: “social acting” as protection, not self-erasure, plus concrete supports like counseling and journaling that help kids process what’s hard without carrying it alone. 

We also get honest about school systems that confuse compliance with intelligence. Standardized testing, noisy classrooms, rigid schedules, and grading curves can make capable neurodivergent students feel broken. Katie unpacks why accommodations are not lowered expectations, why report cards can hide disability, and how families can use tools like executive function coaching, alternative schooling, and IEP knowledge to secure access. If you’ve ever walked into a meeting and felt outnumbered, we talk about your right to bring an advocate and your right not to sign what you don’t agree with. 

Then we go where parents live every day: bullying. We cover what to do when a young child suddenly refuses school, why listening without reacting builds trust, and what research shows about adult complicity when neurodivergent kids are targeted. We zoom out to the bigger fight too: scarce resources that turn families, teachers, and communities into enemies while budgets get cut upstream. 

If you want language you can use today and a steadier sense of what “belonging” really means, press play. Subscribe, share this with a parent who needs it, and leave a review so more families can find these conversations.

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Your Kid Belongs Here: Neurodivergence, Parenting, and the Right to Belong with Katie Rose Pryal

What if the problem isn't that neurodivergent children don't fit into the world, but that the world hasn't made enough room for them?

This week on Real Talk with Tina and Ann, we welcome Katie Rose Pryal, JD, PhD, an award-winning author, educator, and advocate whose work challenges the way society understands neurodivergence, disability, mental health, and belonging.

Katie holds a law degree and a doctorate in rhetoric from the University of North Carolina, along with a master's degree in creative writing from Johns Hopkins University. She is also a faculty member in Drexel University's MFA in Creative Writing program. As an autistic woman with ADHD and bipolar disorder, Katie brings both academic expertise and lived experience to her writing and advocacy.

Her latest book, Your Kid Belongs Here: An Insider's Guide to Parenting Neurodiverse Children, published by Johns Hopkins University Press, explores how schools, communities, and everyday systems exclude neurodivergent children and their families. Praised by Dr. Temple Grandin and recognized as a Foreword INDIES Award finalist, the book offers parents a different perspective on advocacy, accommodations, and helping children thrive.

Katie is also the author of A Light in the Tower: A New Reckoning with Mental Health in Higher Education, which won an IPPY Bronze Medal, and Even If You're Broken: Bodies, Boundaries, and Mental Health, an IPPY Gold Medal winner. Her other works include Life of the Mind Interrupted and the forthcoming memoir An Autistic Girl's Guide to Horses.

Her essays and writing have appeared in Psychology Today, Slate, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Catapult, and The Establishment, and her work has been featured on NPR. Her writing has earned numerous honors, including multiple independent publishing awards and a Pushcart Prize nomination.

In this week's episode, we explore what meaningful inclusion really looks like, why accommodations are not special treatment, and how parents can advocate for their children without making them feel that their differences are something to fix.

We also look at the bigger question: Why do we keep asking neurodivergent children to change instead of changing the environments that exclude them?

Katie reminds us that belonging should never depend on a child's ability to learn, communicate, behave, or experience the world like everyone else.

Join us for a conversation about parenting, neurodivergence, advocacy, and creating a world where differences aren't simply tolerated but genuinely valued.

Because every child deserves to belong.

There is purpose in the pain and hope in the journey.

You can access Katie's website: Katie Rose Pryal | Writer of Neurodiversity | Essays - Memoir - Novels - Nonfiction

Real Talk with Tina and Ann have a sponsor highlight with Paisley's Fashion Forest. Stay until the end to find out some very exciting news! 
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A single act of kindness can change a kid’s entire trajectory, and Rich Dunning proves it. We sit down with International Book Award winner Rich Dunning for a raw, deeply human conversation about childhood trauma, domestic violence, homelessness, and what it takes to keep showing up for life when you’re carrying fear in your body. From the unforgettable “hat” moment with a caring teacher to the mentors who planted steady, hopeful seeds, Rich shares how dignity and safety can appear in the smallest windows and still leave a lifelong mark. 

Then we follow the story into adulthood, where outward success in a high-pressure career hides a private battle with alcohol addiction. Rich breaks down what alcohol gave him at first, how it escalated into blackout drinking, and the terrifying rock-bottom moment that led to surrender, sobriety, and a long, real healing process. We talk Alcoholics Anonymous, rehab, therapy, the 12 steps, and why “the steps completed me” isn’t a slogan, it’s a way of living. 

We also make space for the people who love the alcoholic, including the role of Al-Anon, rebuilding trust in marriage, and setting firm boundaries with abusive family members when forgiveness isn’t simple. Rich closes with the mission behind his memoir Silence Was My First Language and the First Language Foundation, created to turn pain into purpose for teens and young adults facing hunger, homelessness, violence, grooming, and addiction. If this conversation helps you, subscribe, share it with someone who needs hope, and leave a review so more people can find it.

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Your brain can know you’re safe while your body still lives like danger is one corner away. That gap is where so many trauma survivors get stuck and it’s why “just move on” advice can feel impossible. We get honest about what happens when the nervous system doesn’t get the memo, how survival responses become personality, and why growth after trauma happens at the speed of safety, not pressure.

We talk through the ways trauma can reshape expectation as much as memory: bracing, scanning rooms, struggling to rest, pushing people away, and waiting for the other shoe to drop. We also explore a painful twist many people recognize but rarely say out loud: sometimes success doesn’t feel safe. When celebration gets paired with grief or loss, your body can learn to downplay wins, refuse recognition, or stay ready for impact even during good moments.

From there, we redefine what progress really looks like: noticing overwhelm before shutdown, saying no without a dissertation, pausing instead of pushing through, asking for help, and letting yourself receive love without flinching. We share practical questions you can use in real time, plus a clear distinction between boundaries and walls so safety doesn’t mean isolation.

If this conversation helps you feel seen, subscribe so you don’t miss what’s next, share it with someone who needs a little permission today, and leave a review to help more people find Real Talk with Tina and Ann.

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Silence can keep you alive, until it starts taking your life from the inside. We sit down with International Award Winner, Rich Dunning, author of Silence Was My First Language, and trace the path from a childhood in the Bronx surrounded by poverty, evictions, and relentless violence to the hard-won beginnings of a future he refused to surrender.

Rich shares what it’s like to live under an abusive stepfather he calls Scarface, where safety depends on reading footsteps, predicting moods, and staying invisible. We talk about the weight of watching a sibling get hurt, the lifelong impact of shame, and the complicated reality of a mother who is both victim and participant. He also opens up about homelessness as a teenager, sleeping in an abandoned train station while still making it to school, showering in the gym, and pushing through a day no one understood.

Then we turn toward the lifelines: baseball as refuge and a scholarship, neighbors and mentors who model what kindness looks like, and one unforgettable teacher who protects his dignity when she sees what he can’t hide. Rich also reflects on his grandfather’s wisdom about releasing identities that no longer protect us and the difference between responsibility and shame, ideas that land hard when you’ve survived severe childhood trauma.

Part one closes with the question hanging in the air: when you finally “make it,” what happens to the pain you carried there, and what role does alcohol play in the story that comes next? Subscribe so you don’t miss part two, share this with someone who needs it, leave a review, and tell us: what helped you find your voice when silence felt safer?

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Ann sits down with Jodee Kulp to tell her daughter Liz’s story and to pull out the practical lessons families need when they are raising a child with FASD, , trauma histories, or any kind of neurodivergence.

We talk talk about strength-based opportunities that helped Liz create meaning, and how the disability system can still punish competence by threatening supports the moment someone shows what they can do with accommodations.

Then the conversation turns to the dangerous stuff people do not warn you about: the cliff at 18 when supports vanish but the brain stays the same, addiction and recovery, and what “attuned support” really looks like in IEP meetings, courtrooms, emergency rooms, and hospital wards. Jodee explains being a “cognitive translator” or external brain, how to keep someone’s voice intact, and why staying regulated as a caregiver can prevent escalation. We also get concrete about healthcare advocacy: medication fillers and excipients, paradoxical drug reactions, FDA resources, and why pharmacogenomic testing can matter.

At the heart of it all is the iridescent spoon, a small object that holds grief, resilience, spoon theory, and joy even as chronic illness and caregiving demands intensify. If this story changes how one professional listens or how one family asks for help, it is worth telling. Subscribe, share this with someone who needs it, and leave a review with one takeaway you are carrying forward.

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A child can be hospitalized, overwhelmed by noise and light, judged for “behavior,” and still find a way to sparkle. We’re joined by Jodee Kulp, author, speaker, and longtime fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) advocate, to talk about her daughter Liz and the reality of living with prenatal alcohol exposure. Liz’s life refuses the usual storyline of limits: she creates workarounds on top of workarounds, finds ways to write when reading is hard, shows up to dialysis in colorful wigs, and keeps offering the world a clearer window into a brain most people never try to understand.

We get practical about what helps and what harms. Sensory processing and nervous system overload often sit underneath big reactions, which changes how we should treat “meltdowns” at school, in clinics, and in the ER. Jodee shares the powerful empathy lesson Liz built with a simple sensory kit, plus the advocacy mindset that helped them navigate systems that weren’t designed for neurodivergent people. We also talk about why IQ scores and single “functioning level” labels can miss the truth, and how the Hager vortex reframes development as uneven, dynamic, and deeply human.

You’ll also hear the stories behind Red Shoes Rock, the early FAS Day bell-ringing movement, and what happens when learning is rebuilt around strengths through homeschooling and brain-based methods. If you care about FASD support, disability advocacy, neurodiversity, caregiver resilience, or doing healthcare and education with more dignity, this conversation stays with you. Subscribe, share this with someone who needs hope, and leave a review with one thing you’ll do differently after listening.

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Shame thrives in silence, and FASD has been surrounded by silence for far too long. We pick up Part Two of my conversation with RJ Formanek, where we get honest about what living with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder actually feels like day to day: the hidden resilience, the crashes, the relationships that only go so far when “I love you” feels unsafe, and the long work of becoming okay with yourself. 

We dig into practical, trauma-informed realities that families and adults search for but rarely hear spelled out. Why do mornings feel like a slow boot-up? How do routines and quiet time reduce meltdowns for kids who get “spent” fast in noisy, social spaces? What does dismaturity mean, and why can a person look their age while their emotional regulation, executive function, working memory, and processing speed tell a different story? RJ also shares how to talk about an FASD diagnosis with kids in small, age-appropriate pieces without dumping adult anger or blame onto them. 

Then we zoom out to hope and advocacy. RJ explains why he created Red Shoes Rock, how he pushed back against terrifying stereotypes online, and why FASD support needs real stories, not doom predictions. We also talk neuroplasticity, possible “catch-up” timelines like myelination, and why many people with FASD find their stride later than the world expects. If you want clearer language, better support strategies, and a reminder that it’s not your fault, this conversation is for you. Subscribe, share this with someone who needs it, and leave a review with the one line you’re taking with you.

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The most dangerous myth about Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is that you can “tell” by looking at someone. We sit down with RJ Formanek, founder of Flying With Broken Wings and co-creator of Red Shoes Rock, to talk about what FASD actually looks like across a lifetime and why so many adults live for decades without a diagnosis, support, or even the right words for what’s happening in their brains. 

We get personal about the stuff that rarely makes it into the headlines: foster care churn, being labeled “non-compliant” for asking why, and the quiet shame that can show up at night when you’re trying to fall asleep. RJ explains the “manual transmission” feeling of daily life with neurodivergence, where executive function, working memory, and cause-and-effect can turn ordinary tasks into constant gear shifting. We also talk about school “behavior” as a symptom, why consequences delivered later don’t work for many kids with FASD, and how supports like routine, in-the-moment coaching, and IEPs that limit homework can reduce burnout. 

We also go where it gets complicated: anger at a birth parent, grief and acceptance, the role alcohol plays, and how caregivers can support without turning a child into a problem to manage. RJ shares how Flying With Broken Wings creates a safe space that centers person-first care and real lived experience, helping both individuals with FASD and the people who love them. If this conversation helps you, subscribe, share it with someone who needs it, and leave a review. What’s one belief about FASD you want the world to unlearn?

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Calm is not always comforting. When you have lived in survival mode, quiet can feel like a threat, your mind can get louder as the room gets still, and “peace” can feel like something reserved for other people. We sit down with Ann as she shares updates on her writing and then reads a striking excerpt from her memoir Loving Differently, built around one core idea: peace is not dramatic, and it is not something you perform on command. 

Ann walks us through the moment a respected pastor asked, “Why don’t you pray?” and how her body shut down. We unpack why freezing under pressure can be a protective nervous system response, not a spiritual failure, especially when neurodivergence and prayer anxiety collide with shame and the fear of not knowing the script. The conversation also names the reality of religious trauma and church abuse, including how spiritual language can be used to cross boundaries and confuse safety with obedience. If you have ever felt judged in faith spaces, or like you had to look “good” to belong, this will land. 

From there, we move into what healing looks like in real life: changing people, places, and things, noticing patterns, setting boundaries, and stepping away from chaos that feels familiar. Ann explores trauma bonding, the hidden cost of relationships that keep wounds open, and why choosing peace can feel like loss before it feels like relief. A final story about saying “no” to a house that seemed like security drives home the theme: peace does not live in a building, a performance, or someone else’s approval. 

If this resonates, follow the show, share this with someone who is rebuilding safety from the inside out, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway. What is one boundary that has protected your peace?

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