The Behaviour Coach Podcast

Advocating for your ADHD kid at school is one of the most important jobs you have as their parent, and one of the most emotionally exhausting.

In this episode, Erica reframes advocacy as bridging, not fighting. She shares the story of a high school student whose grade jumped two full letter grades from one small accommodation (his science teacher started emailing the lesson slides one day before class). She walks through a quick primer on IEPs, 504 plans, and informal support plans, plus her favourite categories of accommodations for the classroom environment, learning and instruction, transitions, emotional and behavioural support, and home-school communication. And she shares what to do when the school pushes back on an accommodation.

RESOURCES

Top ADHD Accommodations Cheat Sheet

Support Profile (editable Canva template for teachers, plus ADHD and autism info sheets)

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Advocating for School Support Mini Course

If homework in your house is a nightly battle, if the 20 minute assignment somehow takes 3 hours, if your kid was fine at school and is now falling apart at the kitchen table, this episode is for you.

Erica shares what restraint collapse is and why homework at the kitchen table can be a place of meltdowns and frustration, the after-school sequence that actually helps, her real opinions on homework in elementary school, and the exact phrase to use with teachers when advocating for accommodations ("reduce quantity, not content"). She also gets into body doubling, task initiation, and scaffolding for teens, plus a full section on preventing the assignment pile before it becomes an avoidance spiral.

Plus one of her own homework stories from childhood, involving Grimms Fairytales, a reading log, and a C in elementary school reading that made no sense until you looked closely.

FREE RESOURCE

Grab the Support Profile here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sOhSMxXwJSzk4uMHgXbj6pz5_47iXxNv/view?usp=sharing

Or head to Instagram @behaviourcoach and comment THRIVE on any post for the same resource, plus ADHD and autism info sheets.

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AUDIO COURSES (Pay what you can)

If homework battles are tipping into meltdowns, check out my Meltdowns Mastery audio course.

If friendships are the harder piece this school year, The Belonging Blueprint course is for you!

If your ADHD kid is coming home from the first weeks of school completely fried, melting down over things that seem small, unable to do basic tasks they were handling fine in June, this episode is for you.

Season 2 of The Behaviour Coach Podcast opens with a full back-to-school arc, and this first episode is about why the transition itself is so hard. Erica walks through the enormous executive function load of "new" for an ADHD brain, what the first weeks of regression actually are (spoiler: it is not regression), how to take load off at home during September, and how to help your kid's new teacher see them clearly in the small window at the beginning of the year.

She also introduces a free resource for parents: the Support Profile, an editable Canva template you can give to your kid's teacher, plus one-pagers on ADHD and autism.

FREE RESOURCE

Grab the Support Profile here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sOhSMxXwJSzk4uMHgXbj6pz5_47iXxNv/view?usp=sharing

Or head to Instagram @behaviourcoach and comment THRIVE on any post for the same resource, plus ADHD and autism info sheets.

Never miss an episode: sign up for the weekly newsletter!

If meltdowns are part of the back-to-school picture, check out my Meltdowns Mastery audio course. Pay what you can.

If friendships are on your mind for the school year, The Belonging Blueprint course is for you. Pay what you can.

For years, I thought I was just an anxious parent around water and cars. I now know I was not anxious. My neurodivergent kids were baseline less safe. That knowing changes everything.

This week's episode was originally going to be about travel. When I sat down to record, I felt compelled to talk about safety instead.

In this episode, Erica walks through what the research actually says about safety risk in neurodivergent kids, including the sobering statistics on drowning and wandering. She covers water safety and the layered system her family uses (including the pilot-style verbal handoff for supervision), sun and heat considerations including how ADHD stimulant medications affect hydration and thermoregulation, elopement and wandering protocols, and road and travel safety.

If you have ever been told you are too worried, too hyper-vigilant, too much when it comes to your neurodivergent kid, this episode is for you. Your hypervigilance is not neurosis. It is love, translated into vigilance, in a body that has learned it needs to be watching.

This is the Season 1 finale. Season 2 returns in late August with a back-to-school arc. In the meantime, the entire back catalog of Episodes 1 through 17 is available wherever you listen.

FURTHER READING

Columbia University research on wandering and injury in autism: https://www.publichealth.columbia.edu/news/individuals-autism-substantially-heightened-risk-injury-death

ADHD stimulant medications and heat regulation, clinical guidance: https://careadhd.frontkb.com/en/articles/9982338

Autism and thermoregulation research overview: https://biologyinsights.com/autism-and-temperature-regulation-key-thermosensory-insights/

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If meltdowns are part of the summer picture, Meltdowns Mastery audio course. Pay what you can.

And of course, come say hi over on instagram!

Summer is harder for ADHD families than we are told to expect. The structure just left. Your kid is burnt out from a school year of holding it together. You are too. Now it's two depleted nervous systems trying to navigate 10 weeks together without the scaffolding of school.

If summer is hard in your house, you're not failing. This season is genuinely harder for our families.

This week's episode walks through the five things that actually help: decoding what "I'm bored" really means, building boredom infrastructure that quietly does the work all summer, a real summer screen plan, how to prep summer camp counsellors so your kid can succeed, and downtime, for your kids and for you.

Next week: travel with neurodivergent kids.

I'm joined by Fayth Caruso, who has spent 15 years working with rebounding as a tool for the body, with people of all ages and abilities, including a lot of neurodivergent kids and adults.

We talk about why movement is so powerfully regulating for the ADHD nervous system, the difference between sensory seekers and avoiders, why so many neurodivergent kids crash and chew and never stop moving, what to do when a movement tool makes overwhelm worse instead of better, and how to introduce movement so it actually gets used.

A note on disclosure: this is not a paid or sponsored episode. I have been gifted a bellicon through a past social media collaboration, and I genuinely love and use the product. There is an affiliate link in the show notes, which I disclose to listeners. But the conversation is editorial. The focus is sensory, movement, and supporting neurodivergent kids.

FURTHER READING

2025 randomized controlled trial on vestibular and proprioceptive exercises reducing hyperactivity and impulsivity: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S305065652500015X

Rebounding for ADHD and autism, in plain language: https://www.boogiebounce.com/rebounding-with-autism-and-adhd/

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My bellicon affiliate link

Use code BEHAVIOURCOACH for a discount.

If meltdowns are part of the daily picture, Meltdowns Mastery audio course. Pay what you can!

If you've watched your ADHD kid stare at something they can absolutely do, unable to start, this episode is for you.

Executive functioning is one of the biggest areas of impact in ADHD, and it's almost never what we think it is. Erica walks through what executive functions actually are, why they work as a team, and Dr. Russell Barkley's 30 percent rule, the developmental delay that has nothing to do with intelligence and everything to do with how the brain manages getting things done.

Your child isn't lazy. They aren't choosing not to try. They're working with a brain whose project-management system develops on a different timeline. And it can be supported.

FURTHER READING

The 30 percent rule, in plain language: https://lifeskillsadvocate.com/blog/adhd-executive-age/

Brain-maturity research from NIH: https://impactparents.com/blog/adhd/the-link-between-brain-maturity-academic-success-with-adhd/

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If meltdowns are part of the daily picture, Meltdowns Mastery audio course. Pay what you can!

Your ADHD kid isn't a troublemaker. They're a justice keeper. This week: why fairness can feel like survival for an ADHD brain, why these kids get in trouble for defending others, and the support sequence that helps.

Research and Resources:

ADHD and justice sensitivity (the foundational pilot study)

Why ADHD brains can't just ignore unfairness (parent-friendly overview)

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When a sense of injustice floods the nervous system and tips into a meltdown, the Meltdowns Mastery audio course breaks down the whole cycle. Pay what you can, starting at just $5!

You can't out-parent a child who can't sleep.

This week: why sleep difficulty is biology, not bedtime discipline, why your ADHD kid genuinely isn't tired at bedtime, and the tools that actually move the needle.

A note: this episode touches on sleep as a health need and mentions supplements and medical support in general terms. Nothing in this episode is medical advice. Please talk to your own medical team about what's right for your family.

Research and Resources:

ADHD as a circadian rhythm disorder (2025 research review):

Sleep and ADHD, in plain language (clinician overview):

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When exhaustion is unraveling your days, the Meltdowns Mastery audio course can help you understand the whole cycle. Pay what you can (starting at just $5).

The sock was never the problem. This week we get into sensory processing in ADHD: the two senses nobody taught you about, why your kid crashes and chews and melts down over a tag, and what to do when you can't remove what's overwhelming them.

Research and Resources:

Sensory processing in ADHD (2025 systematic review & meta-analysis)

The case for including sensory differences in ADHD diagnosis (open access)

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If sensory overwhelm tips your child into full meltdowns, the Meltdowns Mastery audio course walks through what's happening and what helps, before, during, and after. All of my ADHD courses are pay what you can starting at just $5.