Beyond the Diagnosis: Helping Neurodivergent Kids Own Who They Are

Send us Fan Mail This week on Beyond My Diagnosis, Michele is once again handing over the microphone while she takes time to manage her own chronic conditions. Guest host Lisa Richer, neurodivergent success partner, advocate, founder of Journey to Bloom, and mother of two neurodivergent sons, steps in for a deeply personal conversation about parenting and supporting neurodivergent children. Lisa describes parenting a child with ADHD, autism, dyscalculia, executive function differences, or another neurodifference as sometimes feeling like walking a tightrope. On one side are school schedules, academic expectations, social rules, executive function demands, IEP goals, accommodations, and behavioral reports. On the other is the child standing in front of you, with their own curiosity, sensory needs, interests, communication style, strengths, and ways of experiencing the world. Parents can easily find themselves trying to manage both sides at once. Lisa knows that experience personally. She is neurodivergent herself, has raised two neurodivergent sons, and has spent years supporting families. Her perspective has changed over time. She no longer believes the goal is for a parent to become an expert tightrope walker who carries a child across while simultaneously acting as therapist, tutor, coach, advocate, and referee. Instead, she invites parents to step onto the wire with their child and become a partner. Throughout the episode, Lisa explores what can happen when children understand how their own brains work. She discusses ADHD and autistic experiences of friendship, sensory overload, rejection, communication, executive function, hyperfocus, and school expectations. She also examines the growing willingness among younger neurodivergent people to openly identify with their differences rather than automatically treating them as something to hide. Lisa introduces the three principles that guide her work at Journey to Bloom: clarity, confidence, and courage. Clarity helps a child understand their brain and gives families a shared language for what they are experiencing. Confidence grows when children participate in conversations about accommodations and learn how to advocate for what actually helps them. Courage allows families to question systems and expectations that measure children primarily by how closely they can perform according to neurotypical standards. The episode offers parents an important question to consider. Instead of asking, “How do I make my child fit into this school?” what changes when we ask, “How do I help my child understand their own brain so they can navigate this environment?” Lisa’s goal is not to help children become better at hiding who they are. It is to help them understand themselves well enough to communicate their needs, recognize their strengths, participate in decisions that affect them, and move through the world with a stronger sense of who they are. What You’ll Hear Why Lisa Richer is taking over the microphone for this special episode of Beyond My Diagnosis Why supporting a neurodivergent child can feel like walking a tightrope between school expectations and the child’s actual needs How parents can unintentionally become therapist, tutor, executive function coach, advocate, and referee all at once Why Lisa believes partnership is more useful than constantly trying to manage or fix a child How ADHD and autism can shape experiences with peers, friendships, communication, sensory environments, and school Why some younger neurodivergent people are becoming more comfortable openly identifying with their differences Why understanding a diagnosis can help children develop language for what they experience How Lisa approaches ADHD and autism through the lenses of clarity, confidence, and courage Why children should have meaningful input into IEPs, 504 plans, accommodations, and school support How parents can ask better questions about what actually helps their child Why a meltdown, shutdown, freeze response, or difficulty starting a task should not automatically be interpreted as a character problem How parents can help children develop self-advocacy skills Why emotional regulation sometimes needs to take priority over academic compliance How families can move away from neurotypical measures of success and recognize a child's individual strengths and needs About Lisa Richer Lisa Richer is a Neurodivergent Success Partner and Advocate who works with students, athletes, parents, and professionals to help them move through internal, relational, and systemic barriers. As the creator of the Clarity | Confidence | Courage Journey Map™, Lisa helps people better understand how they think, communicate, learn, advocate for themselves, and navigate environments that may not have been designed with neurodivergent needs in mind. Her work is also deeply personal. Lisa is neurodivergent herself and is the mother of two neurodivergent sons. She brings both lived and professional experience to conversations about ADHD, autism, learning differences, school systems, advocacy, identity, and helping people understand what they need in order to thrive. Connect With Lisa Journey to Bloom Resources Journey to Bloom on Instagram Lisa Richer on LinkedIn Journey to Bloom on YouTube