SEND Parenting Podcast

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Dr. Olivia Kessel
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Parenting Kids & Family Education for Kids Society & Culture Education
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675 - 1.1K listeners Female 5.0 rating 45 reviews 128 episodes United Kingdom
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Welcome to the Send Parenting Podcast. I'm your neurodiverse host, Dr Olivia Kessel, and, more importantly, I am a mother to my wonderfully neurodivergent daughter, Alexandra, who really inspired this podcast. 

As a veteran in navigating the world of neurodiversity, I have uncovered a wealth of misinformation, alongside many answers and solutions that were never taught to me in medical school or in any of the parenting handbooks.

Each week on this podcast, I will be bringing the experts to your ears to empower you on your parenting crusade. 

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Recent Hosts, Guests & Topics

Here's a quick summary of the last 5 episodes on SEND Parenting Podcast.

Hosts

Previous Guests

Diane Dempster is a coach, speaker, and co-founder of Impact Parents. She is known for her personal journey as a "recovering yelling mom" and her expertise in helping parents of neurodivergent children thrive by focusing on how parents show up for their children.
Founder of Aspire Coaching, Randy Free specializes in coaching families with neurodivergent children, particularly those with ADHD. He shares personal experiences raising two children with ADHD and offers practical frameworks and strategies to help families create calmer, more connected relationships.
Lisa Chauhan is a professional involved in financial planning, particularly focusing on the needs of neurodivergent children and their families.
Cara Roughani is the founder of SendProtect, inspired by her journey with her autistic son during COVID lockdown, and focuses on creating financial solutions for SEND families.
Guy Shahar is the founder of Transforming Autism, a charity dedicated to helping families with neurodivergent children. His journey began when his one-year-old son Daniel began to lose words, self-feeding abilities, and connection, which led him to explore alternative therapies. Through his work, Guy discovered his own neurodivergence, which deepened his understanding and advocacy. He emphasizes the importance of attunement and containment in therapy, and his organization provides home-based therapies and online support groups to empower parents to nurture their children's potential.
Lisa Donaghy is the Founder & Director of Create Calm, a yoga therapist, and author of 'Create Calm in the Classroom.' She specializes in understanding and supporting children's nervous systems through breath and movement techniques. Lisa advocates for playful approaches over verbal instructions for neurodivergent children and emphasizes the importance of validating emotions and using body awareness to help children navigate emotional storms.

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Episodes

Here's the recent few episodes on SEND Parenting Podcast.

0:00 40:51

Parenting Your Neurodivergent Child with Diane Dempster, co-founder of Impact Parents

Guests
Diane Dempster
Keywords
neurodiversity parenting child development mental health behavioral science family dynamics emotional regulation self-care resilience support systems

We dive into a powerful conversation about parenting neurodivergent children from the inside out with guest Diane Dempster, coach, speaker, and co-founder of Impact Parents. Diane shares her personal journey as a "recovering yelling mom" and how she discovered that the way we show up as parents matters more than what we do.

How the "Super Mom trap" catches neurodivergent parents who try to do everything for their children
Why parents are "the missing link" in helping neurodivergent children thrive
Recognising when you're having a "wobbly" day and what to do about it
Practical tools like the "3-5 challenge" for setting realistic expectations
Questioning whether difficult behaviours are "naughty or neurological"
Reframing self-care as "bringing your needs into the equation"
The importance of asking for help and modelling this skill for your children
Setting an intention to do something for yourself every day, no matter how small
Breaking free from internal critical voices that may not even be your own

If you're looking for a safe space to connect with other parents navigating their neurodiverse journey, our private WhatsApp community offers support, insights and real conversations with like-minded parents who truly understand. Join the conversation today. You can find the link in the show notes.


Click here for Impact Parents

Click here for the SEND Parenting Private WhatsApp Community


www.sendparenting.com

0:00 50:39

EP 126: ADHD Parenting: Heal Yourself, Help Your Child with Randy Free of Aspire Coaching

Guests
Randy Free
Keywords
ADHD neurodiversity family healing PEACE framework emotional regulation gentle parenting boundaries calming strategies neurodivergent children education alignment

What if your journey to help your child with ADHD actually begins with healing yourself? Randy Free, founder of Aspire Coaching, offers a refreshing perspective that might just transform your family dynamics.

When traditional parenting approaches fail with neurodivergent children, parents often feel trapped in cycles of conflict, meltdowns, and mutual frustration. Randy's personal story of raising two children with ADHD resonates deeply—the hours spent on homework, the struggles within an inflexible education system, and the constant worry about how their story would end. Through this journey, he discovered a profound truth: healing the family system creates space for the child to thrive.

The heart of our conversation explores Randy's PEACE framework (Perspective, Ease tension, Attune, Connect, and Empower), offering a structured path toward calmer, more connected parenting. We unpack how children's emotional outbursts aren't manipulative or defiant but distress signals from a brain where logic becomes inaccessible during emotional moments. Randy introduces practical tools like the STOP method for identifying emotional warning signs and creating personalised calming strategies before reaching full meltdown.

Perhaps most importantly, we challenge the misconception that gentle parenting means permissiveness. Randy articulates the crucial balance between empathetic connection and maintaining clear boundaries, showing how fewer, more focused expectations actually create space for children to thrive. The conversation takes a beautiful turn as we recognize how neurodivergent children flourish when their education aligns with their passions—like Randy's son who struggled to get out of bed for school but achieved perfect attendance at motorcycle mechanics school.

Whether you're in the trenches of daily ADHD challenges or simply seeking to better understand neurodivergent minds, this episode offers compassionate insight alongside practical strategies. Join us to discover how one breath, one conscious choice at a time, you can transform both your parenting approach and your relationship with your wonderfully unique child.


Click here for Randy Free

Click here for access to private SEND Parenting WhatsAPP Community

www.sendparenting.com

0:00 49:57

EP 125: Financial protection for neurodivergent children with Lisa Chauhan & Cara Roughani of Send Protect

Guests
Lisa Chauhan Cara Roughani
Keywords
neurodivergent children financial planning SEND-specific needs life insurance children's ISAs vulnerable person's trusts inheritance tax guardianship workplace support parent community

Financial planning for neurodivergent children is not just about money but about love, responsibility, and the legacy we leave when we're no longer here.

• Cara explains how her journey with her autistic son during COVID lockdown led to creating SendProtect after noticing financial advisors weren't addressing SEND-specific needs
• SendProtect offers free educational events, webinars and consultations to help SEND parents understand long-term financial planning
• Life insurance policies should be written in trust to prevent inheritance tax and provide immediate access to funds
• Children's ISAs can become problematic at age 18 if your child lacks financial capacity, requiring court applications
• Vulnerable person's trusts provide a government-approved way to save money for SEND children without affecting benefits
• Even £5 per week can provide meaningful financial protection through properly structured life insurance
• Having a will with children's guardianship specified is essential to prevent SEND children entering temporary care
• Workplace support for SEND parents is crucial—employers need to understand the additional caring responsibilities

Join the conversation in our private WhatsApp community where SEND parents connect for support, insights and understanding. Find the link in the show notes.

Click here for SEND Protect


www.sendparenting.com

0:00 46:30

EP 124: When your child slips away with Guy Shahar of Transforming Autism

Guests
Guy Shahar
Keywords
neurodiversity autism therapy parenting neurodivergent children attunement containment empathy home-based therapies online parent groups

What happens when the child you thought you knew begins to slip away? For Guy Shahar, watching his one-year-old son Daniel lose words, self-feeding abilities, and connection was heartbreaking. "It's like you're losing your child," Guy shares, describing the helplessness that washed over him and his wife as traditional medical pathways offered little beyond frustration and dismissal.

Their story takes an unexpected turn when they follow their intuition to a small therapy center in Israel, emptying their savings on what Guy calls "stronger than a whim, but without any rational basis." What follows is nothing short of remarkable - a transformation that begins on the very first day when Daniel, who hadn't touched solid food in over a year, sits calmly at a table feeding himself. The magic, Guy explains, isn't in mysterious techniques but in learning profound attunement and containment - creating safety while truly seeing and responding to what his son actually needed rather than what conventional parenting expected.

Guy's journey doesn't end with Daniel's progress. While establishing the charity Transforming Autism, he discovers his own neurodivergence, adding layers of insight to his understanding: "Autistic children are often particularly sensitive and empathic - turbocharged even. It's overwhelming, that's why they shut down." This revelation reshapes his advocacy work, focusing on helping parents understand their children's extraordinary potential from the earliest moments. Through intensive home-based therapies and accessible online parent groups, his charity now guides families toward the confidence to parent neurodivergent children on their own terms.

For parents just beginning this journey, Guy offers compassionate wisdom: allow yourself to grieve the future you imagined, seek community with those who understand, and remember that while the path may not resemble what you expected, the connection waiting on the other side can be more profound than you ever thought possible. Connect with the Send Parenting WhatsApp community through the link in our show notes, where you'll find others walking similar paths with open hearts and shared understanding.

Click here for Transforming Autsim

Click here for Guy's book Transforming Autism

Click here to join the private SEND Parenting WhatsApp Community

www.sendparenting.com

0:00 52:44

EP 123: Creating calm in the classroom with Lisa Danahy, Founder & Director of Create Calm

Guests
Lisa Donaghy
Keywords
neurodiversity nervous system breath and movement techniques playful approaches behaviours as nervous system communications volcano movement exercise emotional validation body awareness

Dr. Olivia Kessel speaks with Lisa Danahy, Founder & Director of Create Calm, yoga therapist and author of Create Calm in the Classroom, a book about understanding and supporting children's nervous systems through breath and movement techniques. She talks about why playful approaches work better than verbal instructions for neurodivergent children and:

• Why we need to understand behaviours as nervous system communications rather than problems to fix
• How to use the "volcano" movement exercise to release tension and anxiety
• The importance of validating emotions rather than labelling them as good or bad
• Practical ways to help children navigate emotional storms through body awareness

Click here for Lisa's book Creating Calm in the Classroom

Join our private WhatsApp community for support, insights and real conversations with like-minded parents who truly understand. 


www.sendparenting.com

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5.0 rating 45 reviews

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