The word “hurdles” is an interesting one. As a noun, it means an obstacle or difficulty that one has to overcome. Yet as a verb, hurdles means jumping over an obstacle or barrier — literally overcoming that difficulty blocking your path. 

This dichotomy really hit me as I watched amazing athletes with disabilities gather for the Tokyo Paralympic Games this year to compete at the highest levels of sportsmanship.

Right now, so many parents are wondering the same thing: “How can I help my student develop the resilience needed to bounce back from a truly challenging 18 months?”

I have a surprisingly simple answer: focus on having fun this summer. We can address pandemic-related academic deficits in the fall; focus on your child’s mental wellbeing for now.

At a certain point in childhood, all children naturally start comparing themselves and their abilities to those of their peers. Yet for children with complex challenges such as ADHD and learning disabilities, this juxtaposition can feel less like a comparison and more like a gauge of perceived “normalcy.” 

When you’re the parent of a teenager, you can expect to have challenging conversations. 

Adolescence is a tumultuous time in a child’s life, and it often requires families to have deep discussions about big, sometimes uncomfortable, topics. At the same time, it can be challenging to initiate these conversations, especially if your teen is not enthused by talking about their feelings and emotions. 

When that teen is also diagnosed with autism, the complexity of these conversations increases dramatically.