Supporting our neurodivergent kid's dreams, with Daniel Keith Austin

Have you ever felt caught in the middle between wanting to support your kids in what they want for themselves, and wanting to make sure they will be functional, successful adults?

It can be a tricky balance when it comes to setting boundaries, allowing failures, and giving advice.

In this week's episode, I'm talking with Daniel Keith Austin about how parents can support the dreams and goals of their neurodivergent kids. Daniel is an autistic author, and after we recorded this episode his children's book won third place at the BookFest Fall 2023 Awards!

It hasn't been an easy journey for him, and there are still things he's working toward accomplishing. 

Research shows that kids who are struggling only need ONE supportive adult in their life to help them be successful. Just one. In this week's episode, Daniel and I are sharing strategies to help us all be that one for our kids!

Here's a clip from the episode:

(Steph) One of the things that... that I believe, is that I think everybody should and has the capacity to dream and have whatever goals they want for themselves. Right. I think for some of us, it may take us longer to get there, and we may need more support along the way. But I don't think that the dream or the goal needs to be any different than it would be for anybody else. It just may take us longer, and we may need more help to get there.

(Daniel) Right. And that's often why so many people give up is because it's taking a really long time. And that's something I want to offer as encouraging advice to people who are listening to this, who are in that boat, like, just keep going at it. Someone important to me told me to never ever settle, and that's what I'm not going to do is I'm never going to settle. It is, I will admit, taking a lot longer for me to achieve the dreams. I envisioned having them a much longer time ago. And if I had it my way, I'd be enjoying it right now. But I'm just going to keep going at it no matter how frustrating it is.

Listen to the podcast episode.  

Watch on YouTube.

Buy his book at https://mybook.to/ChelseasNewBeginning.

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