61 - Meghan Bonde and Designing a Routine For Your Neurodivergent Brain 23/09/24
Society often pressures neurodivergent individuals to fit in with neurotypical standards, which can make them feel inadequate! Join Samantha as she engages in a thought-provoking conversation with Meghan Bonde about the importance of embracing neurodiversity and designing routines that honor the neurodivergent brain. Meghan provides valuable tools and approaches that empower neurodivergent individuals to thrive in a society that often misunderstands them! Stay tuned!
Here's what to expect on the podcast:
How can embracing your unique qualities help you work more effectively?
Key tips for designing a routine that aligns with your natural wiring.
What does "twice exceptional" mean, and what challenges do twice-exceptional individuals often face?
Inclusion and self-advocacy.
And much more!
About Meghan:
Meghan supports neurodivergent entrepreneurs and leaders to thrive at work and design routines for how they are wired. She is a Speech Language Pathologist, chair of the Workforce Development Committee for the Colorado Neurodiversity Chamber of Commerce, and a TEDx speaker.
Connect with Meghan Bonde!
Website: https://rainforestmind.com/
Intensity Quiz: https://www.intensityhub.com/
Gifted Adults: Work the Way You’re Wired to Increase Impact | Meghan Bonde | TEDxWoodinville https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FB_ohF57w3s
Connect with Samantha Foote!
Website: www.boisemusictherapycompany.com
Email: [email protected]
Consultation: https://letsmeet.io/boisemusictherapycompany/30-mi…
Neurodiversity in Harmony: A Summit for Empowered Parenting https://www.boisemusictherapycompany.com/registrat…
TRANSCRIPTION
Are you ready to set your child up for success with confidence, even if they have unique needs? I'm Samantha, and I'm a board certified music therapist, parent to three neurodivergent kids, and creator of the Parenting with Confidence program. I'm here to help you navigate the neurodivergent world without getting completely overwhelmed.
In just eight weeks, you'll learn how to build a nurturing relationship with your child, grow Rooted in trust, empathy, and respect. You'll walk away knowing how to embrace their unique needs with a positive behavior approach and master flexible communication techniques. The program kicks off on October 3rd.
Join now, seats are limited. Visit www. boisimusictherapycompany. com to sign up today. This podcast is for parents like you, navigating the world of neurodiversity with love and compassion. I'm a neurodivergent mother of three amazing neurodivergent children and a board certified music therapist. Our mission is to create a supportive space where you feel understood, connected, and inspired.
With practical tips, strategies, and resources, we'll help you and your child thrive in your unique way. Join us as we dive deep into the diverse world of neurodivergent individuals, exploring topics like ADHD, autism, dyslexia, sensory processing challenges, and more. We'll cover it all to empower, educate, and uplift both neurodivergent individuals and those who walk alongside them.
Together, we'll create a world where every brain is valued and celebrated. We're excited to embark on this enlightening journey with you. We are your hosts, Samantha Futt and Lauren Ross, and this is the Every Brain is Different podcast.
Welcome to the Every Brain is Different podcast. You're here with Megan Bondy and Megan supports neurodivergent entrepreneurs and leaders to thrive at work and design routines for how they are wired. She is a speech language pathologist. Chair of the Workforce Development Committee for the Colorado Neurodiversity Chamber of Commerce and a TEDx speaker.
Welcome to the show, Megan. We're so excited to have you here. Thanks for having me. Yeah. And I am so excited. So tell us a little bit more about how you're involved in the neurodivergent community. Yeah, so I actually started my journey as a speech language pathologist working in the schools, um, about 15 years ago and really was noticing that the kids who weren't necessarily thriving in school didn't have it.
Yeah. The problem wasn't with them. The problem was with the environment and the systems around them that school just wasn't really built for them. And so I shifted into different leadership roles that really worked on systems change to create inclusive learning opportunities for all students. And Then several years after I had done that really specializing in ADHD and autistic students, I discovered that I'm neurodivergent and my kids got identified.
And so then I started the path of being a self advocate and a parent and learning, you know, even in my relationship, in my marriage, how to, Navigate all of these different things through that lens of neurodiversity and sort of unmasking. And I realized that my needs were not met at work when I was an educational leader, as I started to really get into touch about how I was wired and that I had been sort of molding myself to that environment.
And so that's when I left to start my business, to. Really be a speaker and support other neurodivergent entrepreneurs in their journey after I've learned so much, um, in terms of my path and really participated in coaching programs as I built my business that weren't so great. Designed for how I was wired as well.
So, yeah, that's awesome. Um, so you were diagnosed first before your kids? No, I, no, I learned about my, uh, my identity after my kids. I was like, wait a minute. Yeah. Yeah. I have heard that so often, like even. People that work in the field, like their kids get diagnosed and then they're like, Whoa, there's, that sounds a lot like me.
Yeah. I was like, I can't believe I didn't notice this when this has been like literally my special interest. Yeah. Yeah. That's hilarious. Well, I did the same thing. I was like, I feel like something, I feel like I have ADHD. And then they were like, you're a bipolar disorder. And I'm like, Oh, okay. That's what the professionals say, you know?
And I'm not saying bipolar disorder isn't also neurodivergent, but after my kids got diagnosed with ADHD, I was like, I really feel like I have ADHD. And so then they're like, Oh, you do have ADHD and not bipolar disorder. So that happens a lot. Like just. If you got diagnosed with bipolar disorder and you're feeling like maybe that's not the right for you, it is a misdiagnosis that's done a lot.
So just putting that out there. But, um, yeah, I love how you designed a routine for yourself and designed your own things for how you were wired. Because that's so important. Um, I was just talking to someone about how you, um, have to, You know, do that for yourself. If you're neurodivergent, I was talking to a group of entrepreneurs and I was like, 42 percent of entrepreneurs are found to be neurodivergent.
And so you need to just embrace those different things about yourself so that you can work the way you need to work. You know, like so often people are like, well, you need to work in the morning because that's when you're most productive. All the rich people do stuff in the morning. Well, What if you work at night?
Like, that's totally fine.
Uh, kind of positions themselves as an expert of how things need to be done. And the reality is we became entrepreneurs because we are innovators. We are creative. We want to try things in a different way. That's the entrepreneurial spirit. And so we need to build that self trust to be able to do something our own way, rather than what other people say, which is often a hard shift to make when your whole life.
You've been just kind of following what people say in the educational system or in a workplace. Yeah, for sure. It's really hard to self advocate for yourself when There's just this way that things have always been done, and you might need to have it different, but everyone else seems to be okay with how it's going.
Where I found if you speak up, then other people can speak up, and then you can find ways for everyone to thrive with how they're wired. So, yeah. Can you give us some more, like, tips or strategies on how to design a routine for How You're Wired? I know that you specialize in, like, twice exceptional, so maybe if parents have twice exceptional children, what can they do to help them thrive?
Yeah, absolutely. So I need long chunks of time to be able to deep dive and follow my interest and passion for learning about something. I do block off some time to listen to my podcasts that I'm interested in, and that sort of counts as work time. Like, I think we often Don't consider certain things as part of our work day, but when I go on my walk and listen to my podcast, that's my learning time and my movement time.
And then I have a different time of day where I go on a walk in silence. That's my brainstorming time where I just let the ideas come in. And so that all is part of my work routine to allow myself to have my imagination and to follow my learning interests. And then really setting up systems for, um, doing the things that I'm not that interested in, or have trouble like getting started.
And so one thing I've done is email automations, where when somebody signs up to join my website, there's a sequence of different stories that I tell and facts about me. The intensities and twice exceptional people and other areas of neurodivergence. And when I get inspired to do it, then I just add an email to my email sequence instead of sending it right then.
And so it just keeps getting put into this system where I don't always have to remember to do Facebook post or things like that. Um, and I love to talk, I decided to do a lot of my visibility of sharing about what I'm doing as a podcast guest. And it's just fun for me and if someone else says no, the best way to do your visibility to get yourself out there is social media or speaking at live events or whatever it is, it's like, no, like, podcasting is a great way for me to, Get to talk about what I love and share it.
So those are just some of the things that I do. Yeah. I love it that you can find things that works for you. Um, because some people like they can't do social media. There's just not a thing that they want to do, you know? And I feel like all the business coaches out there and everyone that says, if you want to succeed, you have to be on social media where that's not really true.
Like you can do podcasts, you can do email, you can do so many other things. Um, can you. Explain what twice exceptional means. Cause I realized we never defined that. Yeah, absolutely. So twice exceptional is a term for someone who's identified gifted and another area of neurodivergence or disability. So it could be like gifted plus ADHD, gifted plus autism, gifted plus bipolar OCD.
There's. A lot of different neurodivergent identities that sort of fall under the umbrella and really gifted traits overlap so much with the ADHD, autism, sensory integration disorder, um, I have auditory processing disorder, there's so many different areas of overlap for the traits, and so it's really common for people who are gifted to have other areas of neurodivergence.
or for someone who gets identified ADHD or ADHD or autistic to be gifted but not necessarily get identified because they mask each other and really cover up the, the traits of the area of strength. Um, and so a lot of people don't even know that they're twice exceptional. Um, but giftedness can be in art, math, sports.
Speaking, um, dancing, creative problem solving. There's so many areas of giftedness. And so. A lot of people think it's just an IQ test and it's not, it's harder to identify the other areas of giftedness, um, when the schools often only test for certain types of it. Um, but it's still giftedness and a lot of people don't realize the intensities or social emotional traits that are associated with giftedness.
Um, there's five. Overexcited abilities based on Dabrowski's research. Um, I like to call them intensities because my whole life, I felt like too much. And so I hate the word over for overexcited abilities. Yes. Yeah. Like, you know, people who have these types of intensities that really can fit the gifted profile.
If you have an area of real strength, um, just, you know, 95th percentile in this particular area, whatever area it is. Yeah, that's, that's really good to know, and I know people in my life that they are very, very gifted in a certain area, and they, they might be like super young, but they're very gifted in like reading or math, and so it makes it really hard for them to fit in with their peers because they have autism and ADHD and this giftedness, and that's just one more layer of them feeling like they don't fit in.
And so they can't, they, they don't have the social skills because their brain is going like a million miles an hour. And it's hard for them to relate to their peers when, you know, their peers might be studying like second grade reading and they're studying like, 11th grade reading or something like that.
And so do you have any suggestions for parents who are raising twice exceptional children of how to find their strengths and how to work with those strengths and help them develop those different things? Yeah, well, The first thing is it's crucial to help them find their tribe. They really need to be in groups with other neurodivergent kids who have the different traits of giftedness autism or the combo.
When. They are, when people are in these tribes where people have similar neurotypes, they don't have social problems like they do in neurotypical environments. It's really a mismatch. It's not, oftentimes we hear deficit thinking about, Um, social interaction based on the medical model when, um, people are going and being told you have a social delay or a disorder and we need to fix this or, um, work on this.
And the reality is it's a mismatch. It's just a difference. And if they do have, um, social difficulties and social anxiety, it's more likely that they've been in an environment that wasn't supportive of them. And now they have to undo a lot of that to even be able to like function with their neurodivergent buddies.
Um, so that's just crucial. And then to really talk to kids about their differences. A lot of people get very scared of labels and don't want to tell their kids about, um, You know their differences because they think maybe they're going to think something's wrong with them and the kids know that they're different.
And once they have language and understanding around why they feel different, then they're like, oh, it's just because of this environment mismatch, or it's just because of discrimination and they don't internalize it as a problem with them. And so I think it's really important to talk with kids and give them self awareness.
about, Hey, you have strengths in these areas and these things can be more challenging and not come as naturally for you. And, um, when they have that self confidence, they're going to be able to self advocate and follow their areas of passion and kids only learn and develop their talents. When they're regulated, when they feel a sense of safety and security in their environment, a sense of belonging and relationships, then their strengths are going to be able to take off and they're going to be able to really tap into their potential and do well.
But if you don't have that foundation, then they're not going to grow with their strengths. It's so important. Yes. Thank you so much for saying that it's differences. It's not a deficit and there was a study done. I can't remember. I can't remember where I found this, but they were saying just what you just said that if you're neurodivergent.
You have social skills with other neurodivergent people, and they match, where if you're with neurotypical people, then it's a mismatch, and it's not that you're deficient in something. It's not that the neurotypical people are deficient in something. It's just a difference in how you're wired, and so to understand that, I think is so important, because the medical model does come into play, where You know, there's neurodivergent people and we have to teach them how to fit in is what I've been told my whole, like my whole adult life when I've been working in this field, like we need to teach them how to fit in and we need to teach them how to have the correct social skills when they do have social skills.
It's just not neurotypical social skills and that's okay. Like that should be celebrated that they're different. It's not bad. It's not anything like that. They're just. It's different and that's okay. So thank you so much for bringing that up. That is amazing. Yeah. Um, so what can you tell parents who, I don't know if we want to go in this direction, but I know a lot of parents were like, I just want my kid.
To fit in with neurotypical peers, and I think it's awesome what, and you might have already answered this with, you know, like, celebrate their differences, tell them that their difference, tell them the labels, um, but how can, like, neurotypical people support neurodivergent people? So that we can like make a space for them, like in the world, you know?
Yeah, absolutely. Because just because it's supportive to create these affinity groups where neurodivergent people can be together, doesn't mean that we should just separate and not be together. There is space for both where we can have, um, neurodivergent people and neurotypical people really coming together too.
And, and there is a good time and a place for both. Um, and so. I think the self awareness is so important to be able to just advocate for yourself when you're in an environment where people may misunderstand you and just being able to lean into conflict in a healthy way of being able to disagree. Being able to self advocate and if you have that self awareness to be able to ask for what you need.
If it's not a sensory friendly place to be able to ask to take a break or have some headphones, um, to be able to say, well, I, I like to do things differently with a friend and, and to really build up those skills of being aware to also give someone who's neurotypical dignity and their needs and their desires and be able to just work together and, and communicate with each other.
Yes. Self advocate. So important.
He is autistic and he would go into the workplace and he would give his, his employer a letter, basically saying, these are the accommodations that I need to do my job. And they were very like good accommodations. They weren't asking for too much or anything like that. It was just like, don't come to my office, send me an email, let's set up a meeting.
Don't just come and interrupt me. Or I'm going to wear noise canceling headphones when I'm in this environment. And that just made. It's so that his employer knew what to expect and he knew what to expect and he was so successful in that environment. But if he wouldn't have said that, they wouldn't have known that he even needed those accommodations.
So yes, self advocate is so important. Thank you so much. It is, um, do you have any resources for our audience either that you've made or that you could recommend? Yeah, well, I love the Rainforest Mind website to learn more about giftedness. Um, it's a focus on gifted adults, and I think there's nothing more that, um, that parents can do for their gifted and twice exceptional kids than to work on their own self awareness, their own processing of The trauma that they've been through as a neurodivergent person and advocate for their own needs, being a role model.
And so that has really helped me. And my TEDx talk just came out and I talk about the rainforest mind metaphor and how that really helped me understand giftedness beyond just, Oh, I learn at this really quickly, um, and then. I have a quiz on my website, intensity hub. com, and it goes through the five overexcited abilities or intensities, as I like to call it to help people really understand which of the intensities are present for themselves so that they can then build in routines and systems and structures into their day to really honor those intensities and leverage them as strengths.
And meet their unique needs that are associated with them. And so that's another great resource there's longer quizzes and information about overexcited abilities and I tried to make one that was a little bit more accessible and shorter. and easy to understand for people who are new to Dabrowski's research.
Great. Those are all amazing resources. And you were also a participant in our summit, in the Neurodiversity Summit, um, uh, Summit for Empowered Parenting. So if people missed that summit, they can still purchase the replays. So definitely go on our website and you can get those. Um, you have a pre recorded Session that you did.
And then you had, you're part of a panel and then you also had your breakout room so people can view all of that information, um, with the summit. And so, which thank you so much for being a guest. You're amazing. Yeah. Where can people find you online? So I'm most active on Facebook and LinkedIn, but the best way to connect with me is intensityhub.
com because the email sequence that I've set up is truly sharing my heart. It's vulnerable storytelling with actionable strategies around the different intensities, and so people who are ready to dive deep and understand that Um, you can get these emails sent to you with, um, really concrete advice and just feel kind of seen with how I've navigated it.
So I would recommend that. Great. And our last question is, where What do you do for fun? Not where. What do you do for fun? Well, I'm a dancer and I have a upcoming show on October 13th where my dance teacher is in a band. And so I'm a backup dancer for his concerts for a couple of songs. I also got connected with another band and was in my first music video.
last winter. Um, and so I just love to feel like a rock star on stage and I regularly go to dance one to two times a week to just have fun and be with my people and get a good workout. That's awesome. I love it. Dancing is one of my favorite things, and I used to take dance lessons, but now I just go to dance parties, and, so, just, I, it's so funny though, because like, last year, I'm in Polka Dot Powerhouse, and they had their celebration, and I went, and I went to the dance party, and I was just dancing, like, Normal.
And everyone, but I'm very like, I seem very introverted in this group. I don't like, I'm not very loud. I'm not really myself. And so I was just dancing and they're like, what Sam dances, what is happening? And they're like, this is amazing. And I was like, dance parties are like my love language. So yes, I appreciate that, that you, that you like dance.
That's amazing. So thank you so much for coming on the show. We truly appreciate your time. Thanks for having me. And we will have all your information in the show notes and everything that you mentioned here. So thanks. Awesome.
Well, Lauren, what did you think? Way off topic. Uh, I think it's unfair that you guys just can dance and love dancing and I'd have to have liquid courage to do that, but I feel like I was really Enjoy it. I didn't need liquid courage to do that, but besides dancing is the best. Yeah. Oh, I learned. A lot. Um, I, I think I've heard, like, I'm, I'm, I'm, again, I'm not looked into it too much, but I've heard, like, gifted and twice exceptional and just kind of in my mind, like, gave it a definition that makes sense to me, but never actually, like, like, I just, I thought it was really funny because I'm, like, Googling and then you immediately, like, we never defined this.
Yeah. Um, I, I love that she. Likes the word intensity over, uh, over excitability because I, I think like she said, it kind of sounds negative. Like you're being too much, like it's over the top when like, it's just an intensity level. It's not bad or good or whatever. Like, I feel like intensity is more neutral.
Um, and so I appreciate that. Um, yeah, I, think that a lot of people who are neurodivergent are often called too much. I know when I was growing up, I was too emotional. I talked too much. I just, I was too much, just over excited all the time. So I really, really appreciate that she calls it the intensities instead of overexcited abilities, because that is a more neutral term.
And I really appreciate that she does that. Yeah. Um, and then. When you spouted out your, what was the statistic? A certain amount of 42%. Um, as soon as you said that, I was like, I wonder why that is. And then I was immediately, because like the current system usually doesn't work for them. So they have to create their own and that's their own world business and whatever it's the end of being entrepreneurs.
I'm like, that don't even make sense. Um, but when you ask like, you know, what can. Neurotypical people do to create space, like, especially in like the workplace and stuff, and for me, I think it goes being a kind human and just educating yourself, um, and wanting to do research on what this person might be going through and what they might need, like doing our own research, I think sometimes.
Well, I know it's true. I know it's true for me. Like we just don't wanna do the research, we don't wanna learn anything, especially if it disrupts how we do stuff. Um, like it seems inconvenient, but at the end of the day, you're creating space for someone. You're building relationships and having connections and like, what's the point of life if you don't have those things, I guess.
Yeah. Yeah. Um, and then with the connections, uh, I think we. We talk a lot like how inclusiveness and like, I want my kids to play with, you know, neurotypical kids or whatever. And I think it is important that, yes, we want that, but there's nothing wrong with them finding their tribe and hanging out with people that have the same interests or the same, uh, differences or whatever it might be.
Um, because again, there's nothing, don't. Lack social skills, lack the correct people to have their social skills with. And so I think that was a good reminder that it is okay to spend time with your tribe. Even if it's like a lot of the time, um, like, yes, we still need to learn to, you know, socialize with the general public and whatever, it's just life, but there's nothing wrong with sticking with your people, you know, like, yes, nothing wrong with And I feel like sometimes we Forget that.
We're just, again, we're trying to fit into the system and into the, whatever, and it's a, it's okay to, to hang out with your peeps and watch from the outside. There's nothing wrong with that. Yeah, it's a really great reminder. Yeah, it's totally okay if you don't have, if you're a neurodivergent and you don't have neurotypical best friends.
That's okay. It's okay if you're not on the baseball team or the soccer team or whatever, if that's not where you want to be and that's, that's for every, everyone, like, if you don't want to be there, find your tribe, find where you are comfortable and do that. And I mean, yeah, people are like, I'm just using me, for example, for the most part, I'm very standoffish.
People assume I'm shy, anti social until I decide that I want them to be my people. And then I will open up with all of the amazing social skills that I have once I deem you as a safe person to open that up to. And so like, it's not any different for someone who's. Yeah. Yeah. I remember when we first met.
That was totally what happened because I was like, Oh. Lauren doesn't like me and I don't like her because every time you were in the office, I had to go to a different office because we didn't have enough room in that office. So we just didn't like each other when we first met because I was new and you didn't know who I was.
You didn't know if I was a safe person and now I don't usually go to the bubbly people. Yeah, I was very, very bubbly and well, that's how I always am. But not at Polkadot. Isn't that weird? I'll like go to networking activities and I will just be very introverted at networking activities, at business networking.
I think it's your people. Like, I'm very different with different people in the workplace, in my personal life. Like, I'm very different with certain friends with other friends. And so like, I don't know. I don't think we need to. Be the same all the time and fit in a bubble. Yeah. You don't want to be. Yeah.
That's okay. It's okay to be different. And it's also okay. I was thinking about this, like, if you're with your people and you want to be with these other people, but you don't fit in with them, like it's okay not to be with them. You don't have to, I think people build up things that in their brain that like, Oh, I should be like this.
If you're not like that. It's okay. And I think it takes people a while to do that. I know that a lot of people over 40, they're like, I don't care anymore if people like me, I don't care if I fit in with this group, whatever. And I'm like, I have a few years until I'm 40, but I'm getting that attitude. And I wish I would have had it earlier in life because it's so freeing to be like, I don't have to fit in with them.
And that's okay. Life is short, time is limited, like, invest in the people you want to invest in, the things you want to invest in, and if that excludes other things, then don't feel bad about it, and don't, and I, I, I, the same way the older I get, the less, the less I care about whether this group of people likes me or not, or like, yeah, it would be nice, but I'm not going to bend over backwards to fit in somewhere.
Yeah, and I think that's just a Something to mention to parents. I know when your kid is born, you have dreams and a vision for how their life is going to go, but if that's not what they want to do, if they don't want to do the same things that you did as a kid, or they don't fit in with the crowd that you hung out with as a kid, and that's who you want them to hang out with, like, it's fine, just let it go, and let them be with the people that bring them happiness.
I feel like also, like, as a parent, let this be an opportunity for you to live vicariously through your kid doing different things that you didn't do as a kid, as a kid, experience different things. Yeah. Um, because it can be just as fun and you could probably learn new things as well, like along with your children.
Yeah. For sure. And I think, um, as she mentioned, like, it's okay to like, talk to your kids about their differences and things like that. And I think that's great. I, I agree. Like, I don't, I know, like we want to avoid labels and whatever, but you don't have to necessarily put labels to say everyone, everyone is different and you have really great strengths in this area and your weaknesses in this area as your mom and really great strengths in this area is, and I have weaknesses and just like, You know, give other people like list their people in their life and give some examples with them, um, and not like, I don't know.
I think there's ways to explain it that doesn't make it feel like a bad thing or that you're labeling. Yeah, I know when I was a kid, if I would have been told, oh, you have OCD and ADHD and this is what that means, it would have been so much better for me because I just saw, uh, That I was annoying and that I was a terrible person because I was having intrusive thoughts and all these things.
I just thought all the things that, like, are associated with ADHD and OCD made me a bad person and they were character flaws. Yeah, and in reality, they're not character flaws, they're just how you are. With kids, you can say like, hey, you have OCD. And because of that, these are your superpowers. These are the strengths, but also like with everything, there's kryptonite.
So these are your weaknesses. And like, I don't know, I think there's, there's ways to do it that aren't going to be detrimental to their psyche. Yeah. Yeah. And you can also say like, I know a lot of parents don't want to talk to their kids about a diagnosis they had because they don't want. They don't want them to use it as an excuse, like, Oh, I have autism, so I can't do this.
Um, but you can tell them, like, You have autism. You still can do this. It's just going to take some extra work. Yeah. Or you're going to have to do it differently, and that's okay. Right. And just having that attitude. I think that's a huge thing with parents and, and young kiddos, because we just, or the doctors have said, you're not gonna be able to do this, or whoever said you can't do something and the parents take that as gospel.
And sometimes that, you know, goes onto your kiddo, well, you can't do this or this, whatever. And no, we can do anything we put our mind to, it may have to be adapted. There may be more struggles, but there's no reason why nobody shouldn't try. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, it's just like our episode with Marlene and Judith and they work with people who are neurodivergent in the entertainment world.
And so there's so many different avenues that you can go down to To have a job in entertainment, it might not look like everybody else's, but there's different resources available to do that. So if they want to be in entertainment, these are the different options that they have. And so, you know, just, I don't know.
I don't know if doctors do this anymore, but I know when I know someone that was diagnosed and they said, you know, they'll never get married. They'll never be independent. They'll never do this. They'll never do that. And that kid is doing. All of them right now, except he's not married. He's too young, but he has a girlfriend, you know, he has a girlfriend.
And I just think that we don't have to take what doctors say is gospel truth. And they have no idea what your child is capable of. Yeah. And again, as parents, you shouldn't like protect them from everything again. And I go back and I wish we knew that we've talked about it before that one commercial where the.
Young lady is like, you think I can't do this. And so I don't, even though she's very capable, Frank or whatever, but I'm very capable of being responsible and going to a bar, being safe and stuff like that. And we need to allow them the opportunity again, opportunity to risk failure. It's okay. If they don't succeed, you know, again, we learn and grow and maybe we try it a different way next time.
Um, it's just really being open minded. Open minded and again, focusing on, on what we can do. Yep. Lauren for president. So. Thank you all for listening to this week's episode. We truly appreciate it. If you are interested in the summit replays, you can access those at voicemusictherapycompany. com and yeah, leave us to review.
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