The description from her book, Differently Wired, encapsulates what we’ll be talking about today very well:

“Right now, millions of children are growing up in a world that doesn’t respect, support, or embrace who they inherently are.

These are children Debbie refers to as ‘differently wired’—the kids with neurodifferences such as ADHD, giftedness, autism, learning disorders, and anxiety, as well as those with no formal diagnosis, who are being told day in and day out that there is something wrong with them.

And because their differences are for the most part invisible, these kids are stuck trying to fit into a world that wasn’t designed to accommodate their unique way of being.

Their challenges are many. But for the parents who love them, their challenges are just as hard. They’re the parents frequently fielding emails from frustrated teachers and dealing with glares when their children behave inappropriately in public.

They’re the exhausted moms and dads pushed into nonstop advocacy mode, the ones whose kids people think twice about inviting to their child’s birthday party.

They’re overwhelmed, misunderstood, and isolated, which is ironic considering their kids are in every classroom across the country. Debbie knows this because she is one of these parents.”

More often than not, children’s success starts with their parents. In order to even begin to think about how to provide their children with proper support and the best resources, parents must first accept their children as they are, formal diagnosis or not.

From there, parents can take the steps to ease their own challenges and provide the structure needed for their kids to develop into the best people they can be.