Ep 4: How Our Neurodiverse Kids Navigate Friendship

06/06/23 • 50 min

You Don’t Want a Hug, Right? The Hilarity and the Hard of Raising Humans with Neurodiversity

Making friends can be hard for anyone at any age, but it’s especially hard for neurodiverse children. We’ve had a front row seat to the experiences our kids have had trying to make friends and the lessons they’ve learned (and often have to re-learn) about who to let into their friendship circles.

In today’s episode, we talk about the data behind making friends when you have autism, learning what friendship and loyalty mean, and how we can help to facilitate friendship for our neurodiverse children.

In this episode, you’ll learn...

[06:24] The data on people with autism and friendships

[12:57] How our kids’ friendships began to change when their friends joined sports activities and how our culture is very sports obsessed

[18:24] How we’ve had to define friendship for our kids and be gatekeepers to those who don’t reciprocate friendship

[28:54] How there’s hope for our older kids and making friends after the loneliness of early childhood years

[31:57] How we have a whole different understanding of what friendship looks like for our neurodiverse children and how each child has made progress in their own way

[37:25] The importance of having family members who adore and appreciate our kids

[43:49] The Last Word from our kids and their experiences making friends as a child

Get full show notes and the episode transcript: https://www.youdontwantahug.com/post/ep-4-how-our-neurodiverse-kids-navigate-friendship

If you can’t get enough of us, and want stay up to date with our other projects and ways you can connect, join our newsletter: https://www.youdontwantahug.com/

In this episode, you’ll learn...

[06:24] The data on people with autism and friendships

[12:57] How our kids’ friendships began to change when their friends joined sports activities and how our culture is very sports obsessed

[18:24] How we’ve had to define friendship for our kids and be gatekeepers to those who don’t reciprocate friendship

[28:54] How there’s hope for our older kids and making friends after the loneliness of early childhood years

[31:57] How we have a whole different understanding of what friendship looks like for our neurodiverse children and how each child has made progress in their own way

[37:25] The importance of having family members who adore and appreciate our kids

[43:49] The Last Word from our kids and their experiences making friends as a child

Get full show notes and the episode transcript: https://www.youdontwantahug.com/post/ep-4-how-our-neurodiverse-kids-navigate-friendship

If you can’t get enough of us, and want stay up to date with our other projects and ways you can connect, join our newsletter: https://www.youdontwantahug.com/

Previous Episode

Ep 3: Neurodiverse Families and the Many Faces of Isolation

Isolation and loneliness are realities for parenting raising humans with neurodiversity. We’ve experienced both and know how difficult it can be through the many ages and stages of our kids’ lives.

In today’s episode, we talk all about isolation and loneliness and their impact on neurodiverse families. We go into the data behind it, share stories related to feelings of isolation in many different areas of our lives, and offer strategies for how we’ve coped over the years.

In this episode, you’ll learn...

[01:31] Some Rylan-isms and Graham-isms to start off the show

[05:02] The data on isolation and its impact on neurodiverse families

[08:52] Kristen’s experience of isolation in raising triplets

[16:10] How Gwen’s isolation began during infertility

[19:30] What isolation looked like for us during our children’s early education years

[26:36] How we spent so many years trying to be “typical” families when we’re anything but

[31:14] The isolation we felt from our religious communities

[35:53] The difference between isolation and loneliness and how we’ve learned to cope and find support

[43:27] The Last Word from one of our kids and their thoughts on isolation

Get full show notes and the episode transcript:

https://www.youdontwantahug.com/post/ep-3-neurodiverse-families-and-the-many-faces-of-isolation

If you can’t get enough of us, and want stay up to date with our other projects and ways you can connect, join our newsletter: https://www.youdontwantahug.com/

Next Episode

Ep 5: The Summer Suck: The Struggles of Summer with Neurodiverse Kids

Ahhh, summer time. Swim lessons, water parks, summer camps - it’s the dream life, right? *insert record scratch* For neurodiverse families, that’s not really the case. Instead, summer can be really hard for us.

In today’s episode, we talk about the struggles of summer, how we try to cope, and how summer is harder on parents than the kids. Plus, you can hear what our kids think about summer from their perspective.

In this episode, you’ll learn...

[11:39] Why summer is so hard for us as parents of neurodiverse children

[13:38] Why things like summer camps and water parks don’t really work out for our families

[20:48] The lack of structure summer brings is difficult to contend with and why we no longer set expectations during this time

[29:18] The little rays of hope we have to offer you about summer

[35:31] The Last Word from our kids who share some things that defined their summers growing up, the good and the bad

Get full show notes and the episode transcript:

https://www.youdontwantahug.com/post/ep-5-The-Summer-Suck-The-Struggles-of-Summer-with-Neurodiverse-Kids

If you can’t get enough of us, and want stay up to date with our other projects and ways you can connect, join our newsletter: https://www.youdontwantahug.com/