Where is the user manual for our neurodivergent kids? | George Lewis - Neuroshambles

If you've ever stared at a parenting book and thought "none of this applies to my child whatsoever" - this episode is for you. Mark is joined by comedian, author, and fellow parent-in-the-trenches George Lewis for a proper deep dive into one of the great unspoken challenges of neurodivergent parenting: figuring out who your kid actually is, and how to parent them, when the instruction manual simply doesn't exist.

Because most parenting advice out there is written for neurotypical kids. And when you've got autistic, ADHD, or PDA children, you quickly discover that you essentially have to work it out yourself. That means years of research, trial and error, conflicting information, and the occasional moment of going "hang on… is THIS a thing I need to learn about now?" It's exhausting and exasperating, but it's also, occasionally, brilliant.

This is an honest, funny and insightful autism parenting podcast episode that covers the whole messy journey - from those early days of thinking something's different but not knowing quite what, through diagnosis (including the woefully misguided NHS leaflet with their list of top tips), to the point where you cautiously start to feel like you might actually know what you're doing.

If you're deep in that process right now, or just starting out, this one's for you. And if you're a seasoned neurodivergent parenting veteran, you'll recognise pretty much every single moment of it.

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CHAPTER TIMESTAMPS (Estimated)

00:00 – Intro

01:15 - Meet the Guest: George Lewis

06:28 - Topic of the Week: Writing Your Own User Manual

08:18 - Imagining parenthood vs the reality

12:04 - Apraxia of speech and George's early diagnosis journey

18:19 - Understanding autism: the spectrum, spiky profiles and the mixing desk analogy

31:32 - Navigating the NHS diagnosis route (and the unhelpful booklet you receive when they're diagnosed)

58:16 - Information overload and knowing when to put the lid back on

01:03:39 - Discovering PDA and low demand language

01:05:31 - Conflicting advice and how to navigate it