Talking Children Podcast

This episode is all about sleep, why is it so hard for neurodivergents? What does the evidence say about the impact of a lack of sleep for children and parents? What interventions and supports are available to help everyone get some sleep!Key references:Lenker, K. P., Li, Y., Fernandez-Mendoza, J., Mayes, S. D., & Calhoun, S. L. (2025). Autism spectrum disorder phenotypes based on sleep dimensions and core autism symptoms. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 55(12), 4412-4424.Killgore, W. D. (2010). Effects of sleep deprivation on cognition. Progress in brain research, 185, 105-129. Krause, A. J., Simon, E. B., Mander, B. A., Greer, S. M., Saletin, J. M., Goldstein-Piekarski, A. N., & Walker, M. P. (2017). The sleep-deprived human brain. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 18(7), 404-418. Hyndych, A., El-Abassi, R., & Mader Jr, E. C. (2025). The Role of Sleep and the Effects of Sleep Loss on Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Processes. Cureus, 17(5), e84232-e84232. Shah, A. S., Pant, M. R., Bommasamudram, T., Nayak, K. R., Roberts, S. S., Gallagher, C., ... & Pullinger, S. A. (2025). Effects of sleep deprivation on physical and mental health outcomes: an umbrella review. American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, 15598276251346752. Mannion, A., & Leader, G. (2023). Relationship between child sleep problems in autism spectrum disorder and parent mental health and well-being. Sleep Medicine, 109, 4-10. 

In this episode we chat with fellow speech pathologists Carla and Jamima from The Happy Space Allied Health about evidence-based early intervention, language intervention, their intervention tool the Game of Language Abilities (GOLA), Intensive Interaction for minimally verbal children and much more.To access the GOLA: https://www.thehappyspacealliedhealth.com/the-game-of-language-abilitiesFor a free webinar on Intensive Interaction: https://www.thehappyspacealliedhealth.com/intensive-interactionCarla and Jamima's podcast Talking Without Words:https://www.thehappyspacealliedhealth.com/podcastTo find out more about The Happy Space:https://www.thehappyspacealliedhealth.com/#autism #dld #language

Lucia and Sarah explore the phenomena of "maxxing" and how it can be applied to improving quality of life for neurodivergent people. Key referencesLaPoint SC, Kiernan B, Heinly J, Hector BL, Benevides TW, Maddox B. Quality of Life Defined by Autistic People: A Thematic Analysis. Autism in Adulthood. 2026;8(4):664-676. https://doi.org/10.1089/aut.2024.0180Mason, D., McConachie, H., Garland, D., Petrou, A., Rodgers, J. and Parr, J.R. (2018), Predictors of quality of life for autistic adults. Autism Research, 11: 1138-1147. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.1965

In this episode we look at why people have different accents, understanding speech diversity and when a speech pathologist might get involved.Clark, E. L., Easton, C., & Verdon, S. (2021). The impact of linguistic bias upon speech-language pathologists' attitudes towards non-standard dialects of English. Clinical linguistics & phonetics, 35(6), 542–559. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699206.2020.1803405 Easton, C., & Verdon, S. (2021). The Influence of Linguistic Bias Upon Speech-Language Pathologists' Attitudes Toward Clinical Scenarios Involving Nonstandard Dialects of English. American journal of speech-language pathology, 30(5), 1973–1989. https://doi.org/10.1044/2021_AJSLP-20-00382 Verdon, S., McLeod, S., & Wong, S. (2015). Supporting culturally and linguistically diverse children with speech, language and communication needs: Overarching principles, individual approaches. Journal of communication disorders, 58, 74–90. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcomdis.2015.10.002

In this episode we explore the pure joy and peace that comes from engaging in special interests. Neurodivergent people often have special interests which were formerly referred to as "obsessions". We talk about neuroaffirming approaches to supporting special interests and share some special interests of our own. #autism #adhd #audhdKey referencesAnthony, L. G., Kenworthy, L., Yerys, B. E., Jankowski, K. F., James, J. D., Harms, M. B., … Wallace, G. L. (2013). Interests in high-functioning autism are more intense, interfering, and idiosyncratic than those in neurotypical development. Development and Psychopathology, 25(3), 643–652. doi:10.1017/S0954579413000072Brown, C. E., Bernardin, C. J., Beauchamp, M. T., Kanne, S. M., & Nowell, K. P. (2024). More similar than different: Characterizing special interests in autistic boys and girls based on caregiver report. Autism Research, 17(11), 2333–2345. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.3216Grove, R., Hoekstra, R. A., Wierda, M., & Begeer, S. (2018). Special interests and subjective wellbeing in autistic adults. Autism research : Official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 11(5), 766–775. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.1931