Supporting our Smart but Scattered kids with Dr Peg Dawson
Release Date: 02/28/2025
Wonderfully Wired
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Dive into the critical world of Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) in Part 1 of this essential two-part series with Liesel Smal, an Occupational Therapist (OT) and mom of a PDA child Liesel introduces PDA as a specific neurotype that requires "good accommodation" due to the serious "gravity" of the diagnosis. Learn why avoidance is rooted in an inability ("I can't"), not a choice, often manifesting as an "inner straitjacket" or a "contraction" in the nervous system. This episode exposes the confusing reality of masking; children often appear "compliant and good" or "high achieving" at...
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Welcome to Season 5 of the Wonderfully Wired podcast! In this insightful episode, host Eloise welcomes Corneil Claassen, an educational psychologist and co-lead at the Neurodiversity Center (NDC) in South Africa. Corneil shares her powerful mission: to create a world where every wonderfully wired mind – be it facing autism, ADHD, anxiety, or learning differences – is seen, supported, and celebrated. Discover NDC's origin, a multidisciplinary organization supporting over 6,000 families, dedicated to affirming neurodivergent individuals who are "brilliantly uniquely wired". Corneil...
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This special bonus episode of the "Wonderfully Wired" podcast features live studio guests Juju and Sophia, both young women who have served on the Wonderfully Wired team and are "wonderfully wired" themselves. Juju, who has ADHD, describes her brain as a city constantly under construction, with changing alleys, roads, and houses. Sophia, who is gifted and intense, explains her experience as feeling emotions and sensory input "10 times more intensely" than others. The conversation delves into the challenges, joys, and humours of living wonderfully wired. Both Juju and Sophia discuss the...
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This episode, the second of two in a series with Dr. Arno Louw from the University of Johannesburg, focuses on how AI can be a student's best friend and assistant, particularly for wonderfully wired learners. The key takeaway is to use AI to help with the work that is difficult for you, not to do the work for you. This involves prompt engineering, asking the AI better questions by giving it background about yourself, like your age, preferences, and learning style. AI can guide you in writing, explain complex topics simply (like explaining to a 10-year-old), and act as a practice ground...
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I loved my conversation with Casey Anley talking about burnout in the Wonderfully Wired. What does it look like to acknowledge each person's unique energy and work with the available energy instead overrding each body's need for rest. What should you look out for in yourself and in your child? Casey Anley is an educational psychologist. She wears many hats - neurodiversity advocate, executive function coach trainer and supervisor. She’s built a career in helping neurodivergent minds untangle the chaos, build systems that actually work, and, most importantly, stop beating themselves up...
info_outlineDr Peg Dawson has had a fruitful career as school psychologist and for over 20 years worked at the Center for Learning and Attention Disorders in New Hampshire for which she received a liftime achievement Award from the American National association of School Psycologists.
Her contribution to all of our collective understanding of Executive Functions and how we can help wonderfully wired kids that are clearly Smart but Scattered develop them has been profound.
And Dr Dawson is far from done!
Smart but Scattered, The Revolutionary Executive Skills Approach to Helping Kids Reach Their Potential is the title of the book Dr Dawson coauthored a second edition of which is now on the shelves that is the base of much of our discussion.