A Postcard From Holland
Embracing Holland
We are still here, and we have both missed you all.
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Finding Hope in the Desert with Christina Adams
Embracing Holland
Christina Adams, journalist, writer, disability advocate, and camel milk investigator, shares with us her powerful early intervention story of her son with autism and how she was able to help him through diet and camels. She outlines what she calls her “crazy camel journey” and how her research and travels to Isreal took her to a place of healing. She shares her website with us as a resource that details how camel’s milk can help several conditions, from allergies and gut issues to neurodevelopmental issues. Join us as we learn about the amazing qualities of camels and how their milk can...
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A Cure for Austin with Hannah Lowe
Embracing Holland
Join us as we talk to Hannah Lowe, founder of the L-CMD Foundation and mother to Austin, who has LMNA-related congenital muscular dystrophy. Like many rare disease families we've talked to, her son's condition was caused by a random genetic mutation. There is no treatment or cure, and given how rare it is, they are unsure about his prognosis or life expectancy, making the mission even more urgent. The L-CMD Foundation she started inspires hope for a stronger tomorrow by seeking treatments and, ultimately, a cure. We talk about balancing grief with action, and Hannah exemplifies this in her...
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Hard Landings with Cammie McGovern
Embracing Holland
If you’ve ever worried about what adulthood might look like after high school or you’ve ever been inspired to create a meaningful space for your child to spend adulthood, tune in to our interview with critically acclaimed author, Cammie McGovern. Cammie McGovern was awarded a creative writing fellowship at Stanford University, and has received numerous prizes for her short fiction. Her stories have appeared in many magazines including Glamour, Ladies Home Journal, Redbook and Seventeen , and she is the author of another novel, The Art of Seeing. She lives in Amherst,...
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Enjoying Your Child with Leylani Cardoso
Embracing Holland
This week we chat with Leylani Cardoso, warrior parent, and mother of Sophia, her daughter with Down Syndrome. Leylani and her family helped Sophia bring her passion for food and entertaining to life by creating the YouTube Channel
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Embracing Autism with Lia McCabe
Embracing Holland
For this episode, we share with you another Maryland parent and fellow autism mom, Lia McCabe, who started AutismWish.org which seeks to fulfill the wish lists of families across the country without all of the red tape of government programs. She and her husband also host a podcast called Embracing Autism, which is child focus and helps parents to understand and embrace their neurodiverse children. Give it a listen, follow, and subscribe to support their mission of helping families in the face of fear and the unknown. We talk about: Neurodivergent parenting Empathizing with...
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Caring for the Caregiver with Rory Lawrence
Embracing Holland
This episode is all about taking care of the caregiver. Rory Lawrence, mother of a child with complex medical needs and staff member with David’s Refuge, talks with us about the organization she works for that pours into parents turned caregivers, and how she and her husband have found meaningful respite. We also talk about practical ways to weave in self-care that don’t require a sitter but can actually make a difference. Links Rory’s Email -
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A Few of Our Favorite Things Year 2
Embracing Holland
Despite ending the year on a turbulent note for our families, we are ending season two of the podcast with our awesome finds that brought us joy this year! We share with you gift ideas, sanity savers and problem solvers that we hope will bring a little joy and make your life a tad easier.
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Circling the Drain: A Postcard from a Darkened Alley in Holland
Embracing Holland
Have you ever seen the meme about a special needs parent who fell in a hole? Well, that's where Meg and I find ourselves. When we started this podcast journey our mission was to highlight families with disabilities doing innovative things but to also share the reality of the ups and downs of raising children with disabilities, so this episode is a life update and a peek into where we are in the metaphorical Holland. We hope this brings someone some comfort who may also be in a hole.
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Smearing 102: From Devastation to Innovation
Embracing Holland
We continued our chat about smearing with our guest, Jennifer Sheppard, who created an adaptive clothing line out of a dire need for an alternative to wet suits for her own son who struggles with the behavior. We also shared a bit more of our chat with Genevieve, and our own lessons learned from dealing with poo. We talk about: How we've become desensitized What we've found to be helpful in the aftermath Ways to clean up the mess Specific products and strategies that have been helpful Finding adaptive clothing solutions for when you can’t watch your child 24/7 ...
info_outlineThis week we chat with Joya Van Der Laan, a functional medicine family nurse practitioner whose curiosity and her own daughter’s autism diagnosis lead her down the biomedical path. We learn how she has used her personal and professional experience to create videos to teach parents how to create their own autism game plan, focused on helping parents address common symptoms and challenges associated with an autism diagnosis. Her videos cover everything from sleep, meltdowns, constipation and seizures to PANS and PANDAS. Tune in to learn about Joya and how her website could help your family!
We talk about:
- How overwhelming it was to face an autism diagnosis even as a medical professional
- Feeling the pressure to “fix” her child
- Using functional medicine to find the root cause of symptoms
- Deciphering between “voodoo” and science
- Creating a resource to quell the overwhelm and ease the burden on parents
- Testing to determine deficiencies and starting with basics like diet
- The importance of sleep for everyone!
- Healing is an artform not an end game
- Watching other children improve while her daughter struggled which led to learning
- How the desperation to help our kids can sometimes cloud our judgement with interventions
- Being methodical with trying new things to determine what’s working and what’s not
- How functional medicine can help parents too!
Joya’s Website
Books
How to End the Autism Epidemic
Healing the New Childhood Epidemics - Autism, ADHD, Asthma and Allergies
Doctors to follow