188 Rethinking College Readiness: Why Life Skills Aren’t Enough for Students with Disabilities
Non Linear Learning - Rethinking Education for Neurodivergent Learners
Release Date: 08/08/2025
206. What the IEP Is Not Telling You - A Special Ed Insider Breaks It Down (with Dr. Diana Fannon)
Non Linear Learning - Rethinking Education for Neurodivergent Learners
The IEP meeting is supposed to be about your child. Have you noticed that it often feels like it's about everyone else’s comfort? Dr. Diana Fannon spent 24 years inside public school systems as a bilingual school psychologist and director of special education. She now works with families. And in this podcast, she shares with us a few red and green flags of special education. 🎙️ Tune in to this episode to learn: 👇 Why "inclusive" school districts still often segregate kids with disabilities - and the one red flag that tells you immediately The difference between...
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205. Why the Smartest Brains Are Also the Most Dysregulated | Dr. Andrew Hill
Non Linear Learning - Rethinking Education for Neurodivergent Learners
What if your autistic / non-speaking learner's most overwhelming traits e.g., sensory sensitivity, pattern obsession, emotional upheavals are the exact same features that make their brain extraordinary? Dr. Andrew Hill is a cognitive neuroscientist, founder of , and author of . He has spent decades mapping real human brains and has worked with CEOs, athletes and people with disabilities. In this episode, we talk about what the neuroscience of dysregulation actually looks like, why standard IQ tests are built to miss your child, and what parents of non-speaking and autistic...
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204. Do Support Groups Actually Work? The Hard Truth About Finding Your People - with Sara Intonato
Non Linear Learning - Rethinking Education for Neurodivergent Learners
Do support groups actually help, or do they reinforce the very mindset that keeps parents stuck? In this episode, I sit down with Sara Intonato to unpack this difficult question. Both of us (and probably you) have lived the same reality: Hypervigilance, burnout, the constant demand of raising a non-speaking child. When we went looking for help, what we found in traditional support spaces was not growth or even help. Unfortunately we found: cycles of venting without direction low expectations presented as acceptance and a normalization of hopelessness This is a hard...
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203. Your student with Down Syndrome belongs in a mainstream Physics Class
Non Linear Learning - Rethinking Education for Neurodivergent Learners
Most special education systems operate on this premise: Students with disabilities must master small foundational skills before they are allowed access to academic content. In practice, this often means students spend years repeating the same goals - decoding, counting, basic worksheets - while their peers move forward into real subjects like science, history, and mathematics. But what happens when a student with significant disabilities is simply included in a high school physics class? In this episode of Non Linear Learning, I speak with Sruthi Muralidharan, a...
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202. Inflammation, Energy, and Learning: A Functional Medicine Lens with Dr. Kendall Stewart
Non Linear Learning - Rethinking Education for Neurodivergent Learners
Dr. Vaish Sarathy speaks with Dr. Kendall Stewart (former surgeon turned functional medicine + genomics clinician) about the biochemistry of learning: how inflammation, metabolic factors, neurotransmitter balance, and genetics can influence regulation, sensory stability, and why some kids respond to interventions while others don’t. What we cover: Why progress can look like “good days/bad days” when inflammation fluctuates Nutrigenomics vs exome sequencing vs pharmacogenetics (and why personalization matters) A parent-friendly clinical framework: inflammation → autophagy/insulin...
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201. Is School Costing Your Child Too Much? A Homeschooling Conversation
Non Linear Learning - Rethinking Education for Neurodivergent Learners
Homeschooling sometimes begins when parents realize the education system is not serving their child. In this episode of Non Linear Learning, Dr. Vaish Sarathy speaks with Victoria Lenormand, a former detective turned holistic health practitioner and homeschooling parent, about what it takes to trust a child’s internal compass and let go of conventional definitions of success. Victoria brings an evidence-based perspective to homeschooling. Trained to observe patterns and follow facts, she applied that same mindset to her son’s learning and recognized that a linear schooling model was...
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200. Five “Helpful” Parenting Tips That Limit Autistic Learning
Non Linear Learning - Rethinking Education for Neurodivergent Learners
Parents of Autistic children and children with Down syndrome are often given advice that sounds compassionate, reasonable, and supportive. But much of it slowly limits learning, flexibility, autonomy, and long-term growth. In this milestone Episode 200 of Non Linear Learning, Dr. Vaish Sarathy challenges 5 common pieces of parenting and education advice that unintentionally lower expectations and shift focus away from real learning. In this episode, you’ll learn why Dr. Vaish challenges: • Strict routines and rigid structure — and how too much predictability reduces tolerance for...
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199 Evidence, Rage, and Relief: A Mom–Son Team on Finding Spelled Communication
Non Linear Learning - Rethinking Education for Neurodivergent Learners
When 8-year-old non-speaking autistic Rafael found text-based communication, he didn’t just start “answering questions.” He started telling the truth about his body, his anxiety, and the frustration of being misunderstood. If you’ve ever looked at your non-speaking child and thought, “I know there’s more in there… I just don’t know how to reach it,” this conversation is for you. Today I’m joined by Daria and her 8-year-old autistic, non-speaking son Rafael, co-creators of on Substack and Instagram. After discovering text-based communication, they...
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198 How Understanding Apraxia changes your child's Education - with Dana Johnson
Non Linear Learning - Rethinking Education for Neurodivergent Learners
I first spoke with Dana Johnson nearly 4 years ago, and that conversation completely changed how I saw vision and learning. I call it my "ocular motor awakening" when I truly understood that vision has three components, and only one of them is corrected by glasses. Dana is the co-creator of the Spellers Method and the founder of multiple centers dedicated to helping non-speaking individuals communicate and learn with purpose. As both an occupational therapist (OT) and a Spellers Method practitioner, she brings a unique approach to supporting individuals with autism, apraxia, dyspraxia, and...
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197 Beyond Burnout: GABA Support, Mitochondria, and Realistic Help for Parents of Autistic Kids
Non Linear Learning - Rethinking Education for Neurodivergent Learners
If you're parenting an Autistic child and living in a state of constant alert (sensory overwhelm, dysregulation, sleepless nights, meltdowns, and the never-ending to-do list), this episode gives you a concrete biochemical map for how to get back to baseline. In today’s conversation,I’m joined by Dr. Scott Sherr board certified internal medicine physician, certified practitioner of Health Optimization Medicine, and COO of Troscriptions, a company making physician formulated, precision-dosed buccal troches for focus, stress, sleep, and immune function. We talk about: What is the...
info_outlineIn this episode of Nonlinear Learning, we challenge the conventional path parents often take when preparing children with disabilities for higher education.
We discuss why focusing solely on life skills, physical independence, and basic academics can leave students unprepared for the real demands of college.
Instead, I outline the true foundation that fosters genuine readiness for higher education and guess what - there is a key factor there - MOTIVATION. How do we build that? Tune in to learn more.
You’ll discover:
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Why physical independence, while valuable, doesn’t guarantee college readiness.
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How fluent academic communication—whether through speech, AAC, or spelling-based systems—unlocks learning potential.
and more...
Links & Resources:
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Join the waitlist for the Nonlinear Education
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Learn more about Dr. Vaish Sarathy