Grace & Growth: Parenting Special Needs Children episode artwork

EPISODE · May 12, 2026 · 55 MIN

Grace & Growth: Parenting Special Needs Children

from Conversations with Dr. Jennifer · host The Polaris Connection

Most of us enter parenthood knowing it will be both challenging and rewarding. We expect difficulty. We expect exhaustion. But what we don't expect — and what we can never be fully prepared for — is a life-altering diagnosis and the grief that follows when reality doesn't match what we had envisioned for our child and our family.

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published May 12, 2026

Embed this episode

Most of us enter parenthood knowing it will be both challenging and rewarding. We expect difficulty. We expect exhaustion. But what we don't expect — and what we can never be fully prepared for — is a life-altering diagnosis and the grief that follows when reality doesn't match what we had envisioned for our child and our family. In this episode, Dr. Jennifer Finlayson-Fife joins Brad Broyles and Nathan Palmer of The Polaris Connection Podcast to share more about her own experience as the mother of a son with autism. She discusses the difficulty and overwhelm she faced early on and the unglamorous process of learning to stop trying to solve her son and start truly choosing him. While this conversation centers on parenting a child with autism, it speaks to the universal challenge of loving our children as they are rather than as we imagined them to be. _________ Join us for a one-day couples workshop in Alpine! Tickets HERE

Distinct summary based on available episode metadata or transcript content.

Ready to play

Grace & Growth: Parenting Special Needs Children

0:00 55:20

No transcript for this episode yet

We transcribe on demand. Request one and we'll notify you when it's ready — usually under 10 minutes.

No similar episodes found.

No similar podcasts found.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long is this episode of Conversations with Dr. Jennifer?

This episode is 55 minutes long.

When was this Conversations with Dr. Jennifer episode published?

This episode was published on May 12, 2026.

Can I download this Conversations with Dr. Jennifer episode?

Yes. Use the download control on the episode player to save the publisher-provided media file.
URL copied to clipboard!