Season 2, Ep 02: Parenting with Impact: Elaine Taylor-Klaus and the Power of Neurodiversity Inclusive Coaching

This episode originally aired as part of the Women Igniting Change® podcast. While it reflects the foundational work that shaped this journey, The Audacity Tapes represents a deeper, bolder evolution of these conversations — centered on truth, conviction, and courage. Original episode description below: “Everybody’s brain is different,” says Elaine Taylor-Klaus, co-founder of Impact Parents and author of “The Essential Guide to Raising Complex Kids,” “And different is not bad.” As a young mother of neurodivergent–or as she likes to call them “neuro-spicy”- kids, she realized there was very little support for parents in a similar situation. This led to co-founding Impact ADHD, which, like Impact Parents, provides neurodiversity inclusive coaching. There, parents learn to meet kids where they are in any challenge, set the expectations from there, and allow kids to meet their potential. Parents “should” on their children too much, thinking they should be able to handle the challenge on their own. Connecting to others with similar experiences reminds parents that they’re not alone.   Elaine’s “coach approach” is effective not only for kids with ADHD, but for a generation facing a slew of unprecedented challenges. Not only have they just come through a global pandemic but they are being bombarded with more information–more quickly–than ever before. What’s more, they are attached to devices that are designed to be dopamine stimulators.     Many educators, doctors, and even high-profile psychiatrists are still woefully ill-informed about neurodiversity in young people. Too many people wait too long to seek help for fear of embarrassment, or hoping the issue will go away. On today’s episode of Women Igniting Change, Elaine will break down many lingering myths about neurodiversity, provide incredible resources for our listeners and what parents can do to advocate for themselves and their communities.    Quotes “The modality, this approach is every bit as useful for any child, because it’s really about meeting them where they are and helping them play to their strengths and empowering them to take control of their lives. Really, we’re not raising children, we’re onboarding adults.” (6:59 | Elaine)  “Parents have the sense that ‘I should know how to do it because parents have been parenting for eons.’ But parents haven’t been parenting in this environment, in this world, with these expectations, with these stresses and pressures and we need help.” (9:47 | Elaine Taylor-Klaus) “Our kids are getting bombarded with more information in an hour than many of us got in a month or in our lives growing up. The way that people are exposed to information has changed.” ( 11:42 | Elaine Taylor-Klaus)  “Expectations are “shoulds.” What we really want to do is enroll our kids in setting their own expectations for themselves rather than ‘shoulding’ all over them.” (17:40 | Elaine Taylor Klaus) “I’m a huge advocate for finding community. I think there’s probably nothing more important that a parent can do.” (22:18| Elaine Taylor-Klaus) Links Connect with Elaine Taylor-Klaus: Website: https://impactparents.com/ Resources: https://impactparents.com/resources/ Free Gift:  https://impactparents.com/ignitingchange About: https://impactparents.com/about-impactparents-our-story/about-impactparents-elaine/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elainetaylorklaus Book: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Elaine-Taylor-Klaus/author/B00AAQ9RN0?ref=ap_rdr&store_ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true   Connect with Robbin Jorgensen (She/Her): Website: https://womenignitingchange.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/women-igniting-change/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robbinjorgensen/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/robbin.jorgensen/ Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm