Everyone Gets a Juice Box: For Parents of Neurodivergent Kids

Fans of the Showtime and Paramount+ series Couples Therapy spent a whole season getting to know Marjorie and Jason Caffrey. One of the most memorable episodes centered on a heated disagreement about their son, Ryan. Marjorie had taken him to the pediatrician for an ADHD evaluation without telling Jason first. Jason felt shut out of a huge decision about their child.More than a year after their sessions with Dr. Orna Guralnik ended, the couple joins Juice Box host Jessica Shaw on a new couch to talk about where things stand now.It turns out their reactions to Ryan’s diagnosis have a lot to do with their own stories. Marjorie was diagnosed with ADD in her late 20s, and it helped everything click into place. Jason was diagnosed as a child and put on several medications — a painful experience for him. Same diagnosis, very different memories.Jessica asks how those histories show up in their parenting today. They talk about why Ryan’s homework turns into a marathon with Mom but not with Dad. They talk about whether to get a second opinion, and why Jason wants to be part of the process this time. And they share how they’re working toward a plan that’s about Ryan, not about them.Plus: The simple listening exercise from Dr. Orna that the couple calls their North Star, and why they say it applies to their kids, too.Footage of Couples Therapy courtesy Paramount+.For more on this topicWatch: Her daughter wasn’t “defiant.” She had an ADHD skill gap.Listen: Managing conflict with a partner with ADHDFor a transcript and more resources, visit Everyone Gets a Juice Box on Understood.org. You can also email us at [email protected]. Getting your child the support they need at school shouldn’t feel like a fight. But for millions of families, it does. In Zero Reject, an investigative podcast from Understood.org, award-winning journalist Anya Kamenetz looks at how changing federal policies are reshaping special education — and what’s at stake for families trying to access the support their children are legally entitled to. Start listening now.Understood is a nonprofit where millions of people who are navigating neurodivergence find clear guidance, practical tools, and people who get it. To help us continue this work, donate at u.org/give Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We’re dropping into your feed a week early to announce a new investigative podcast from Understood.org. It’s called Zero Reject: The Uncertain Future of Special Education. This is episode 1. If you like it, follow Zero Reject wherever you get your podcasts.Beth Gellman-Beer spent her whole career fighting for kids with disabilities — first as a student written off as “lazy,” then as a federal civil rights attorney who found her dream job protecting students like her younger self. Then her entire office was eliminated.Reporter Anya Kamenetz traces Beth’s journey from an unfair fourth-grade classroom to the front lines of a sweeping overhaul at the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights — and what it means for the 25,000 families still waiting for a response to their complaints. With fewer people to enforce the law, what happens to the students the system was built to protect?For more on this topicListen: Zero RejectRead: What is HHS, and what does it have to do with special education? Read: What is the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), and what’s its role in special education? For a transcript and more resources, visit Zero Reject on Understood.org. You can also email us at [email protected].  Getting your child the support they need at school shouldn’t feel like a fight. But for millions of families, it does. In Zero Reject, an investigative podcast from Understood.org, award-winning journalist Anya Kamenetz looks at how changing federal policies are reshaping special education — and what’s at stake for families trying to access the support their children are legally entitled to. Start listening now.Understood is a nonprofit where millions of people who are navigating neurodivergence find clear guidance, practical tools, and people who get it. To help us continue this work, donate at u.org/give Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In 1975, a federal law promised every child with a disability a free appropriate public education. Fifty years later, that promise is on shaky ground. Jessica talks with education reporter Anya Kamenetz, host of Understood’s podcast series Zero Reject, about cuts at the Office for Civil Rights, the roughly 25,000 complaints left in limbo, and why meetings for Individualized Education Programs, or IEPs, feel like a battle. Plus: the parents who built special education, and what gives Anya hope.For more on this topic Listen: Zero Reject: The Uncertain Future of Special EducationRead: What is the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), and what’s its role in special education?Read: What is HHS, and what does it have to do with special education?For a transcript and more resources, visit Everyone Gets a Juice Box on Understood.org. You can also email us at [email protected].  Getting your child the support they need at school shouldn’t feel like a fight. But for millions of families, it does. In Zero Reject, an investigative podcast from Understood.org, award-winning journalist Anya Kamenetz looks at how changing federal policies are reshaping special education — and what’s at stake for families trying to access the support their children are legally entitled to. Start listening now.Understood is a nonprofit where millions of people who are navigating neurodivergence find clear guidance, practical tools, and people who get it. To help us continue this work, donate at u.org/give Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Tehrima Rai spent years being told her son was “just picky.” Relatives blamed her parenting, and she struggled to get help. But Tehrima, a pediatrician herself, trusted her instincts and kept searching until she found the real answer: ARFID, an extreme fear of food that’s more common in neurodivergent kids. Through feeding therapy, logbooks, and her own experimentation, she helped her son eat — and finally healed deep wounds of her own.For more on this topicListen: Why I stopped hiding my kid’s neurodivergenceWatch: Guiding a neurodivergent kid through grief (by breaking all the rules)For a transcript and more resources, visit Everyone Gets a Juice Box on Understood.org. You can also email us at [email protected]. Getting your child the support they need at school shouldn’t feel like a fight. But for millions of families, it does. In Zero Reject, an investigative podcast from Understood.org, award-winning journalist Anya Kamenetz looks at how changing federal policies are reshaping special education — and what’s at stake for families trying to access the support their children are legally entitled to. Start listening now.Understood is a nonprofit where millions of people who are navigating neurodivergence find clear guidance, practical tools, and people who get it. To help us continue this work, donate at u.org/give Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Psychotherapist and ADHD expert Merriam Saunders spent years locked in daily battles with her strong-willed daughter. No form of discipline worked. Then one ordinary blowup led to an unexpected realization: The problem wasn’t defiance, it was an ADHD skills gap. And, crucially, she realized it wasn’t her daughter’s job to fix it. Merriam shares what happened the moment she chose connection over control, and how that choice reshaped their relationship for good.For more on this topicWatch: Why I stopped hiding my kid’s neurodivergence Read: 7 discipline tips when your child has ADHDFor a transcript and more resources, visit Everyone Gets a Juice Box on Understood.org. You can also email us at [email protected].  Getting your child the support they need at school shouldn’t feel like a fight. But for millions of families, it does. In Zero Reject, an investigative podcast from Understood.org, award-winning journalist Anya Kamenetz looks at how changing federal policies are reshaping special education — and what’s at stake for families trying to access the support their children are legally entitled to. Start listening now.Understood is a nonprofit where millions of people who are navigating neurodivergence find clear guidance, practical tools, and people who get it. To help us continue this work, donate at u.org/give Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Jessica is off this week, but we didn’t want to leave you without something great to listen to. So, in honor of back-to-school, we’re sharing an episode about school refusal from another Understood podcast, called In It. Why do kids sometimes refuse to go to school? And what can families do about it, both in the moment and to avoid it in the future? In this episode, hosts Gretchen Vierstra and Rachel Bozek hear from Erin, a returning guest whose family has struggled with school refusal challenges for years. The hosts also talk with psychologist and Understood Expert Dr. Andrew Kahn, who shares some of the reasons that could be behind a child’s school refusal. He offers tips and strategies for turning the situation around.  For more on this topic Read: Why kids refuse to go to school, and how to help them feel ready to return Watch: Why I stopped hiding my kid’s neurodivergence For a transcript and more resources, visit Everyone Gets a Juice Box on Understood.org. You can also email us at [email protected].   Getting your child the support they need at school shouldn’t feel like a fight. But for millions of families, it does. In Zero Reject, an investigative podcast from Understood.org, award-winning journalist Anya Kamenetz looks at how changing federal policies are reshaping special education — and what’s at stake for families trying to access the support their children are legally entitled to. Start listening now.Understood is a nonprofit where millions of people who are navigating neurodivergence find clear guidance, practical tools, and people who get it. To help us continue this work, donate at u.org/give Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

For years, Margaret Ables believed the kindest thing she could do for her autistic child was to help them blend in. Then a single article reframed everything she thought she knew about acceptance and disclosure, and what her kid actually needed from her. She and host Jessica Shaw dig into the messy, evolving work of showing up as yourself in a world that isn't always built for you. This is a candid, funny, occasionally heartbreaking conversation about shame, self-advocacy, and belonging. For more on this topic:  Watch: Guiding a neurodivergent kid through grief (by breaking all the rules) Listen: No dyslexia tutors, so this mom became one For a transcript and more resources, visit Everyone Gets a Juice Box on Understood.org. You can also email us at [email protected]. Getting your child the support they need at school shouldn’t feel like a fight. But for millions of families, it does. In Zero Reject, an investigative podcast from Understood.org, award-winning journalist Anya Kamenetz looks at how changing federal policies are reshaping special education — and what’s at stake for families trying to access the support their children are legally entitled to. Start listening now.Understood is a nonprofit where millions of people who are navigating neurodivergence find clear guidance, practical tools, and people who get it. To help us continue this work, donate at u.org/give Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Alynda Wheat Savage and her husband Dave were never big rule followers. They brought that punk rock spirit to parenting their son, Jack, who is neurodivergent. So when Dave was diagnosed with glioblastoma, they threw out the rulebook to help Jack process and grieve in a way that worked for him.  Alynda shares how they protected Jack through diagnosis, decline, and loss. Her story is sometimes funny, always unflinching, and full of heart. For more on this topic  Watch: How one mom battled small town prejudice for her kids Read: Why kids grieve in unexpected ways For a transcript and more resources, visit Everyone Gets a Juice Box on Understood.org. You can also email us at [email protected]. Getting your child the support they need at school shouldn’t feel like a fight. But for millions of families, it does. In Zero Reject, an investigative podcast from Understood.org, award-winning journalist Anya Kamenetz looks at how changing federal policies are reshaping special education — and what’s at stake for families trying to access the support their children are legally entitled to. Start listening now.Understood is a nonprofit where millions of people who are navigating neurodivergence find clear guidance, practical tools, and people who get it. To help us continue this work, donate at u.org/give Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Melena Blanton is a clinical psychologist and mom of two neurodivergent kids in Eastern Kentucky. She’s had to fight through lack of resources and small town prejudice to get her kids the help they need. That’s meant driving hours for evaluations, training as a tutor herself, and building a scrappy sisterhood of moms doing the impossible. This is what advocacy looks like when the system is broken. For more on this topic:  Watch: First-generation parents, neurodivergent kids, and redefining excellence Read: Barton System: What you need to know For a transcript and more resources, visit Everyone Gets a Juice Box on Understood.org. You can also email us at [email protected]. Getting your child the support they need at school shouldn’t feel like a fight. But for millions of families, it does. In Zero Reject, an investigative podcast from Understood.org, award-winning journalist Anya Kamenetz looks at how changing federal policies are reshaping special education — and what’s at stake for families trying to access the support their children are legally entitled to. Start listening now.Understood is a nonprofit where millions of people who are navigating neurodivergence find clear guidance, practical tools, and people who get it. To help us continue this work, donate at u.org/give Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode of our sister show Hyperfocus, listener Jenna Plonsky opens a raw conversation about ADHD, late diagnosis, and the mental health struggles many women face in silence.  From postpartum depression to PMDD, this episode explores how hormonal shifts intersect with neurodivergence — and why so many go undiagnosed for decades. It’s an honest look at shame, self-perception, and the turning point that comes with finally understanding your brain. For more on this topic Watch: Did my ADHD make me more likely to have postpartum depression? Listen: ADHD and: Hormones For a transcript and more resources, visit Hyperfocus on Understood.org. You can also email us at [email protected] . Getting your child the support they need at school shouldn’t feel like a fight. But for millions of families, it does. In Zero Reject, an investigative podcast from Understood.org, award-winning journalist Anya Kamenetz looks at how changing federal policies are reshaping special education — and what’s at stake for families trying to access the support their children are legally entitled to. Start listening now.Understood is a nonprofit where millions of people who are navigating neurodivergence find clear guidance, practical tools, and people who get it. To help us continue this work, donate at u.org/give Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.