With the school year coming to a close–everybody is heading into transition. Whether you’re excited or scared shitless, listen up because we’re gonna talk through all the different end of school year transitions, frustrations, and coping skills this summer will require for both children AND adults.
In this last episode of season 2, Molly and Angela announce that they will take the summer off and return after the school year starts again later in August.
There are no resources for neurodivergent adults
We only found one resource for the end of the school year for students and that was a children’s book by Sivan Hong. So we realized that we are basically the only ones publicly having this conversation about the end of the school year being difficult. Why we are surprised, we don’t know. We know that resources are lacking and access to resources is even more of a problem, right? So, here we talk about the variety of struggles that can happen at the end of the school year and how we can address those challenges. Let’s face it, transitions can suck, but they don’t have suck as bad as they often do!
Transitions can be hard for everyone
Look, summer happens for and to all humans regardless of neurotype. We specifically use the term “neurodiversity” in the episode title because we are aware that this is not just something that challenges neurodivergent folks. We talk about a variety of challenges that might come up at the end of the school year for kids, parents, and teachers. This conversation includes:
- Keeping an open mind about options
- Needing a schedule
- Having your schedule and routine interrupted
- Sensory changes in your environment
- The expense of summer vacation and how this can be harmful to many NDs and their families
- Motivation
- Parents feeling shame for not wanting to be with their children all day every day
- Multiple needs in a household
- The Chaos of summer in general
- Decision Fatigue
- Lists and other tools for support
Identifying patterns will help you advocate
Finding your “Chaos Demon Wrangler” – thanks for that, Molly! – means identifying where you need support and where things are already supporting you. Recognizing patterns in yourself and others is essential in advocating for your own needs as well as recognizing and supporting the needs of the ND folks in your life. We talk about how lists and schedulers can be helpful in some instances and not at all helpful in others. We also look at how scheduling can be something we absolutely need for our wellbeing, but that having a schedule can be disabling when you don’t understand why you need it, how it supports you specifically, or how to enforce it with strong boundaries.
This is the last episode for Season Two and we will return at the end of August for Season 3! Thank you for your support!
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