The Empowered Parent with Dana Baltutis

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School can feel like it’s “for the kids”, but for many families it’s also the first place a parent stops feeling invisible. I sit down with Graham to keep following Bradley’s journey from childhood into adulthood, starting with the school years and the surprising way a school community can become a carer’s support system. We talk about the power of a simple hello at drop-off, how volunteering helped Graham feel he belonged, and why identity shifts for both child and parent when school becomes a stable routine. 

Then things c...

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Some parenting seasons are loud, messy, and relentless and you don’t even realise you’re surviving until you finally stop to breathe. We pick up Graham's story as a full-time carer for his non-verbal, neurodivergent son Bradley, stepping into the years filled with routines, appointments, behaviour storms, paperwork, and the constant job of advocating through education and health systems.

Graham explains why their days had to run like a military operation, and how predictability became the foundation for safety. We also go to the place many families dread: public spaces. Supe...

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A child can be sleeping through the night, walking on time, and lighting up your world with cheeky joy, and you can still end up facing a diagnosis that changes everything. Graham Clark joins us to start a special six-week series, sharing what it’s been like to parent Bradley, a now mid-twenties neurodivergent young man, from the earliest signs right through to supported independence.

We talk about the moments that first raised questions, like speech developing into substituted sounds, and sensory differences around food textures and loud environments. Graham takes us...

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Dana's reflections on 2025.

danabaltutis.com,  mytherapyhouse.com.au, https://mytherapyhouse.com.au/your-childs-therapy-journey/ https://www.danabaltutis.com/services

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What changes when a child’s wellbeing takes the lead and everything else rearranges around it? In this series finale with Paige Carter of Inclusive Oak, we follow a family through unschooling and burnout recovery, anchored by one unforgettable moment: a teacher who shows up at a caravan park simply to say hello, offer a gift, and hold the thread of belonging. No pressure, no performance—just proof that connection travels.

You’ll leave with three anchors to navigate your own journey: educate yourself about your child’s neurotype and what actually...

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What if the bravest choice is to stop doing what everyone expects and start doing what your child needs? We sit down with Paige Carter to unpack a seismic family pivot: renting out the house, moving into a caravan, and giving a neurodivergent child time to recover from burnout. It’s not a retreat from learning; it’s a redesign of life around safety, trust, and capacity.

Paige shares how they balanced two very different paths for their kids: keeping Lacey in school to the end of term and donating her unif...

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This week on The Empowered Parent Podcast I sat down with Sarah Lovett from Our PDA Kids and Paige Carter from Inclusive Oak. Both Sarah and Paige are parents of children with Pathological Demand Avoidance, or Persistent Demand for Autonomy, and both run successful services supporting families just like yours.

Sarah talked about burnout, why it happens, and how we can support children who find school overwhelming. She also shared gentle reminders about parent self care and why looking after yourself helps your child feel safe.

Paige shared her...

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Say yes to slower. That simple pivot—away from pressure and toward real choice—turned a chaotic season into a week with fewer meltdowns, easier car rides, and a hydrotherapy session full of laughter. We open up about parenting a PDA child with low demand strategies, how we detach from outcomes, and why autonomy is not a luxury but a lifeline for regulation.

We dive into the recovery–stability–expansion arc and why families often rush past the stability phase. Fresh from the Perth PDA conference, we share takeaways from psychiatrists and live...

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What happens when you remove the biggest triggers from a child’s day and the seizures stop? We sit down with Paige Carter to unpack a remarkable shift since Oakland left school, the role stress and heat play in absence and atonic seizures, and why the family is cautiously considering CBD oil after exhausting conventional options. From risperidone’s early wins and later costs, to stimulants that sparked agitation, to a thick, red seizure medicine that collided with PDA-driven demand avoidance, this is a grounded look at tailoring care to a child’s nervou...

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Change doesn’t wait for the perfect schedule, and neither do big feelings. We sit down after a long day to unpack a week where a 30-minute hydrotherapy session brought relief, the weather kept us indoors, and Oakland leaned hard into the comfort of screens and familiar routines. Rather than fight it, we explore why control, predictability, and co-regulation can be smart strategies when a child’s world is filled with packed boxes and looming travel plans.

We get personal about the daily school run for Lacey and the meltdowns that come...

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Ever watched a child light up at the zoo, then shut down at the hospital and wondered how to bridge those worlds with care, dignity, and actual access? We dive into a week that held both: a quiet bus at Monarto where curiosity bloomed, and a clinical setting where pushing past tolerance backfired. Along the way, we unpack the practical tools that make community life possible for neurodivergent kids, from hydrotherapy wins to the much-debated disability stroller that functions as a lifeline.

We share how unschooling shows up in real time...

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The rainbow stretches across the sky – vibrant, diverse, and complete only because each colour exists. This powerful metaphor frames our season finale on neurodiversity, reminding us that human brains, like rainbows, aren't meant to be identical. Each carries unique colours, patterns, and brilliance that contribute to the whole.

Throughout this season, we've explored what truly neuroaffirming spaces look like – environments that don't merely tolerate neurological differences but actively celebrate them. These spaces recognize that every form of sensory communication and emotional expression is valid, meeting needs with respect rather than correction. Most...

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What if a camera could say what your voice can’t? We sit down with Bianca, a neurodivergent artist and mother living with bipolar II, ADHD, and autistic traits, to explore how art, therapy, and the right clinical support helped her turn pain into purpose. From a turbulent childhood in post-communist Romania to a leap-of-faith move to Adelaide during the pandemic, her story threads vulnerability with resolve, and invites us to rethink what recovery and advocacy can look like.

We trace her late diagnosis journey—sparked by her child’s assessment—and the...

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A five-minute visit can hold a whole season of hope. I sat down with Paige Carter of Inclusive Oak to trace the delicate return of motivation after school burnout, and name a stage many families live inside: curiosity without capacity. Oakland asked to see his friends, stepped into the classroom, then stepped back out, overwhelmed but determined enough to hug classmates in the hallway. We call that progress, and we talk about how changing our expectations changes a child’s nervous system.

We also untangle language that matters in practice. De-schooling is...

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What happens when a clinical psychologist with ADHD parents two neurodivergent children? A uniquely insightful perspective on navigating family life with different brains. Dr. Claire Milligan opens up about her journey from struggling parent to practice director of Maple Leaf Psychology and Allied Health, sharing the moment when everything changed - when her pediatrician asked, "Which one of you has ADHD?"

That question sparked what Claire calls her "kaleidoscope moment" - suddenly her entire life made sense through an ADHD lens. With refreshing honesty, Claire shares both professional wisdom and personal...

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What if the bravest thing you could do for your child’s education was to stop pushing and start listening to their nervous system? That’s the pivot Paige Carter makes as she chooses unschooling to help her autistic son, Oaklan, recover from severe burnout - replacing schedules and demands with safety, curiosity, and radical patience.

We dig into what autistic burnout really looks like at home: fragile tolerance, lost interests, and a body that reads every expectation as a threat. Paige traces the turning point from a small, supportive classroom to a...

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What happens when we reframe neurodivergence not as a deficit, but as a natural variation in brain architecture? Sarah Eagle, founder of Joy Diving Australia and late-diagnosed autistic woman with ADHD, offers a refreshing perspective that celebrates brain differences rather than pathologizing them.

After losing her brother Ben during a psychotic episode in 2001, Sarah channelled her grief into walking 600 kilometres along Western Australia's Bibbulum Track to raise awareness for mental health. Years later, following her own neurodivergent diagnosis, she created Joy Diving Australia—a name inspired by both her love of sc...

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What happens when cultural identity meets neurodiversity? Psychologist Anushka Phal knows this intersection intimately as a Fijian Indian, born in New Zealand and raised in Australia, who received her own ADHD diagnosis as an adult. This revelation sparked both personal healing and a passionate mission to create mental health spaces where multicultural, neurodivergent individuals truly belong.

"When I got diagnosed, I looked back at life and realized there was an explanation for all the things impacting my self-worth," Anushka shares. "It's like watching a thriller movie for the second time – suddenly al...

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What happens when the professional becomes the parent? Despite 14 years working in the disability sector, Paige Carter found herself completely lost when her son was diagnosed with autism at age two and a half. That moment sparked a powerful realization: if someone with her experience felt overwhelmed, how do families with no prior exposure to disability navigate this journey?

Paige shares her family's remarkable story of discovery- how her son's diagnosis eventually led to recognizing autism and ADHD in her husband, daughter, and finally herself. With refreshing honesty, she describes this...

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What happens when we truly embrace neurodivergence as a fundamental part of human diversity? Joanne Hatchard, founder of Better Being Me and creator of the "Be Me Completely" course, brings profound wisdom from both personal and professional experience to this conversation about acceptance, connection, and living authentically.

Diagnosed with dyslexia at 16 and later recognizing her own autistic identity through her son's diagnosis, Joanne shares how self-acceptance freed her from exhausting masking behaviors. She offers a refreshing cosmic metaphor—neurodiversity as the universe with each diagnosis representing a planet—emphasizing that every neur...

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"Sometimes I feel things very intensely," reveals Violeta Abarzua Vasquezas she shares her journey of discovering neurodivergence in both herself and her children. This revelation transformed not only her understanding of her family but sparked the creation of Mingle Co – an organisation dedicated to building genuine connection for neurodivergent people.

After 21 years working across the disability sector, Vee noticed a critical gap: many neurodivergent individuals desperately wanted meaningful connections but found traditional social spaces overwhelming and alienating. Drawing from her own experiences of feeling "complicated" and "quirky," she designed events where se...

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What if challenging behaviours aren't problems to fix, but signals showing us how a child's brain works? Dr Vanessa Spiller, clinical psychologist and FASD expert, revolutionises our understanding of neurodivergent children through her groundbreaking "Mind the Gaps" model.

Drawing from both professional expertise and lived experience as a foster carer, Dr Spiller explains that neurodiversity simply means brain-based differences - everyone has strengths and weaknesses. The real challenge often lies in the gap between what children are asked to do and the abilities they actually possess. Her approach visualises these abilities...

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Welcome to Series 2 of the Empowered Parent Podcast, where we explore neurodiversity and attunement to children with "rainbow brains." I'm setting the foundation for upcoming conversations with parents, professionals, and neurodivergent individuals by sharing insights from the recent Neurodiversity and Wellbeing Conference.

• Neurodiversity, a term coined by Australian sociologist Judy Singer, celebrates neurological differences as natural human diversity
• Parenting a neurodivergent child isn't about parenting harder but about attunement - connecting to their unique rhythms and needs
• The Eight Attunements: sensory, emotional, relational, communication, task, timing, environmental, and self-attunement
•...

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The journey we've been on together for 71 episodes is taking a thoughtful pause. After two years of deep conversations about neuroaffirming parenting, understanding our children's unique neurological wiring, and moving from compliance-based expectations to relationship-centered approaches, it's time for me to rest and refill my well.

Throughout our episodes, we've explored the intricate landscape of raising uniquely wired children—from sensory processing and emotional regulation to anxiety, PDA, and social connection challenges. We've tackled practical strategies like environmental setup, co-regulation techniques, and building connection in everyday moments. More importantly, we've delved in...

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"Knowledge is power" takes center stage in this eye-opening conversation with Caroline Mundy, Director of Tevey Loans – a mortgage broking business built on empowering clients through education and heart-led service. Caroline shares her journey from single mother of five escaping an abusive relationship to creating a thriving financial services business designed to help those who feel financially stuck or overlooked by traditional institutions.

The discussion shatters common homeownership myths that prevent many Australians from even starting property conversations. Caroline reveals why waiting until you're "ready" to talk to a mortgage broker co...

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What if Mother's Day was never supposed to be about flowers and gifts at all? This special episode reveals the forgotten origins of Mother's Day in Australian hospitals, where Janet Hayden collected gifts for lonely mothers who had lost children to war—a far cry from today's commercial celebrations.

Beyond the greeting cards lies a profound truth: motherhood carries both extraordinary power and invisible weight. With over 6.5 million mothers in Australia—one in six raising children alone and one in three families navigating developmental needs—the statistics tell only part of the st...

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Navigating the complex world of early childhood education can feel overwhelming for parents. In this illuminating conversation with Neelam Khatri, a kindergarten teacher with a Master's degree in teaching, we uncover the hidden depths of what really happens in childcare settings and kindergartens across Australia.

Neelam shares her personal journey from Nepal to Australia, where she discovered her passion for early childhood education after witnessing the pure joy of children in learning environments. What began as an exploratory career move blossomed into her true calling, eventually leading her to pursue advanced...

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Kerry Herbert opens up about her 40-year journey as an early childhood teacher and her passionate belief in the power of play. With a twinkle in her eye and wisdom gained from decades of working with young children, Kerry shares why she considers play "the highest form of research," echoing Einstein's famous quote.

What makes this conversation particularly valuable is Kerry's ability to demystify the developmental stages of play. She expertly guides us through the progression from exploratory and solitary play to more complex cooperative interactions, while emphasizing that children naturally...

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Looking beyond conventional healthcare for your child can feel like navigating without a map. Where do you find practitioners who understand children need support for their body, mind, and spirit? How do you know which approaches might help your unique child thrive?

Rose Irranca, a social worker with over 20 years of experience working with children, faced this exact challenge. After adding neuro-linguistic programming, hypnotherapy, Reiki, and kids' yoga to her professional toolkit, she struggled to connect with families who were open to these powerful but often misunderstood approaches. This sparked her...

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Masculine and feminine energies aren't just abstract concepts—they're powerful forces shaping our relationships, parenting approaches, and personal wellbeing. In this deeply insightful conversation with NLP Master Trainer Toni Everard, we explore how these complementary energies function like a battery within each of us, creating the vital polarity needed for energized, fulfilling lives.

Toni takes us on a journey through the foundations of these energies, explaining how they transcend gender while influencing everything from our decision-making to our emotional responses. You'll discover the qualities of healthy masculine energy (structure, boundaries, decisiveness) an...

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Occupational Therapist Judy Au explores the holistic approach of pediatric OT, explaining how foundational skills underpin a child's ability to participate in daily activities and engage with the world.

• Occupational therapy supports children in all daily activities including play, social interactions, and self-care
• The DIR Floortime approach is relationship-based, considering each child's individual differences and developmental level
• Foundation skills like sensory processing and regulation must be established before working on specific tasks like handwriting
• Children need the right amount of sensory input to feel calm and ready to engage...

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What happens when you're the only speech pathologist for hundreds of kilometers? Meet Bethany Burrell, founder of Speak To Bee, who travels across 200 kilometers of rural Victoria supporting children and adults with complex communication needs. Her journey reveals the hidden struggle of families in remote communities facing five-year waiting lists, three-hour drives to specialists, and profound isolation.

Bethany shares how her own neurodivergence became her superpower, creating therapy sessions that look nothing like traditional table-work. "If they want to be under the table with a blanket over the top, that's completely...

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Speech Pathologist Nikita Pinto reveals the critical pre-linguistic skills children need to develop before they can speak their first words. These foundation skills are essential building blocks that support all future communication development.

• Reacting to sounds and people in the environment forms the basis of listening and understanding
• Responding to people and turn-taking establishes the back-and-forth pattern essential for conversation
• Attention span is crucial as children need to stay focused to absorb language information
• Joint attention allows children to share experiences with caregivers about objects or events
• Playing wi...

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Could laughter be the most underrated therapy for both children and adults? Meet Annie Harvey, affectionately known as "the laughter therapist," whose journey from stressed caregiver to laughter yoga leader offers a fascinating glimpse into how simulated laughter can transform our neurological health.

Annie shares her powerful story of caring for her parents with dementia and discovering that three minutes of mindfulness practice three times a week dramatically changed how she responded to stress. But it was a chance encounter with laughter yoga at a Dalai Lama event that truly transformed...

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Unlock the secrets to effective communication with children in this enlightening episode featuring speech pathologist Maria Radimissis. Journey with us as we explore the fundamental differences between traditional and developmental speech pathology, highlighting why a deeper understanding of children's individual needs can lead to transformative outcomes.

Maria shares her inspiring journey into speech pathology, emphasising her passion for working with children. She discusses how recognising foundational skills—regulation, engagement, and reciprocity—can significantly improve approaches to therapy, offering listeners valuable insights into effective strategies that promote communication from an early age. One...

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Navigating the world of friendships and dating can be tough for anyone, but it poses unique challenges for neurodivergent teens and young adults. This episode brings light to the transformative "Steps to Connect" program, developed by Bindy Taylor and Dana, specifically designed to empower these individuals as they forge meaningful connections. By combining mindset coaching, relationship-building techniques, and self-awareness practices, the program guides participants through tangible skills for fostering friendships and navigating dating.

Listeners will discover the methodical approach of the program, beginning with establishing self-awareness and friendships, which sets the...

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Imagine shifting from a life of constant hustle to one of fulfilling simplicity. In our latest episode, Sonia Taddeo returns to share her powerful journey of overcoming public speaking fears and embracing authenticity, all while spearheading her "33 steps" initiative. This project highlights the importance of taking small yet impactful actions for the betterment of our environment and society. Sonia's personal experiences and the support she found along the way serve as a beacon of hope, inspiring listeners to become active participants in creating a positive global change.

We delve into the...

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Join us for an inspiring episode featuring Annmarie Chereso, a renowned parent coach and author, as she shares her incredible journey through life's toughest challenges. From navigating a tumultuous divorce during pregnancy to overcoming infidelity and addiction, Annmarie's story is a testament to resilience and personal growth. Through these trials, she learned to embrace chaos, surrender control, and see every obstacle as an opportunity for transformation. Her insights offer hope and encouragement to parents and individuals facing their own life hurdles.

Discover the empowering concept of conscious parenting as we explore...

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Have you ever wondered how a career in government could transform into a successful journey in holistic wellness? Amanda Collings-Wells took that leap, motivated by a personal loss and a desire for a more meaningful path. In our conversation, Amanda opens up about her inspiring transition from a government agency worker to a thriving wellness entrepreneur. She shares her insights on overcoming fears and embracing part-time work, while highlighting her journey as an NLP master coach. Amanda's story is a testament to the power of mindset and self-talk in overcoming obstacles and achieving...

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Unlock the secrets of keeping your family safe in the digital world with insights from our guest, Craig Clarke, a cybersecurity expert passionate about bridging technology and parenting. As children spend more time online for school and play, understanding cybersecurity beyond antivirus software is crucial. Craig shares practical advice for aligning school and home safety practices, from reviewing school cybersecurity policies to choosing secure devices like Chromebooks for their robust safety features and cloud-based efficiency.

Explore the nuances of password management and technology awareness with us. Craig highlights the differences between...