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Welcome to the Neurotribe, the podcast where authenticity meets empowerment. Your host, Teresa, is a certified business executive and life coach navigating the intricate tapestry of neurodiversity. She's someone blessed with ADHD and dyslexia and gifted a widow and a mother to four incredible neurodiverse children.
So each episode of The Neuro Tribe is an intimate exploration of life, love, business, and parenting through the lens of neurodiversity. Subscribe to the Neuro Tribe on your favorite podcast platform or on YouTube and never miss a story. And if you really like this show, be sure to like, subscribe, rate, and of course, share the podcast with anyone who needs to hear it.[00:01:00]
Join us on this unfiltered journey where no topic is too challenging, no triumph too small. Let's unravel the layers of our community's experiences, embracing the struggles, celebrating the gifts, and finding empowerment and authenticity in every episode. And let's start right now.
Hey friends, welcome back. I am so grateful to have all of you here. We are in the holiday season. Whatever holiday you choose to celebrate, gift giving can be part of this time of year.
And I like to have this episode be gift givingneurodivergent friendly. I absolutely love finding neuro friendly gifts and I'm going to talk about the gifts in multiple different [00:02:00] facets, right? So I'm gonna start with screens.This can be a hot button for neurodivergent families. Because we have our kiddos who are very much dopamine seeking, sensory seeking, or avoidant, and so they like going on screens.
And so there are families that are like, I cannot live without a screen. And there are families that are like, I really don't want my kids on screens or I want my kids screens very limited.I'm going to talk about this in the fact that there is this aspect with neurodivergent kids and honestly, people in general, because full grown adults do the same thing, that we can use screens as a coping mechanism or a way to be able to regulate ourselves and tune the world out [00:03:00] and be able to focus on one thing and be able to have a filter. There is a lot of us that we feel so deeply on so many different levels. We have all four different types of empathy. Quite frankly, most of us are empaths. So if you think of a child as an empath who has all four different types of empathy, is picking up all kinds of things throughout the day and or at home or within society, walking down the street, whatever, it can be nice just to shut everything down and really zone out and have a screen and have something to play. think about our neurodivergent kids, and especially if they take a bus. I really like the Nintendo Lite because it's very portable. You can get a case for it. You can get some games and stick some games in it. Super easy to carry with them in [00:04:00] their backpacks and just have an agreement with teacher or para that it's a bus item only.
So when they are on the bus, they get to play the Nintendo lite or the Nintendo switch. And then when they are not on the bus, that's not an option that they have during the day. So for me personally, I think that one is a really great thing I have seen that help a lot of kids out and it can make the bus drive a lot more pleasant for them.I also think that one is a good one because the lite, if I remember right, doesn't necessarily go online. So it's not like they're talking and interacting with other people. So you don't need to parent monitor it as much from what I understand and I could be wrong cause I'm not a tech whiz, but I think that they can make friends of people
they do know already. It could be a different type of switch [00:05:00] that does that. But it's not an online forum where strangers can find your kids and start talking to them. I like that so much, especially with our very vulnerable demographic. So that's one.
Another thing that I really like for kiddos is giving them noise canceling headphones that can play music. So a lot of time with sensory needs and sensory issues, just the world in and of itself is loud or it's overstimulating. So being able to have the noise canceling headphones. that also can play music. Not only does it cancel out some of the world and mute out some of the sensations in the world, but having that music can be really regulating as well.
I also really like giving the gift of something like Spotify for a year [00:06:00] or Amazon music for a year or iTunes for a year. iTunes gift cards, however you want to help your kiddo get access to music.And also, Spending some time with our kiddos and figuring out what type of music do they like, and also do they want to open their music preferences.
For instance, I had a kiddo who only liked techno music. But listen, music is a mathematic, right? So when we started listening to techno music together. And for this particular kiddo, it was Lindsay Sterling. What we figured out was the mathematics of the techno music was very similar, or if not right on par to some classical music.
And because it was a violin that was playing, then it was really interesting to find classical [00:07:00] music that this kiddo enjoyed and liked that also had a violin. Then we took it a step further and we found other musicians that also play the violin, but then also had different genres. So we found quite a few new people to listen to and follow.
And that turned into not only learning more about music, but it was also a bonding experience and then inspired this fantastic idea of having a gift for Spotify for a year. there's such a wide range of kids that you can get that for whether it's five years old or 20 years old, right? Of course there are our kiddos that want to have Nintendo games, Xbox games,PS5 games, whatever the games that you want. Maybe it's a [00:08:00] console, maybe it's a 3D Oculus type of situation. Whatever you guys choose to do as a family and what you choose to decide that your kids are ready for is up to you as a family. I would have a conversation ahead of time, meaning if there are two partners, that are together and you have kids together, whether you're co parenting or you're parenting together, having that conversation of what is our child ready for as far as violence in games, as far as exposure in games.
I think that is an important conversation to have and be on the same page with, and also Understanding that while our kids are neurodivergent and they might be 10 or 15, their emotional [00:09:00] maturity might not be the same age. And so taking that into consideration when you are having your conversations about what your child is ready for and what you're ready to expose them to.
I also love the gift of board games for our families, for our kids, whether it's a physical board game, or I just came across this on one of my neurodivergent sites. I came across this table. It's like a gaming table and it's so it is technology. It's not physical pieces that you move around, but you can play board games or video games on the table.
And I thought that was really cool because we have a tendency to lose pieces in my house. And so I was actually thinking about it. And while the board table [00:10:00] is, it's a, it's an investment, but I was thinking about all of the games that I had to throw away over the years because we lost pieces and I actually thought, Maybe it might actually end up saving money.
Kind of funny on that one. So do look at board game. I think what I did, cause I didn't know what it was called. So I think what I searched in Amazon was tech board game table and it found it. So there you go. Yay. Okay,what I really like to do is help our kiddos with our sensory needs during the holidays.
In my house, I have four kids that have sensory needs. And then I don't think I have one single client that doesn't have a kid that has sensory needs. It goes part with neurodiversity, right? And our neural wiring. [00:11:00] And so I really like addressing sensory needs for Christmas gifts, meaning I love Getting swings like a sensory swing in the past, I have gotten sensory swings that were like a parachute.
And it wrapped around them and hugged them. There have been times where we've gotten kind of the pod. type of swing. This last round, I actually did get swings for my kids this time as well. And I got this chair that's like a net and then it has padding in it so that our kids can sit and in the chair and read or do iPad or have their laptops and do some homework while gently swinging.
And then the cushions give them that sensory input. Another thing that I found with our kiddos, especially when they have vision or dyslexia type things, [00:12:00] having a trampoline or a swing while they play video games is actually really helpful for their eye tracking getting their gross and fine motor and helping with muscle development.
I really like that combo and it's really good for our kiddos. love trampolines, the little indoor miniature trampolines. Those can be an amazing gift. I really like those, lava lamp like sensory things where it doesn't actually have a light, but they can twist it and the dye goes up and down.
There are these really cool cubes that it comes as a cube and you pull it apart and then it can go in all of these different shapes. And I genuinely like those type of things. There are so many sensory needs type things that [00:13:00] you can get for your kids that make a great gift or a stocking stuffer.
And I say now is a really good time to stock up because you are going to find everything on sale. It's easy to wrap. Kids love them. You can get an idea of what type of sensory seeking needs your kid has. There are different types of earplugs that can go in the ear that don't cancel all noise out, but mutes it like the calms, or there's one that has a ring that they can put in.
And again, this is for all different ages. And I notice that when the kids are in class, in school, those ones are a lot easier to blend in with the rest of the class. Some of our kids genuinely need the ability to mute or dilute some of the noise and [00:14:00] sense some of the sensory input in school and or at a party, whether it's a holiday party or a family's get together
but they don't want to seem like they're standing out or not fitting in. So getting the calms or the sensory ring that's It goes in your ear and it doesn't completely take all sound out. They can still hear. It just takes it from like a 10 down to a two. So that is a really good option of getting as a gift or even before you know that you're going to go to a holiday party or a family's get together or something like that.
I really like those. Our kids love stuff that smells good. You can get like a heated lap blanket that maybe you put lavender essential oil or it already smells like some sort of a lavender or woodsy smell or whatever it may be.[00:15:00]
One of my kiddos actually asked for a weighted stuffy that smelled like lavender.this is actually my eight year old said this.He said, Mom, I needs a weighted stuffy that smells like lavender for when you're not at home and I feel dysregulated because that is going to help me co regulate.
Yes, I admit my son is a coach's son, but I felt this well of pride that he was able to advocate for himself in that way and think ahead to be able to ask for that for Christmas. I actually did find quite a few different options on Amazon and sensory stores that had Weighted stuffies, none of them had a scent to it, but I did get an all natural organic spray that he could spray on his stuffy.
I [00:16:00] also am a big scent person because my sensory seeking is wanting To smell things that smell good. So I have a plethora of essential oils that I can make different mixtures for him and also give those as stocking stuffers. And so he can make his stuffy smell good. I hope that you really enjoyed this holiday version of the Neurotribe and you got some really good ideas for your kiddo or kids and you have a wonderful holiday season. I love you all. Take care. Bye bye
