05/10/2025
It’s always a fine balance sharing about your children on social media. I asked my daughter permission before sharing this. Today she told me I’m the best coach in the world because of how I’ve supported her. To say that this impacted me deeply would be an understatement. From birth, I knew something was different about my child. She needed constant movement and to be held around the clock. Lots of things felt harder than it seemed for my peers with similar aged children. Around six months old, I took her to a behaviorist and described her behavior and they told me to just push her into situations that felt uncomfortable for her so she could get used to it. My gut screamed that this was wrong. As she grew older, certain things became more challenging. She was struggling and so was I. When I discovered PDA in 2021, tears streamed down my face in recognition. Not only of her neurology, but of my own. I often described myself as feeling like an alien when I was growing up. I just didn’t understand how other people moved through the world and was bullied and ostracized, even by my so-called friends. I knew that masking her way through life would only lead to the same traumatized nervous system that I was now healing. Early intervention is key, but not with the therapies that are often recommended. We did a lot of different things, including equine therapy, play therapy, outdoor occupational therapy, cranial sacral, work, chiropractic work, and others. In this way, I’ve gotten to know the practitioners in the area personally and professionally, and I have a roster of people that I recommend to my clients because I know their work is deeply impactful. (Cont’d in comments.)