Wife, Shepherd, Sherpa
Hello Yellow Parachute Families and Friends,
I am happy to tell you that I have recently joined Yellow Parachute Learning Partners as the Executive Function Coordinator and Learning Sherpa.
I currently live in Minnetonka with my husband, Nate, our three kids, and two black labs. Over the last 10 years, I have been swimming in a pool of ADHD and Dyslexia, along with a handful of other learning challenges.
As a result of this variety, I have gained useful working- knowledge (sometimes on the fly – right moms?!?) of strategies and skills to help them better understand themselves as well as navigate academics and fast-pace of this ever changing world around them.
In my family, we embrace and celebrate the challenges and gifts of NEURODIVERSITY.
But it wasn’t always this amazing. At the beginning of my journey with my oldest son, it was incredibly difficult and isolating. I was a busy stay at home mom with three kids under 6 and a husband who worked 12 or more hours every day. I had no idea the extent of what Dyslexia was and the impacts and I thought ADHD just meant that my kid was hyper-active.
Needless to say, I had a lot to learn. My son and I didn’t know anyone else who was on this journey, and we truly felt like we were on an island.
We didn’t have many people in our lives who understood what we were going through, how to ask for help or even who to ask for help. It was incredibly lonely and frustrating knowing that your child needs something and not being able to help him get it.
Fast-forward to today where I am a firm believer in early intervention and evaluation. It’s hard to put a label on your child and yet, without that label your child will not get what they need to succeed. Along the way, I have learned that we need to be honest and vulnerable with our situations.
I was always hesitant to tell people that my kids have learning challenges for the fear that they would view them as inferior to their own kids. But what I have learned is that sharing our vulnerability opens an opportunity for people let down their guard and share the hard parts of their life too. And sometimes, in fact most times, you learn that you are walking a parallel life with another human; and it’s beautiful.
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At Yellow Parachute, I hope to co-create a community with you, where parents can come together to support each other walking these parallel lives and also learn new skills to help their own families.
Founder Cara Thorpe and I are partnering with other parents and students to build a community learning-board and self-paced, online courses – specifically for parents.
Stay tuned for more updates! And we invite everyone to get involved in this work – please send a note or click the link below to provide your email address indicating that you’d like to connect!
If I could wave a magic wand, the parents of neurodiverse kids would never feel like they were all alone on that island. I don’t have a magic wand, but I do carry with me what I’ve learned.
This journey with our kids can be heavy and complicated and scary and a steep hill to climb.
For this reason, I say, “Let me be your Sherpa on this journey toward success for your kids.” Let the ones who have gone before you lighten your load.
Let me carry the heavy load (stress), find the place to camp (remind you to rest), and find the safe path over the wide crevasse (advocate at school).
And as you and your child progress step over step toward the top of the mountain, we will celebrate each and every success!
