This updated edition includes information on Pathological Demand Avoidance, Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria, an interview with Heidi's son Theo and more. This would have been so beneficial at the start of the journey likewise where we are now with diagnosis and out of school waiting for specialist school place to become available this has been helpful. It’s not about complying with the norms of society, but rather meeting each individual where they are and accepting their differences as qualities to their uniqueness. Believing your child is not broken! And then there are kids like mine, on the autism spectrum, and I feel like I am trying to make my daughter sit in a broken chair.

YOUR CHILD IS NOT BROKEN: Parent Your Neurodivergent Child YOUR CHILD IS NOT BROKEN: Parent Your Neurodivergent Child

As people we often make judgements about who is acceptable, and who is not. Who is intelligent, socially-acceptable, deserving, or beautiful…and who is not. We decide people’s worth depending on their skin color, or how much money we perceive them having, what their body shape is like, what sorts of accomplishments they’ve gained. We make judgements about a student’s intelligence based on how well they move through the school systems we’ve set up. Sometimes, it can feel like these things are true because your child doesn’t read or calculate or function like most children you know. It can feel like that when others are pointing out the ways your child is not fitting in or the ways your child is failing at school.

If we view our children as broken and messed up, chances are high that they too will believe this lie about themselves. And it will crush them. It will crush their souls, and the world will miss out on knowing this individual who has so much potential and so many unique gifts. Follow Heidi's irreverent and brutally honest story of her fight to be seen, heard and supported, while swimming against a tide of parent blame, ableist stereotypes and the weight of other people’s opinions. If you are at the start of your journey with a SEND child, trying to navigate the system to find out what support is available, not wanting to chase people too many times as you don’t want to be seen as pushy, then this is the book for you. If you are further along, have already grown weary with the endless meetings with professionals, are fed up of being fobbed off by people minimising your child’s needs, then this is also the book for you! Heidi’s retelling of her and her autistic son Theo’s story gives an introduction to the challenges that parents of SEND children are likely to face, along with practical suggestions of what to say to professionals who just don’t seem to ‘get it’. I’ve been ‘that’ parent for nearly ten years now and while I’ve made my peace with how I’m sure I’m perceived by professionals, it never stops being exhausting. You never stop questioning whether you are doing the right thing and when you are tired and frustrated after yet another meeting it’s easy to wonder if maybe the professionals are right, maybe your concerns aren’t valid and you should just give their way a try. In those moments this book is a well needed reminder that it’s not you, it’s not your child, it’s the system that’s broken. Despite trying to get her the best treatments, preschool education, and nourished her talents — it all doesn’t matter because she can’t fit into their box. An unapologetic, deeply moving manual for parents of neurodivergent children from Heidi Mavir, a late-identified, neurodivergent adult and parent to an autistic/ADHD teenager.

Your Child Is Not Broken by Heidi Mavir - Coles Books Your Child Is Not Broken by Heidi Mavir - Coles Books

She is having meltdowns and crying, she is falling asleep and taking frequent breaks from her classroom. I’m getting constant phone calls and communication from the school and it is puzzling because my child has a disability and an Individualized Education Plan. She is supposed to have what she needs to be successful and she isn’t. This book interested me from the moment I saw it. Working in early years childhood education and being a parent to two wonderful teenagers I have experienced and read quite a bit about the neurodivergent child. However this is very different to what I have come across before. Heidi is open and frank about her struggles with parenting a child with autism and ADHD, while discovering that she is also neurodiverse. The subtitle of the final chapter of Heidi Mavir’s book “Your Child is not Broken” is “Permission to Become ‘That’ Parent”, a phrase that to me actually sums up the whole book.We have to shift our mindset about these things. We need to see, really see, our children and appreciate who they are. They are wonderful and amazing in so many ways, ways that we forget to stop and take notice. They have much to offer us and the world, if we will just encourage, support, and believe in them.

YOUR CHILD IS NOT BROKEN: Parent Your Neurodivergent Child Without YOUR CHILD IS NOT BROKEN: Parent Your Neurodivergent Child

From 1st July 2021, VAT will be applicable to those EU countries where VAT is applied to books - this additional charge will be collected by Fed Ex (or the Royal Mail) at the time of delivery. Shipments to the USA & Canada: Heidi's hilarious anecdotes and heartbreaking storytelling offer validation, comfort, reassurance and wisdom to parents who need it the most.While she knows all of her letters and can sloppily write them and identify sight words, she can’t sit still, is constantly moving, she wants to play, wants to color, she wants to engage with everything and every one the point that she is disruptive because that isn’t what is expected of her. It tells you that whilst you feel like you are battling and at war with local authorities and professionals you are right to be that parent. I also have to say you come across some amazing professionals too who only have your child's best interests at heart. It's okay to say actually that's not good enough and what should be at the heart of decisions made is the child. The best interests of the child and actually what the child wants. Consent. The child has a right to consent. We as parents have a right to be heard.