The ADHD Kids Can Thrive Podcast

What if anxiety isn’t always something we need to get rid of?

In this episode of The ADHD Kids Can Thrive Podcast, Kate Brownfield talks with Dr. Tracy Foose, a board-certified psychiatrist, Associate Professor at the UCSF School of Medicine, and former Director of the UCSF Anxiety Disorders Program.

Dr. Foose helps parents understand fear and anxiety differently: as uncomfortable but protective emotions that can carry important information. Kate and Dr. Foose explore how parents can better understand anxiety in kids and teens, respond without becoming consumed by the anxiety themselves, and help children build a healthier relationship with fear rather than simply trying to make it disappear.

Dr. Foose has spent more than 15 years studying and treating anxiety and continues to teach about fear and anxiety at UCSF School of Medicine.

Learn more about Dr. Tracy Foose:
https://www.drfoose.com

ADHD parent coaching with Kate Brownfield:
https://adhdkidscanthrive.com

Free ADHD Parent Reset:
https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/sl/IUVgRZz

What if the goal of homework isn’t just getting tonight’s assignment turned in?

When homework becomes a nightly cycle of reminders, frustration, missing assignments, and “Did you check Google Classroom?”, parents can easily end up carrying more and more of the responsibility. In this solo episode of The ADHD Kids Can Thrive Podcast, Kate Brownfield, ACC, ADHD Parent Coach, explores how to tell the difference between supporting your child’s executive-function skills and becoming the skill for them.

Kate shares her experience helping her son manage school organization, why ADHD homework struggles are often about more than academics, and how parents can identify where the process is actually breaking down. She discusses task initiation, emotional resistance, after-school decompression, body doubling, practical scaffolding, and why the right support should match the child in front of you.

Most importantly, this episode zooms out to the bigger goal: helping children with ADHD get through school in a way that builds capability, self-understanding, self-advocacy, and less shame while protecting the parent-child relationship from becoming consumed by homework management.

In this episode:

Why repeated reminders often don’t solve ADHD homework struggles

How to ask, “Where is the process breaking down?”

When your child needs more support versus a different kind of support

Why starting homework can be harder than doing the actual work

How parent support can gradually change as children develop

Why “support moves” as kids become more independent

How to help your child understand what they need and learn to advocate for themselves

Free ADHD Parent Reset:
https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/sl/IUVgRZz

ADHD parent coaching and resources:
https://adhdkidscanthrive.com

My guest is Lorelei Brush, author of The Boy with the Butterfly Mind, a novel that explores what can happen inside a family when a young child begins showing signs of ADHD and neurodivergence. Lorelei is a former assistant professor of child development and the parent of a neurodivergent child, bringing both professional knowledge and lived experience to the story.

We discuss the fear of labeling a child, ADHD across generations, school struggles, marriage and family dynamics, and why supporting a child with ADHD often requires looking beyond symptoms and strategies to understand the whole family.

We also explore something different: the power of fiction. Research and expert guidance can teach us a great deal about ADHD, but a story can let us experience a family from the inside, sometimes offering insight, empathy, and even healing that factual information alone may not reach.

We talk about the meaning behind a “butterfly mind,” the importance of recognizing a child’s strengths, and why there may not be one right way to help a neurodivergent child thrive.

Learn more about Lorelei Brush and The Boy with the Butterfly Mind:
https://www.amazon.com/Boy-Butterfly-Mind-Novel/dp/B0FWZZ39BH/

FREE ADHD Parent Reset
7 Things to Do Differently When What You’re Trying Isn’t Working

Get the free guide:
https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/sl/IUVgRZz

For private ADHD parent coaching and the Anchor Your ADHD Family community:
https://adhdkidscanthrive.com/

Timestamps

(00:00) Lorelei Brush and The Boy with the Butterfly Mind
(02:23) Why Lorelei wrote a novel about raising a child with ADHD
(05:23) How fiction can create insight, empathy and healing
(08:00) What does “butterfly mind” mean?
(10:40) Helping an ADHD child—and the whole family—thrive
(15:19) When school becomes the place a child’s differences are noticed
(19:23) ADHD, family dynamics and neurodivergence across generations
(22:53) The fear of labeling a child with ADHD
(25:30) The parent trap of trying to research and “solve” everything
(28:36) There is no one right way to raise a neurodivergent child

Why can a child with ADHD know exactly what they need to do and still feel unable to start?

Homework, chores, schoolwork, and everyday responsibilities can quickly turn into procrastination, avoidance, frustration, or conflict. But what if there is something happening beneath the behavior?

In this episode of The ADHD Kids Can Thrive Podcast, Kate Brownfield, ACC, ADHD Parent Coach, talks with ADHD and executive function expert Brendan Mahan, author of Overcoming the Wall of Awful, about the emotional barriers that can make it difficult for people with ADHD to start, continue, or complete tasks.

Brendan created the concept of the Wall of Awful to describe the emotional barrier that can build from repeated experiences of failure, disappointment, rejection, frustration, and shame.

He explains five ways people try to get past the Wall of Awful and why some approaches work better than others. Kate and Brendan also explore practical ways parents can help, including creating a “door” through the wall, climbing it, body doubling, scribing homework, reducing pressure, and gradually fading support as a child builds confidence and independence.

For parents who find themselves asking, “Why won’t my child just do it?”, this conversation offers a different way to understand what may be happening beneath the struggle.

Instead, we might ask:

“What is making this task feel so hard, and what support would help my child move forward?”

Learn more about Brendan Mahan and Overcoming the Wall of Awful:
https://brendanmahan.com/the-wall-of-awful-book/

FREE ADHD Parent Reset
7 Things to Do Differently When What You’re Trying Isn’t Working

Get the free guide here and learn practical ways to reduce power struggles and better support your child with ADHD.

For more ADHD parenting support, visit ADHDKidsCanThrive.com.

ADHD, dyslexia, learning differences, school struggles, and feeling different can leave neurodivergent kids questioning where they fit and parents wondering how to help them build confidence, independence, and a sense of belonging. What helps a child move from struggling to truly believing in themselves?

In this episode of The ADHD Kids Can Thrive Podcast, ADHD Parent Coach Kate Brownfield, ACC, talks with Riley Mulcahy, founder and executive director of The Riley Project, about dyslexia, neurodivergence, belonging, self-advocacy, and helping kids who learn differently find their voice and understand their strengths. Riley shares his own journey from significant early learning challenges to graduating college with honors in English.

Riley explains the difference between simply fitting in and truly belonging, why neurodivergent kids need opportunities to hear the experiences of others like them, and how parents can gradually help children develop self-advocacy skills as they grow. Kate and Riley also discuss IEPs and 504 plans, school support, learning differences, strengths-based parenting, and why behavior is often communication.

You’ll also hear thoughtful insights on the impact of school and social exhaustion, the importance of including young people in conversations about their own needs, and why children need to hear more than what they struggle with; they also need help discovering who they are and what they can contribute.

Most importantly, Riley reminds parents that a child’s struggles today do not define what they will be capable of tomorrow and that every neurodivergent young person deserves to feel seen, understood, and that they belong.

Learn more about Riley Mulcahy and The Riley Project:
https://therileyproject.org/

ADHD Parent Coaching + Resources:
ADHD Parent Coaching for Families | ADHD Kids Can Thrive