It's easy to keep trying to solve the same predictable problem in a crisis—like 7:14 a.m. chaos—then wonder why everyone's melting down. In this episode, Dr. Amy Patenaude shares a 12-minute weekly family meeting that makes the plan visible (so your house stops running on mind-reading and vibes) and gives strong-willed kids a way to use their power in a useful direction. You'll get a simple structure, scripts for the messy moments, and one tiny experiment to try this week.

• Why family meetings work: they move problem-solving to a calmer window so everyone's nervous system has a fighting chance
• How to run a meeting that's not a tiny courtroom (or a "tiny Senate" where bedtime gets filibustered)
• The 12–15 minute structure that keeps it short, doable, and repeatable
• The school-psych lens: treat behavior like data (pattern, skill demand, support), not a moral trial
• A simple home–school bridge for transitions (and a ready-to-use "partnership language" script)
• What "derailing" can really mean for big-feeling kids—and how to keep them on the team without blame

• Start an "Agenda" paper on the fridge so problems go there during the week instead of exploding in the morning rush.
• Run one 12-minute meeting this week—even if it's awkward. Timer on purpose.
• Pick one bottleneck (after school, sports gear, bedtime, homework) and choose one one-week experiment to test.
• Use one structure tool (talking object or jobs like timekeeper/note-taker/idea collector).
• End with a 2-minute light closer so your kid's nervous system remembers: "We're okay."

Pick one. One is enough.

• Boredom Buster Guide — https://psyched2parent.myflodesk.com/boredomebusterguide
• Big Feeling Decoder — https://psyched2parent.myflodesk.com/bigfeelingsdecoder
• 50 AI Prompts for Tired Parents — https://psyched2parent.myflodesk.com/aiprompts4parents

"This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and is not medical, psychological, or legal advice. Listening to this podcast does not create a provider-client relationship. If you're concerned about your child's mental health, safety, or development, please consult a qualified professional in your area."

If your child can read the words but can't tell you what they just read—and homework turns into a fight—this episode is for you. Dr. Amy Patenaude takes you inside her brain during a psychoeducational evaluation and shows what school psychologists are actually watching for in reading comprehension + recall, especially in 1st–2nd grade. You'll walk away with a simple framework (hello, 813), a Velcro-vs-Teflon way to think about "it didn't stick," and a 7-day experiment you can use to get clearer answers fast.

• Why a psychoeducational evaluation is not a "verdict" (it's translation + detective work)
• The Velcro vs. Teflon reading metaphor for kids who can decode but can't hold onto meaning
• The 813 framework: the 8 silent questions an evaluator is tracking in real time, and the 3 big buckets that explain the pattern
• How to tell the difference between a comprehension issue and a recall/output load issue
• What "We don't see that here" often means—and how to respond without arguing
• Exactly what to ask for at school so support is specific (not "more time" and vibes)

• Run the 7-day reading experiment: compare answering questions with the text available (text-referenced) vs. without looking back (memory-only).
• Use "mastery sampling" for comprehension: fewer questions, same depth (one straightforward, one vocab-in-context, one main idea/inference).
• Try one scaffold one time: preview 1–2 questions before reading or do a one-sentence "gist" after each paragraph.
• Start a tiny clue log: what task, what demand (more language? more output? end-of-day fatigue?), what helped.
• Use this school script: "Can we compare text-referenced vs memory-only answering, reduce question load for 7–10 days, and track accuracy, prompts needed, and independence?"

Pick one. One is enough.

• Boredom Buster Guide — https://psyched2parent.myflodesk.com/boredomebusterguide
• Big Feeling Decoder — https://psyched2parent.myflodesk.com/bigfeelingsdecoder
• 50 AI Prompts for Tired Parents — https://psyched2parent.myflodesk.com/aiprompts4parents

"This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and is not medical, psychological, or legal advice. Listening to this podcast does not create a provider-client relationship. If you're concerned about your child's mental health, safety, or development, please consult a qualified professional in your area."

Middle school and high school phones aren't just "screens." They're belonging, identity, anxiety management, and a 24/7 stream of social information—right in your kid's pocket. In this episode, Dr. Amy Patenaude helps you set boundaries that protect sleep, school focus, and mental health without turning your relationship into constant conflict… and without becoming the full-time group chat crisis manager.

Anchor line to keep in your back pocket: "Phones are a tool and a resource. They don't make up for connection."

• Why teen brains are extra sensitive to peer feedback (and why the phone feels urgent—even when it's "nothing")
• How dopamine works as seeking (not happiness), and why apps are built to keep the checking loop running
• Why "multitasking" during homework is really task-switching (and why focus falls apart fast with notifications)
• How to set boundaries around bedtime, homework, and family time that are firm—not shamey
• A simple way to handle group chat drama with structure + curiosity (instead of reacting or rescuing)
• How to look at your own phone habits without guilt—because attention is protective, and modeling matters
• What to ask the school when phone rules are inconsistent across classrooms

• Pick your 3 protected domains: sleep, school focus, and mental health. Let those guide your boundaries (not vibes).
• Do a 48-hour "Phone Trigger Audit": when does your teen spiral into the phone most—boredom, anxiety, avoidance, loneliness, social checking?
• Create one protected connection window: a daily 60–120 minutes where phones are down (adults too).
• Homework friction plan: Do Not Disturb + notifications off + phone out of reach; if it's needed, it's used like a tool for one task.
• Nighttime boundary for sleep: Do Not Disturb hours + charging station outside bedrooms (health, not punishment).

Pick one. One is enough.

• Boredom Buster Guide — quick ideas for the "I'm boooored" moments (without you becoming a cruise director). https://psyched2parent.myflodesk.com/boredomebusterguide
• Big Feeling Decoder — make sense of big reactions and stuck behavior, with calmer next steps and scripts. https://psyched2parent.myflodesk.com/bigfeelingsdecoder
• 50 AI Prompts for Tired Parents — help drafting school emails, meeting questions, and in-the-moment scripts when your brain is cooked. https://psyched2parent.myflodesk.com/aiprompts4parents

"This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and is not medical, psychological, or legal advice. Listening to this podcast does not create a provider-client relationship. If you're concerned about your child's mental health, safety, or development, please consult a qualified professional in your area."

Your kid overhears a scary headline, and later drops the question that hits you in the chest: "Why would someone do that… and are we safe?" In this episode, Dr. Amy Patenaude shares a simple, repeatable framework you can remember under stress: HEAR, so you're not scrambling for the perfect words when your own brain goes blank.

3 to 5 key takeaways

• Your kid is usually asking a safety and regulation question, even if it sounds like a "why" question.
• Your nervous system sets the tone. The goal is not perfection, it's being the calmer grown-up than the kid.
• Scary news can stay "open" in a kid's brain like a browser tab, and the questions or clinginess are their body trying to close the loop.
• Two don'ts that make fear bigger: don't info-dump and don't make promises you can't keep.
• The HEAR framework gives you words you can borrow: Hear, Empathize, Anchor safety, Re-check what's sticking.

Steal this 30-second script

Freebie

Grab the Big Feelings Decoder here: https://psyched2parent.myflodesk.com/bigfeelingsdecoder

Resources mentioned

AAP (HealthyChildren.org), APA, NCTSN, and NASP guidance on talking with kids about scary or traumatic news.

If you're parenting a strong-willed kid, you've heard (or thought) some version of: "They just won't." But a lot of "won't" moments are actually "can't-in-that-format / can't-in-this-moment"—and reading it wrong turns into pressure, consequences, and a fight that helps no one. In this episode, Dr. Amy Patenaude gives you a simple, brain-based way to stop debating intent and start spotting the real barrier so you can respond with clarity (and keep expectations without turning into full-time scaffolding staff).

• The difference between won't and can't (and why mislabeling it makes everything harder)
• The 3 clues that it's can't—not won't (and what they look like in real life)
• A fast way to translate vague demands using the Camera Test
• How school psychologists think about "refusal" using a simple ABC snapshot (no jargon, just clarity)
• A 1-week A/B test to figure out if it's a performance load issue (same content, different output)
• A School Translator Minute script for when a teacher says, "He just won't do it."
• Parent scripts you can use tonight—without writing a novel of an email

• Use the 3-clue checklist once a day: body, format, conditions.
• Run one A/B test at home: same content, different output (tell it vs. write it / sentence starter vs. blank page / type vs. handwrite).
• Camera-test one request you say all the time: turn "clean your room" into 1–2 filmable steps.
• Track one pattern for a week: when does it fall apart—after school, rushed mornings, transitions, hunger, noise?

Pick one. One is enough.

• Boredom Buster Guide — quick ideas for the "I'm boooored" moments (without you becoming a cruise director). https://psyched2parent.myflodesk.com/boredomebusterguide
• Big Feeling Decoder — make sense of big reactions and stuck behavior, with calmer next steps and scripts. https://psyched2parent.myflodesk.com/bigfeelingsdecoder
• 50 AI Prompts for Tired Parents — support for drafting school emails, meeting questions, and in-the-moment scripts when your brain is cooked. https://psyched2parent.myflodesk.com/aiprompts4parents

"This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and is not medical, psychological, or legal advice. Listening to this podcast does not create a provider-client relationship. If you're concerned about your child's mental health, safety, or development, please consult a qualified professional in your area."

That "Reading Support / Next Steps" email can make your stomach drop—fast. In this episode, Dr. Amy Patenaude walks you through what a K–2 reading evaluation actually looks at (in normal human language), what "dyslexia questions" are most useful in early elementary, and what to ask for before retention becomes the whole plan. You'll leave with clear questions, calm scripts, and a Monday-morning-ready way to keep the plan specific (not vague "more time").

• How to break "reading" into the real K–2 skill stack (decoding, fluency, comprehension) so you can ask: "Below level in what, specifically?"
• What a good evaluation is actually for: not just scores, but a plan that changes what happens on Monday morning
• The dyslexia questions that matter in K–2 (patterns in phonological awareness, letter–sound connections, decoding, and progress monitoring)
• How to run "retention" through a STOP-sign filter: time is not an intervention—so what changes besides time?
• How to translate school-meeting phrases into parent power ("We'll do interventions" → which one, what dosage, what skill target?)
• Short, calm scripts you can use without writing a 12-page email in the parking lot

• Dot log for 7 days: one sentence a day—what was hard, what helped.
• Bring two work samples to the meeting: one "easy" and one "hard."
• Put three questions on a sticky note (not a novel).
• Reset before requests after school: snack, water, 10 minutes… then reading.
• One sentence for your child: "This isn't pass/fail. This is to learn what helps your brain."

Pick one. One is enough.

• Boredom Buster Guide — quick ideas for those "I'm boooored" moments (without you becoming a cruise director). https://psyched2parent.myflodesk.com/boredomebusterguide
• Big Feeling Decoder — make sense of meltdowns and big reactions (and figure out what they're really telling you). https://psyched2parent.myflodesk.com/bigfeelingsdecoder
• 50 AI Prompts for Tired Parents — get help drafting school emails, scripts, and next-step questions when your brain is done for the day. https://psyched2parent.myflodesk.com/aiprompts4parents

"This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and is not medical, psychological, or legal advice. Listening to this podcast does not create a provider-client relationship. If you're concerned about your child's mental health, safety, or development, please consult a qualified professional in your area."

If "screens off" turns your child into a tiny lawyer with raccoon-level regulation, you're not alone. In this episode, Dr. Amy explains why tablets feel stickier than TV, what dopamine is actually doing in the brain, and how to build a predictable off-ramp so transitions don't blow up your whole day.

• Why stopping screens is a stack of skills, not just "listening"
• Why tablets can be harder than TV (interactive, fast feedback, lots of control)
• What to expect when you tighten a boundary (yes, it can get louder at first)
• How to build an off-ramp that reduces battles without giving up your whole life

• Off-ramp script
  "When the timer goes off, it's time to save, plug in, and move on. You can be mad and we're still doing it."
• Choice within a boundary
  "It's time to be done. Do you want to turn it off now, or do you want me to help you?"
• Preview plus empathy
  "In five minutes, we're turning it off. I know stopping is hard. I'll help you."
• Neutral follow-through line
  "I'm not arguing about it. We can talk when your body is calmer. Right now it's plug in time."

• Pick one tricky tech window (after school or weekend mornings). Consistency in one window beats chaos in five
• Use the same off-ramp steps every time: timer, finish, save, plug in, next step (snack, movement, dinner)
• Create a device home base in a common area (charging spot outside bedrooms if you can)
• Try one Phone Down micro-window for you (10 minutes a day: dinner, car line, bedtime)
• Follow through cleanly once: no lecture, no debate, calm and done

Pick one. One is enough.

• Big Feelings Decoder: a quick way to decode big behavior and respond with more clarity. Grab it here: https://psyched2parent.myflodesk.com/bigfeelingsdecoder

This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and is not medical, psychological, or legal advice. Listening to this podcast does not create a provider-client relationship. If you're concerned about your child's mental health, safety, or development, please consult a qualified professional in your area.