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Dana's reflections on 2025.

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What changes when a child’s wellbeing takes the lead and everything else rearranges around it? In this series finale with Paige Carter of Inclusive Oak, we follow a family through unschooling and burnout recovery, anchored by one unforgettable moment: a teacher who shows up at a caravan park simply to say hello, offer a gift, and hold the thread of belonging. No pressure, no performance—just proof that connection travels.

You’ll leave with three anchors to navigate your own journey: educate yourself about your child’s neurotype and what actually helps, connect with people who truly get it, and invest in your own healing so you can stop pushing past capacity and start trusting your gut. If this conversation helped you reframe, share it with a friend, subscribe for more grounded stories, and leave a review to help others find the show. What quiet win are you celebrating this week?

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What if the bravest choice is to stop doing what everyone expects and start doing what your child needs? We sit down with Paige Carter to unpack a seismic family pivot: renting out the house, moving into a caravan, and giving a neurodivergent child time to recover from burnout. It’s not a retreat from learning; it’s a redesign of life around safety, trust, and capacity.

Paige shares how they balanced two very different paths for their kids: keeping Lacey in school to the end of term and donating her uniform later, while removing demands for Oak so he could heal. We dig into the fine line between pushing and guiding, and why she paused most therapies but kept hydro because it consistently led to joy and pride. The wins are wonderfully ordinary: a smooth car ride to drop-off, a self-advocated exit at the zoo without a meltdown, and a spontaneous cold swim where Oakland practiced rockets from physio and laughed his way through the chill.

If you’re wrestling with burnout, compliance anxiety, or the fear of stepping outside the box, this conversation offers a roadmap and real-world proof that small, steady wins add up. Subscribe, share with a parent who needs courage, and leave a review telling us the one rule you’d rewrite for your family.

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This week on The Empowered Parent Podcast I sat down with Sarah Lovett from Our PDA Kids and Paige Carter from Inclusive Oak. Both Sarah and Paige are parents of children with Pathological Demand Avoidance, or Persistent Demand for Autonomy, and both run successful services supporting families just like yours.

Sarah talked about burnout, why it happens, and how we can support children who find school overwhelming. She also shared gentle reminders about parent self care and why looking after yourself helps your child feel safe.

Paige shared her own real life stories with her children, Oaklan and Lacey. She spoke honestly about the hard moments, the small wins, and what has helped her family at home, in the community, and at school.

This episode is full of practical ideas and hope for parents who are struggling with everyday challenges like getting up, eating, brushing teeth, showering, going out, or returning to school.

Join us for a conversation that reminds you that you are not alone, and that small steps can make a big difference.

https://www.ourpdakids.com.au/

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https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/assistance-for-isolated-children-scheme

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Say yes to slower. That simple pivot—away from pressure and toward real choice—turned a chaotic season into a week with fewer meltdowns, easier car rides, and a hydrotherapy session full of laughter. We open up about parenting a PDA child with low demand strategies, how we detach from outcomes, and why autonomy is not a luxury but a lifeline for regulation.

We dive into the recovery–stability–expansion arc and why families often rush past the stability phase. Fresh from the Perth PDA conference, we share takeaways from psychiatrists and lived-experience voices: meltdowns are involuntary, medication is a careful balancing act, and environments that honour autonomy are central to nervous system safety. The science lands in everyday moments—like offering a late yes or no to hydro, letting go of non-essential demands, and checking our own triggers when a child refuses shoes.

Low Demand Parenting by Amanda Diekman

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What happens when you remove the biggest triggers from a child’s day and the seizures stop? We sit down with Paige Carter to unpack a remarkable shift since Oakland left school, the role stress and heat play in absence and atonic seizures, and why the family is cautiously considering CBD oil after exhausting conventional options. From risperidone’s early wins and later costs, to stimulants that sparked agitation, to a thick, red seizure medicine that collided with PDA-driven demand avoidance, this is a grounded look at tailoring care to a child’s nervous system.

We get practical about legal access, quality control, and avoiding THC in paediatric use, and talk through gentle dosing tactics that respect autonomy—tiny drops on bread, full transparency, and slow titration under specialist oversight. Paige shares why a psychiatrist may join the team alongside neurology and paediatrics, and how cause–effect thinking helps Oakland link heat, stress, and seizure risk to asking for support when he needs it. With summer on the way and a year on the road ahead, the family is planning for flexible care while keeping anxiety low and trust high.

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Change doesn’t wait for the perfect schedule, and neither do big feelings. We sit down after a long day to unpack a week where a 30-minute hydrotherapy session brought relief, the weather kept us indoors, and Oakland leaned hard into the comfort of screens and familiar routines. Rather than fight it, we explore why control, predictability, and co-regulation can be smart strategies when a child’s world is filled with packed boxes and looming travel plans.

We get personal about the daily school run for Lacey and the meltdowns that come with transitions: the countdowns that sometimes help, the moments that don’t, and the practical safety steps that keep everyone secure. Paige breaks down why static visuals and tabletop tasks trigger Oakland, offering a different lens for therapists and educators—lighten language, reduce direct demands, and protect autonomy wherever you can. We also talk about weekends, nature, and why water usually eases his nervous system, while staying honest about the days it doesn’t.

Amid family recalibration, Paige reveals The Inclusion Collective—an accessible, privately funded membership for carers seeking practical training and genuine connection. Expect live group education on NDIS reviews and school systems, clarity connection calls for questions and body doubling, masterclasses from diverse voices, and an active chat that doesn’t expect perfection. It’s built to meet real carers where they are and make support feel possible.

https://inclusiveoak.com.au/

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Ever watched a child light up at the zoo, then shut down at the hospital and wondered how to bridge those worlds with care, dignity, and actual access? We dive into a week that held both: a quiet bus at Monarto where curiosity bloomed, and a clinical setting where pushing past tolerance backfired. Along the way, we unpack the practical tools that make community life possible for neurodivergent kids, from hydrotherapy wins to the much-debated disability stroller that functions as a lifeline.

We share how unschooling shows up in real time: learning differences between apes and monkeys on the move, noticing the iPad as a regulator rather than a villain, and prepping for transitions when the water slides are closed but the pool is still calling. At home, we’re packing up to rent the house and planning a lap around Australia: tag-teaming weekends, leveraging ADHD hyperfocus, and keeping eyes on a future with more freedom and family time. Our daughter’s school fatigue gets a humane reset with later starts, backed by a supportive teacher and simple, clear communication.

The heart of the conversation is nervous system literacy. One parent often becomes the safe base, the other the action signal. Naming these roles reduces blame and power struggles, and it guides who should lead what-especially during transitions. We also pull back the curtain on NDIS knockbacks that label strollers as “restrictive practice,” how we used a Variety grant to fund a purpose-built disability stroller, and what to do when the first device can’t withstand meltdowns or strength. Think durable gear, sensory shielding, and realistic logistics that keep outings possible.

Medical trauma needs careful handling. We share scripts that protect capacity- sending videos ahead, setting no-engagement boundaries, and calling time when a clinician pushes a child past their limit. The result isn’t perfect compliance; it’s sustainable care and trust for the next visit. If you’re navigating similar terrain-unschooling, access, advocacy, and family alignment-you’ll find strategies you can use today. If the conversation resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs the validation, and leave a review so more families can find these tools.

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