Welcome to the Autism, ADHD podcast. I am so happy that you join me today. I want to take a moment and ask for your help. Please take just a second and give the podcast a five-star review.

This will help me continue the podcast and keep bringing you

helpful information. Thanks so much again for taking the time to give that five-star review. Now,

let's get started. Hi, everyone. Today we're talking about a really important topic, which is the reasons it's important

to tell your child about their diagnosis. But first, we're going to talk about fears because

fears often get in the way of this. And that's understandable. There's so many feelings that come up for us as

parents. And trust me, I get this both professionally and personally. We need to recognize our

own fears. And it could be fear for the future. It could be, you know, that telling our children may make it more real

for us, but you've got to recognize them. We've got to be vulnerable and open to understanding

why we might be resistant to telling them. So first I'm going to look at some reason,

some common fears I hear from parents of my patients.

What if they use their diagnosis as an excuse?

The word excuse brings up a feeling of on purpose, right?

Maybe my child will say, you know, I can't do this because I have ADHD

or I can't do this because I'm autistic. There is a big fear of parents that children will do this.

But I want us to put the word excuse aside and think of this a little bit differently. If the child performs

differently than you expect, if they do things and there's a gap between what your expectation is

and what they do, try not to think of this as an excuse, but instead a way your child's communicating to you,

what they need, and an opportunity for you to collaborate with your child.

This is a way to open up the doors to all kinds of great conversations is if your child says, I can't do that

because I have ADHD or this is hard for me because I have ADHD. Believe them.

Believe them. Even if the word excuse pops up in your brain because even though I've been

...