From school avoidance to food anxieties: navigating neurodiverse parenting
All In The Mind
ABC
4.4 • 785 Ratings
🗓️ 18 October 2025
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Long before Sarah's daughter Chloe Hayden became an award-winning actress starring in Netflix's Heartbreak High, she was a kid facing immense struggles. Chloe was sensitive to smells, lights and foods; she had no friends; she hated school.
Sarah never suspected Chloe was autistic, but that’s only because her idea of what autism looked like came from the film Rain Man.
Sarah is now a social worker and equine assisted therapist, working with neurodiverse families.
In this episode, Sarah shares her family’s story, her advice for parents navigating school refusal and food aversion – and the shock of getting her own surprise ADHD diagnosis later in life.
You can catch up on more episodes of the All in the Mind podcast with journalist and presenter Sana Qadar, exploring the psychology of topics like stress, memory, communication and relationships on the ABC Listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts.
Guest:
Sarah HaydenSocial workerEquine assisted therapistAuthor, Parenting Different
Credits:
- Presenter/producer: Sana Qadar
- Producer: Rose Kerr
- Senior producer: James Bullen
- Sound engineer: Roi Huberman
Support services:
More information:
Anorexia Nervosa and Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review
Personal essay: "I was unseen, even to myself"
Disability advocates say NDIS changes disregard alternative therapy benefits
Effects of Equine Therapy on Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder: a Systematic Review
Autism and Equine-Assisted Interventions: A Systematic Mapping Review
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | ABC Listen, Podcasts, Radio, News, Music and More. |
| 0:07.6 | Ever since a Beef Wellington was used for murder, I've been wondering, |
| 0:11.9 | why does a mushroom have the ability to kill humans? |
| 0:15.5 | Sure, no one wants to be eaten, but how will the message about your toxicity get out if all the witnesses |
| 0:22.4 | are dead? And if fungi can do that, then what else can it do? Anne Jones here, investigating |
| 0:29.6 | mushrooms. Search for What the Duck and look for mushrooms. Find it wherever you get your podcasts |
| 0:35.6 | or on the ABC Listen app. |
| 0:38.6 | And the audience choice award for best actress goes to Chloe Hayden. |
| 0:46.6 | Chloe Hayden is an award-winning actress and disability advocate, most known for her role in Netflix's recent reboot of Heartbreak High. |
| 0:55.0 | I like you. |
| 0:56.0 | You're smart and you're funny and you're really pretty, like you're really, really beautiful. |
| 1:00.0 | Her character Quinney is autistic, and so is Chloe in real life. |
| 1:05.0 | How close is Quinney to Chloe? |
| 1:08.0 | Well, we look very similar. |
| 1:10.0 | But long before Chloe was a star who was winning awards and going on talk shows, and before |
| 1:18.6 | she was diagnosed, Chloe was just a quirky but struggling kid, with parents who loved her |
| 1:25.6 | very much, but who weren't sure what was going on. |
| 1:29.3 | Before your eldest daughter, Chloe, was diagnosed as autistic, |
| 1:33.3 | what was your image of autism? |
| 1:35.3 | What did you think it looked like? |
| 1:37.3 | My only real experience with it at the time was Rain Man. |
| 1:42.3 | This is Sarah Hayden, Chloe's mum. |
... |
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