365 Autistic Burnout & Self-Care with Dr. Megan Anna Neff

If your child's meltdowns are getting bigger, more frequent, or harder to predict, you might be looking at burnout, not a behavior problem. In this episode, clinical psychologist Dr. Megan Anna Neff joins me to talk about autistic burnout: what it is, how it shows up differently in kids than adults, and why exhaustion that sleep doesn't fix is one of the clearest warning signs. This conversation is for parents and educators who are exhausted from watching a child struggle and not knowing whether what they're seeing is emotional dysregulation, sensory overwhelm, or true burnout, because those three can look nearly identical from the outside and need very different responses. We talk about: Why autistic burnout involves more than tiredness, including sensory sensitivity spikes and sudden loss of access to skills a child normally has How to tell a hard week apart from real burnout without catastrophizing Why school is such a common burnout trigger for neurodivergent kids, and small accommodations that can help What nervous system regulation and co-regulation actually look like day to day The difference between reassuring a child and validating them — and why validation calms the body's stress response when reassurance doesn't How behavior is communication, and what it means to get curious about a meltdown instead of correcting it You are not imagining how hard this is, and you are not doing it wrong. This conversation is meant to help you understand what's happening underneath your child's behavior so you can respond from connection instead of reaction. If this episode helped you see your child a little differently, I'd love it if you'd like this video, subscribe for more conversations like this one, and share it with another parent who needs to hear it too. Take the free quiz to find out where to start with your neurodivergent child: parentingadhdandautism.com/quiz More from this episode: parentingadhdandautism.com/365