6 People Changing the World of Learning Differences and Special Needs
Photo:
Penny Williams and her son Luke. Photo credit: Parenting ADHD and Autism
Penny WIlliams — ADHD and Autism
Although Penny Williams was tired of always thinking, talking and writing about her son’s ADHD, friends convinced her to write “Boy Without Instructions: Surviving the Learning Curve of Parenting a Child With ADHD.”
“Now I feel like helping other parents raising kids with ADHD is my purpose,” says Williams.
She’s since written four award-winning books, hosts a podcast and offers online parent training programs and parent coaching through her Parenting ADHD and Autism website. She wishes people recognized that ADHD is so much more than a difficulty with sustaining attention.
“Components like emotional dysregulation and executive functioning deficits can be very disabling but are seen by the unknowing public as character flaws,” she says. "Not understanding these kids — and adults — as a collective is truly damaging to them.”
Williams has also been helping moms let go of the idea of perfect parenthood. “I thought it was mostly just me, but I realized how hard most moms are on themselves. Self-compassion is so important for parents, too,” says Williams, who does this work during parenting coaching, in online courses and podcasts and within her retreats for women (her next is in Asheville, North Carolina, from May 4 to 6).
