On episode 226 we shared our thoughts on the hit Netflix series Down For Love which follows several people with Down syndrome as they navigate “the triumphs and trials of dating.” If you listened to “Our Thoughts On The Netflix Series Down For Love, ” then you know how much we loved this show and appreciated the conversations that it started. We’re so excited to keep the conversation going with the Producer of the show, Robyn Paterson! Robyn is a filmmaker and screen creative based in New Zealan...
Nov 21, 2023•54 min
Oprah’s favorite things are legendary, just like our gift guide- prepare to unwrap some magic with our 2023 gift ideas! We’ve got some rad ideas for everyone on your list from gifts for kiddos, grandparents, spouses, teachers, and more! Friends, we’ve scoured the corners of creativity and combed through countless options to find the perfect gifts for this years list. From functional, to educational, to downright stylish, and something to wrap it all up with, we’ve got you covered. You know we ca...
Nov 14, 2023•47 min
Friends, we’re excited to have Jack’s Basket founder Carissa Carroll back on the show! Today she’s joined by Dr. Erin Plummer to chat with us all about a new curriculum they are launching for medical providers. They’re providing practical online training for providers to review the literature and allow reflection on their own experiences of giving a diagnosis. What could they do better? What went well? What were they feeling? How might their patient have felt? Carissa shares her own experience w...
Nov 09, 2023•51 min
Friends, thank you for celebrating Down Syndrome Awareness Month with us! Today we wrap up our celebration with self-advocates Craig Blackburn & Heather Hancock-Blackburn. This power couple is talking all about love at first sight, marriage equality, long-distance relationships, and so much more! From shifting narratives to building careers, and competing in Special Olympics across the country these incredible self-advocates have so much to be proud of. Heather’s Mom Lisa and Craig’s Mom Pat...
Oct 31, 2023•57 min
Happy Down Syndrome Awareness Month, friends!! We’re celebrating BIG this month with some incredible self-advocates chatting about everything from entrepreneurship to marriage! Today, we’re excited to have artist, entrepreneur, and soon-to-be Aunt, Grace from Grace Place Art! Grace and Mom Bonnie join us to share about their journey starting a small business and the projects they’ve been working on. What started as a fun project of creating original artwork for family has become an online busine...
Oct 24, 2023•59 min
Happy Down Syndrome Awareness Month, friends!! We’re celebrating BIG this month with some incredible self-advocates chatting about everything from entrepreneurship to marriage! Today, we’re excited to have poet, author, and “levitator of language,” Sid Ghosh on the show! He describes himself as, “just your autistic boy next door with Down syndrome!” His Mom, Dr. Vaish Sarathy joins us as Sid’s communication partner and also shares their journey of using spelling to communicate with the world. Th...
Oct 17, 2023•57 min
Happy Down Syndrome Awareness Month, friends!! We’re celebrating BIG this month with some incredible self-advocates chatting about everything from entrepreneurship to marriage! We’re excited to have Hip Hop Homies founder and director Carol Tingey along with Homies Merrie Ellsworth, Eric Gardner, and Collin Curtis! Founder and director Carol Tingey started dance classes 5 years ago when she saw the need for activities for our friends with Down syndrome who have aged out of high school. Hip Hop H...
Oct 10, 2023•1 hr 5 min
Happy Down Syndrome Awareness Month, friends!! We’re celebrating BIG this month with some incredible self-advocates chatting about everything from entrepreneurship to marriage! We’re excited to have entrepreneur, model, and french fry expert, Ronnie Brown aka “The Fry Guy” on the show to celebrate with us! He’s a wrestling enthusiast that you’ll find at the Crossfit gym in his spare time. After having a feeding tube for six years, it was love at first bite when he tried his first fry! Along with...
Oct 03, 2023•52 min
Have you heard about the Netflix series “Down For Love”?! We’ve been hearing about it from friends, family, and even one of our kid's healthcare providers, all with rave reviews. So we set aside some of the reality shows that we feel a bit guilty about admitting we’ve watched and enjoyed a wholesome reality dating show of people with Down syndrome on a quest for love. This show highlighted so many things for us to think about as parents. The conversations that we’ll need to have about boundaries...
Sep 26, 2023•52 min
Friends, we’re catching you up on the fun and exciting weekend we had at The NYC Buddy Walk! Even on a humid September Saturday, we walked, danced, and celebrated Down syndrome with over 2,000 people in Central Park. Our girl Macy was invited to be a Grand Marshal and we share some highlights of her duties and time on stage! We give our tips for attending not only the NYC Buddy Walk, but some tips from our experience participating in our local walks. Whether you’re part of the flagship walk in N...
Sep 19, 2023•42 min
Friends, we have Kayla Craig joining us back on the show to share the incredible message of her new book Every Season Sacred available for pre-order today (out Sept. 19th)! As a former journalist, author, and podcaster Kayla shares how she wanted to write a book speaking to the deep pains, joys, and injustices that come with being human. She hopes this book will speak to the honest lived experience and meet every parent where they are in life. Through the seasons of parenting her daughter Eliza,...
Sep 12, 2023•50 min
When we first learned about a school that was dedicated to inclusive education practices in a New York Times article this June called A Brooklyn School Pioneers New Ways to Teach Children With Disabilities we knew we had to have them on! Today we’re joined by PS 15, The Patrick F Daly Magnet School of the Arts, Principal Julie Cavanagh, and teachers Rachel Marks and Megan Macfie. It’s through educational pioneers like these educators at PS 15 who are breaking barriers and proving inclusion can w...
Sep 05, 2023•1 hr 5 min
Friends, can you believe we’re already heading into Fall?! We’ve had a busy summer full of adventures! Today, we’re catching everyone up on all the things we’ve been up to the last few months, from vacations to camps to the NDSC Convention. We’re chatting about all our summer fun! We share some favorite moments from seeing and meeting so many friends at the NDSC Convention. We celebrate being recognized with the Media Award at the 51st National Down Syndrome Congress Awards. All of our kids went...
Aug 29, 2023•52 min
Friends, today we’re talking about school and friendship in a different way, this episode is to the parents of our kid's peers. We’re sharing our thoughts on having conversations every kid deserves to have about disability and why it’s important. We think about our own childhoods and our first interactions with people with disabilities. How we as parents can make intentional choices about the way we talk about disability with our kids. We share some encouraging moments we’ve seen other parents a...
Aug 22, 2023•1 hr
We are so excited to have Dr. Vaish Sarathy back on the show! Vaish is here to discuss counterintuitive ideas to jumpstart learning, reading comprehension, and so much more! She’s a Functional Nutrition Practitioner and Math and Science Educator. She comes to Nutrition and Education with a mission to reframe health, cognition, and learning for children with Down syndrome or Autism. Her perspective is shaped by her Autistic, non-speaking 16-year-old son, with Down syndrome: a published poet and a...
Aug 15, 2023•1 hr 1 min
Our kiddos are going into third, fourth, and ninth grade this year! Today, we’re sharing some of the tips, tricks, and routines we’ve found helpful. We’re catching you up on our IEPs for this year…there were some letters back and forth after our end-of-school-year episode! How we get back into those school routines and break all those summer habits of counting pool days as showers and late bedtimes! Our tips for creating independence in our kiddo's routines and so much more. For the parents send...
Aug 08, 2023•58 min
Friends, we’re taking the month of August to talk all things Back to School, today we kick off the series with a discussion on implementing inclusion in the classroom. We’re joined by Tim Villegas, he’s the director of communications for the Maryland Coalition for Inclusive Education (MCIE), a nonprofit that seeks to be the catalyst for the meaningful and successful inclusion of all learners in their neighborhood schools. Throughout his 16-year career in education, Tim has advocated for includin...
Aug 01, 2023•1 hr 8 min
Friends, we’ve all been there, those cringy shoulders-up comments that catch us off guard and leave us wondering why people think saying certain things are ok. They leave us wondering how to respond and a lot of times regretting what we didn’t say. We chat about some of our cringy experiences, what we said (and wish we would have said) in the moment, and so much more. We can’t promise we have all (or any!) answers, but you know we have thoughts and experiences to share! This is a conversation yo...
Jul 25, 2023•58 min
It has been over three years since the Covid-19 pandemic began and today we are chatting about how our school systems have seen continued impact on students, teachers, and parents. Who better to chat with than Larkin O’Leary and Emily King, representatives of the Common Ground Society?! Larkin runs the nonprofit @common.ground.society, what started as “Just Two Moms” doing a presentation on Down syndrome in a preschool classroom has led to advocacy at over 90 different schools in 5 counties and ...
Jul 18, 2023•55 min
Today we’re talking about our personal experiences using disability access services at theme parks! We know how fun (and stressful) day trips can be we’re sharing all our favorite tips and tricks for planning your next theme park adventure. From getting the most out of your access passes, to finding what restaurants offer food allergy-friendly options, our must-have items to pack for the day, and so much more! We’re sharing our personal experiences with using these services at Disney, Universal ...
Jul 11, 2023•44 min
Friends, what better conversation to have on an episode released on a holiday that celebrates America than to talk about the differences between Guardianship, Conservatorship, and Supported Decision-making? We have attorney and Executive Director of Massachusetts Advocates for Children, Anna Krieger here to help explain the differences and similarities between these options. Anna is a nationally recognized expert on Supported Decision-Making and has trained, advocated, and written widely on the ...
Jul 04, 2023•1 hr 4 min
Today we’re talking about our personal experiences with adaptive and inclusive programs. We know both can be successful, we also know what's worked and what hasn’t worked for our kiddos. From basketball, baseball, dance, surfing, theater, gymnastics, ski lessons, soccer, and swim team, we’ve tried what seems like every activity imaginable! We’ve seen our kids thrive in both inclusive and adaptive programs, and we’ve also seen our kids face challenges with both. Let’s pause and realize that these...
Jun 27, 2023•1 hr
Friends, we’re so excited to have National Down Syndrome Congress (NDSC) Executive Director, Jordan Kough on the show today! He’s here to tell us what to expect at the 51st NDSC Convention, discuss the impact of the Down syndrome community working together, and so much more! We chat about the disability rights movement and how advocacy has created meaningful changes that have impacted policy changes at State and Federal levels. How coming together at NDSC Convention and participating in the advo...
Jun 20, 2023•50 min
Dads, father figures, this one’s for you! Today The Lucky Few Dads are taking over to chat about nurturing the connections with their kiddos with Down syndrome and what this journey of fatherhood has taught them so far. Josh, Andy, and Chris share what they’d tell their younger selves and how they’ve grown as fathers so far. Some of the changes they’ve made in their careers and family dynamics that have benefited their families. How important it is to normalize asking for support from friends an...
Jun 13, 2023•48 min
Today on the show we have two talented self-advocates and the stars of the movie Champions! Madison Tevlin and Matthew Von Der Ahe join us to chat about the audition process, working with Woody Harrelson, some behind the scenes secrets, and so much more! They tell us about their characters' sassy and hilarious attitudes and warning an explicit word or two may be used…ear muffs!! From voiceover acting, modeling, speaking at conferences, working at a restaurant, dancing and crafting these dynamic ...
Jun 06, 2023•36 min
Let's give ourselves all a round of applause, high fives, and cheers. We've made it through another school year! We know each year comes with its challenges and triumphs, today we’re reflecting on the good, bad, and in between of the 2022-2023 school year. We catch you up on what grades our kiddos are finishing up and what next year has in store. We’re chatting about homeschooling, charter schools, our frustrations with IEP’s, placement testing, and more. Looking ahead to next year we give advic...
May 30, 2023•1 hr 9 min
Friends, we recognize and appreciate that so many of you come to us for our open, honest, and candid conversations week after week. After seeing the response Heather was receiving over on @theluckyfewoffical under a post that she wouldn’t be celebrating an abled person asking a disabled person to prom, we knew this topic deserved another conversation. We also knew the conversation deserved to include a person with disabilities. Our producer and self-advocate Ashley Fraccalossi joins us for this ...
May 23, 2023•1 hr 15 min
Friends, we’re SO excited to have the star of the newest Disney reimagining of Peter Pan on the show today! Noah Matthews Matofsky joins us all the way from London to chat all about his leading role as Slightly, one of the Lost Boys, in ‘Peter Pan & Wendy’ now streaming on Disney+. Before being scouted for the film by American casting agent Debra Zane, Noah had only ever been in school plays! We chat about what it’s like to be recognized, learning stunts, and he even gives us a performance o...
May 16, 2023•40 min
Happy Mother’s Day, friends!! On this week’s episode we’re celebrating with a candid conversation about connecting with your child with Down syndrome! We know how important making meaningful connections with our kids is, today we’re talking all about nurturing those connections. What we’re doing to develop the relationships with our kiddos, learning new ways to give and receive love, and so much more! And we might even have a surprise performance by none other than our very own Micha Boyett perf...
May 09, 2023•51 min
Friends, we’re so excited to have the brilliant Dr. Brian Skotko and Dr. Noemi Spinazzi back on the show today! They’re here to tell us about a big research project they worked on involving patients with Down syndrome who identify as Black as well as parents of patients who primarily speak Spanish. This work included conducting surveys of parents and primary care physicians from across the country over the last two years. Its primary goal was to identify the barriers for families looking to acce...
May 02, 2023•45 min
