Safe Spaces and Small Wins: Creating Belonging for Neurodivergent Teens and Tweens

What does it look like when a neurodivergent teen finally has someone to sit next to at lunch? When an IEP describes what helps a student connect instead of listing everything "wrong" with them? When a therapy space feels calm enough that a kid actually wants to be there?

Speech-language pathologist Chris Wenger (the Speech Dude) talks with Greg Santucci about the small moments that add up to real change for neurodivergent students. Chris shares how he structures speech sessions using the strewing concept - leaving out options without pressure and letting kids gravitate toward what works for them. He walks through how to shift IEP language from deficit-based to strengths-based, and how to professionally push back on token systems and behavior charts without blowing up the collaboration.

The conversation also covers the DASEL, an informal assessment Chris created that flips the script on how we describe neurodivergent students. Instead of forms asking whether a child "hand flaps" or "fails to make eye contact," the DASEL asks what helps a student feel regulated, what they're looking for in a friend, and what their family's hopes are for the year. The result is reports and IEPs that families actually recognize as their kid.

Chris also gets into what happens when compliance-based approaches in elementary school catch up with students by high school - burnout, school refusal, and mental health crises that could have been prevented. And what it looks like when we focus on belonging instead of fitting in.