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Join Jess Ronne, author, speaker, and caregiver advocate as she chats with caregivers about the joys and trials of raising a child with disabilities. Jess is also the founder of The Lucas Project, a non-profit which provides recognition & resources for special needs families & associate director of the Unseen film. She & her husband Ryan live in Michigan with their 8 children, including their disabled son Lucas. Her story of beauty from ashes is detailed in her four books. To follow the ongoing saga she can be found at www.jessplusthemess.com
Jess Ronne separates mothering from daily care for her adult son; you may need that distinction.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A candid episode about grieving an imagined future while loving a child fully in the present.
Ashley Jones gives grief a careful place in family life, describing the ache of letting go of the future she once pictured for her son while continuing to love him fully as he is.
Amy Julia Becker connects caregiving, distraction, and faith through honesty, humility, and hope.
Amy Julia Becker treats caregiving as both daily work and inner formation, paying close attention to the habits that make care harder: distraction, control, and the urge to dodge discomfort.
A grounded conversation about lifelong care, public support, and advocacy for autistic adults.
Tyler Hudson's conversation about raising Lyric, his 18-year-old son with profound autism, centers on the hard turn from school-age planning to adulthood.
A candid conversation about disability, sibling guilt, and the identities families build around unexpected change.
Jillian Benfield's conversation with Coffee with Caregivers looks at how an unexpected diagnosis can alter a family's sense of identity. A former news anchor and reporter, Benfield reflects on life as a military spouse and mother of three, including Anderson, who has Down…
A candid, grounded conversation about caregiving, shame, and a mother's right to stay fully herself.
Kelly's conversation about caregiving centers on a hard, familiar question: why parents can battle fiercely for their children yet hesitate to advocate for themselves, their marriages, and their other children.
Daily TED and TEDx talks hosted by Elise Hu, spanning science, psychology, and creativity.
Pop culture, personal stakes, and room for a tangent.
Lawfare's weekly panel turns Supreme Court rulings and war-powers fights into legal debate.
On Coffee with Caregivers, Ashley Jones tells Jess Ronnie the family was in a strange position of hoping Gordon's evaluation would confirm autism because insurance needed the label to cover therapy.
["Amy Julia Becker says her daughter Penny, 20, has Down syndrome, still lives at home, and changed how she thinks about independence and interdependence.", "She links To Be Made Well to Mark chapter 5, where a woman has been bleeding for 12 years and a synagogue leader's 12-year-old daughter is dying.", "Becker says distraction keeps people from reaching the bottom of pain, and she uses 'honesty, humility and hope' as a healing spiral.", "She also describes lower-back pain, a yoga teacher's line about being 'out of line' in life, and the community tools she recommends for overwhelmed caregivers."]
["Coffee With Caregivers speaks with Tyler Hudson, a Texas-born musician now in Australia, about raising his son Lyric, who has profound autism and is mostly nonverbal at 17.", "Tyler describes Lyric's echolalia, elopement, toilet-training struggles, and a rural Victoria search where police found him after he crossed a log over a river.", "He also talks through school changes in Victoria and Tasmania, NDIS support, risperidone and SSRIs for anxiety and OCD, and the move toward adult care planning.", "The conversation turns to his book Social Adjuvant, his vaccine-causation questions, and the caregiving future he is building for Lyric and his daughters."]
Jillian Benfield says her son Anderson was diagnosed in utero after a 22-week ultrasound and a later call that led to a 99.9 percent Down syndrome result.
Host Jess Ronne interviews Eileen Lam, an autistic mother of children with autism, about her caregiving journey and advocacy work.
Jess Ronne interviews Jason, a father and pastor, about raising his son Jack who has non-speaking autism, focusing on the teenage years and the upcoming transition to adulthood.
Jess Ronne interviews Debbie about her lifelong caregiving journey for her disabled father and autistic son.
Kelly Coleman says caregiving is a full-time job separate from motherhood, and she has built her book around that distinction.
Jess Ronne interviews Russ, a father of two sons with disabilities, about his journey as a caregiver and advocate for special needs families.
Jess Ronne interviews Mary Barbera about her journey as a mother of a son with autism, discussing early signs and challenges.