Kim Singleton
A look at the framework behind Shared Stories Studio — and why every design choice is intentional. When I started building Shared Stories Studio, I wasn’t trying to create a new kind of resource just to be different. I was trying to solve a real problem: autistic learners and AAC users were being handed tools … Read more
Appointment Support for Autistic Learners Begins with the Adults, Too You know the feeling. The appointment is days away, and something in you is already bracing. You run through the variables: how the waiting room might smell, whether the provider will be running late, what you will do if the learner you are accompanying cannot … Read more
New environments are part of everyday life. A visit to a relative’s house. A community event. A new playground. A family trip. A different store. Even a place we’ve never been before can bring new sights, sounds, smells, and routines. For many autistic learners, navigating a new environment is significantly more than a change of … Read more
Sometimes disappointment doesn’t look sad. Sometimes it looks like: And sometimes the child looks just as surprised by the reaction as everyone else. The behavior is visible. What the body is carrying usually isn’t. Adults often see the outside of disappointment: the yelling, the refusal, the tears, the shutdown, the anger. But many neurodivergent children … Read more
Why constipation in neurodivergent kids is so often misread — and what their bodies actually need Some of the most chronic, exhausting, quietly distressing experiences in a neurodivergent child’s life happen in the bathroom — or don’t happen there, and that’s the problem. Constipation, withholding, irregular patterns, sensory distress around toileting — these are everywhere … Read more
A Regulation-First Starter List for Families of Neurodivergent Kids When school ends, the structure that has been quietly holding a child’s day — the bell schedule, the predictable transitions, the sensory containers of the classroom — fades. For many autistic kids, that external scaffolding has been doing real work all year. It has been telling … Read more
Strong energy states — the ones often labeled as outbursts, meltdowns, aggression, or “challenging behavior” — are rarely about the moment they happen in. They’re usually about everything that came before. For many neurodivergent learners, strong energy is the end of a long chain: By the time the strong energy appears on the outside, the … Read more
What we miss when we mistake stillness for calm — and what neurodivergent learners need instead Some of the most anxious learners in our classrooms, therapy rooms, and homes don’t look anxious at all. They look composed. Quiet. Maybe even “good.” They turn in the worksheet. They nod when the teacher checks in. They sit … Read more