Today we’d like to introduce you to Danya Maloon.
Hi Danya, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I hold Masters Degrees in Education and Social Administration from Brown University and the University of Chicago respectively, and I have been a child therapist and teacher for the last two decades. In the last ten years, I have shifted my work to play therapy and talk therapy with neurodiverse children and adolescents, primarily children and teens, many of whom have been diagnosed with ADHD or autism.
I am also parent of two autistic children, an eleven-year-old and a seven-year-old. My parenting journey has strengthened my commitment to working with neurodiverse chuildren and their families: In my work, I help families navigate the special education resources available in the Atlanta metro area public and private school milieus; I help autistic children tap into their special interests and help them utilize those interests to form connections with peers and with their family members. Most critically, I offer parent support and feedback as I journey alongside them on the pathway that is parenting a neurodiverse child–which is, in hundreds of ways, entirely unlike parenting a neurotypical child.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No personal journey is smooth; no parenting journey is smooth; and those of us parenting autistic or AuDHD children are forging paths that are never predictable, perpetually changing, and require constant vigilance and focus. Both of my children have very different profiles; my older son, much like his father, a writer and media critic, is extraordinarily bright, gifted, and introverted. He has deep special interests and lives in his own head. My younger son is extremely speech delayed, both in his receptive and expressive language.
My road parenting my older son was one rocky path; my road parenting my younger son was rockier still. I needed to find him the right occupational therapists; once I learned that he is a Gestalt Language Processor (GLP), I had to find him the right speech therapist. Both boys require a great deal of extra support in school.
I have built my career–helping families facilitate their ND children’s path– and forged the path for my children concomitantly. There has been nothing smooth about any of these journeys. But they have been enormously necessary and gratifying all the same.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a child, adolescent, adult, and family therapist. I specialize in working with neurodiverse people and their families in a capacity that is neuro-affirming, validating, and deeply regulating, both physiologically and emotionally. My work is predicated in the assumption that all children, all adolescents, and all families are inherently capable of defining and reaching their own goals and constructing their own solutions to problems. My job is merely to facilitate the conversations and cohere the strategies that empower families and individuals, so that they believe themselves capable of reaching these goals and constructing these solutions.
What sets me apart is my deep investment–both personal and professional–in the autistic community. I advocate for these families and these children because there have been times when my children and my family were mistreated and isolated due to my childrens’ diagnoses. I have been in the same place as so many of my clients, and I walk beside them on their journey, every step of the way.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
The Peaceful Parenting Podcast with Sarah Rosensweet
At Peace Parents with Casey Ehrlich, PhD.
The Explosive Child by Dr. Ross Greene
Lives in the Balance https://livesinthebalance.org/
The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism by Naoki HigashidaIdo
Ido’s Adventures in Autismland: Climbing Out of Autism’s Silent Prison by Ido Kedar
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