The Special Needs Mom Podcast

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The Special Needs Mom Podcast

Kara Ryska

277 episodes

3 days ago

Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) In this episode, I sat down with my friend Brittney Crabtree from Moms Talk Autism to talk about something few of us say out loud, aggression in our homes. Brittney shares what life looks like parenting her non-speaking son with profound autism, while I share parts of our story with Levi, a brain tumor survivor with his own set of challenges. Together we explore what it’s like to navigate these moments, when love an...

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Self-Improvement,

Health & Fitness,

All content for The Special Needs Mom Podcast is the property of Kara Ryska and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.

Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) In this episode, I sat down with my friend Brittney Crabtree from Moms Talk Autism to talk about something few of us say out loud, aggression in our homes. Brittney shares what life looks like parenting her non-speaking son with profound autism, while I share parts of our story with Levi, a brain tumor survivor with his own set of challenges. Together we explore what it’s like to navigate these moments, when love an...

Show more...

Self-Improvement,

Health & Fitness,

Episodes (20/277)

The Special Needs Mom Podcast

Why Fixing Feels So Heavy (and Acceptance Feels So Light) with Carrie Holt

Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) This week, I invited my friend and returning guest Carrie M. Holt back to talk about something that every special needs mom wrestles with, the difference between fixing and accepting our children. We unpacked what those energies feel like, how they show up in motherhood, and how they connect to deeper themes of fear, control, grief, and peace. We also talked about how acceptance doesn’t mean giving up. It means seei...

6 days ago

59 minutes

The Special Needs Mom Podcast

Balancing Identities: Mother, Professional, Advocate, Woman with Cynthia Schulz

Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) This week, I got to sit down with the wise and feisty Cynthia Schulz, author of Shine On: Raising Our Children with Disabilities to Lead Bright, Happy Lives. Cynthia’s daughter is now 40, and hearing from a mom who’s decades down the road was such a gift. We talked about what it was like when she first received her daughter’s diagnosis, by mail, in the most abrupt and heartbreaking way, and how she decided early on ...

1 week ago

44 minutes

The Special Needs Mom Podcast

Stepping Into Peace: The Power of One Hour a Week

Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) Today’s episode is a little different. I’m pausing our regular programming to share something close to my heart: The Pathway to Peace Coaching Community. This podcast connects us week after week, and still, sometimes we need a space to go deeper to actually live out the things we talk about here. That’s what Pathway to Peace is. It’s part coaching, part community. A place for special needs moms to rediscover themsel...

2 weeks ago

23 minutes

The Special Needs Mom Podcast

Things Will Get Better with Sara Davis

Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) In this episode, I talk with Sarah Davis, a wife, homeschooling mom, and former librarian raising her 7-year-old son on the autism spectrum. We first met through The Courage to Raise, a collaborative book where Sarah shares her story of grief, hope, and faith. We talk about caregiver burnout, learning to accept help, and how faith and community make a difference. Sarah opens up about her son’s medical complexities, ...

3 weeks ago

53 minutes

The Special Needs Mom Podcast

What's Wrong with Me?

Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) This week, I’m talking about a pattern I see often in caregiving—the heartbreaking habit of turning on ourselves when life feels too hard. I share how our minds default to “something must be wrong with me,” and why the truth is simpler: hard things feel hard because they are hard. Inside the episode: The self-blame cycle so many of us fall into.Three ways to shift: accepting reality, noticing comparison traps, and r...

1 month ago

21 minutes

The Special Needs Mom Podcast

When Motherhood Awakens the Fighter in You with Nikki McIntosh

Send us a text In this episode, I sit down with Nikki McIntosh, founder of Rare Mamas® and host of the Rare Mamas Rising Podcast. Nikki is also the author of Rare Mamas: Empowering Strategies for Navigating Your Child’s Rare Disease, a book born from her family’s journey after her son’s rare diagnosis. We talk about the shock of those early days, the fight for treatment, and what it’s like raising one child with a rare condition and another without. Nikki shares how she turned pain into purpo...

1 month ago

49 minutes

The Special Needs Mom Podcast

Nobody Else Has It This Hard

Send us a text This week I’m sharing a really personal story—not all the details, but the emotional experience of finding myself in a very sudden, very public, and really scary moment with Levi. It was one of those times where I could’ve spiraled, but something shifted in me. We’re talking about the sneaky nature of self-pity, how it isolates us, and how powerful it can be to not go down that road—even when things are objectively really hard. I reflect on how my work as a coach gives me daily...

1 month ago

15 minutes

The Special Needs Mom Podcast

What Happens When You Stop Looking for a Way Out with Catherine Marston

Send us a text This week on the podcast I got to talk with Catherine Marston—a mom, health coach, author, and 14-time Ironman triathlete (yes, you read that right…14!). Catherine’s story is one of grief, resilience, and learning how to take small, consistent steps toward healing and strength. She shares about losing her daughter Helen, how she processed that deep grief, and the ways she found power in self-acceptance and exercise. I loved how real she was about starting small—sometimes just 1...

1 month ago

33 minutes

The Special Needs Mom Podcast

From Luxury Estates to Special Needs Homes with Kelly Dixon

Send us a text This episode was such a treat. I got to catch up with my longtime friend Kelly Dixon—someone who knew me way back in my landscaping days (pre-leadership Kara 😅). Kelly has a fascinating background managing ultra-wealthy households, and while she’s not a special needs mom—or a mom at all—her systems-thinking brain totally applies to ourworld. We talked about what it looks like to run your home like a well-functioning operation: from checklists to communication, boundaries to bur...

2 months ago

56 minutes

The Special Needs Mom Podcast

Extreme Mothering

Send us a text I didn’t plan to end up emotionally fried by the end of summer... but there I was. I hit my limit. So, I did something radical (for a special needs mom, at least): I took myself to the beach. Alone. No kids. No caregiving. Just me, the ocean, and a much-needed van therapy session overlooking the waves. And wouldn’t you know it—while body surfing, I ran into a fellow special needs mom friend, totally by surprise. The odds were wild. We both chose the same beach, at the same time...

2 months ago

21 minutes

The Special Needs Mom Podcast

The Crushing Weight of Responsibility

Send us a text This replay from the archives is just as relevant now as it was in 2022. If you’ve ever felt the crushing weight of being the one who holds everything together for your child with disabilities, you’re not alone. In this episode, I share listener reflections on what feels heaviest—like being the only one who knows every detail, the fear of forgetting meds, or never fully relaxing. I also offer a powerful visual: dragging a massive crate filled with your daily responsibilities, i...

2 months ago

20 minutes

The Special Needs Mom Podcast

Fire Hazards & Other Summer Highlights

Send us a text This one’s light, real, and a little bit ridiculous in the best way. I showed up ready to share a few stories from the trenches—some funny, some a little gross (parenting, right?), and all with the hope that you’d feel just a little less alone in this wild life of ours. We talked about: 🧯 Levi’s new hobby with matches (and yes, I’m taking suggestions).🍋 My sad little lemon tree and how it became a metaphor for this burnt-out end-of-summer feeling.⏰ The specialist appointment th...

2 months ago

22 minutes

The Special Needs Mom Podcast

Sleep Masks, Seizures & Shifting Seasons with Brooke Turbyfill

Send us a text This week, I’m joined by my friend and fellow writer, Brooke Turbyfill. We met as co-authors of The Courage to Raise, a book written by moms navigating the special needs parenting journey—and somewhere between that and a road trip in an electric blue rental car, we became fast friends. Brooke shares what it was like entering the special needs world later in parenting, with both of her teens receiving epilepsy diagnoses. We talk about the challenges of finding community, honorin...

3 months ago

44 minutes

The Special Needs Mom Podcast

Carriers of Hope: A Conversation with Founders of Labeled and Loved Julie Hornok and Dr. Regina Crone

Send us a text This episode lit me up. I had the gift of sitting down with Julie Hornok and Dr. Regina Crone—co-founders of Labeled and Loved. Together, they’ve created something powerful for moms like us navigating disability and special needs: connection, purpose, and spaces where you don’t have to explain yourself. Julie brings over 20 years of experience in the special needs world—as a mom, speaker, behavioral program facilitator, and author of United in Autism. You might’ve seen her feat...

3 months ago

56 minutes

The Special Needs Mom Podcast

Let Go of Fair, Move Toward Care with Kim Botto

Send us a text This week’s guest is Kim Botto, a longtime children’s and student ministry leader, TBRI® Practitioner, and all-around passionate advocate for kids who don’t always fit the mold. She’s spent decades creating spaces where every child—regardless of background, behavior, or ability—can belong, contribute, and grow. Kim and I talked about what happens when places like school or church aren’t safe or supportive—especially for kids with trauma, disabilities, or neurodivergence. She sh...

3 months ago

44 minutes

The Special Needs Mom Podcast

Nine Moms, One Book, Infinite Courage

Send us a text This week, I’m sharing something exciting: I co-authored a new book called The Courage to Raise! It's a collaborative project with eight other special needs moms, and I’m proud (and a little surprised) to be a published author again—especially since writing has never come easily to me. In this episode, I talk about how the opportunity came about (perfect timing while I was already traveling), what my chapter is about, and the special tool I included called Tolerating the Intole...

3 months ago

15 minutes

The Special Needs Mom Podcast

When Your Story Gets Disrupted

Send us a text This episode is a rebroadcast of episode 87 that was originally aired May 2022. This episode I’m talking about what happens when our story gets disrupted. Likely, we all feel this way about diagnosis, a relationship ending or some other trauma in our lives. What narrative do you tell yourself in this special needs mom life when story you thought you were going to have gets disrupted. “I’m going to be tied down forever. “ “I can’t bring more children ...

3 months ago

21 minutes

The Special Needs Mom Podcast

Worry and Anxiety: A Rebroadcast

Send us a text This episode is pulled from the archives way back in September 2021. It is episode 56 and it aired shortly after finding out my son Levi’s brain tumor had returned. It was a season full of fear and uncertainty—and that’s exactly what I talk about here: worry and anxiety, and how they show up in our lives as special needs moms. I share real examples from that time and explore: Why worry can feel like responsibility (but isn’t)How trying to control the uncontrollable drains usWha...

4 months ago

32 minutes

The Special Needs Mom Podcast

A Midsummer Check In

Send us a text Welcome to summer—ready or not! In this episode, I share a super personal mid-summer check-in that started with a frazzled Voxer chat with my friend Nicole and ended with some surprisingly helpful advice from... ChatGPT. (Yep, really.) I walk you through a real-life day in the life: four kids, a business to run, complex caregiving, and an unfiltered look at what it’s like to try and do all the things during summer break. Spoiler alert: taquitos were involved. I also talk throug...

4 months ago

27 minutes

The Special Needs Mom Podcast

When the Diagnosis Breaks You Open with Erin Trier

Send us a text This conversation with Erin Trier was equal parts heart, healing, and hard truths. Erin is a mom of four, a health coach, and someone who knows the weight of navigating rare diagnoses and emotional overwhelm. She shares about her son Brendan’s long, winding path to a diagnosis of Tuberous Sclerosis Complex—and what it’s been like to mother through so much uncertainty, grief, and resilience. We talked about how it feels when your family life doesn't look the way you dreamed it w...

4 months ago

46 minutes

The Special Needs Mom Podcast

Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) In this episode, I sat down with my friend Brittney Crabtree from Moms Talk Autism to talk about something few of us say out loud, aggression in our homes. Brittney shares what life looks like parenting her non-speaking son with profound autism, while I share parts of our story with Levi, a brain tumor survivor with his own set of challenges. Together we explore what it’s like to navigate these moments, when love an...