How Yes-And Thinking Can Transform Teaching Neurodiverse Students with Mandy Ralston

Amanda "Mandy" Ralston
Founder of NonBinary Solutions & CEO of KidsChoice Therapy
Quotes of the Podcast: “Wisdom is like frequent-flyer miles and scar tissue; if it does accumulate, that happens by accident while you're trying to do something else.” Barbara Kingsolver 
Introduction of Guest BIO – 
Amanda “Mandy” Ralston, M.Ed., BCBA, LBA, is a CEO, behavior analyst, and serial founder with more than 25 years of experience at the intersection of autism services, applied behavior analysis, and technology-driven innovation. She currently serves as Chief Executive Officer of KidsChoice Therapy, leading multi-site pediatric therapy and autism service operations with a focus on clinical excellence, scalable systems, and equity-centered care. Known for her signature nonbinary thinking framework, Ralston speaks nationally on compassionate care, cognitive flexibility, and the future of behavioral health, bringing a pragmatic yet creative voice to conversations about ethics, outcomes, and neurodiversity-affirming practice.
Interview
Agents of Change: Leaders/Innovators.
 30,000 Ft. View – Why so we, as a society invest in education?

• What drew you to education?
• How nonbinary thinking can help educators move beyond “compliant vs. noncompliant” and really understand student behavior in context. 
• What truly neurodiversity-affirming classrooms look like and how schools, families, and clinicians can partner so kids don’t have to be three different people in three different settings. 
• Using nonbinary thinking to rethink “behavior problems” in schools  
• What neurodiversity-affirming practice actually looks like in real classrooms  
• How schools, families, and clinicians can work together instead of in silos 
• How we move past binaries like “good/bad kid” or “compliant/noncompliant” and into more flexible, compassionate ways of understanding behavior. That ties into neurodiversity-affirming classrooms and better partnerships between educators, families, and therapy providers.
• What are the biggest challenges to you?
• What would you like decision makers to know?”

Podcast/ website/ book shoutouts
Thanks to Dr. Karly Kordvoa and the RBT Textbook that I was recently asked to contribute to. We also just talked about it on her podcast podcast The Grey Area.
 
Dr. Genevieve Leonard Series by Estelle Ryan


Support the show
Education Perspectives is edited by Shashank P athttps://www.fiverr.com/saiinovation?source=inbox
Intro and Outro by Dynamix Productions