I’m excited to be bringing you a show on the topic I probably get requested the most—how to manage the dynamic between siblings, specifically when one or more siblings is neurodivergent and the other (or more than one) is neurotypical. When I was prepping for this episode, I posted on the TiLT Parenting Facebook Page and asked for questions for my guest and was flooded with so many concerns and challenging scenarios.
I searched high and low to find an ideal guest to get into all of it, and found a fantastic one—Dr. Jill Emanuele, the Senior Director of the Mood Disorders Center at the Child Mind Institute in New York City and a clinical psychologist with a breadth of experience in the evaluation and treatment of children and adolescents with mood and anxiety disorders.
This is a jam-packed episode as we get into it all—how to handle double standards when it comes to time and energy and attention focused on different children, how to talk to our kids about what’s happening with their sibling, repairing sibling relationships in the aftermath of intense, aggressive, and even harmful behavior, and so much more. If you have more than one child and are struggling with what’s happening between them, I hope this episode gives you some hope, some insights, and some practical strategies to bring a little more peace into your day to day.
About Dr. Emanuele: Jill M. Emanuele, PhD is the senior director of the Mood Disorders Center at the Child Mind Institute. She has a breadth of experience in the evaluation and treatment of children, adolescents, young adults, and adults with mood disorders, as well as the spectrum of psychiatric disorders, with a special focus on complex presentations. Dr. Emanuele has expertise in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), family therapy and mindfulness training, and she has experience with diverse populations of children, adolescents and their families. Dr. Emanuele is intensively trained in dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), with 18 years of experience in providing individual and group DBT to adolescents and their families, while supervising and teaching students and clinicians in providing DBT services. Dr. Emanuele is also intensively trained in a new adaptation of DBT for children and preadolescents.
In addition, she has presented at academic medical centers, professional conferences, public and private schools, and community organizations on the topics of mindfulness, adolescent depression and suicide, adolescent self-injury, DBT, and adolescent borderline personality disorder, and co-authored book chapters on some of these important topics. Dr. Emanuele is dedicated to increasing public education and disseminating empirically supported treatments for mood and anxiety disorders, and mindfulness-based interventions. She is devoted to providing children and adolescents exceptional treatment that builds a strong foundation for growth, self-discovery and success in every individual.
THINGS YOU’LL LEARN FROM THIS EPISODE:
- What are the most common challenges faced by parents raising neurodivergent siblings (or when one or more is neurotypical)
- How parents can deal with resentment (and perhaps trauma) among neurotypical kids whose atypical siblings take up so much energy or impact the family
- Strategies for handling it when aggressive or challenging behavior is directed at the neurotypical child
- How to help siblings heal emotional wounds from the sibling dynamic
- What are realistic goals regarding what siblings’ relationship with each other could look like
- Handling jealousy and comparison among siblings
- How to talk with children about neurodifferences in the family
- How to stay objective and calm and create safety when dysregulated siblings fight
RESOURCES MENTIONED:
- Author and Parent Educator Julie King Talks About Sibling Dynamics (podcast episode)
- Siblings Under Stress (article on Child Mind)
THANKS SO MUCH FOR LISTENING!
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