Resources · Montreal and community

Podcasts, books, newsletters and communities worth your time

6 min · Evidence: editorial · Updated September 3, 2026 · next review in 12 months

You do not need forty sources; you need a few good ones with different vantage points. Below are about twenty, each labelled lived experience, clinician, or organization, with the Quebec and French ones marked. Start with one autistic voice, one clinician and one Quebec organization.

You have read the Quebec pathway pages. Now you want voices, not forms. This is a deliberately short list. Each entry says whether it comes from lived experience, a clinician, or an organization, because those three vantage points disagree in useful ways and you want all three in your ears.

How to read the labels

  • Lived experience: written or hosted by autistic or ADHD people, or by parents speaking as parents.
  • Clinician: psychologists, therapists, occupational therapists. Good on mechanism, sometimes deficit-framed.
  • Organization: nonprofits and publications. Good on navigation, weakest on opinion.
  • QC / FR: Quebec-based or French-language.

None of these are clinical evidence. The evidence lives on the what-helps pages and the methodology page.

Podcasts

PodcastWhoLabelWhy
Tilt ParentingDebbie Reber, parent and authorLived experience (parent)The longest-running strengths-based show for parents of "differently wired" kids. Wide guest list, calm tone.
Beautifully ComplexPenny Williams, parent coachLived experience (parent)Practical, weekly, focused on regulation before behaviour management.
All Things SensoryHarkla, occupational therapy assistantsClinicianThe best plain-language explanations of sensory processing we have found. Sells products; ignore that part.
The Neurodiversity PodcastEmily Kircher-Morris, therapistClinicianPsychology and education conversations; strong on the gifted-and-neurodivergent overlap.
NeurodivergingDanielle Sullivan, autistic parent and coachLived experience (autistic)Autism and ADHD parenting from inside the experience. Smaller show, honest.
Le spectre sur les ondesFédération québécoise de l'autismeOrganization, QC / FRQuebec researchers present findings on autistic families; parents and practitioners respond. Two seasons.
Sur le spectreMontreal autism research group (CIUSSS Nord)Lived experience, QC / FRConversations with autistic people, including on parenting.
ApparaîtreStéphanie Boulay, Radio-Canada OHdioLived experience, QC / FRFive episodes on invisible neurodivergence in women, by a musician diagnosed at 35. Relevant to the "is that me?" moment.

Newsletters and sites

SourceWhoLabelWhy
Neurodivergent InsightsDr. Megan Anna Neff, AuDHD psychologistClinician and lived experienceRare combination: a clinician who is also autistic and ADHD. Visual explainers, affirming.
Self-Regulated ParentKate Lynch, mindfulness coach and ND parentLived experience (parent)Weekly, short, about the parent's own regulation. Pairs with our burnout page.
NeuroClasticVolunteer nonprofit, autistic writers onlyLived experience (autistic)Where to read what autistic adults think about parenting topics. Sometimes sharp; that is the point.
Autistic Self Advocacy NetworkRun by and for autistic peopleOrganization (autistic-led)Policy and plain-language resources on autonomy, communication and rights.
UnderstoodNonprofitOrganizationLarge free hub on learning and thinking differences; US-centred, but the school-advocacy explainers translate.
ADDitudeMagazine, since 1998OrganizationThe biggest ADHD parenting resource. Expert webinars are the best part. Heavy on ads.
InspirationsEnglish Montreal School BoardOrganization, QCMontreal special-needs newspaper and a database of more than 500 local resources.
Maybe I'm AmazedJohn Harris, journalist and fatherLived experience (parent)A father writing about music and his autistic son. Good for fathers who read rather than talk.

Books

  • Uniquely Human, Barry Prizant — a clinician's reframing of autistic behaviour as reasonable response rather than symptom. The best first book for a newly diagnosed family. Clinician.
  • Differently Wired, Debbie Reber — a parent's practical and emotional road map, organized as "tilts" in thinking. Lived experience (parent).
  • The Explosive Child, Ross Greene — collaborative problem-solving; "kids do well if they can." Changes how you handle refusals. Clinician.
  • The Out-of-Sync Child, Carol Kranowitz — the classic on sensory processing; dated in places but still the clearest starting point. Clinician.
  • NeuroTribes, Steve Silberman — the history of autism and the neurodiversity movement. Read it to understand why the vocabulary fights matter. Journalist.
  • Taking Charge of ADHD, Russell Barkley — the standard clinical ADHD parenting guide; deficit-framed, and still useful for structure. Clinician.
  • The Power of Neurodiversity, Thomas Armstrong — the strengths argument, stated plainly. Clinician.
  • How to ADHD, Jessica McCabe — for the parent who suspects they have it too. Lived experience (ADHD).
  • The Invisible Load, "Mum, That Neurodivergent" — being a parent who is yourself ADHD or autistic. Lived experience.
  • Autism Books by Autistic Authors — not a book but a catalogue of more than two thousand autistic-authored titles, by topic and year. Use it to find children's books written by autistic people for your child.

Communities

  • Local, in person: the parent groups in the Montreal directory (MCLD, Autisme Montréal, WIAIH). In-person groups where children play nearby are, in our view, the ones parents return to.
  • Online, free: private Facebook groups for Montreal and West Island parents carry most local word-of-mouth. Ask the organizations above for the names; we do not list private groups.
  • Neurodivergent parents: Montréal Neurodiverse Connection on Meetup, bilingual, for neurodivergent adults and their loved ones.

What is missing

There is no strong independent French-language voice for Quebec parents; the French content is mostly organizational, and good. There is no Montreal podcast for parents of young autistic children in English. If you make one, tell us.

This week

  • Subscribe to one autistic-led source and one clinician source. Unsubscribe from anything that leaves you more anxious.
  • Put one book on hold at the Montreal public library.
  • Listen to one episode on a walk instead of reading one more page.

Sources

Questions parents ask

What is the best podcast for parents of neurodivergent kids?
For a strengths-based, broad view, Tilt Parenting with Debbie Reber is the most established. For sensory questions, All Things Sensory. For a clinician's angle on neurodiversity, The Neurodiversity Podcast. Pair any of these with at least one autistic-led source so you are not only hearing parents and professionals.
Are there French or Quebec podcasts about autism?
Yes. Le spectre sur les ondes, from the Fédération québécoise de l'autisme, presents Quebec research on autistic families with reactions from parents. Sur le spectre, from a Montreal autism research group, features conversations with autistic people. Apparaître, on Radio-Canada OHdio, is a five-episode series on invisible neurodivergence in women.
Which one book should I read first?
Uniquely Human by Barry Prizant, if you want to reframe behaviour as communication. Differently Wired by Debbie Reber, if you want a parent's road map. If you want to hear from autistic people directly, start with the Autism Books by Autistic Authors catalogue.

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