The School Can't Experience

Raechel Smart is a former primary school teacher, a parent to three neurodivergent children who has navigated years of school non-attendance from the other side of the fence, and is now completing her PhD on school non-attendance in autistic children at Griffith University's Autism Centre of Excellence. That combination gives her a genuinely rare vantage point, and this conversation makes the most of it.

One of Raechel's most striki...

Dr Shelley Moore is one of the most widely cited voices in inclusive education, working with schools, organisations, and jurisdictions around the world on how to make education genuinely accessible for all students. She also hated school herself, was bullied badly enough to lose hearing in one ear, and has spent her career asking why the system keeps trying to fix the kids rather than the conditions.

In this conversation with Leisa,...

Content warning: This episode contains discussion of physical and verbal aggression directed at parents and caregivers by young people in acute distress, including descriptions of property damage, physical assault, and extreme verbal behaviour. Please take care of yourself as you listen. Hit pause whenever you need to, and come back when you're ready.

If you or your family are in immediate danger, please call Triple Zero (000) for a...

Content warning: Tammie briefly mentions suicidal ideation in this episode. We also discuss instances of violent behaviour stemming from dysregulation and overwhelm.

Tammie is a School Can't mum raising an autistic son in rural Victoria. When mainstream school stopped working for her son, there were no alternative schools, no specialist programs, no hybrid options within reach. The choice was mainstream or nothing, and for years, sh...

Kristy Forbes is a neurodiversity advocate, former classroom teacher, PDAer herself, and parent of four PDAers. She's also a School Can't kid — she left school at 15 — who has since built an internationally recognised body of work supporting PDA families. She brings all of that to this conversation.

In this episode Kristy answers questions asked by the School Can’t Australia community in their peer support Facebook...

Pete Wharmby is a neurodiversity advocate, autistic adult, and former English teacher in the UK. He brings a perspective that's genuinely rare in this space: he's been on both sides of the classroom, as a student who masked his way through school while quietly drowning in anxiety, and as a teacher who,without quite knowing why,  instinctively ran his classroom in a way that felt calm, fair, and safe for the autistic students i...

Content note: This episode includes a description of family violence during a period of acute distress for a young person.

Frank is the first grandfather to share his story on The School Can't Experience Podcast. Over several years, Frank was deeply involved in supporting his daughter and granddaughter through one a difficult School Can't journey. His grand daughter, a young girl who desperately wanted to be at school but simply cou...

Most parents advocating for their School Can't young person have sat through a meeting about adjustments and accommodations and wondered whether any of it would actually make a difference. Dr Haley Tancredi's research asks a simpler question: why don't we just ask the student?

Haley is a speech pathologist and senior lecturer at QUT's Centre for Inclusive Education, where her research focuses on student consultation, the practice of...

Content note: In this episode, Laila shares her experience with suicidal ideation during high school. She speaks about this with honesty and care. If you or someone you love is struggling, please reach out to Lifeline on 13 11 14, or if you are under 25, Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800.

Laila was school captain in year six. She loved school, had great friends, played sport, danced ten hours a week, and pushed herself to perform in eve...

Millie Carr is an educator, inclusive outreach coach, and late-diagnosed AuDHDer who has spent years supporting schools to build more inclusive environments through her Unmasking Education work. She's also a parent, her daughter, diagnosed autistic in grade one, is now in year 12 and completing Virtual Schools Victoria after years of high-masking at school took its toll.

In this conversation, Millie and Leisa dig into what masking a...

We're wrapping up our school holidays break with this foundational episode, and if you've only just found us, this is a great place to start.

Dr Ross Greene is the founder of the Collaborative and Proactive Solutions (CPS) model and the author of The Explosive Child and The Kids Who Aren't Okay: The Urgent Case for Reimagining Support, Belonging, and Hope in Schools. 

His core principle, that kids do well if they can, sits at th...

We're taking a short break over the school holidays. We'll be back with some great new episodes very soon! Meanwhile, here is a classic listener episode in case you missed it, or worth listening again.

Esther Jones unschooled all three of her children and now supports parents around the world through their own unschooling journeys via courses, her podcast, and her book, The Parents' Guide to Unschooling Yourself.

In this conversation...

We're taking a short break over the school holidays, so this week we're revisiting one of our favourite episodes from the archive.

Emma Brooksby , Managing Director at U&I Educational Partners, ADHDer, and former school principal, joins Leisa to unpack executive function: the set of skills that let us plan, manage time, switch between tasks, and regulate our emotions. Emma explains why these skills aren't directly taught at scho...

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This episode takes a different shape from our usual format. Rather than a single guest, it draws together voices from more than a dozen past guests and lived experience parents to build a fuller picture of burnout.

At its centre is a reframe: burnout isn't a medical disorder or a character flaw,...

Permaculture designer Cecilia Macaulay joins host Leisa Reichelt for a surprising but genuinely practical conversation about how the design of our home environments can either add to or reduce the nervous system burden on School Can't families.

Drawing on 34 years of permaculture design, and on Japanese cultural practices she's studied over decades, Cecilia introduces the idea that home can be designed to work for us rather than aga...

Tiffany Westphal, director of School Can't Australia, joins host Leisa Reichelt to discuss a common stressful experience facing School Can't families: the school attendance plan.

Drawing on recent survey research conducted with the School Can't Australia community, Tiffany reveals some genuinely shocking findings, including that 46% of families were presented with an attendance plan with no prior consultation, 29% were never consult...

Rachel, a parent from southern Tasmania, joins host Leisa Reichelt to share her lived experience supporting her son, now in Year 11 and engaged with school, through what has been anything but a straightforward journey.

Rachel's son is autistic with PDA (Pathological Demand Avoidance, or Pervasive Demand for Autonomy), ADHD, dyslexia, dysgraphia and a high IQ. That combination created enormous challenges in settings that weren't desi...

Consulting nurse Laura Hellfeld joins host Leisa Reichelt to explore one of the least-talked-about challenges facing School Can't families - hygiene and self-care.

When young people are in burnout, the capacity for everyday self-care tasks like showering, brushing teeth and eating can quietly disappear, often leaving parents feeling confused, worried, and like they're somehow failing.

Laura explains why this happens,...