Why Diagnosis Matters: My ADHD and Autism Journey as a Parent and Teacher

Host Amanda Werner shares why she is discussing her family’s diagnostic journey, describing years of feeling overwhelmed and not understanding why daily life felt so hard for her and her child. She explains pursuing evaluations through medical providers and insurance, how her child was diagnosed with ADHD and later autism, and how that helped their family understand needs, strengths, and challenges at school and home. Amanda then describes recognizing similar traits in herself, getting an ADHD diagnosis and finding stimulant medication helpful, and later completing an adult autism assessment that also identified OCD and alexithymia. She reflects on masking, skepticism and imposter syndrome, overlap among diagnoses, and her goal of helping teachers, parents, and students by sharing what she has learned. 00:00 Why Share This Story 03:54 Life Before Diagnosis 06:27 Journal Entry Meltdown 10:18 Starting Child Assessments 11:38 Kaiser Screening And Switch 16:21 Full Autism Evaluation Results 20:29 Lockdown Distance Learning Clues 24:17 Amanda Suspects ADHD 26:52 Medication Struggles And Stimulants 30:50 Adult Autism Assessment 36:59 Imposter Syndrome And Overlap 42:14 Closing Thoughts And Purpose

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Why Diagnosis Matters: My ADHD and Autism Journey as a Parent and Teacher is an episode from Empower Students Now by Amanda Werner.

This episode is 45:02 long.

This episode was published on Mar 7, 2026.

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