TPP 082: Dr. Gail Saltz Talks About the Power of Different & Strengths of Neurodiversity
episode
Full-Tilt Parenting: Strategies, Insights, and Connection for Parents Raising Neurodivergent Children
34 min
2 speakers
8 chapters
transcribed 4 hours ago
Transcript
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
You wanna spend maybe 20% of your time working on a relative weakness, but you really wanna spend about 80% of your time working on a relative strength, because that is where a child is going to get their identity, to feel good about themselves, and to be able to do something, even as something else might be hard, but to be able to do something where they can invest themselves and fly.
Welcome to the Tilt Parenting Podcast, a podcast featuring interviews and conversations aimed at inspiring, informing, and supporting parents raising differently wired kids. I'm your host, Debbie Reber, and today I'm talking with Dr. Gail Saltz, a psychiatrist, speaker, podcaster, media commentator, and an expert on a She's also the author of the new book, The Power of Different, The Link Between Disorder and Genius, and that's what we're going to be talking about today. In our conversation, Dr. Saltz and I talk about the connection between neurodiversity and strengths, how kids can be best primed to tap into their gifts and reach their full potential, what needs to happen to eliminate the stigma associated with being differently wired, and much more.
I hope you enjoy our conversation. And before I get to our conversation, I wanted to let you know I've just launched my new after the show video series. These are two to three minute videos where I highlight key takeaways from the conversations I have with my guests or give you tips about how to take what you've learned and make it work for your family.
What inspired Dr. Gail Saltz to write *The Power of Different*?
So after you've listened to this episode, go to TiltParenting.com slash after the show to watch the episode stemming from my conversation with Dr. Saltz and sign up to get new episodes of the podcast and after the show series delivered to your inbox each week. And now I'll get on with the show. Hi, Dr. Saltz. Welcome to the podcast.
Thank you
for having
me.
Well, we have a lot to get through, and you are a busy woman, so I want to dive right in. And I'd love to start by just talking about your new book, The Power of Different. I'm curious to know, what was your inspiration for writing this particular book? You've worked in so many different areas of mental health, and I'd love to know the story for this particular book.
Sure. This book has been definitely percolating in my mind for many years, fueled by the a combination of things. One is that I have felt for a very long time that we have a very unidimensional way of looking at mental health issues, informed greatly by stigma, that there's sort of this very negative, negative view of being different in any way from others. And while mental health issues can definitely cause suffering, and I'm in the business of treating that, and I think people should get treatment, and I don't want to minimize the suffering, it is really clearly more complex than that. As I have seen in many years of practice where I treat many actually very high functioning people who are really successful, but are suffering nonetheless, obviously the reason they come to see me.
And I was really struck by how many people found ways to use a very particular strength that was associated very much so with the issue that they were struggling with. So that became apparent to me during practice. Then I started hosting a series at the 92nd Street Y called Psychobiography, where we explore what made someone tick, but that subject was, or is, I should say it's ongoing, a person who has been highly successful, really, at a genius level, in terms of changing our world in the arts or in the sciences or in history, and found that pretty much anybody I chose that sort of uniformly is recognized at that level, had a mental health issue. So I was really struck by that. And I've always been fascinated with the subject of genius and
extraordinary creativity and achievement, probably somewhat informed by having grown up with a brother who actually won the Nobel Prize at age 41, which is one of the youngest people. He's an astrophysicist. And, you know, I've always been very fascinated by the way he thinks and his creativity and his curiosity and sort of what goes into making someone like that.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:01–1:31
2
What inspired Dr. Gail Saltz to write *The Power of Different*?
1:31–5:14
3
How does Dr. Saltz define “genius” with a capital G versus a small g?
5:14–9:12
4
What is the U‑shaped relationship between neurodifferences and strengths?
9:12–14:24
5
Why should parents focus 80 % of effort on a child’s strengths and only 20 % on weaknesses?
14:24–15:57
6
How can neuropsychological testing reveal hidden strengths in children?
15:57–17:27
7
What strategies help parents advocate for individualized learning in schools?
17:27–21:01
8
How can we shift the conversation to reduce stigma around neurodiversity?
21:01–34:36
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from Full-Tilt Parenting: Strategies, Insights, and Connection for Parents Raising Neurodivergent Children
TPP 266a: A Conversation with Poet and Advocate LeDerick Horne
TPP 522: A Whole Child Approach to ADHD with Phil Boucher, M.D.
TPP 091a: A Conversation With Steve Silberman About His Book “Neurotribes”
TPP 521: A Conversation with Dr. Peter Gray About Restoring Childhood
TPP 253a: Advocate and Author Jonathan Mooney on Why Normal Sucks
TPP 520: Dr. Özgür Bolat on Why Rewards Backfire and the Real Science of Motivating Kids