Taming Tech:
Practical Strategies for Neurodiverse Kids

As technology becomes ever more entwined in daily life, families everywhere are feeling the strain, especially those raising neurodiverse children. In her upcoming Summit presentation, Dr. Jenny Radesky will share research-backed strategies that will leave you with practical ways to support your child’s digital wellbeing.

In the past 5 years, I haven’t met a single family that doesn’t feel overwhelmed by technology. The tech industry is moving fast and breaking things, while not always considering the unique needs of children – much less neurodiverse minds. I’m a developmental behavioral pediatrician and media researcher, so while I get frustrated with the glut of attention-grabbing technologies that families are forced to navigate, I also believe that families have the power to make changes that meet the needs of their unique kids.

In my upcoming talk for the Help Group, I’ll be offering research-backed, practical strategies for how to help children and teens with autism, ADHD, or other developmental differences have healthy relationships with technology. We will start in early childhood, when screens and tablets can start to become a coping strategy for stressed parents and dysregulated littles, but how this can get in the way of social-emotional development if excessive. We will talk about YouTube (the #1 place where kids are spending their attention!), my concerns about short-form videos, and how to tell the slop from the good content. We will cover video games, and how not to let gaming become your child’s only preferred activity. Finally, we will tackle the decisions about getting a first phone, what should be on it, and how to navigate social media and newer landmines like AI chatbots.

Throughout these tech milestones, I’ll focus on a few key insights that parents say resonate with them and support their tech decision-making:

1. Tech should have a time and a place. Modern platforms are designed to want our attention (and our ad dollars!) 24/7, but they don’t deserve to invade the times and spaces when we want our kids to sleep, play, read, or connect in-person.
2. Understanding the feed. Algorithmic feeds mean that a computer, not a human, is deciding what our kid might watch next. Feeds recommend content based on a number of factors that might not align with your parenting goals.
3. Having replacement activities. Neurodiverse kids are drawn to media because it offers a predictable sensory environment, helps them calm down, makes socializing easier, or gives them pleasure and a sense of accomplishment. Key to regulating screen time is finding offline activities that meet those same needs.
4. Parent wellbeing matters. Parents deserve some downtime while kids are occupied with screens, but many parents say they spend more time than they want on their phones, or it becomes an avoidance strategy. Healthy tech changes are most effective when parents take part, too.
5. Tech needs to be designed with kids’ needs in mind. From predators contacting kids in gaming chats, to AI chatbots giving lethal advice, sloppy and unsafe designs abound online. It doesn’t have to be this way: I’ll discuss how tech design could make it much easier to set limits and stay safe.

Whether you’re a tech minimalist or a tech-embracing family, there are many ways to do this right. It takes a lot of work and energy, but if there is one thing I know about parents of neurodiverse kids – they are passionate and resourceful!