Emotional Dysregulation in Neurodivergent Clients: A Nervous System Approach
Your neurodivergent clients aren’t failing emotion-regulation. Their nervous systems are doing exactly what nervous systems under chronic overload do—fight, flee, or shut down. The protocols you were trained on weren’t built for this. They assume a prefrontal cortex that stays online under stress, a sensory system that modulates predictably, a window of tolerance that expands with practice. For many of your clients, none of those assumptions hold.
This course offers a different starting point: dysregulation as a nervous system event, not a failure of skills. That shift changes what you look for in session, what you say first when a client goes sideways in the room, and which interventions you reach for. It builds on polyvagal theory and somatic approaches that have been adapted specifically for autistic, ADHD, and AuDHD presentations—because the same freeze response looks different across those profiles, and your response needs to match.
By the time you’ve finished, you’ll have a framework for recognizing the three dysregulation states in real time, a set of in-session moves that meet the nervous system where it is, and a clearer sense of how to adapt your therapy itself—not bolt coping strategies on top—so your neurodivergent clients can use what you’re offering.
By the end, you'll be able to
Identify at least 3 neurobiological mechanisms underlying emotional dysregulation in ADHD and autistic clients—including prefrontal-amygdala connectivity differences, dopamine/norepinephrine irregularities, and autonomic nervous system profiles—and explain how these differ from dysregulation in neurotypical presentations
Apply a polyvagal-informed assessment framework to distinguish between sympathetic hyperarousal (fight/flight), dorsal vagal shutdown (freeze/collapse), and rejection sensitive dysphoria in neurodivergent clients presenting with emotional reactivity
Implement at least 3 somatic and nervous system regulation interventions adapted for neurodivergent clients, including vagal toning techniques, sensory-based co-regulation strategies, and session-level adaptations that expand the client's window of tolerance
What's included
Everything comes with the course—yours to keep.
Course outline
3 modules · about 1.6 hours of video.
Why dysregulation is a nervous-system event, not a skills gap—and how the same overload shows up differently across ADHD, autistic, and AuDHD clients.
The three dysregulation states—fight/flight, shutdown, and RSD spiral—and the one in-session move that tells you which one you're looking at.
What to do when a client is dysregulated right now, how to build regulation capacity over time, and how to adapt your practice so it lands.
The Launch Collection
All five courses: adult ADHD · late-identified autism · RSD · adapting CBT & DBT · emotional dysregulation.—5 courses, 13 CE hours.
$477 $637 if bought separately