Onwards and Upwards Psychology

04/04/2026

This pencil grip workshop looks to be a great resource for families interested.

Does your child hate writing? Here’s why (and how to help).

If any of this sounds familiar…
✏️Your child groans at homework.
✏️Their handwriting looks messy or illegible, no matter how much they practice.
✏️They get frustrated, shut down, or refuse to write altogether.
…most parents think it’s a pencil grip issue, or something else.

But actually, writing struggles often have nothing to do with their hands and the answer is NOT ‘more practice’.

On 15th April at 8pm, I’m running a FREE live workshop where you’ll learn:
✅The real reason writing feels hard for your child.
✅How sensory & motor skills affect handwriting (and how to improve them).
✅ Why traditional handwriting practice doesn’t work, and what to do instead.

This is the exact method I teach inside my 10-week writing programme and is all rooted in brain science - and this workshop is totally FREE!

Save your free spot & get the replay by signing up NOW - link below.

(If you’ve ever wondered “why does my child struggle so much with writing?” then this workshop will give you the answer!)

02/04/2026

Listening to BIPOC voices is the bare minimum we're asking for.

To be lifted up to equity? There in lies the real work, work that is ongoing and doesn't really have a destination.

How do we take our ego out of the picture, to know that we're going to get it wrong, and we actually don't always need to get it right? That constructive feedback is kindness, and assumes you're an ally who wants to know better to do better.

I've championed better representation for a while now, and we are beginning to see it emerge. More diversity in conferences is a lovely thing to witness, but we can't just stop at representation.

We've got to unpack the internal biases too.

"She got here because of representation"

"They're too aggressive, I can't stand it"

"That was great, but I can do it better"

"I don't want to share their work because I will be seen as not capable of doing it myself"

Let's move to valuing and championing each other. whilst recognising we have different barriers, different ways of being in this world that is not a "one size fits all". How do we make space for this, and know that acknowledging another person's struggles does not diminish your own.

"What-About-Me"isms will collapse this community.

Unlearning is uncomfortable, yes, but on the other side of that discomfort is the freedom to see yourself clearly and to see your community with new eyes.

We live in a world that tells us to compete, to hustle individually, to go awn' and climb that mountain, even if it means leaving others behind.

But our liberation has never been, and will never be, individual. When we shift from "how do I get mine" to "how do we all rise", *everything* changes. It's okay to wait on the mountain and let others climb.

Share the resources.

Pass the microphone.

Open the door, hold it open, invite those who haven't usually been invited right on into the VIP seat. In fact, leave the scarcity mindset behind.

So here's a gentle invitation to sit with the reflection questions posed to you here. The work is collective, the healing is collective, and...... so is the joy. 😍

31/03/2026

April is upon us, and it's Autism Month!

From awareness to acceptance, advocacy to action, we're doing something, whether it's learning, reflecting, highlighting, advocating and everything in between.

We're listening to Autistic creators. Actually Autistic creators to be part of the shift.

Before we begin, I wanted us to take the time to intentionally curate our month ahead.

Who will we learn from?

What perspectives will we seek to be more inclusive?

Who needs to be heard this month the most, or are we listening to perspectives that we hear really all year?

So with that in mind, drop in some of your favourite neurodivergent, creators from different marginalised groups down below for some lovely follows and to curate a more intersectional feed.

I've given you a slide as a prompt, but it's a non-exhaustive list. Feel free to add other intersections down below!

29/03/2026

I feel like there's a long overdue conversation to be had, y'know?

There are two camps I keep seeing online — the "ADHD is scary" camp, and the "Radical Acceptance of Executive Dysfunction, This-Is-My-Life" camp.

But I want us to talk about the in-between that maybe gets lost, and that's the quiet shame that lives in the middle of the journey, and rears its ugly head on your darkest days.

The part where you're *trying* to grow toward acceptance( and genuinely making progress) but the outside world is still whispering (and sometimes shouting):

NOT. GOOD. ENOUGH.

I mean, hands up if you're officially diagnosed and the whispers in your head STILL say, "Do I really have ADHD or am I just actually lazy?"

Like.... I get it. We're in the beginning stages of building the awareness to clock a voice that's been there our whole life, it's practically encoded into our nervous system.

What I'd like to do here is to invite you to an embodied experience. I love how social media gives us this outlet to connect, but I want us to spend some time together feeling - and naming - when shame arises, and allow it to come into the light.

There's a whole host of other amazing speakers at the Victorian ADHD Conference that I think you'll get immense value from every single one, but I'd love it if you could save the date and join me to talk more about it.

Head on over to this link to save your ticket: https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1410770?&track=Sandhya

Use code SANDHYA10 to get 10% off, and full disclosure? I get 10% off your ticket sales too. Hopefully many of you know by now I only promote events that I really believe further our knowledge and understanding :)

See you there hopefully!

24/03/2026

24/03/2026

SHOULD WE DO SQUISHIES?!

I LOVE the idea of being able to gift a little brain plush. It is such a love language for us, from a sensory perspective but also to have something concrete to hold.

And the book is great but it's hard to snuggle up with it as children do, or put it as part of decor.

So here's what I'd like your input on:

1) Let me know which version you prefer - 1 or 2

2) Should it have the labels or not? Without the labels feels safer and more implicit, and can mean greater safety when having guests over. With the label means they can revel in their identity that much more.

3) Should I also make a neurotypical one? We rarely say "Congrats! We spent 2k to find out you're NT" but I'm thinking it might be helpful for siblings, or for classroom decor, or as a showcase of diversity.

So many thoughts swirling in this neurodivergent owner's brain that I would appreciate your input on.

(Also, I really should clarify that I mean I take along little plush brains as part of my table decor and people ask me where I get those plush brain toys froml

23/03/2026

We don't just blatantly teach neurotypical social skills anymore,

The radical thing we do now? Is ask - and believe - an Autistic child.

How do they feel about what's going on?
What's their perception of the issue?

And then questions for us:

Do they understand their own culture, and communication norms, before understanding neurotypical communication norms?

Can they socialise in Autistic ways? (because I can tell you, that my friends now are all Autistic, and it is GLORIOUSLY Autistic central)

Do we know what Autistic communication norms ARE, before assuming they are wrong or dysfunctional?

Here's a slide from a recent presentation I gave Student Support Services staff at the Department of Education, around the shifts that neuroaffirming practice brings.

(And yes, meme communication is important too)

It's not that we avoid doing any work and skill support.

What I encourage people to do is deeper reflection on the WHY and the WHATs and where to put effort in that results in long-term better outcomes for students. Not in the way of We Know Best What Works For You, but one that puts aside ego to look at what actually works, and works *together* with the child.

These shifts don't depend on the age of a child, or whether a child is verbal or not. They depend on us respecting the Human Rights of a child, and supporting their dignity amidst disability towards self-determination of a meaningful life.

17/03/2026

Wanna move beyond tokenism this Neurodiversity Celebration Week?

Then well, here a few ideas which I'd encourage you to make your own action plan out of this.

At the very heart of the idea of neurodiversity celebration is acceptance, and part of that?

Is really understanding our role in it all. (Oh you know my collectivist heart loves this)

It's not an "us vs them" scenario, although when understanding neurodiversity, many neurodivergent voices get lifted up.

Why? Because we need to understand how power and privilege plays out, and who the other 51 weeks cater for, and move into this week as The Great Leveller.

(We can dream, right? But really a step forward)

What we're asking of community is to reflect on "How can we show up better to make an inclusive society?", be it across education, workplace, clinics, community services and sport, so we create inclusive spaces where *everyone* is welcome.

I'd love for you to tag your favourite neurodivergent creators in the comments below, so that followers who want to listen to more lived experience can follow their own trails to see what they'd like to learn more.

I'll go first:





beyond.binaries




and.fries

11/03/2026

A fantastic read sparked by the Uta Frith commentary, but really a deeper examination into how power manifests itself, and who gets to claim knowledge. I'd highly recommend taking the time to digest this.

11/03/2026

Hark the protective mama bear who is just trying to navigate..... *gestures* the world and ensure I'll have done enough.

Because really, aren't we all? And I know I've got my people around here who are really passionate about trying to raise good humans too.

I'm lucky enough to have a crew of fellow neurodivergent parent psychs to contemplate protective factors at home with, and the values to stand strong in.

(Hiiiii , who loves talking about all things parenting philosophy with me 👋🏽).

This week we've been leaning into putting language into our everyday actions through mantras. Since the kids were little, I've done this through song as an anchor, and now we're increasing in language as a way to organise, even though they still love the song.

It can be anything that is simple, and repeatable across scenarios to act as an anchor.

So, do you already have one? And if no, what might yours be?

10/03/2026

For a long time, I felt a gap I couldn't name. It fell under the theme of cultural factors, and I knew what was being prescribed didn't quite fit. Only..... I didn't know how to describe it, just that it wouldn't work. (Which I get, is not that helpful to many who are trying to learn)

So I went back to my roots, and hopped on a flight to Singapore, this time, with work mode on. Exploring my past self after so many years in Australia made me feel the impacts of acculturation stress, what we can lose when the cultural self goes offline to survive, and what we can gain when we turn it back on again and become reacquainted.

This series was created for the Appetite for Change conference this week: a look at how we eat in Singapore, and what eating disorder support needs to hold when it's built for people like us, the way we eat, how we eat, and what food means for us.

Because really, cultural context isn't just a footnote. It's the story, and the story of us unfolding.

So enjoy, a few little shots from home. ❤️

https://www.appetiteforchangeproject.com/

06/03/2026

This making up you feel?

Isn't *just* winging it. It's being client centred.

Often, we are sold this idea of standardised assessments being gold standard and "The Way".

It's easy for clinicians to get caught up in *just*
what professional standards look like and have strict adherence to this.

Buuuuuut..... Neuroaffirming processes that respect Autistic culture *is* best practice.

No tool is the gold standard, clinical judgement is, but it also requires us to build trainings and spaces that help clinicians lean into this and trust in themselves.

Furthermore, It is equally crucial to think about how this lands for families as service providers and balance this.

How safe do they feel with you?

How much of your story do they trust you to hold?

What do we do with that privilege?

We've just taken our last cohort of clinicians through Safe and Confident Autism Assessment, where we've looked at the merits of standardised vs non standardised assessments, and how to create safety between client and clinician from the very start.

And get that safety and rapport in? And from there, we create shared understanding.

Safe assessments, that see you.

Best practice assessments, that have the flexibility to meet you where you're at rather than rigid protocols.

I'm a bit excited for the future there, and feel good vibes that do good.

👇🏾Tell me, what are your experiences with autism assessment and how it's landed for you? Particularly if you've had good experiences, and what they've done that was helpful, or where you feel the mark might have been missed.