Season 6: Normalizing Behaviors
Living Duchenne is a podcast that brings together community voices to talk about navigating the Duchenne experience. PPMD created this podcast as an opportunity to take a deeper dive into topics that impact Duchenne and Becker families on a daily basis. Each episode features insights from both experts and community members, sharing their perspectives, guidance, and wisdom about Living Duchenne.
Join us for a new season of Living Duchenne! In these episodes our host Rachel Poysky sits down with guests to talk about understanding and normalizing behaviors related to the Duchenne experience.
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS
Episode 1: It Just Might Look Different
In our first episode, “It Just Might Look a Little Different,” guests Jessica Rownd and Dawn Rezkalla discuss the challenges of behaviors impacting daily life with Duchenne. They offer practical strategies that have empowered their sons and improved their families’ quality of life.
From educating the educators to finding support and giving themselves room to breathe and innovate as parents doing their best, Jessica, Dawn, and Rachel share valuable insights, humor, and tips every family can use!
Episode 2: It’s A Marathon, Not a Sprint
On this episode of Living Duchenne, host Rachel Poysky is joined by her husband, Dr. James Poysky, a Pediatric Neuropsychologist, for a conversation about insights into the connections between the Duchenne brain and challenging behaviors.
Join us for a wide-ranging discussion between two Duchenne parents about managing expectations, bringing more transparency to the neurological nuances of Duchenne, and finding the right resources and practices that work for your family.
From the cast: “Neurologically things are harder for them, and we have to take that into account.” -James Poysky.
Episode 3: Understanding the “Why”
Join us for another great conversation on Living Duchenne in our season focusing on the intersection of behaviors and the Duchenne experience. In this episode, our host Rachel Poysky chats with Dr. Felix Wu, a PhD in Industrial Organization Psychology who also lives with Duchenne.
Dr. Wu offers a candid and deeply personal perspective on the behaviors he’s encountered as his Duchenne progresses. He sheds light on the importance of “understanding the why” behind these behaviors—acknowledging that emotions like frustration, anxiety, grief, and insecurity, experienced by both individuals with Duchenne and their families, are just as significant as the biological and neurological aspects of the condition.
Episode 4: Focus on Siblings
We’re rounding out Season 6 of Living Duchenne talking about the impact of Duchenne behavior on siblings. This conversation features fantastic guests, Colleen Labbadia, a Duchenne mom and counselor, and Hannah Divin, an older sibling of a brother with Duchenne. They join our host, Rachel Poysky, to share honest, heartfelt, and humorous perspectives on the world seen and experienced through a sibling’s eyes.
In this episode we chat about having open discussions about your sibling’s needs, feelings, and experiences; making sure there’s room for everyone’s emotions; and finding the right ways to acknowledge that “everybody has a ‘hard'” and it’s important to keep an open, fluid dialogue about each family member’s unique relationship to Duchenne.
