Curiosity, Connection, and Confidence: A New Path to Motivation for 2e Kids

Why can a 2e learner dive deep into a passion for hours yet struggle to begin a simple assignment? Traditional approaches like pushing harder, offering rewards, and giving more reminders, often backfire with neurodivergent kids because they ignore what truly drives engagement.

This session blends what we know from neurodiversity-informed neuroscience with a modern, compassionately curious parenting approach.

You’ll learn:

• The real science behind interest-driven attention and why 2e kids can’t “just try harder”

• How a connection-first model lowers the amygdala's threat response, increases the prefrontal cortex's predictive clarity, and engages the dopamine system by aligning tasks with intrinsic interest.

• How co-regulation, connection, and perspective-taking build awareness, confidence and engagement in shared problem-solving

• Why activation is equally if not more important than motivation, especially for 2e kids

• How to identify creative and individualized strategies that result in activation, even for non-preferred tasks

• How to communicate expectations and boundaries while supporting your child’s self-regulation, activation, and agency

Parents will walk away with tools that support both skill-building and relationship-building—so whether motivated or not, you can support your child in activating, a skill that is needed throughout out life.

Courtney Edman is the founder of 2tametheshamE, Inc., where she provides coaching, education, and advocacy for neurodivergent children, young adults, and their families. She helps parents and caregivers develop strategies, skills, and confidence to support twice-exceptional learners, and produces the See Me Podcast. Courtney also delivers trainings, webinars, and guest lectures on giftedness, twice-exceptionality, and neurodiversity-informed approaches to learning.

Teresa, REEL's Parent Community Program Manager, is the mother of two vibrant 2e kids and who is 2e herself, holds a M.Ed. in Cognitive Diversity from Bridges Graduate School. Teresa has a diverse professional background, including roles as a classroom teacher, a board member for organizations that support the disabled communities in Silicon Valley, and a consultant.​

Gustav Steinhardt is a Lecturer at UC Berkeley, where he teaches courses on behavioral science, biological anthropology, and the human brain. His extensive teaching history includes designing and leading Diversities of the Human Brain, the first combined neuroscience and neurodiversity studies course in the UC system.

Elizabeth Cobb is a neurodivergent parent educator. Her career has been a study of how people inhabit systems—from studying cultural anthropology and architecture at Princeton and University College London, to helping launch a startup acquired by Oracle, to managing editorial projects for global design firm Gensler. She brings this integrative approach to neurodiversity, helping parents and educators connect neuroanthropology to their everyday experiences.