Fast Brain, Full Heart is the UK's first podcast on twice-exceptionality, giftedness, and neurodiverse family life. Twice-exceptional children are gifted and also neurodivergent, and they are easy to miss when strengths mask struggles as much as struggles mask their strengths. Host Juliana Lax is a psychoeducation specialist and psychologist also the parent of a twice-exceptional daughter. She brings specialists, educators, and parents into conversations to challenge biases, discuss education systems and learn more about this fascinating, complex and rare profile. New episodes every Tuesday!
Ep 5. Fast Brain Full Heart - confessions with Juliana Lax - Nothing Makes You Sound More Unbearable Than Saying My Child Is Gifted
Nothing makes you sound more unbearable as a parent than saying my child is gifted. In this solo episode Juliana looks at why that sentence feels socially illegal, and why staying quiet about it feels like admitting there is something wrong with your child.
Giftedness is a cognitive profile, not an achievement measure, not a guarantee of success, and not a parenting trophy. It usually involves faster learning, strong pattern recognition, unusual intensity, high curiosity, and sometimes uneven development across emotional, cognitive and physical areas. It also comes with real needs, and when those needs are overlooked because the child can already learn, the cost shows up as anxiety, low mood, identity struggles and social difficulty.
Juliana explains why she has chosen to keep using the word gifted rather than avoid it, what an ableist lens does to how we decide which children deserve support, and what happened when a friend asked her why she kept justifying her daughter's profile.
29 Jul 2026
Ep 4 Fast Brain Full Heart - everything you need to know about 2E with Julie Skolnick 2E specialist and author or Gifted and Distractable
This episode has everything you need to know to start your understanding of Twice-Exceptionality. If you were looking for someone to help you translate the complexities of 2E life and parenting, meet Julie. Julie Skolnick, M.A., J.D. is the Founder of With Understanding Comes Calm, LLC, and author of the award-winning book *Gifted and Distractible*. An internationally recognised expert on twice exceptionality (2e). Julie consults with parents of gifted and distractible children, mentors 2e adults, trains educators, and advises clinicians and organisations seeking strength-based, research-informed approaches to complex neurodivergent profiles.With over a decade of experience supporting families and adults worldwide, Julie is known for translating nuanced theory into practical tools that reduce shame, increase clarity, and elevate self-confidence. Her work integrates gifted education, ADHD research, emotional regulation science, and positive psychology.In this episode, Juliana will dive into Julie's experience to learn more about twice-exceptionality. Julie's book is part of Juliana's life as a mother and having the honour to speak to her on the podcast with such generosity was an incredible opportunity. Please check Julie's work at:www.withunderstandingcomescalm.com
21 Jul 2026
Ep.3 Fast Brain Full Heart with Emma Peake - Maxwell's mom sharing their unique story of becoming a Mensa member at nursery age
Emma Peake's son Maxwell was invited to join Mensa while he was still at nursery. In this episode she talks about what people don't see: the sensory sensitivities, the meltdowns that are not bad behaviour, the birthday parties he cannot get through the door of, and how hard it is to explain any of it when "he's gifted" is never an answer people accept.
Fast Brain, Full Heart is the UK's first podcast on twice-exceptionality, giftedness, and neurodiverse family life.
New episodes every Tuesday.
@fastbrainfullheart | julianalax.com | patreon.com/fastbrainfullheart
14 Jul 2026
Ep 2. Fast Brain Full Heart with Amy Denbee - The teacher who changed everything
My first conversation had to be with Amy Denbee. Amy is the teacher who changed everything for our family.
We were looking for a new school in the middle of a very difficult transition. Em had left her previous setting convinced that school was not safe and that adults would not help her.
We had moved hours away from everything we knew and our established life and started again in the countryside. We had a young baby, my husband and I were exhausted and I was carrying the feeling, which has never entirely left me, that I had failed her.
Amy met all of that on a video call before she ever met us in person. In this conversation she is honest about what she was actually thinking at the time. Would we turn out to be nightmare parents?
What she offered us was simple and powerful.
She would be open, she would be honest, and she would tell us the truth in any direction. We talk about what she saw in Em on the first day and how a child who arrived braced for conflict slowly learned that the adults in the room would listen to her.
Then there is THE question. Somewhere in that first year Amy asked me whether I had ever considered that Em might be neurodivergent. It is the question that started everything and it is not a question most teachers feel able to ask.
Amy explains why she asked it, what she had noticed and what it costs a teacher to raise this with a parent who may not be ready to hear it.
Amy is dyslexic herself, identified only at university, having spent years assuming she was simply not clever enough. She talks about how that shapes what she notices in a classroom and what teacher training in the UK does and does not prepare you for. We also talk honestly about class sizes, about the quiet child who never gets flagged because they are not causing anyone a problem and about why so many parents of neurodiverse children end up making real sacrifices to find a room with fewer children in it.
At the end of the episode, Em has a message of her own to share.
In this episode I hope teachers will relate to this truly honest conversation that is filled with love, respect and admiration for the transformative force they are in our children's lives.
For parents navigating the rough sea of learning about their child's neurodiverse profile. Hang in there. Approach it with love and curiosity. I hope you find supportive people along the way.
7 Jul 2026
Ep 01 Fast Brain Full Heart solo episode with Juliana Lax - What is Fast Brain Full Heart to me
Why Fast Brain, Full Heart? In this first, very personal solo episode I share where the name of the podcast came from, and why I started this project in the first place. The answers come from two places at once: my lived experience as the parent of a twice-exceptional* child in the UK, and the psychology lens I carry into my professional work. Somewhere in that complicated middle is me. This is a short, unfiltered introduction to what raising a 2e child has actually meant so far to me and along the next episodes you can watch me learning, discussing and challenging ideas with incredible professionals, authors and other parents. New episodes every Tuesday!
If you would like to be on Fast Brain Full Heart, please get in touch!
Tchau, see you next time. Juliana Lax
*Twice-exceptional (2E) is everyone who is identified as gifted and has a neurodevelopment condition at the same time, this can be for example ADHD, Autism, Dyslexia, etc.
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