Non Linear Learning - Rethinking Education for Neurodivergent Learners

Dr. Vaish Sarathy

Booking Overview

This is an interview-led education podcast focused on special education, neurodivergent learning, communication access, and practical support for disabled children, typically featuring specialist practitioners, researchers, advocates, and people with relevant lived experience. Credible pitches include special-education professionals, autism and occupational-therapy researchers, communication-access experts, inclusive-education advocates, and experienced self-advocates; booking difficulty is medium because guests generally need substantial subject expertise or directly relevant experience, but the show does not appear to require celebrity-level prominence.

Metrics

Episodes: 100

Frequency: Biweekly

Rating: 4.9/5.0

Estimated listeners: 1k-10k

Gender skew: Unknown

Location: USA

YouTube: 43.5M subscribers

Instagram: 37.0k followers

Contact Information

Publicly listed emails

vaishnavisarathy@gmail.com

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Host

Dr. Vaish Sarathy - TEDx speaker and Ph.D. chemist focused on education for children with disabilities, including autism and Down syndrome. She is also the mother of a non-speaking autistic teenager with Down syndrome.

Booking Intelligence

Booking Requirements

medium

Typical Credentials:

Special-education practitioners, therapists, researchers, educators, communication-access specialists, advocates, founders of relevant organizations, and self-advocates or family members with substantial lived experience. Guests generally bring advanced professional training, direct work with disabled learners, or established advocacy expertise.

Required Achievements:

Advanced academic or clinical qualifications, Leadership of a specialist education, therapy, or advocacy organization, Substantial professional experience supporting disabled or neurodivergent learners, Established advocacy or lived-experience expertise

Recent Guest Discussions

David Kaufer - Motor-based Typing, Apraxia, Communication Access, Supported Spelling, Presumed Competence, Regulation, Trauma, And Education For Non-speaking Learners.

Erin Buchanan - The Data Trap In Special Education, Readiness Expectations, Curriculum Adaptation Versus Modification, And Academic Access For Non-speaking Learners.

Lisa Mihalich Quinn - The Data Trap In Special Education, Readiness Expectations, Curriculum Adaptation Versus Modification, And Academic Access For Non-speaking Learners.

Dr. Dana Johnson - Interoception, Sensory Processing, Communication, Meltdowns, Self-injury, Regulation, And Understanding Behavior In Autistic Learners.

Mark Talaga - Asynchronous Development, Gifted And Twice-exceptional Learners, Uneven Abilities, Educational Labels, And Nurturing Strengths.

Recent Topics

Education, Special Education, Autism, Inclusive Education, Augmentative Communication

Episodes

Here's the recent few episodes on

Non Linear Learning - Rethinking Education for Neurodivergent Learners

210. 5 Myths We Still Believe About Non-Speakers (with David Kaufer)

September 07, 2026

Why spelled communication is not a guessing game: Dr. Vaish Sarathy speaks with David Kaufer, founder of Communicators for Communication Rights and host of The Lighter Side of the Spectrum, about motor-based typing, the realities of apraxia, and why presumed incompetence blocks education. Access to communication is the foundation for age-appropriate, intellectually rich education. David shares the journey with his son Stone, including school resistance, the harmful use of the mess...

209. The Data Trap: Why "Proving Readiness" Is Costing Non-Speakers Years of Education

July 21, 2026

We don't make a neurotypical kid prove they can read before we hand them a book. We just teach them to read. But for non-speaking and minimally speaking learners, the rules flip. Sit in the chair first. Imitate first. Get it right four days in a row before we'll believe you got it right the first time. Lisa Mihalich Quinn and Erin Buchanan of Reach Every Voice call this the data trap and they're here to tell you why the data your child's team is collecting might not mean what you think it...

208. The Eighth Sense: Understanding Behaviour, Communication, and Meltdowns with Dr. Dana Johnson

July 01, 2026

You've talked to 10 therapists. Tried 20 strategies. And your child still goes from calm to crisis in 30 seconds - for reasons no-one understands. Understanding a body requires that we understand the sensory information coming in. And Dr. Dana Johnson - OT, PhD, and founder of the Spellers Center - tells us that there are not 5 but 8 senses. Dana joins Non Linear Learning for the 3rd time to talk about interoception: the eighth sense, the one almost nobody gets taught, and the one that might ...

Publicly listed emails

vaishnavisarathy@gmail.com

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