How Your Brain Learns: My Chat on the Joy of Neurodiversity Podcast
From time to time, I have a podcast conversation that feels like a mini–masterclass in disguise. This interview with Joy Buckner on The Joy of Neurodiversity Podcast was one of those conversations — part science lesson, part coaching session, part real-talk about what learning feels like inside real human bodies.
About This Conversation
This episode is with Joy Buckner, an international educator, instructional coach, and brilliant advocate for neurodiverse learners. Joy is also dyslexic, ADHD-ish, and has Irlen Syndrome (a cluster of visual processing symptoms) — and she brings a refreshingly honest perspective about what it’s actually like to move through school with a brain that processes the world differently.
One of the gifts of this conversation is how personal Joy gets. She shares stories about sensory overwhelm, “strobe light” fluorescent classrooms, masking, procrastination, and the deep emotional labor of trying to succeed in systems not designed for her.
It’s moving, funny, and (if you’re familiar with my work) incredibly aligned with how we approach learning inside the Anti-Boring Learning Lab.
Highlights From the Conversation
• Working memory as a tiny parking lot
Why your brain only has 3–4 “parking spaces,” and how information, emotion, and environment all compete for those spots — especially in neurodivergent bodies.
• Cognitive overload is not a personal failure
Joy shares powerful examples from her childhood, and we unpack why overwhelm, distraction, and difficulty focusing are predictable outcomes of how the brain is wired.
• The Study Cycle: encode → retrieve → encode in new ways
We break down the “least you need to know” about the science of learning — including why rereading feels productive but rarely works. And by the way — if you want to watch me teaching the Study Cycle the EXACT way I do to students, check out the FREE “Science of Studying” mini-course inside the Learning Lab.
• Retrieval practice (and why it feels yucky)
There’s a moment where I quiz Joy on the spot, and she laughs out loud when she notices how different it feels to think she knows something vs. retrieving it.
• Multimodal learning vs. learning styles
We debunk the idea that you are “a visual learner” and instead explore preferences, modes, and the difference between the visuospatial sketchpad and the phonological loop. Joy has a big realization here about her own learning identity.
• Emotion + nervous system + learning
We talk about hypo/hyperarousal, procrastination, stress responses, and why emotional regulation is just as much a study skill as flashcards.
What You’ll Notice About My “Meta-Meta” Interview Style
I forgot to warn Joy that I’d probably end up coaching her live throughout the interview. And she — in her wonderfully candid way — allowed me to do just that.
If you watch carefully, you’ll see me model several core practices from the Anti-Boring Learning Lab, especially the ones we use when training academic coaches, EF coaches, tutors, and learning specialists:
I pause to ask Joy curious questions to spark metacognition
I invite her to practice retrieval, not just nod along
I lean into metaphors to make the science stick
I keep bringing us back to “the least you need to know”
I normalize that learning is emotional (and sometimes messy)
I blend instruction, empathy, and coaching all at once
This is the “meta-meta” work again — not just talking about learning, but noticing the way we’re learning together while we’re learning.
If you’re an educator, coach, or parent of a neurodivergent learner, this interview is full of small, transferable techniques that you can bring into your own sessions or classrooms.
Want More Learning-to-Learn Tools?
Explore our free resource library inside the Anti-Boring Learning Lab — full of student-tested lessons on study skills, executive function, cognitive overload, and learning science. Just click the link above or the picture below (a screenshot of the goodies inside the free library) to take a peek:
Before You Go…
As you watch the above video, I’d love to hear what you notice.
If you spot any sneaky coaching moves, or if my style of interacting with Joy either supported or disrupted your own processing, let me know in the comments.
Your reflections help me keep refining how I teach, train, and talk about learning — and I always love seeing how these conversations land in your world.