Specialness Pod

Welcome to Specialness, the YouTube channel where love, resilience, and the extraordinary journey of parenting a special needs child take center stage. Hosted by Kim and Jeff Kribs, this heartfelt podcast-turned-video-series invites you into their world as they share their unique story, from adopting their son as a baby to navigating the joys and challenges of raising him into adulthood.

Through candid conversations, touching anecdotes, and moments of humor, Kim and Jeff explore what it means to build a family filled with compassion and strength. Whether you’re a parent, a family member, or s

Latest Episodes:

S3_Ep-13: You Asked, We Listened. Here's What's Next for Special Needs Families. Oct 27, 2026

Show notes

A few weeks ago we announced an idea called The Sanctuary, a private, members-only space for special needs parents and caregivers to land, share, and be understood. Then we asked you to shape it. More than 300 of you responded, from 39 states and 8 countries, and this episode is where we show you what you built.Jeff and Kim walk through what the survey told us and, more importantly, what happens next. The Sanctuary opens in November as a low cost space, just under 7 dollars a month, with live streams across different days and time zones so everyone gets a chance to join, recorded sessions you can watch later, and smaller, more specific groups starting in January. The podcast stays free. This is simply the place where the community goes deeper, away from the trolls and the civilians who have never walked in our shoes.If you have ever felt like no one in your life truly gets it, this is the one to watch.If this episode helped you feel a little less alone, subscribe and share it with a family who needs it.#SpecialNeedsParents #SpecialNeedsFamily #Caregiver #SpecialNeedsCommunity #TheSpecialnessPodcast

S3_Ep-12: What We Wish People Knew About Special Needs Parenting Oct 20, 2026

Show notes

Last week we talked about what people say to special needs parents. This week we flip it. These are the things we wish people understood, the ones that would change everything if they just landed.

Jeff and Kim go down their own list. That the cost of raising Cason is not 18 years, it is a lifetime. That they still do everything for a 25 year old, from the medication to the toenails. That the smile you see in public is often covering a burnout they have learned to mask. That most special needs parents carry a kind of PTSD, except unlike a soldier, they never get to leave the battlefield. And that none of this, not one word of it, means they love their son any less.

This is not a list of complaints. It is an honest look at a life most people never have to see, from two people who have lived it for almost 25 years.If this episode helped you feel a little less alone, subscribe and share it with a family who needs it.

New episodes every week.

#SpecialNeedsParents #SpecialNeedsFamily #Caregiver #SpecialNeedsMom #TheSpecialnessPodcast

S3_Ep-11: What NOT to Say to a Special Needs Parent Oct 07, 2026

Show notes

Can't you control your child? You're so strong, I could never do it. God doesn't give you more than you can handle. Every special needs parent keeps a running list of the things people say, and this week we are going through ours.Jeff and Kim get into the comments they hear from strangers, friends, and family. What they want to fire back in the moment, and what they have learned to say instead to actually educate the person in front of them. They also name the comment that stings the most, the one quietly hiding inside all the others: I'm just glad I'm not you.And they end on the thing they wish people would say. Not "how is your son," which they can answer in their sleep, but "how are you." If you have ever been called strong on a day you were barely holding on, this one is going to feel like someone finally gets it.If this episode helped you feel a little less alone, subscribe and share it with a family who needs it.#SpecialNeedsParents #SpecialNeedsFamily #Caregiver #SpecialNeedsMom #TheSpecialnessPodcast

S3_Ep-10: They Stopped Inviting Us | The Isolation of Special Needs Parenting Sep 26, 2026

Show notes

For most people, isolation is a choice. For special needs families, it isn't. It happens to you, and it comes wrapped in a grief that has no recognizable end.

Jeff and Kim talk about the two things their community lives with that rarely get named together: isolation and grief, and why the two are so tightly intertwined. The invitations that slowly stop coming. The birthday parties you leave early. The milestones that hit just as hard at 25 as they did at 5. And the quiet decision so many families make to just stop going, because it is easier than being stared at.

They also share something they wish someone had told them at the very beginning: grieving the life you pictured does not mean you love your child any less. It is not selfish. It is human.

And near the end, they introduce something new. The Sanctuary is a safe, off the grid space they are building for this community to connect, share, and be understood, without an algorithm in the way.

If this episode helped you feel a little less alone, subscribe and share it with a family who needs it.

#SpecialNeedsParents #SpecialNeedsGrief #SpecialNeedsFamily #Caregiver #TheSpecialnessPodcast

S3_Ep-09: When Special Needs Means Mental Illness, and No One Takes It Seriously Sep 02, 2026

Show notes

In the mental health world, there is no blood test. No x-ray. Just a subjective judgment that changes from one doctor's office to the next, and a family left to live with the consequences.Jeff and Kim get honest about the part of special needs parenting that society files under "dangerous" or "crazy" and refuses to take seriously. They walk through Cason's mental health journey from the beginning: the manic behavior at four, the neuropsychologist who suspected bipolar one, the renowned psychiatrist who dismissed it as "just ADHD," and the medication trial and error that made everything worse. They also share the terrifying hospital day that no parent should have to fight through, and why the words "he's too young for that" cost their family years.This is a conversation about stigma, about a mental health system that is easy to be failed by, and about why our own community has to be the place understanding starts.If this episode helped you feel a little less alone, subscribe and share it with a family who needs it.#SpecialNeedsParents #MentalHealth #SpecialNeedsFamily #Caregiver #TheSpecialnessPodcast

S3_Ep-08: The Special Needs Grief No One Talks About Aug 15, 2026

Show notes

When people hear the word grief, they think someone died. For special needs parents, the grief is different. It's the life you planned for and never got to live, and it doesn't fade. It compounds.

In this episode, Jeff and Kim talk openly about the grief nobody in the special needs world seems allowed to name. The milestones that never come. The family gatherings where the gap becomes impossible to ignore. The jealousy that shows up watching friends drop their kids at college. And why, after almost 25 years, the grief has actually gotten heavier, not lighter.

If you have ever felt guilty for grieving while still loving your child with everything you have, this one is for you. You have permission to feel it.

#SpecialNeedsParents #SpecialNeedsGrief #SpecialNeedsFamily #Caregiver #TheSpecialnessPodcast

S3_Ep-07: A Special Needs Mom Doctors Gave No Hope, Twice | Julia Erman (Part 2 of 2) Jul 31, 2026

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Part 2 of our conversation with Julia Erman, a special needs mom whose two children share an ultra rare diagnosis. This is the half about what she did with it.Julia found out her kids were dying on her birthday, over a Zoom call. In this episode she talks about the faith that gave her peace that same day, why suffering builds a muscle most people never have to grow, and how a conversation at a backyard cookout turned into The Hazelnut Movement, a school program that has now reached 25 schools in 5 states.She also says something that stopped us: her daughter isn't the problem. Her own grief is. This is a conversation about the hard you can control and the hard you cannot.Missed Part 1? Watch it here: https://youtu.be/HqwvSUjrHZwABOUT OUR GUESTJulia Erman is a speaker, author, and founder of The Hazelnut Movement, a nonprofit school assembly program that helps kids understand disability through storytelling. She has written 18 children's books and has been featured in People Magazine and NBC Today Parents.Julia's website, books, and speaking: https://www.juliaerman.co/The Hazelnut Movement, school assemblies and educator resources: https://www.thehazelnutmovement.com/Julia is currently booking school assemblies and keynotes, and she has packets parents can send to their own school administrators. She also offers a free 7-day encouragement series for special needs moms called 7 Days of Hope.Find her on Instagram at @ermanjulia and @thehazelnutmovement.If this episode helped you feel a little less alone, subscribe and share it with a family who needs it.#SpecialNeedsParents #SpecialNeedsMom #RareDisease #SpecialNeedsFamily #TheSpecialnessPodcast

S3_Ep-06: A Special Needs Mom Doctors Gave No Hope, Twice | Julia Erman (Part 1 of 2) Jul 24, 2026

Show notes

Our first ever guest. Julia Erman is a special needs mom, author, and founder of The Hazelnut Movement, and both of her children live with a diagnosis that only has a handful of documented cases in the world.

In Part 1 of 2, Julia walks us through the beginning. A perfect birth that turned into a NICU emergency in 48 hours. A neurologist who took away every ounce of hope in two words. A second pregnancy that uncovered the cancer four doctors had missed. And the moment, two days after her son was born, when she realized it was happening all over again.

This is one of the most honest conversations we have had on this show about grief, diagnosis, and how long it can actually take to find joy again.

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Julia Erman is a speaker, author, and founder of The Hazelnut Movement, a nonprofit school assembly program that helps kids understand disability through storytelling. She has written 18 children's books and has been featured in People Magazine and NBC Today Parents.

Julia's website, books, and speaking: https://www.juliaerman.co/

The Hazelnut Movement, school assemblies and educator resources: https://www.thehazelnutmovement.com/

Julia is currently booking school assemblies and keynotes, and she has packets parents can send to their own school administrators. She also offers a free 7-day encouragement series for special needs moms called 7 Days of Hope.

Find her on Instagram at @ermanjulia and @thehazelnutmovement.

If this episode helped you feel a little less alone, subscribe and share it with a family who needs it.

#SpecialNeedsParents #SpecialNeedsMom #RareDisease #SpecialNeedsFamily #TheSpecialnessPodcast

S3_Ep-05: Who Has It Harder in a Special Needs Marriage? Jul 15, 2026

Show notes

A few weeks ago we posted a reel about the roles each parent plays in a special needs marriage. It passed 70,000 views and lit up our comments, so this week we're unpacking what we actually meant.

Jeff said one of us drew "the short end of the stick," and it ruffled feathers. In this episode we clarify that comment, talk through the roles of breadwinner and caregiver, and get honest about the resentment and burnout that nobody warns you about. After 24 years, here's how we've split the load without losing each other.

CHAPTERS

0:00 The viral reel and why context gets lost

1:45 What "the short end of the stick" really meant

2:38 Secondhand medical info and surprise medication costs

7:45 Deciding our roles before we even had kids

11:16 How resentment and caregiver burnout creep in

13:42 Why special needs divorces mirror regular ones, only magnified

21:24 Personality decides roles, not gender stereotypes

26:09 Why denial is one of the most dangerous things in our world

29:06 How your roles shift as your child grows

31:04 The jobs that became Dad's, from reading to infusions

34:18 "I'm off the clock" and why the caregiver needs real breaks

47:31 Balancing a neurotypical sibling

52:25 What 24 years has actually taught us

53:35 Next week: our first guest, Julie Erman

Thank you to everyone following along from all over the world. Your comments, questions, and stories shape every episode we make.

If this helped you feel a little less alone, subscribe and share it with a family who needs it.

New episodes every week.

#SpecialNeedsParents #SpecialNeedsMarriage #SpecialNeedsFamily #Caregiver #TheSpecialnessPodcast

S3_Ep-04: Special Needs Parenting Took Away Our Ability to Plan the Future Jul 09, 2026

Show notes

We had plans.That sounds simple, but when you are raising a child with profound special needs, plans come with an asterisk.In this episode, we talk about the part of special needs parenting that is hard to explain to people who have never lived it. It is not just that your child’s future changes. Your future changes too.This conversation started with a reel that hit a nerve because so many parents said the same thing: you can’t really plan when you never know what is coming next.If you are a special needs parent, caregiver, or family member living with the constant unknown, this episode is for you.Watch the episode and let us know, what is something you had to stop planning the way other families do?

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