About Us

My background is in early childhood development. I have been working in this field since my high school days when I was part of helping start a preschool for school staff in my elective child development class. This ended up becoming a passion for me as I continued my education after high school as well as taking psychology courses. My dream was to become a child psychologist, however my personal journey ended up taking me into the classroom as a teacher. My passion for children with additional needs started earlier on when I became a Special Olympics coach for a neighborhood girl with Cerebral Palsy. We included her into our neighborhood groups and she became a special part of my life. My passion for kids with special needs encouraged me to take a course in SEE sign which is Sign Exact English. I had the opportunity to use my skills teaching a deaf student in my preschool class which was both challenging and rewarding. 

I taught and ran  a sports and motor skills program for preschool through 2nd grade after teaching preschool. This career took me to over 25 different schools as I traveled each week with my equipment. The children exercised their bodies as well as learned the names of their muscles and bones and sign language. Educating the children while moving their bodies helped them retain information as well as have fun and stay healthy. I employed two staff members while I ran my business. 

My life changed after my first child who was deemed speech delayed, diagnosed Autistic and ADHD and needed therapies. I sold my business and started my personal journey. My daughter came along and my journey continued with an autism diagnosis and a PDA pathological demand avoidant personality profile. I started  teaching as a substitute at a local preschool to keep my mind busy. I felt quite alone with little to no support in schools or friendships with the exception of a few people who seemed to ‘get it.’

I along with three amazing women got together one morning  and decided to start a women’s support group. It was originally to be just us, but ended up becoming bigger than we ever dreamed. We wanted this to be a free group packed with local resources. I came up with the name This Journey because this is what we are on. It’s a journey with hills and valleys, happy and sad, trials and triumphs. Our belief is that No parent should feel alone or go through this by themselves. We want the women in our group to be heard and held. My faith and hope is what drives me to continue to grow this group. It has become a personal ministry. 

I continue to educate myself by reading, researching, taking courses and listening to neurodivergent individuals and their journeys. As a youth I went through my own challenges and have learned quite a bit about myself along the way. 

I believe that out of the darkness comes the light and we can help each other through our difficult times and celebrate  during the triumphs. 

My hobbies are researching, reading, jewelry making and horseback riding lessons to which I’m incredibly blessed to get back into as well as this amazing group. I travel this journey with my husband, two kids, a dog, a cat and one ball python that I inherited from my son. 

Amber Ledergerber is a Christ-loving teacher with 25 years of experience and mom who has 2 neurodivergent children and a funny husband. She enjoys adventures with her family, tropical iced tea, reading, and watching IQ draining TV. She loves learning from other moms about how to better help her children so they might struggle less. This Journey has been a Godsend to her and her family and she is so grateful to have the support from this village of wonderful Moms.

Hi, I’m Penny — Senior Leader & Treasurer of This Journey

I came to this work the way a lot of our moms do: through my own son. He was born prematurely, and I left my career as a mortgage loan processor to care for him full-time. Then I started reading everything I could find on neurodiversity: books, seminars, conferences, anything that would help me understand what he needed. I later worked as a one-on-one aide for an autistic student, and trained in Collaborative Problem Solving through Helping the Behaviorally Challenging Child. My son is AuDHD, and he’s still the reason I’m here.

I’ve been with This Journey since it started, and was asked to take on a leadership role early on. I’ve served as Senior Leader and Treasurer ever since. The finance background turned out to be useful — I keep our books, and I also help run meetings, manage our social media, bring nonprofit partners into our Resource Fair, and MC our events. (Toastmasters is where I learned not to dread the microphone.)

I’ve lived in Orange County for more than 30 years, and I’ve been married for 23. When I’m not with This Journey, you’ll find me at Pilates, out under the stars, or home with my family.

Raising a child with ADHD, autism, or anxiety can be isolating, and it shouldn’t be. Whatever stage you’re at, I’d be glad to share what I’ve learned — and I hope you find as much support here as I have.

Julie spent 15 years as an educator, both as a teacher and administrator,  before diving into the world of advocacy. As a mom to triplet teens, 2 with active IEPs since they were 3, she is herself constantly a part of the IEP process. Her education gives her the tools to navigate the system and her experience gives her what is needed to effectively work with teams all over the country equipping students with what they need to successfully access their learning. What began as a very personal plight for her own boys has grown into educating families with what they need, what she wishes she had, to advocate for their children.

Grace has four boys, three who are neurodivergent. Having four children born premature and start their lives facing challenges threw Grace into a world of special needs speak that she had no idea existed. Through the support of her family, she managed to cobble together resources, knowledge, and a team of professionals who are her partners in raising such special, wonderful children. 

Because she would not have been able to take the path she has traveled and continue to travel without the support of a community of parents and professionals who generously shared their time and expertise, Grace is passionate about offering help in any form parents similarly situated like her need. 

Like most parents, Grace has no formal training in child advocacy or special needs. Instead, it was her children that taught her so much. She feels particularly blessed for having been gifted the joy, wonder and humility of having special needs children.

Hi, I’m Victoria (or Vicky – I go by both, but that’s a story for another day – ask me!) I am a sustainability/decarbonization engineer (yes, I tell my kids I am saving the world), wife to a data engineer, English native, mama to 2 amazing kiddos, and late diagnosed ADHDer. For several years, I felt alone and isolated as I tried to understand what was happening in our family while navigating raising our wonderful high needs kiddos. However, it didn’t feel wonderful. We blamed ourselves (and our kids at times) and told ourselves we must just not be doing it right! The pressure on our marriage was unreal, and I was desperate to find another way that would speak to me and my family and to connect with others who could understand our experiences. I started my parenting journey with the only parenting philosophy I knew – respect for elders, be seen not heard, don’t cry or complain, adults create the rules – and the belief that it was my responsibility to teach my kids this so they could become functioning members of society. I quickly found the gentle parenting philosophy, which was a big leap, but I couldn’t understand how to implement all these limits and boundaries with my extremely explosive dysregulated child. I could see the distress in my child – is this what everyone else was seeing in their child? Is this really part of the process of raising human beings? It did not feel right (and it wasn’t effective either!) And that’s when I started my enlightenment journey. It began through taking the HBCC (Helping Behaviorally Challenging Children in Tustin) parenting class and learning about collaborative problem-solving and Ross Greene (Author of “The Explosive Child”), Stuart Ablon, Mona Delahooke (Author of “Beyond Behaviors”), and so many other practitioners where I was finally hearing and reading about experiences and approaches that aligned with my experience and that I could get on board with implementing. It’s through Debra-Ann and HBCC that I found the “This Journey” parent support group almost 2 years ago. I finally felt a part of a community and could see some light! And it’s for that reason I am passionate about giving a voice to my journey and sharing it with others, providing support in any way I can. Since starting my journey, I have thrown myself into learning as much as possible to help better understand my children and how we as a family can move forward together. I am passionate about learning about the neuroscience behind behaviors and trauma-informed neurodiversity-affirming approaches to support our kiddos. Learning about collaborative problem-solving, PDA (Pathological Demand Avoidance), the autonomic nervous system, and low-demand parenting has been life-changing for me, and I continue to explore different ways to help mine and other families with similar challenges. When not throwing myself into this parenting journey I am a foodie who enjoys yoga, cooking, playing strategy board games, planning days out and vacations and spending time outdoors.