Neurodiversity Affirming Practice

Neurodiversity introduction for Parents and Teachers

Neurodiversity is the diversity of human minds, the infinite variation in neurocognitive functioning within our species.” (Walker, 2021). Neurodivergence is a difference in one’s neurotype. It means “having a mind that functions in ways which diverge significantly from the dominant social standards of “normal.” (Walker, 2021) PTSD, Complex Childhood Trauma, Epilepsy, Traumatic Brain Injury, ADHD and Autism are all neurotype that are referred to as neurodiversity.

Neurodivergent is a brain that thinks differently, processes and adapts to information differently, experiences the world differently, comprehends the world differently with a difference in how one responds and interacts with themselves and others. Autism is considered to be a neurodivergent brain type.

Autism is currently diagnosed as Autism, level 1, level 2, or Level 3, dependent on the level of support one needs to function daily. One significant difference between neurodivergent and neurotypical brains is neurodivergent brains are monotropic. In which these brains work best when they are hyper-focused on something and are encouraged to go deep into it with great focus and abilities.

Monotropic means the attention resources are concentrated into fewer channels at any one time. And these channels can run deep, contributing to one’s struggle to transition out of that channel. Neurotypical or polytropism is a brain having multiple channels of attention and has greater ease with flexibility, ease with transitions, and ease with adapting to many things in which less energy is needed to change attention.

On the other hand, most neurodivergent brains (monotropic) will experience multi-attention demands as challenging which can lead to a depleted energy-flow when attention demands have gone too high. When the energy level of a neurodivergent brain has been depleted this can contribute to challenges with verbal-expression and communication, hard to find the words to express themselves, or, blurting out random phrases with out intending to, socialization difficulties, wanting to be alone or have downtime, sensory sensitivities; noises can be disturbing, smells can become disturbing, people talking can feel unreasonable, executive function disruptions such as inability to focus, emotional sensitivities can escalate into big upsets, or, a total disconnect from emotional arousal and these struggles can result in a severe breakdown that can last hours, days, or months.

Attention and Focus

Another area to consider is neurodivergent brains have challenges with attention and focus associated to things they are not interested in. For example, this neurotype can attend with great focus, or hyper focus on something they are interested in; however, with topics that don’t interest them there is a loss of interest and the challenge to focus is met with great difficulty. Additionally, this neurotype is very oriented to the present moment, therefore, they can be experience memory gaps, not always remembering everything, yet, their memory for things they have passion for can be Off the charts! A very keen memory bank for what the are interested in. As well this neurotype can switch brain states very quickly, can feel present and alert, yet, quickly switch to struggling with something that has triggered a high emotional arousal reaction. 

Sensory Sensitivities

Neurodivergent brains can be hyper-sensitive to all the 7-senses such as; Hearing, sensitivities; might need the TV or Music very loud, or, may need noise-canceling headphones to deal with unreasonable sounds; for example, a fire alarm!

Seeing; may see shadows or unusual visual patterns due to the lighting in the room.

Smell; can be hyper resistant to some smells.

Taste; may be avoidant towards unusual textures of food.

Touch: some textures of fabric are preferred to be worn over other.

Proprioception; sense of body position and movement, movement may appear rigid or not free flowing.

Vestibular; sense of balance and spatial orientation. For example, doesn’t notice how close they may be standing to another, it simply does not occur to them.

And, 8th sense,

Interoception; trouble with noticing internal body senses associated to hunger, thirst, pain, emotional arousal. For people with a neurodivergent brain type, they may not notice hunger for example, in which they may eat and not sense when they are full. Or, they don’t notice when they are thirsty, or not notice hot, or cold. It’s either hyper sensitive or hypo sensitive in these areas.

These sensory sensitivities can be experienced with a greater degree of disturbance with a neurodivergent neurotype. When faced with these types of struggles there are many interventions to use to assist and to protect one from burnout. Such as weighted blankets for sleep, headphones for times when hearing sensitivities arise, fidget spinners for attention challenges, stemming to reduce anxiety, utilizing planners or timers, or quick-check-lists to help with memory gaps. As well setting timers to remember to hydrate (attaching a water bottle onto the backpack may help), timers to remind them to eat, etc. This neurotype may do better with things written down to help prepare and help with lowering anxiety associated to feelings of uncertainty. If the neurodivergent neurotype’s energy flow has been compromised, it is best to engage in monotropic activities such as doing something they are passionate about, or, gaming, or reading, allowing one to embrace monotropic activities will assist with resetting one’s energy flow.

When the executive system is over taxed, Autism brains work hard to find balance and this can lead to unwanted behaviors, for example, big upsets, emotional outbursts, and in some cases using NSSI to release the tension, and/or experience complete exhaustion which can last for a long time.

When children start their educational career the level of attention demands are low in which most of their needs are being met by their parents and/or their teacher and they present on track developmentally. As the child grows the demands for outward attention grows. Neurodivergent children, Autism, level 1, can function well enough in elementary school and while they might be considered different, or odd, or shy and compliant, it’s not uncommon that their challenges don’t get noticed until middle school and/or high school. It’s when the the daily demands increase such as the demand to transition from one class to another several times a day, increase need for reciprocal communication, and academically multi-attention needs also increase. As well teens with neurodivergent brains experience an increase in daily interactions with even more teachers, staff, and peers to engage with which can lead to an overtaxed energy flow. When the energy flow is depleted this can result in severe breakdowns and burnouts for these neurotypes.

Communication and Socialization

There is a difference in language use and comprehension differences with this neurotype. You can notice differences in communication in the language or word choices, “It’s like a negative wall of emotions” when asked about sad feelings. And when asked about connections to siblings, the experience may be described, “With my siblings, I’m just there.”  When asked who do you get along with best in your family, the answer might be “Myself.”  These answers display a difference in how this neurotype expresses or experiences or comprehends themselves and how they adapt to the world. This difference can leave people who are not neurodivergent confused and often struggle to understand and/or empathize with the autistic ways of perceiving and being in the world.

Empathy and Double-Empathy

Empathy and the term double-empathy is used when describing communication challenges between neurotypes; one person, neurotypical and the other, neurodivergent can lead to a communication miss! Double-empathy was presented by, Dr. Damien Milton, 2010, when noticing there is a breakdown in reciprocity and mutual understanding that can happen between people with very differing ways of experiencing the world.

"...right from the start, from the time someone came up with the word ‘autism’, the condition has been judged from the outside, by its appearances, and not from the inside according to how it is experienced." (Donna Williams, 1996)

We experience this same struggle to understand someone who speaks a different language and/or is from a different country. People have different world-views and cultural norms, and there needs to be a curiosity about that person in order to understand and fully get what they are communicating and or experiencing. As opposed to, making assumptions about another due to our own world-view, or biases, or even our own childhood experiences. It is imperative to understand about double-empathy and autism as a difference in language use and comprehension of the world. These neurotypes differ in how they experience the world and how each understands the world and they are each uniquely different. Most non-autistic people use their world-views to understand one another, however, when interacting with a person who is neurodivergent, becoming more curious and using less assumptions may come with great benefits. You might be surprised by their brilliant minds in how they think and in how they adapt to the world around them.

Self-doubt and Negative Mood Struggles

An area to be aware of is your child/teen’s negative feelings about themselves. For example, when they think they haven’t done something they were suppose to do, or, has done something they were not suppose to do, this can trigger a negative self-perception in which they become overwhelmed with anxiety, or, sadness; resulting in a fragmented nervous system which can contribute to many unreasonable reactions. It’s time to rest, eat, and engage in monotropic flow sates to avoid shut-downs, overwhelm, insomnia, anxiety and distress.