Celebrating & nurturing NEURODIVERGENT KIDS

Social worker and psychotherapist Sarah Hayden, who was diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 48, shares her tips to help children thrive

- Sarah Hayden

The word “neurodiversity” recognises and also embraces the natural variations between all human brains and the ways they function. For much of the 20th century, people whose brains worked differently from what was seen as “normal” were sometimes institutionalised and often given horrific treatments in an effort to “fix” them. In the 1990s, autistic people, in particular, built an online movement to advocate for the idea that their different ways of seeing the world weren't “wrong” or in need of a cure.

Neurodivergence, then, refers to these ways of being that have historically been treated as different from “normal” or neurotypical. Neurodivergence is an umbrella term that includes the following:

• Autism describes differences in how a person socialises and communicates, thinks and then processes information, moves and how they sense the world around them.

• ADHD, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, shows up mostly as differences in the parts of the brain that we use to plan, focus on and carry out tasks.

• Bipolar disorder can be seen as intense shifts in mood and energy levels, as well as behaviour.

• Down syndrome Where a person is born with an extra chromosome that can result in distinctive physical features and differences with how a person walks, speaks, learns and plays.

• Dyslexia involves difficulties with decoding and composing written text.

• Dyspraxia refers to a brain’s inability to plan muscle movements and carry them out.

• Dyscalculia looks like using atypical methods or having challenges in understanding number-based concepts.

• OCD, or obsessive compulsive disorder, may involve frequent unwanted thoughts that result in repetitive behaviours.

• Tourette syndrome is characterised by involuntary sounds and movements or tics.