Neurodiversity

Five out of my six grandchildren have labels. The waiting lists for help are so long that one will have left school before she gets any help.
When the first grandchild was diagnosed with autism her mother said she’d clearly inherited it from me. At sixty I realised there was a reason for my oddities, which caused so many problems when I was young.
My family is riddled with neurodivergence and divergence explains why we are all different.

Lathyrus3

I’m afraid I still see neuro-diverse” as too wide a term to actually be meaningful in terms of the needs of the individual.

Perhaps we are talking at cross purposes but I think you you said something similar when you referred to your grandchildren, one with dyspraxia, one with autism and the very different challenges they face.

That is my point really. They need their individual diagnoses that pinpoints the problems and the struggles.

When neuro diverse can mean their conditions and a host of other conditions
as well, what meaning does it actually hold, in practice.

I’m open to an explanation that will show how a such a wide umbrella diagnostic term is more effective than a specific diagnosis, but I can’t see it at the moment.

Personally I am glad that my child received support specific to his condition rather than just being labelled diverse.

Lathyrus currently any child once diagnosed as being neurodiverse get help according to their needs.

These needs vary from child to child and whether they are on the autism spectrum have ADHD, ADD or dyspraxia etc.

This is no different to seeing any other specialist you would not expect an orthopaedic surgeon to treat a broken leg when in fact it’s the arm which is broken. You wouldn’t expect gynaecologists to remove one’s ovaries when the problem is in your uterus.

I hope this is helpful to you.

Oops posted to soon,

Lathyrus the diagnosis is not your child is neurodiverse it will be your child is autistic, has dyspraxia, ADHD…

The word neurodiverse is used to describe a wide range of problems because the symptoms and associated behaviours and traits are the result of a person’s brain developing differently during the key stages of development before they were born or as a very young child.

These very different problems are united by a common cause.

According to the FA coaching guides 1 in 5 are neurodiverse. I think this is useful to know how being neurodiverse is not unique and how we can help in communicating with each other.

GrannyGravy13

Oops posted to soon,

Lathyrus the diagnosis is not your child is neurodiverse it will be your child is autistic, has dyspraxia, ADHD…

Correct.

I have ADD, my brother also. We are neurodiverse, just a word.

We're all different in many ways, some accomodations may be needed for some of us. I believe it's wonderful people can be helped.

Norah

GrannyGravy13

Oops posted to soon,

Lathyrus the diagnosis is not your child is neurodiverse it will be your child is autistic, has dyspraxia, ADHD…

Correct.

I have ADD, my brother also. We are neurodiverse, just a word.

We're all different in many ways, some accomodations may be needed for some of us. I believe it's wonderful people can be helped.

My family has a number of people diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, adhd, dyslexia, dispraxia and more.

One ten year old, diagnosed dyslexic, feeling sad and anxious at their inability to keep up at school. The Senco spent time, named three teachers at the school and several celebs the child would know, as dyslexic. Result, child feels heard and supported. More importantly heard the message that they aren’t “thick” , their brain is exceptional at some things but finds some things more of a challenge

If you argue with neurodiverse what about cancer? This word is generic to a huge range of illnesses, with a wide range of causes (or none) many different forms and prognosese and can be trivial or fatal. Yet I have yet to meet anyone who complained that the one term covered too big and variable a disease group.

I believe that in the world we have coming down the line these children will come into their own.
If you take my daughter as an example ( she tests the programs that web developers build,
99% of the people in her team are neurodiverse.
I’m very involved in the life of my young friends son. He is autistic, he attends a specialist school. He is scarily good at busting into computers without a password ( age 10)

M0nica

If you argue with neurodiverse what about cancer? This word is generic to a huge range of illnesses, with a wide range of causes (or none) many different forms and prognosese and can be trivial or fatal. Yet I have yet to meet anyone who complained that the one term covered too big and variable a disease group.

Indeed.

Neurodiverse also seems to be generic to a wide range of conditions. I don't know people with many of the conditions (or not aware), however I think we need as much knowledge as possible.

petra 👍🏻 our GC is a computer wiz

GrannyGravy13 - we pursued a diagnosis of autism for my daughter on the advice of school as they suggested that would be the way to get help for her. There is no help. It was a waste of time. We’ve muddled through on our own and as the diagnosis is meaningless for her really, she doesn’t want it to be disclosed.

PaperMonster2, my daughter and SIL didn't want my DGD 'labelled' but by getting a diagnosis she did get a lot of help at school when doing her GCSE's. Extra time, rest breaks and a small room to do the exams in.
She passed them all which she would not have done had she not had a diagnosis.
Her school have a very good SEN department and are very nurturing to those that are 'different'.
She is now at college and will have the same provisions when she does her final exams.
I understand that not every school, college make the same provision for their pupils.

The same for our granddaughter Sar53 it did and is a really practical help.

Sar53 my daughter doesn’t need these types of things. She did need a very simple reasonable adjustment, which I had to fight tooth and nail for and a uniform adaptation that I eventually found someone willing to make.

She needed a particular type of therapy that isn’t available on the NHS in our area. She has managed to muddle her way through though without it. I will be glad when she’s finished secondary.