Neurodivergent? ...

It seems to be a popular word at the moment. But what does it actually mean? We all know that despite social media and expectations, we are not copies of others, therefore we are individual, unique, with amazing gifts, faults, defaults, abilities ... in short, ways of being.

Neurodivergent people experience the world differently to neurotypical which in turn results in different ways of learning, behaving, interacting and being able to cope with everyday happenings. One person's strength can be another's weakness and vice versa.

Examples of neurodivergent conditions are:

• Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

• Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

• Dyslexia (difficulty with reading letters and numbers)

• Dyspraxia (difficulty with coordination)

Once upon a time, it was deemed that left-handed people were evil, often accused of witchcraft in the middle ages, and in the late 20th Century were still being censured, hands slapped, forced to write, work and be right-handed. Luckily, it is now acknowledged that it is not evil, there is no need to be forced into being what you are not, and in fact, lefties lean generally towards creativity. In the same vein, there has been a complete lack of understanding around neurodivergence, meltdowns were labelled as misbehaving and the speed with which neurodivergent brains think was mistrusted and labelled disrespectful when conclusions were reached much swifter than neurotypical brains.

Common behaviours associated with neurodivergence are:

• Social and Communication Differences - Societal norms are often not understood therefore not practiced

• Sensory Differences - being over stimulated easily with all of the five senses

• Attention and Focus - extreme reactions happen i.e. under focused or hyper-focused

• Repetitive Behaviours and Interests - routine predictability and repetitive movement often helped by stimming (self-stimulating objects such as rings, or rocking, humming, repeating the same meals etc)

• Motor Skills - coordination can be difficult

• Learning Differences - often above-average abilities found

As with everyone, strengths and weaknesses are evident. Examples of strengths are:

• Innovative thinking - Was Einstein neurodivergent? Modern researchers claim ADHD, dyslexia and autism would be diagnosed these days

• Attention to detail - Bill Gates is open about his dyslexia and ADHD

• Pattern recognition - Steve Jobs, diagnosed with dyslexia from a young age, was noted to say, "you can't connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards."

(Manchester University, 2024)

The brain is most definitely an amazing thing to behold. Neurodivergence is a perfect example of how intricate, spectacular and individual our brains can be, enabling us to create and discover things we used to only be able to dream of. So the next time a child is staring out of the window in the classroom, pause for a minute and wonder if they are going to be the next Einstein.