Autism spectrum test teacher4/10/2024 While some red flags might be apparent when a child is as young as 9 to 12 months old, such as not making eye contact or responding to their name, many parents first recognize concerns in social settings when their child is in preschool or kindergarten. ![]() "Red flags are probably going to go up in any parent's heart when they recognize that their child isn't thriving in a way that they expected or hoped,” says Dr. Like many things in parenting, it often starts with a gut feeling. For kids in the classroom, this could mean allowing noise-canceling headphones, providing more opportunities for movement or extra time for test-taking and other changes to the classroom environment. Oftentimes, people who are neurodiverse need special accommodations to help them succeed. Instead of focusing on “dysfunctions” or “deficits,” neurodiversity encourages tapping into a person’s unique strengths to fill in the gaps and help them adapt to their environment, whether that's school, social settings or at work. That’s part of the reason that the neurodiversity movement exists - to shift perspectives about what is considered “normal.” Their brain functions and behaviors are often considered the norm in our society, and as such, our environments, like schools and workplaces, tend to accommodate this group of people. Neurotypical, on the other hand, broadly refers to people who are not neurodivergent. “Just like there's no normal, correct or superior race, gender, ethnicity or culture, there's no one normal, right or superior type of brain.” “Neurodivergence is a form of human diversity,” says Julia Barnes, PhD, a child and adolescent psychologist at the Pediatric Mental Health Institute at Children's Hospital Colorado. Neurodiversity is a celebration of the fact that no two brains - or people - are alike. But just because a person’s brain works differently doesn’t mean it’s “bad” or “wrong.” In fact, it’s just the opposite. Put simply: “It's just saying, the way you approach things, the way you think, is different,” says Sandra Friedman, MD, an expert in developmental pediatrics at Children’s Hospital Colorado. According to research published in the British Medical Bulletin, approximately 15% to 20% of people globally are considered neurodiverse.īut what is neurodiversity, exactly? And how can caregivers recognize if their child is neurodivergent? Our pediatric experts share everything you need to know about neurodiversity, including tips on how to support a neurodivergent child. The term has gained widespread use as an identifier for people of all ages. ![]() It’s an umbrella term that encompasses a range of neurodevelopmental disabilities and other conditions that impact brain function. Neurodiversity itself is not a medical diagnosis. ![]() Driven by the autism community’s self-advocacy in the early 1990s, Singer imagined a new movement where people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and other conditions could come together to advocate for their common interests. ![]() The term was first coined by Australian sociologist Judy Singer in 1998 to highlight one essential truth: No two human minds are exactly alike. If it seems like the idea of neurodiversity only recently went mainstream, that’s because it did.
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