FNED 546 Weekly Blog Assignment #10 – What Is Neurodiversity? by Caroline Miller

 

QUOTES REFLECTION

Caroline Miller’s overview of the Neurodiversity movement helped me understand it better, and showed hope for the future. Neurodivergent students already have an uphill battle in many ways, so it’s heartening to see school systems working to find better ways to educate and include them.

Sociologist Judy Singer launched the neurodiversity movement, to “promote equality of what she called “neurological minorities” – people whose brains work in atypical ways. Singer felt that these differences should not be viewed as deficits, but rather as normal and potentially valuable variations on the way brains work.”

“Proponents of neurodiversity argue that some impairments affecting kids with autism, ADHD, and learning disabilities are environment-related. These challenges can be caused by issues in the surroundings they are in. That’s why another focus of the movement is to encourage changes in environments — everything from workplaces to classrooms to kids’ birthday parties — to make them more welcoming and open to those who think, process and learn differently.”

This quote resonated with me as I’ve worked with a student considered “high-functioning ADHD” and over time his school realized that a separate, quiet test-taking environment was extremely helpful to his overall test scores. He described a regular testing environment as “trying to read a book right in front of a mariachi band” and I’ve always remembered that analogy.

“Recognizing neurodiverse people as having differences, rather than deficits, is important. This approach helps kids fulfill their potential and thrive. ‘Having the people who you are interacting with — our teachers, employers, friends and family — thinking more in terms of neurodiversity is much more inclusive, much less stigmatizing,’ says Dr. Cynthia Martin (a clinical psychologist and autism specialist).

Childhood/adolescence and school are hard enough on their own, so I’m pleased that neurodiverse students are being identified and helped with less stigma these days. If school is about helping every child’s growth through learning, it absolutely makes sense to do everything we canto make that learning possible for EVERY student.

 REFLECTION: The line from the reading that stood out to me personally was “A main goal of the neurodiversity movement is to shine a light on the strengths and benefits of this diversity.”

In high school (I know, 150 years ago) we had a classmate named Todd who was almost certainly on the spectrum. He was given special care most of the time, and spent more than four years at Bend Senior High. He was notably different – lacking most social abilities and keeping to himself mainly (although maybe no one approached him). What stands out in my memory was a day in Personal Finance class when the teacher handed us out a really large and complex word find to chew on. Todd finished it in under 30 seconds and proudly walked it up to the front to turn it in. It wasn’t scribbles – the way his brain was wired made the “missing” words stand out like they were capitalized and underlined. It was amazing.