“What would happen if the world viewed neurodevelopmental differences like ADHD, autism, and learning disabilities differently? If everyone noticed the strengths that can come from these differences first, instead of the challenges? That’s the basic idea of neurodiversity — that differences don’t have to only be looked at as weaknesses. They’re not problems that need to be “fixed” or “cured.” They’re simply variations of the human brain. “ This short article on understood.org provides a fantastic overview of neurodiversity.

At OBC, we think of an individual’s story as the intersection of their learning profile, personality, and interests. As Brené Brown says, “when we own our stories, we get to write a brave new ending.” For neurodiverse individuals, however, their story is often shrouded in mystery due to their complex and unusual abilities. In our experience, when that mystery is removed and neurodiverse folks are given a clear understanding of their complex abilities, they really do write a brave new ending. We will work with you and your child to clarify the complexities of their learning profile, take a few personality tests, and create an inventory of interests. Working together, we will then write their story using a template that will serve as a reference point for you and other professionals working with your family.

A neurodiverse individual with a strengths-based identity has a keen awareness of their story. They take pride in their strengths and ownership of their weaknesses. They understand that their strengths and weaknesses are connected. That their strengths create opportunities but also require tending. Meaning, they have abilities that many folks do not, but they also need support (tending) that others do not. They know when to ask for help because they are not scared that admitting their weaknesses will somehow limit their strengths. They understand that they are wonderfully complex and their complexity creates many advantages for them, but they need to tend to their challenges.

See detailed explanation here

The normal distribution is an arrangement of a data set that makes the shape of a bell and is called the normal curve or the bell curve. When folks take diagnostic assessments, the bell curve is often used to show how their scores compare to an average score. Folks who are diagnosed with a learning disability often have some scores that are outside the curve shape of the normal distribution.

Executive function skills can be thought of as personal, cognitive management skills. Once again, understood.org has an excellent overview and explanation of executive function skills. How to improve an individual’s executive function can be tricky to teach and in our experience, effective supports are highly tailored to an individual. Neurodiverse folks of all sorts tend to have their own way of doing things, and improving their EF skills requires a delicate and experienced hand. It’s especially tricky to teach highly intelligent folks who have executive function weaknesses — as a wise colleague of ours once said, you can’t teach a highly intelligent person to organize their mind with your mind. In other words, you can’t just say “this is the best way to do things” you have to help a neurodiverse individual understand how they best do things.