My education and training have focused on how to support neurodivergent individuals and help them thrive. Over the past two decades, I have collaborated with a range of neurodivergent individuals on their educational journey to help them find their strengths and flourish. This work has served to enhance the confidence of those individuals and in turn, improve the competence they are able to demonstrate.

Neurodiversity refers to the range of differences among humans and how they think, process, and perceive the world. Over the last couple of decades, an increased understanding has emerged that some people are neurodivergent and some are neurotypical. Those that are neurodivergent think, process, and perceive the world in ways that are unexpected in the context of their culture and environment.

Neurodivergent individuals include those on the autism spectrum (ASD), those with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), those with specific learning disabilities (SLD) in the areas of reading (dyslexia), writing (dysgraphia), and math (dyscalculia), as well as those with co-occurring mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression. Gifted individuals are included in the neurodivergent population as well as those who are gifted who also have another co-occurring condition. These individuals are referred to as twice-exceptional or 2E because they have two different exceptionalities.

“…neurodiversity research and education is increasingly important in how clinicians view and address certain disabilities and neurological conditions.”

What is neurodiversity? (2021, November 23). Harvard Health. https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/what-is-neurodiversity-202111232645