prairiewindmomma Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 One of the things that has been affirming for my kids has been to help them find their tribe of people. My dd is on a robotics team. She loves to build and program and work sometimes independently and sometimes collaboratively in a super intense way. She is spending 30+ hours a week outside of school on this—it’s the intensity of a super competitive sport, but for techy people. Each of my kids has found “their people”, who have all been outliers themselves….very 2E with very different twists. It’s been hella rewarding and affirming to see that everyone really can find community. It has taken a lot of work to find it, and to shuffle kids where they need to be—and it wasnt something we found in the homeschool community. But, honestly, all of the labels just fall away and my kids are just people doing what they love. Find what your kid loves, and do more of that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 5 minutes ago, hepatica said: There is a recent strand of push back against this neurodiversity as empowering movement which I find troubling. Yes. I find it has parallels to other pushback in other places against diversity, equity, and inclusion. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbutton Posted March 24 Share Posted March 24 On 3/22/2024 at 12:44 PM, SFisher said: I just read this article about pathology vs neurodivergence paradigms in respect to gifted/2e kids. This is the sort of thing I want to read more of in regard to parenting mindset: https://www.giftedlearninglab.com/neurodiversity The interests and ways of being resonate with me—giftedness is the norm in my family, and some people are likely neurodiverse also. What I’d like to know is if people who embrace this paradigm in its entirety get therapy for their kids. My son would not be able to be himself without some therapies—he wouldn’t see (like literal vision) in a completely functional way, be able to express himself well, and he’d almost certainly be in jail over his sensory issues (he literally decked another kid who approached him from behind in a noisy environment and literally didn’t know what happened). None of that makes him not autistic, and he’s not secretive or bothered by being autistic. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sneezyone Posted March 24 Share Posted March 24 41 minutes ago, kbutton said: The interests and ways of being resonate with me—giftedness is the norm in my family, and some people are likely neurodiverse also. What I’d like to know is if people who embrace this paradigm in its entirety get therapy for their kids. My son would not be able to be himself without some therapies—he wouldn’t see (like literal vision) in a completely functional way, be able to express himself well, and he’d almost certainly be in jail over his sensory issues (he literally decked another kid who approached him from behind in a noisy environment and literally didn’t know what happened). None of that makes him not autistic, and he’s not secretive or bothered by being autistic. So, we have a divided household. Half of us embrace accommodations and the neurodiversity paradigm and half do not. The half that do not are extremely resistant to acknowledgement let alone helps. The other half embrace all the things. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SFisher Posted March 24 Author Share Posted March 24 13 hours ago, kbutton said: The interests and ways of being resonate with me—giftedness is the norm in my family, and some people are likely neurodiverse also. What I’d like to know is if people who embrace this paradigm in its entirety get therapy for their kids. My son would not be able to be himself without some therapies—he wouldn’t see (like literal vision) in a completely functional way, be able to express himself well, and he’d almost certainly be in jail over his sensory issues (he literally decked another kid who approached him from behind in a noisy environment and literally didn’t know what happened). None of that makes him not autistic, and he’s not secretive or bothered by being autistic. In general I think neurodiversity paradigm is good and moving in the right direction. I certainly wish schools and medical professionals would have more consistent understanding and acceptance of the idea of neurodiversity and approach kids and families from that perspective. But, I think it leans on positively identifying with a diagnostic label. Although, the catch I have is that all disabilities aren’t fixed and the research progresses and labels change. From my perspective it’s easier to be more vague… some people fall outside the norms, they could have a clear label, they could not, they may improve in some areas, decline in others, one factor may be really impactful at a certain time in life and not in another. My other peeve is that it’s a nice mindset for parenting, but we’re parenting in systems that use the pathology paradigm: education, doctors, diagnosis, therapies… if you want to access all of those things (how can you not access education in any form or medical treatment?) you have to straddle the line between pathology and neurodiversity paradigms. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hepatica Posted March 24 Share Posted March 24 7 hours ago, SFisher said: My other peeve is that it’s a nice mindset for parenting, but we’re parenting in systems that use the pathology paradigm: education, doctors, diagnosis, therapies… if you want to access all of those things (how can you not access education in any form or medical treatment?) you have to straddle the line between pathology and neurodiversity paradigms. 100% Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.