You want all your students to flourish, but sometimes a few really struggle, and you can’t put your finger on what’s happening beneath the surface. Is it simply a lack of maturity, or is there more to it?
Perhaps you have a student who is smart, but doesn’t pick up on social cues – even with coaching. Or one with an unusually strong (maybe even overbearing) sense of justice. Or perhaps a student with heightened reactions to sights or sounds.
When you see any of these situations, it may relate to “brain wiring.” True neurodiversity that affects the whole child; not just his ability to grasp the curriculum.
I know because from ages 5 to 8, we had no idea our oldest child had a type of neurodiversity that tends to come with lots of “book smarts,” but little to no “social smarts.”
He endured years of bullying and exclusion before we requested a full evaluation. In the meantime, the rejection was happening everywhere.
At school, it was almost always during less-structured times of the day, such as lunch, recess and transitions. Because he’s an extrovert (and persistent), adults didn’t know classmates were constantly snubbing him.
And that’s just a few of the ways this type of neurodiversity “shows up.” I describe 17 other characteristics in the cheat sheet below.
subscribe to my educator series and I’ll send them to you.
If you teach for any length of time, you’ll encounter these students, so I hope you’ll subscribe to grab the cheat sheet above, as well as these cute bookmarks. 🙂
After that, I’ll send you occasional insights, and let you know when I post new stories about:
- executive-function skills
- social competencies
- tips for applying differentiated instruction (without going crazy!)
- and more
All the best,
