intellectual disabilities

When Dr. Thomas Armstrong wrote the first edition of The Power of Neurodiversity fifteen years ago, neurodiversity was an obscure term in the eyes of the public.  Since that time, the concept has grown exponentially as more and more people have become aware that individuals with disabilities deserve to have greater attention focused on their strengths, talents, and abilities.  In this completely revised and updated book, Armstrong adds hundreds of practical strategies and tips not found in the first edition to help those with neurodiversities create personalized environmental ‘’niches’’ that adapt the world to their own uniqueness. It includes such vital information as:

• What current research says about the specific strengths and evolutionary advantages found in people with dyslexia, ADHD, autism, intellectual disabilities mood disorders, and other neurodiversities;
• How to take advantage of assistive technologies and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) tools that help neurodivergent individuals ‘’work around’’ obstacles at school and in one’s career.
• Which career paths are best suited to specific neurodiversities (and which are bad matches);
• Why inclusive classrooms offer the best learning experience for neurodivergent children, and how strength-based instruction can make learning better for all;
• How to modify the workplace so that every employee, neurodivergent and neurotypical alike, can thrive;
• What resources (books, organizations, apps, films) are out there to support the lives of neurodivergent children, teens, and adults.

The Power of Neurodiversity is a manifesto, a keen look at disability, and must-read for parents, teachers, neurodivergent individuals, and anyone interested in learning more about the millions of people who make up the neurominorities of our culture.

A new concept on human diversity has emerged over the past 10 years that promises to revolutionize the way educators provide service to students with special needs:  neurodiversity.  Just as we celebrate diversity in nature and culture, so too do we need to honor the diversity of brains among our students who learn, think, and behave differently.  In this book, Thomas Armstrong argues that we should embrace the strengths of such neurodiverse students to help them and their neurotypical peers thrive in school and beyond.

For college level students and adults in the workplace, read my book The Power of Neurodiversity:  Unleashing the Advantages of Your Differently Wired Brain.

A new term has emerged from the disability movement in the past decade to help change the way we think about neurological disorders: Neurodiversity. The number of categories of illnesses listed by the American Psychiatric Association has tripled in the past fifty years. With so many people affected by our  growing “culture of disabilities,” it no longer makes sense to hold on to the deficit-ridden idea of  neuropsychological illness. With the sensibility of Oliver Sacks and Kay Redfield Jamison, psychologist Thomas Armstrong offers a revolutionary perspective that reframes many neuropsychological disorders as part of the natural diversity of the human brain rather than as definitive illnesses. The Power of Neurodiversity emphasizes their positive dimensions, showing how people with ADHD, bipolar disorder, and other conditions have inherent evolutionary advantages that, matched with the appropriate environment or ecological niche, can help them achieve dignity and wholeness in their lives.

Dr. Harvey Sumner has a dirty little secret. Although he’s a world renowned child psychologist with honors galore and the scion of a long line of child healers, he’s childless and hasn’t worked professionally with a single child for over thirty years.

The tension between his fame and the reality of his life finally reaches a breaking point when he’s kidnapped by the U.S. government and held in a bunker twelve floors below the National Institutes of Health. Here he learns of a covert government project to declare childhood as a medical disorder and eliminate it from the human genome in America.

Will Harvey manage to escape from his underground prison and save the country’s children and childhood itself? Or will America become a childless nation?

Read the novel and find out!