Fifteen years ago, I wrote The Power of Neurodiversity:  Unleashing the Advantages of Your Differently Wired Brain.  At the time, few people knew the term neurodiversity, and the sales of the book were slow.  However, in the past several years, neurodiversity has emerged from obscurity to become a word that seems to be on everybody’s...Read More

Imagine that Leonardo da Vinci was a child growing up in contemporary times and school authorities had to determine whether or not he should receive an IEP (Individual Education Plan).  Here’s what the meeting might look like:  Video Transcript Principal:  ”Okay, I think we’re ready to start.  Who wants to get the ball rolling?”‘...Read More

This video – part 11 in my 12-part video series on The Myth of the ADHD Child – introduces the field of neurodiversity as a better way of thinking about children diagnosed with ADHD. It defines neurodiversity and discusses the problem in positing any kind of ”normal brain” in the general population. The video then...Read More

This video is #8 in my series Introduction to Neurodiversity, based on a course I taught at Bridges Graduate School of Cognitive Diversity in Education. It focuses on the gifts, assets, and strengths of those with intellectual disabilities. This is the neurodiversity that really needs the most publicity concerning the things that people with intellectual...Read More

ADHD has three negative words in the label: ”deficit” ”hyperactivity” and ”disorder.” And yet recent research suggests that this form of neurological diversity actually has more assets in it than deficits. Why is there such an emphasis on what’s wrong in the ADHD field?  Why don’t we know more about the strengths of children, teens,...Read More