Neuro-divergent Affirming Practice
Neuro-divergent affirming speech and language therapy practice aligns with the Neurodiversity Paradigm, believing that Autism along with any other form of neuro-diversity such as ADHD, dyslexia or a learning disability is an entirely valid form of human diversity.
Some children regardless of their neuro-type benefit from support from a Speech and Language Therapist at some point in their lives.
This support needs to be delivered in a way that respects and honours the way that a child’s brain is wired and does not inflict harm.
Neurodivergent-affirming assessment and therapy looks at an individual through a strengths based lens and supports the child or young person to build up their communication skills in a way that does not encourage masking or asking them to pretend to be someone that they are not. For other autistic children with higher support needs masking is not even an option. Whatever the support needs of your child they deserve to have communication skills that will enable them to participate fully in the world around them.
Honouring a person’s authentic self is so important in
supporting their mental health, self-esteem and well-being.
“Different, not less.”
Neurodivergent-affirming speech and language therapy
Do you want communication support for your neurodivergent child that is not based on comparing them to neurotypical norms?
Support that honours and supports their way of communicating and thinking that builds on the skills that they already have.
For older children perhaps they are struggling with friendships at school and being able to repair communication breakdowns?
Supporting their communication skills in a neurodivergent-affirming way can include:
· Perspective-talking
Building an understanding of themselves and others. This includes thinking about how they feel in different situations, how others might feel, how they know etc.
· Self-advocacy
Learning to advocate for lots of different reasons rather than ignoring or trying to suppress their needs e.g asking for a break when they are starting to feel overwhelmed in order to avoid a meltdown.
· Language/Pragmatics (rather than social skills) For example, considering the differences in communication styles between neurotypical people and autistic people.
Why breakdowns in communication between the two may occur and strategies to help fix them.
Double empathy problem and appreciating that it is not solely the fault of an autistic person if communication breaks down.
