Neurodiversity

Some tips to try

Three short pieces from the library, and the part of each you can act on tonight.

• Before You Choose a Private Clinic. Five questions before you pay. A clinic that cannot answer them is suspect.
  • Ask: who is conducting it, with what registration, multidisciplinary or not.
  • Ask: will the report be accepted by the NHS for prescribing.
  • Ask: is post-assessment support included or charged separately.
  theparentbook.com/parents/library/quick-tips/before-you-choose-a-private-clinic
• Making Home Easier on Her Senses. By bath time she has been processing sensory input for eleven hours.
  • Dimmer or warmer-coloured bulb in the kitchen for the after-school hour.
  • Noise-cancelling headphones in her bag for the walk home.
  • A specific chair in the kitchen that is hers; the table becomes predictable.
  theparentbook.com/parents/library/quick-tips/small-adjustments-in-everyday-rooms
• The Child Who Reads the World Differently. The way she experiences the world is not the way you do.
  • Take the slow accommodation rather than the rapid correction.
  • Ask once, openly: “Tell me what your brain is doing.”
  • Use the information she gives you to recalibrate the household.
  theparentbook.com/parents/library/quick-tips/when-you-realise-she-reads-differently

If you want to read further

• Neurodiversity, and the Conversation with the School. A chapter for parents whose child has been working harder than other children, for longer, to do the things that come more easily to others. theparentbook.com/reader/neurodiversity-and-the-conversation-with-the-school

Worth your time

• A book for you: NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and How to Think Smarter About People Who Think Differently, Steve Silberman. Cultural history of autism and the neurodiversity movement. uk.bookshop.org/p/books/neurotribes-the-untold-history-of-austim-and-the-potential-of-neurodiversity-steve-silberman/aa94d2a584471e25
• Something to watch: ADHD Foundation YouTube Channel, ADHD Foundation Neurodiversity Charity, YouTube. The UK ADHD Foundation’s video resources, in editorial continuity with the neurodiversity chapter and the four ADHD-specific quick tips; the channel holds The Umbrella Project material and parent webinars worth dipping into across a term. www.youtube.com/@ADHDFoundation

Where else to go

Assessment usually begins at school rather than at the surgery. The GP is the referral route, but a school that has already tried and recorded support makes everything after it faster.

• The SENCo at your child’s school. The member of staff responsible for special educational needs. They hold the assessment routes, the in-school support, and the paperwork an EHCP needs. Ask for a meeting in writing, and ask what is already being tried under the graduated approach. This conversation usually has to happen before anything statutory can.
• Your GP. The gateway to everything the NHS offers a child: paediatric assessment, a referral to CAMHS, and support for you as the parent. Ask for a double appointment. Describe the pattern over weeks rather than the worst single day, and say plainly what you are worried about. Bring a written list; the ten minutes go quickly. www.nhs.uk/service-search/find-a-gp

• ADHD Foundation Neurodiversity Charity. The UK’s leading neurodiversity charity, based in Liverpool. The cleanest UK source for the lifespan, strengths-based framing of neurodiversity that we want chapters in this territory to sit within. Any chapter touching on neurodiversity, ADHD, autism, or the wider neurodevelopmental cluster. Their parent-facing resources on early signs in school-age children, on sensory differences, and on talking with siblings are the strongest sub-resources to name. The largest UK provider of training to professionals; their authority in the territory is real. www.adhdfoundation.org.uk
• Contact (for families with disabled children). The UK charity for families with disabled children. The warmest UK line we know for the parent in the early days after a diagnosis. Any chapter where a parent is holding a new diagnosis, navigating benefits, or contending with the wider system around a disabled child. No diagnosis required to use the helpline, which matters for families still in the assessment process. UK-wide. Contact Helpline 0808 808 3555 · Mon-Fri 9.30am-5pm (Tue opens 10.15am) contact.org.uk/help-for-families/information-advice-services/our-helpline
• IPSEA (Independent Provider of Special Education Advice). The UK’s specialist legal charity for SEND. The right line when the school has stopped engaging or the EHCP process needs legal scaffolding. Any chapter touching on SEN support, the graduated response, EHCP applications or appeals, or the SEND tribunal. The lawyers we would put in the room with a school that has stopped engaging. Free at the point of use, which matters for families who are paying for private assessment in parallel. England only. The SEND systems in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland work differently. IPSEA Advice Line and Call-in Helpline 0300 222 5899 · Triage Tue 9.30am-12.30pm; Call-in Helpline Wed 9.30am-2.30pm www.ipsea.org.uk/advice-line

The full list for neurodiversity, with what each organisation does and when it is the right call, is at theparentbook.com/help/neurodiversity/services