Being a parent is notoriously difficult. This is true in any case, but when you feel as though your child might be neurodivergent, you might begin to feel as though there’s a whole new skills that you need to learn in order to parent effectively. What’s more, it can often be difficult to know whether behaviors being expressed at a young age are simple personality differences or something indicative of neurodivergence.
Understanding neurodivergence isn’t just about learning how to recognize it, though, it’s about knowing how the diagnosis will affect them going forward and what differences could manifest themselves down the line.
Sensory Sensitivity
Something that some neurodivergent individuals might experience, especially when it comes to conditions like autism could be a heightened sensitivity to sensory stimuli. In fact, this might be a symptom that you notice early on that could possibly be more of an indication of neurodiversity than simple variations in behavior.
There are many signs of your child struggling in social situations, such as school. If being overwhelmed by sensations is a problem that your child is facing, it’s worth looking into methods that are geared toward reducing the impact that this can have. Alongside these methods (potentially including noise-canceling headphones), you might also find that being aware of this can help you to gear your child’s activities away from situations that might cause them distress.
What Can You Do?
Part of this understanding comes down to trying to adjust your own parenting so that it better aligns with the needs of your child. It’s important to not overthink this too much, and to simply take on the new advice as it comes and adapt your approach so you’re doing what you think is best.
In order to do this, you might find it helpful to turn your attention toward platforms that offer online resources. Autism360.com is a good example of such a platform and can point you in the direction of what you need to answer questions that you might have about your current situation.
Seek the Right Sources of Information
While understanding isn’t just about recognizing it in the first place, it’s valuable to know which sources you can turn to at a time like this. After all, you don’t want to make assumptions based on what you think you know about neurodivergence and completely commit to that assumption, you’ll want to make your decisions based on facts.
Seeking out correct medical advice online can be useful, but it requires you to be able to identify reliable sources of information, and sometimes the advice given can be too general to be applicable to your situation.
Therefore, if you feel as though your child might be expressing signs of neurodivergence, the best course of action might be to book an appointment with the appropriate healthcare professional.
Where to Start?
A diagnosis might be the best place to begin if you’re concerned, but being aware of the steps that you can take if neurodivergence is present might help you to be more practical about that diagnosis if it comes. Most of all, it’s imperative that you continue to offer support to your child throughout the process, as this is about finding out what will help them the most.
