Neurodovergent Girls and ADHD

ADHD Is Another Common Misdiagnosis For Girls

"As a common and specific example, more often than not, boys diagnosed with ADHD are often predominantly visual-spatial learners, so not understanding visual-spatial (holistic) learning is sometimes ok - they are put in the same box and addressing one can address the other, although not ideal. But due to this lack of understanding of the visual-spatial thinking and learning style, it has been misrepresented as ADHD. Because the female thinking style is closer to visual-spatial, many girls are, by default, being misdiagnosed with ADHD. This isn’t just about visual-spatial learners and ADHD- this same scenario can be applied to any neurodivergent trait. And because neurodivergent girls have not been studied or considered in developing diagnoses, this creates ample room for misdiagnoses for them.”

Are We Overdiagnosing Our Girls?

Because I have found that understanding the gifted mind is crucial to understanding the nuerodivergent mind for both genders, it’s important to understand what has happened in the past regarding studies in the field of gifted psychology in the past century or so. We now know that the studies we have on giftedness come from men who were deemed gifted after the fact - the geniuses who produced something big and significant and then died: think Einstein, DaVinci, Jobs, etc - so not only were we missing men who had high potential and may not have produced something helpful for society perhaps because they struggled in school, we were missing girls and women completely.

Are We Accurately Assessing Our Non-Verbal Students?

 by Teresa Currivan, LMFT  If you are used to reading my articles, you will know that I specialize in assessing the neurodivergent and off-the-grid, so to speak, students. I use a system of traits that all impact each other, and try my best to explain how each one influenced the other: it is a wholistic …

Continue reading Are We Accurately Assessing Our Non-Verbal Students?

What Is Healing? | Parenting Neurodivergent Part I

What is healing? It’s our natural inclination to grow. To heal our past wounds.  When we have children it’s a great opportunity for self-growth as we watch them literally, physically grow. And whether they are biologically yours or not, you chose each other so that YOU could see your own self in some way you …

Continue reading What Is Healing? | Parenting Neurodivergent Part I

Neurodivergence and Sound: The Implications of Central Auditory Processing Disorder 

Neurodivergent individuals are often born with a heightened sensitivity to sound. This can sometimes lead to CAPD,or Central Auditory Processing Disorder. The implications of not understanding CAPD is significant - impacting outcomes in education and mental health. I will describe CAPD, the recent history impacting our treatment of it today, and how misunderstanding CAPD in a student being assessed or educated can lead to education and mental health problems.