Mental health diagnoses such as anxiety or depression commonly co-occur with neurodivergent diagnoses such as ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and Learning Disabilities. This month, I am going to talk about why this co-occurrence is common and why it is critical to identify and address co-occurring mental health concerns. In this post, I will focus on three reasons why the co-occurrence between neurodivergence and mental health concerns is so common.

This month, we are focusing on learning disabilities. In my first post this month, we looked at some common misconceptions and things that are true about learning disabilities. In this post, we will focus on common learning disabilities, dyslexia, dyscalculia, and dysgraphia individually. For each learning disability, we will look at what it is, what it looks like, and some proven interventions.

This month, we will take a closer look at one subset of neurodiversity: learning disabilities. Learning disabilities are often misunderstood in popular culture, leading to people not noticing the signs of a learning disability in a child or themselves. So this month, we will cover all sorts of learning disability topics, from what they are and common misconceptions to signs to look for, assessments, and evidence-based interventions. 

First, three specific learning disabilities fall under the learning disability umbrella: dyslexia, dyscalculia, and dysgraphia. A learning disability can occur on its own or can co-occur with another learning disability, with another neurodiversity (like ADHD or Autism Spectrum Disorder), or with a mental health concern (like anxiety or depression). While each learning disability has its own unique symptoms and intervention strategies, there are a lot of things that are true for all learning disabilities. Today, we are going to focus on six often misunderstood facts that are true for all learning disabilities.

Last month, we discussed evaluation and deciding if it is the right next step for your child. If you missed that, check it out here.

This month, I want to focus on a subset of evaluations I always get questions about- ADHD evaluations. If you have concerns about your child’s attention, you might be wondering if they should have an ADHD evaluation. Or maybe your pediatrician diagnosed your child with ADHD, and you are wondering if a more robust evaluation would be helpful. This month, I will cover what ADHD is, when to consider an evaluation, the three parts of a high-quality evaluation of attention, and how to ensure your child gets a comprehensive evaluation.

One of the most common questions I get from parents is: “Should I have my child evaluated?” This can be an emotionally charged and confusing question. Maybe you are wondering if the things you notice in your child are part of typical development or if they indicate that an evaluation might be helpful. Or maybe you are considering having your child evaluated but are unsure how evaluation would benefit them and are worried there could be negative impacts.

So this month, I will tackle the question of evaluation head-on. First, I’ll cover what evaluation is (and isn’t!), then discuss reasons to have your child evaluated and what can come from it.

Let’s jump in!

Flirting, crushes, and dating are normal and healthy parts of development for teens. Learning to navigate romantic relationships is difficult for everyone, but being neurodiverse can add an extra layer of challenge.

The good news is that we can support neurodiverse teens in developing the social and executive functioning skills that help build healthy relationships! When supporting neurodiverse teens, it is important to understand the additional challenges they may face while exploring romantic relationships. In my work, I have found that these additional challenges often fit into one of three categories.

Study skills are a variety of skills that help us process, organize, keep, and use information. Middle School is a critical time for developing study skills as students learn to juggle multiple courses and adjust to having more autonomy. Like me, you might be having thoughts of carrying your sticker-covered paper planner around all day and finding a parent to sign it each night. However, just like for adults, different study skills work better for different situations and different people. We can support study skill development for middle schoolers by exposing them to an array of study and organizational techniques. Then, most importantly, we can help them reflect on these tools and identify which ones work best for them in a variety of situations.