What is a Neurodevelopmental Condition?
Neurodevelopmental conditions refer to a group of diagnosis that a child may receive to confirm that they are processing information in a different way to the general population
Some children will receive a diagnosis of (for example) Autism or ADHD or Developmental Language Disorder. These diagnoses come from them having a profile of needs in specific areas. There is quite often and overlap between the various conditions and individual children can present with aspects of each and may or may not be given a specific diagnosis. For example, it is common to see aspects of ADHD in children with autism, but they may not be given a separate diagnosis unless it is extremely impactful on their lives
A child with a neurodevelopmental difficulty will potentially have difficulties in 6 areas
Communication
Being able to understand and respond appropriately to the verbal and nonverbal messages being passed amongst the rest of the community
Motor
Having specific co-ordination difficulties that prevent them from managing everyday tasks such as Gross motor - ball skills or Fine motor – Handwriting
Cognitive
Being able to process information and learn at the same rate as a neurotypical child
Sensory
Experiencing sensory information such as taste, smell, hearing very differently to others. This may be a Hyper (over responsive) reaction such as extremely sensitive hearing or a Hypo (under responsive) reaction such as not being able to feel pain
Emotional
Being able to understand their own emotions and those of other people – such as happy, sad, angry and managing those emotions appropriately
Social
Understanding and responding to the rules of social interaction in different settings such as how to behave in the playground
Increasingly these days people are focusing on the idea of neurodiversity rather than being constrained by a specific label.
Our job is to support every child who walks through the door in the morning, meeting their individuals needs, regardless of specific labels, as each child will have their own unique strengths and struggles and there is not a one size fits all response to these needs
Strength based matrix, based on the work of Mary Colley (DANDA) and Geniuswithin.
Neurodevelopmental Differences
Click on the image to go to the Neurodevelopmental Profile Wheel Training Package. This package of training was developed by The Pines Multi Agency Neurodevelopmental Training Team in 2020/21.
Link to the University of Edinburgh website.
This video is one component of the Learning About Neurodiversity at School (LEANS) resource pack for primary schools. It is part of LEANS’ first unit, which introduces children to neurodiversity terms and concepts and relates them to the classroom. The video assumes no prior knowledge of neurodiversity. The target audience for this video is children age 8-11 years, who are proficient in English.
Click on image
