The workshop series introduces neuroscience concepts as grounding techniques, ways of thinking about brain function that allow us to step back, stay curious, and understand our children’s experiences.

We discuss the neurodiversity paradigm, a framework that recognizes neurological differences, like autism and ADHD, as natural variations of human brain function. Neurodivergence is not a quality specific to individual brains—it arises from the interaction between people and the expectations in our environments. Yet, unless we understand how the brain works, we tend to expect others’ brains to function just as our own does. By applying the neurodiversity paradigm, we’re free to see behaviors as communicating or meeting needs, rather than as symptoms.

In week one, we discuss the medical, social, and ecological models of neurodivergence. We unpack Damian Milton’s concept of double empathy and discuss excerpts from Robert Chapman’s Empire of Normality and Elana K. Arnold’s A Boy Called Bat.