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<\/p>\nLanguage holds power. We see this every day on our social media feeds, whether it\u2019s
\nsomething going viral on twitter or a meme on IG that speaks to exactly what we are feeling
\nin the moment. That is why I was so drawn to the term neurodiversity.<\/p>\n
Neurodiversity is a science-based concept that says that brain\/learning differences, like
\nAutism, ADHD, Dyslexia, etc. are biologically normal or mainstream. It frames the
\nchallenges that come with neurodiversity as differences instead of framing them as deficits.
\nFor me, this was a huge \u201cah-ha\u201d moment. This one word told me that there was nothing
\n\u201cwrong\u201d with my brain, it was just different \u2013 and that was okay. Different is normal,not
\nwrong,not broken,not in need of fixing. I can work with different<\/p>\n
As a mother of two neurodivergent kids, it was critical for my boys to grow up feeling that
\nsame sense of pride about their brain differences; it was not enough that I felt this way.
\nAfter all, why should they think of themselves as broken, when they are not? Their brains
\ncan do incredible things. They see the world in a different way. There are so many
\nstrengths in brain differences, that I wanted them to see those strength within themselves
\nand build on them. The challenge for me, as a mother, was how do to that.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Like many parents, when I looked for ways to teach my kids, I turned to stories – I turned to
\nbooks. Unfortunately, I soon discovered that there were not a lot of picture books that
\nshowed neurodivergent characters. (To be clear, there are some incredible stories out
\nthere, but not nearly enough.) I wanted books that could mirror my children\u2019s experiences
\nwearing headphones, chewing gum, playing with fidget toys and their comfort in routine
\nand schedules. I wanted to provide them these types of mirrors to normalize their
\nexperiences, so that they could see picture book characters being just like them. I wanted
\nthem to see that their experiences while different, were also normal.<\/p>\n
I never set out to be an author\/illustrator, but I became one to fill a gap that I saw. I
\ncreated the Super Fun Day Books series to show neurodivergent children facing challenges
\nand overcoming them. My books are structured like social stories, which is a tool used in
\nspecial education to help teach children about something that may be hard. The
\nillustrations in the books are purposefully simple to help keep a focus on the story and the
\nfont is dyslexic friendly. All the books are available as audiobooks to make them accessible
\nto all types of learners. (I happen to consume books best in audio format myself and am so
\nthankful for that technology).<\/p>\n
There are days when my children are proud of their neurodiversity and there are days, like
\nwith all children, they just want to be like everyone else. I hope that my books help other
\nparents, educators, and therapists, support children so that they more days when they feel
\nproud of their brain differences.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.autismconnect.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/1-blog-300x200.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
But it cannot just be about neurodivergent kids learning about themselves \u2013 neurodiversity
\nshould be understood by all children (and adults). Other children see the headphones, the
\ngum chewing, the weighted vests, and wobble seats. Books are also windows into someone
\nelse\u2019s life, and I love hearing about how my books help start conversations with
\nneurotypical kids about the differences they may see with their neurodivergent peers.
\nAfterall, as a mother, I can help change how my kids feel about themselves but the world
\naround them has to share in that positive message. It will take all of us to make that kind of
\nchange.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Language holds power. We see this every day on our social media feeds, whether it\u2019s something going viral on twitter or a meme on IG that speaks to exactly what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":1106,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[235,233,146,232,100,246,104,105,216,193,255],"tags":[11,45,129,86,107,244,270,271,196],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.autismconnect.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1719"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.autismconnect.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.autismconnect.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autismconnect.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autismconnect.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1719"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.autismconnect.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1719\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3855,"href":"https:\/\/www.autismconnect.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1719\/revisions\/3855"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autismconnect.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.autismconnect.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autismconnect.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autismconnect.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}