Q. What health professionals do I need to support my neurodivergent child?
Mum of boy aged 5-8
A.
Neurodivergent people benefit from the support of a number of health professionals. I strongly discourage jumping headfirst into this potential support.
Assessment and confirmation (“diagnosis”)
If your child is undiagnosed, and you believe/suspect they might be neurodivergent, your first step is your GP. This in itself is not always an easy approach. You may well experience dismissal or even medical gaslighting. There is, unfortunately, a chance your GP will instead want to discuss your failings as a parent. Or vaguely imply this is a case of parental anxiety at best or Munchausens at worst. Hopefully you’re one of the lucky ones with a supportive, neuroaffirming, and kind GP!
Your GP cannot confirm neurodivergence. You will need them to provide a referral to a paediatrician or an assessing psychologist or psychiatrist. At this point you might still face some push back (the receptionist when my neurodivergent child was assessed asked me to consider the costs, talk to my husband, and decide if this was really something we wanted to spend thousands of dollars on. I said I was fine thanks, and made the booking).
After Assessment / Diagnosis
If, after you have completed the assessment process, your child is confirmed as neurodivergent, it is quite likely one of two things will occur:
- They will be as useful as a chocolate teapot, give you confirmation of conditions and never contact you again, or
- They will recommend many therapies and meetings and health professionals. It can be overwhelming and expensive, and you might be baffled as to how you can fit all of this around work and school and other children… don’t be scared. It’s not as huge and terrifying as it sounds. Remember that this is potentially a great step forwards towards your neurodivergent person feeling more supported, and happier.
Many neurodivergent advocates and professionals actually suggest you go easy and take this one step at a time. I agree. Many assessing psychologists will recommend removing as much pressure from your neurodivergent child as possible, giving them more down time, minimising demands… multiple appointments per week do not allow for this. So consider your child’s best interests when deciding how many different health professionals to see at once. Many, including myself, have had great success in tackling one “issue” at a time, learning new skills, and then continuing to apply and practice these new skills in a real life environment while learning new skills from a new health professional. With a solid break in between, ideally!
In terms of cost, discuss with your referring practitioner what bulk-billing or Medicare rebates are available for each service they refer you to. If you are eligible for NDIS funding, this may also cover the costs entirely.
Who Does What?
There are a wide variety of health professionals who can be of benefit to neurodivergent people:
- Occupational Therapist (OT): not all OTs work in all areas of OT, so do ensure the OT you book actually offers the skill development required. These can include fine motor, gross motor, emotional regulation, handwriting, sensory processing, cognitive processing
- Psychologist: mental health including anxiety and depression, emotion recognition and processing, talking through the social difficulties of being neurodivergent in a world design for and by neurotypical people
- Physiotherapist: core strength, muscle tone, balance (which can assist in perceived “learning difficulties” such as dyslexia)
- Psychiatrist: only psychiatrists can prescribe initial ADHD meds in Australia, and many other places, so are crucial in the support network for many neurodivergent people
- Dietician: food sensitivity, food aversion, supplements, working around issues
- Speech therapist: not all speechies will be experienced in all areas, so make sure they’re the right fit for you. Their neuroaffirming support can include speech, AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication), ARFID (Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder) and food sensitivities
- Allergist: gastrointestinal health is a common issue in neurodivergent people, and may be related to food allergies or intolerances
You may also wish to consider some less mainstream health options such as:
- acupuncture
- acupressure
- naturopathy
- art therapy
- play therapy
- music therapy
…the list is endless.
Include Your Neurodivergent Person!
A good approach in all of this would be to sit down with your neurodivergent person, and their psych assessment, and make a list of things that are causing difficulties (either for, or by, the neurodivergent person). What would they love to make easier sooner? Maybe their sensory overwhelm feels like the biggest problem to them, so they’d like to see an OT first. Maybe poor gut health is causing embarrassment or anxiety, so they’d like to see an allergist or dietician. Don’t make this about what “needs fixing” or what society is least accepting of. Make this about the person, and their needs.
Neuroaffirming Health
Some psychologists or paediatricians will recommend utilising health professionals to teach “normal socialising skills” and other neurotypical behaviours. That is not something I would encourage, personally, but instead would seek a neuroaffirming psych or speechie to assist your neurodivergent person in their ability to communicate their own thoughts and needs, and to process the responses of others.
Neurodivergent people don’t need therapies to teach them to be neurotypical; they need to be assisted to be the best version of themselves they can be, with their own happiness in mind rather than other people’s, and to be supported in learning to interpret and understand neurotypical people as best they can.
When it comes to socialising, given enough exposure to enough people, we tend to find our people naturally; it seems that way we all speak a variation on the same language anyway!
Do They Need Health Support?
Also, please keep in mind that – just as neurotypical people could probably all benefit from some counselling or a trip to the GP – while neurodivergent people might have elements of their lives that would benefit from professional intervention, it isn’t always necessary. No-one is perfect, whichever way their brain is wired. The endless drive to “improve” the neurodivergent community while neurotypical people get to blame flaws on personality or work stress, is pretty unfair. Before you decide for a neurodivergent person what they need, and when, please make sure you’re on the same page.