What Does Neuroaffirmative Mean

Neurodiversity Affirming Practitioner Checklist

To be properly neurodiversity affirming, a practitioner must:

Prioritise connection and regulation first and above all else
Define goals by the individual child
Ensure that goals align with the individual’s wishes and values
Centre the child’s views - does the child want to do this? How are they gauging their views?
Listen to and learn from lived experience and the community they support
Reject neuro-normative, capitalist definitions of success, independence or productivity
Hold the child in unconditional positive regard
Focus on reducing distress and ensuring regulation - modelling regulation and offering opportunities for regulation
Allow individuals to define what is meaningful for them as well as what is functional or distressing for them
Recognise and respect stimming, sensory needs, eating differences, deep interests and communication needs
Prioritise connection and regulation over compliance
Value different ways of playing, socialising, paying attention and learning
Presume competence
Focus on the why behind all responses, dysregulation and distress - rejecting outdated ideas that a child’s behaviour is chosen/manipulative/learned helplessness/bold etc
Teach and encourage self-advocacy including by honouring non-compliance
Adjustments are given and available regardless of “diagnosis”
Recognise intersectionality and cultural preferences
Respect mind and body autonomy - deeply respecting the child’s autonomy of ideas and thoughts
Recognise and supports different development trajectories - there is no “regression” or “delay”
Provide reports that are neuroaffirmative and not beholden to the terminology of the DSM-5
Be open to collaboration and professional development, including to ensure that children receive therapeutic support.

Like all of us, the practitioner may still be learning but it would be preferable if they:-

Use the term neurodivergent rather than neurodiverse, neurodiverse conditions, neurodevelopmental conditions…
honour and learn from radical movements
Understand intersectionality and signal safety to all intersecting identities and work to reduce those unique forms of marginalisation and disadvantage
recognise that what we label as a mental illness or disorder is a cultural judgment rather than a biological reality
Have a total understanding of Gestalt Language Development and Gestalt Processing
Have a total understanding of PDA and impacts on eating, toileting, sleeping, safety
Do not use standardised assessments such as ADOS
Honour self diagnosis as an equally valid form of identification of one’s neurotype
Challenge outmoded ideas such as personality or conduct disorders, oppositional defiance disorders and other labels that explain nothing about the cause of someone’s distress

They are NOT affirming if they:-

Prioritise compliance and label individuals as non-compliant
Refer to tantrums or misbehaviour or challenging behaviour or behaviours of concern
Withhold a desired object or activity to achieve compliance
enforce eye contact and keeping still
Aim to “reduce” or prevent fidgeting or moving
refer to neurodivergence as a disorder
use exposure and tolerance to treat sensory and eating differences
focus on getting you to fit in, appear normal or meet neuronormative goals expectations or standards
reinforce binary ways of thinking e.g. right/wrong, normal/abnormal
Refer to individuals as manipulative, naughty, lazy attention-seeking, needy or demanding
Refer to ASD, on the spectrum, suffering from… deficits, impairments
Insist on using the language of the DSM-5
Argue that there is no evidence for PDA or GLP
Argue that ABA is an evidence based practice or that it works