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How Neurodivergence Gets Missed In Families
Working in the area of family law, I come across many different families. As I’m autistic, I see patterns, especially when it comes to unidentified neurodivergence with the family.
More often than not, there’s a child within the family who has been diagnosed autistic or ADHD and quite often both. And usually that child is a boy.
We now know that boys aren’t necessarily more likely to be neurodivergent but they are more likely to be diagnosed because of skewed diagnostic criteria. We also know that ADHD and autism are genetic so there’s a good chance at least one of the child’s parents would be neurodivergent.
There’s something about seeing a snapshot of a family from the perspective of an outsider. At various times I interview parents, mediate between them and read reports prepared by experts who include social workers and psychologists.
I’m often astounded by what seems so obvious to me but has never been picked up by other professionals who have worked with the family.
Why is everyone else in the family being missed?
Meet Annie, Mike, Tom and Holly
