Special Needs Kids are People Too! Seeing the Possibilities through a Neurodiverse Lens

EXCERPTS FROM:

SPECIAL NEEDS KIDS ARE PEOPLE TOO
Seeing the Possibilities through a Neurodiverse Lens

by Amy Bodkin, EdS

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Towards a Philosophy of Practice

After many years, my experiences as an Autistic child, my training as a School Psychologist, and my experiences homeschooling my two Autistic children eventually simmered together long enough that they melded into a unique flavor of my very own. 

Over the last several years, I have been honored to share that special blend with parents and professionals through hundreds of individual consultations. Like the response of satisfied diners, their reactions have helped me realize what a gift I was sitting on, and as Tiana’s father in The Princess and the Frog put it upon tasting his daughter’s gumbo, “A gift this special just got to be shared!”

As an Autistic child who (obviously) grew into an Autistic adult, I have experienced what it feels like to not fit in, to live in a society not designed for me.

I know what it feels like to have an Auditory Processing Disorder, to be Dyslexic, to experience sensory overload, to have meltdowns, and to have panic attacks.

I also know the joys of special interests, the satisfaction of stims, the importance of honesty, and having a friend who gets you!

I was not always able to express these things. Despite having the ability to “talk to a wall,” it was not until adulthood that I had enough cognitive development to be able to reflect on my experiences introspectively as well as give expression to those experiences.

As put in Jane Eyre, “Children can feel, but they cannot analyze their feelings; and if the analysis is partially affected in thought, they know not how to express the result of the process in words.”

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Why Special Needs?

Since I started using the term “special needs” for my work, I have taken a lot of flak for it from fellow Autistics, professionals, and parents. People often ask questions like, “Why don’t you use neurodivergent?” or “Why don’t you use exceptional?” And I have honestly given this a lot of thought because if I am going to run counter to what everyone is telling me, then I need to have a good reason and know why I disagree with everyone else!

I’ve been using “Special Needs” as my umbrella term because I work with families who are battling cancer, chronic health issues, traumatic experiences… and so many other things that impact education and development, but depending on what is going on, other terms like “disabled” or “neurodivergent” don’t always apply.

I do try to use this as a point of education, however. After all, my podcast is called Special Needs Kids Are People Too!

We all, at some point in life, have needs that fall outside the average. We still deserve to be treated as full people worthy of the respect we so willingly give to certain others.

So I have decided to reinvent existing language to help people recognize that we all have needs outside the average at times, and some more than others, but we all have them. And when we can recognize that, it gives us the opportunity to build a relationship based on mutual respect because of our differences, not in spite of them.

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