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For Some Neurodivergent People, Mental Health Advice Needs to be Adjusted: Part 2 of 2.

If you have not read part one: Some professionals divide the strategies people use to help themselves with their unpleasant emotions into two types: problem-solving strategies and emotion-focused strategies. A problem-solving strategy is a strategy that works best when a situation can be helped. For example, if you need to go somewhere, and you worry about getting wet in the rain, you can wear a raincoat. An emotion-focused strategy is a strategy that works best when a situation can’t be helped. For example, if you need to go somewhere, and you do not like rain even when you wear a raincoat, you can think about how the plants need some rain, and then you might feel better about the rain.                    

In contrast to part one, sometimes someone will recommend a problem-solving strategy that works for most people when an emotion-focused strategy would work better for a neurodivergent person.

For example, once I had a job that did not have room for advancement because the only tasks left were things I could not do, even with accommodations, because of the way my brain was different from my coworkers’  brains. This is not to say that neurodivergent people cannot advance in their jobs at all, only to say that I could not advance in this particular job. The job was in a yarn dyeing studio, and the tasks I had not done were very visually complicated. Once, someone very kindly encouraged me to ask my supervisor for more responsibilities, and I told them that the only tasks left in the business I worked for were tasks I could not do. They continued to try to encourage me to ask my supervisor for more responsibilities, but I had to explain that that was not practical in that job. This person did not know that for me, an emotion-focused strategy, such as self-acceptance, would have worked better.

Problem-focused strategies are great, but sometimes a situation cannot be helped, so an emotion-focused strategy will work better.

Julia

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For Some Neurodivergent People, Mental Health Advice Needs to be Adjusted: Part 1 of 2.

Some professionals divide the strategies people use to help themselves with their unpleasant emotions into two types: problem-solving strategies and emotion-focused strategies. A problem-solving strategy is a strategy that works best when a situation can be helped. For example, if you need to go somewhere, and worry about getting wet in the rain, you can wear a raincoat. An emotion-focused strategy is a strategy that works best when a situation can’t be helped. For example, if you need to go somewhere, and you do not like rain even when you wear a raincoat, you can think about how the plants need some rain, and then you might feel better about the rain.                    

Sometimes someone will recommend an emotion-focused strategy that works for most people when a problem-solving strategy would work better for a neurodivergent person. 

Here is an example: In a YouTube video that, unfortunately, I can no longer find, called “How Information Gathering is Driving Your Worry,” the psychologist Dr. Rami Nader explains that most people gather information before they make a big decision, but people who tend to feel more anxious about making decisions tend to gather lots and lots of information to make decisions. He explains that this habit can be self-reinforcing and inefficient, and that sometimes people reach a point where more information will not help them make a better decision. He used the example that someone with a lot of anxiety might spend fifty hours researching what type of camera to buy. 

Dr. Nader suggests that people who tend to gather lots and lots of information do behavioral experiments, in which they notice what they think will happen if they do not gather so much information, try making a decision in which they gather less information, and notice that the outcome of the decision was not so bad after all. He used the example of giving yourself less time to decide which cake mix to buy or watching a movie without reading the synopsis first. 

I like this video, and I agree that anxiety can make people want to gather a lot of information, that information gathering can be self-reinforcing and inefficient, and that these behavioral experiments could be a useful emotion-focused strategy.

However, sometimes information-gathering is a helpful problem-solving strategy for neurodivergent people. 

Often, neurodivergent people might gather more information about a situation to help themselves be less confused about the situation. For example, I am neurodivergent, and I am not very good at keeping track of movie plots, so I used to get confused when I watched movies. As a problem-solving strategy, I read the synopsis before I watch the movie, so I don’t get confused anymore. For me, reading the synopsis is not an anxious behavior that is driving my worry. It’s an accommodation. 

Additionally, it can be useful for me to gather extra information about certain life experiences so that I will know if those experiences will be a good match for my brain. For example, I might want to know if a school is good at accommodating neurodivergent students or if a job is a good match for my skills.

Both problem-solving strategies and emotion-focused strategies can help, and sometimes problem-solving strategies work better for neurodivergent people. In part two, I will give an example of how, sometimes, emotion-focused strategies work better for neurodivergent people.

Cheers,

Julia

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This blog now has its own logo designed by Max Judas of Spectrum Hill Arts with Timm Judas of Spectrum Hill Arts. Logo image description: A brain in the profile of a woman's face sprouts into a lightbulb surrounded by butterflies. You can learn more about Max and Timm's art with the link below.

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Update on Section 504 in the United States:

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Celebrate Neurodiversity Week!

Here is link to a video that teaches kids about neurodiversity: https://youtu.be/9nvYwyrxXcA?feature=shared

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Energy Levels and Sensory Strategies.

People with sensory processing differences may have more times when their level of energy is either too low or too high to focus on whatever activity they are doing. We, and everybody, can use sensory strategies to change our energy levels. Increasing sensory input tends to make people feel more awake, but too much can tire people out, especially if they have sensory sensitivities.

Here are some sensory strategies to help you wake up more:

-Sight: brighter light.

-Sound: faster and louder music.

-Touch: A fan.

-Taste: A lemon in your water.

-Smell: Peppermint oil.

-Proprioception (the sense of where your body is in space): any exercise that pushes or pulls on your joints. See my post about proprioception.

-Vestibular (The sense from your inner ear of where your head is): Any fast head movement. See my post on the vestibular sense.

Here are some sensory strategies to help you feel calmer:

-Sight: Dim the lights, unless the light dimmer makes a high pitched noise that bothers you.

-Sound: Quiet, slow music.

-Touch: Firm touch, called deep touch pressure such as from blankets, tight clothes, hugs, and weighted products.

-Proprioception: Any exercise that pushes or pulls on the joints can also be calming. See my post about proprioception.

-Vestibular: Vestibular input tends to make people feel more awake, but slow rocking, such as in a rocking chair, can make people feel calm.

Cheers,

Julia

P.S. Here are some links to programs that teach people more about this:

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How You Can Protect Disability Accommodations in the United States:

Here is a link to some information about how you can protect disability accommodations in the United States: https://dredf.org/protect-504/

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What does vestibular mean?

Many people think that we have only five senses, but we actually have three more senses that many people do not know about.

The vestibular sense is the sense of where our head is compared to where up and down are, and it helps us balance. Our vestibular system is the parts and the workings of both our inner ears and our brain that interprets the information from our inner ears.

Here is a link to a 4-minute YouTube video that explains the parts and workings of the vestibular system:

Here is a link to a 2-minute YouTube video that explains the vestibular system from a sensory occupational therapy perspective:

https://youtu.be/ueDQjhJDqIg?si=TPU5q32DuQdesnBX

Some people are more or less sensitive to vestibular input than most people are. People who are more sensitive to vestibular input tend to avoid it, and people who are less sensitive to it tend to seek it out, even if they do not know that that is what they are doing.

Vestibular input tends to make people feel more awake. (If you want to use vestibular input to help yourself feel more awake, please be careful to not make yourself feel sick to your stomach.) Some slow and rhythmic activities, like rocking back and forth, can be calming.

Any activity that involves moving our head a lot stimulates our vestibular system. These activities include:

-Bouncing or rolling on an exercise ball

- As a small child: being thrown up in the air, getting bounced on an adult’s lap, or getting pulled around in a blanket

- Doing gymnastic moves such as handstands, cartwheels, and somersaults

- Playing on playground equipment such as swings and slides

- Doing team or individual sports with very fast movement

- Spinning in a chair

- Going on amusement park rides

- Riding in a car that is going fast onto the highway

Cheers,

Julia

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What is Proprioception?

A lot of people think we have five senses, but we actually three more that many people do not know about.

Proprioception (pro-pre-o-sep-shun) is the sense of where we are in space, and it comes from nerve endings, called proprioceptors, in our muscles and joints. These proprioceptors tell us what angle our joints are in. Our proprioceptive system is both the parts and the workings of those receptors and our brain that interprets the information from those receptors.

Some people’s brains are under-sensitive to proprioceptive input, and we may seek out more proprioceptive input even if we don’t know that that is what we are doing. People who have difficulty processing proprioceptive input have trouble with motor coordination, and that level of difficulty may or may not be enough for other people to think the person is clumsy.

Proprioceptive input can help us change our energy level if we feel either sluggish or wound up.

Activities that involve pushing or pulling on our joints give us proprioceptive input.

These activities include:

-Chewing and sucking on things

-Push-ups, walk push-ups, chair push-ups, and pressing your hands together

-Animal walks

-Heavy chores

-Band exercises

-Many other physical exercises

Cheers,

Julia

P.S. Here is a short video about proprioception from an occupational therapy perspective:

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What is Set Shifting?

Set shifting, or shifting, is the skill of moving one’s attention from thinking about one topic to thinking about another. It is often harder for autistic people and people with non-verbal learning disorder (NLD or NVLD)/developmental visual spatial disorder (DVSD).

If a child has difficulty shifting, they might become more upset than most children would when their caregivers tell them to stop playing to get ready to go somewhere. Their teacher might comment that they have trouble with transitions.

If you have trouble shifting, it might be harder to time the cooking of meals with multiple dishes where you have to pull your attention away from the greenbeans to check on the potatoes. It might be hard to follow unstructured group conversations where you have to move your attention quickly from one speaker to another. It might be hard to chat with co-workers while getting work done even if it is the kind of work that most people can do while chatting.

If it takes you longer than it takes most people to refocus on your work after getting interrupted, you may feel extra annoyed when people interrupt you. You might have a habit of getting in the middle of a project, realizing you need to do something else more important on your to do list, but finishing the project anyway so that you do not have to switch tasks so often.

If you take care of a child who has difficulty set shifting, one strategy that can help is giving the child warnings for when it is almost time to switch activities. If you are a teenager or an adult, you can give yourself warnings with watch and phone timers and alarms. You can also educate people about your difficulty set shifting so they can understand you better.

Set shifting is a skill in a group of skills called executive functioning skills.

Julia

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How to Find a Psychotherapist for Someone With Non-Verbal Learning Disorder (NLD or NVLD)

On Psychology Today, you can simultaneously apply several filters to your search for a therapist. The search function does not have a filter for NVLD, but it has filters for autism, ADHD, and education/learning disabilities. This link will take you to the search function set on the United States setting, but you can change the setting to search for a therapist in about twenty-four other countries. Many therapists will offer a free 10-15 minute phone call for you to find out if they would be a good match for you. Sometimes people have to try a few therapists to find one who is a good fit. I hope you find one who is good for you.

Julia

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Cooking Part 4: How Do I Avoid Cutting Myself and How Do I Chop Efficiently if I Have Fine Motor Challenges?

When you chop things, hold your non-dominant hand the way chefs do, as pictured below.

Chefs curl the fingers of their non-dominant hand so that the farthest away bones of their fingers are straight up and down, perpendicular to the cutting board. The side of the knife touches the fingernail side of their fingers. When the chef’s fingers are not flat on the cutting board, they are not in the path of a knife that slips.

If you hold your non-dominant hand in an arch with your fingers straight up and down, and you practice cooking for many, many, hours, you will eventually be able to chop faster. If you hold your hand incorrect way that most home cooks hold their hand, with their fingers almost flat as pictured below, it will not be as safe to chop faster.

Cheers,

Julia

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Cooking Part 3: How Can I Organize my Time While Cooking?

Firstly, you can use lots of timers. If some timers are sensory overloading to you, you can experiment with different types to find what works for you.

Secondly, you can record and write down how long it takes you to make a meal so if you want to cook that meal again, you’ll know how much time you’ll need to carve out of your day. You might also want to record and write the time it took for something to fry or because different pans hold different amounts of heat, so your timing might differ from the recipe’s timing.

Remember that some kinds of cooking, such as stir-frying, are active, which means you have to focus on the cooking to stir the food and make sure it doesn’t burn. Other kinds of cooking, such as baking and boiling, are passive, which means you can do other tasks on your to do list while you wait for the food to cook. You could also categorize some kinds of cooking, such as the kind where you stir occasionally, as semi-passive. If the cooking is semi passive, you may be able to break away to prepare another part of the meal, but you won’t want to get too distracted either.

Finally, don���t bother chopping any ingredients too finely if they are about to go in a blender or food processor and get chopped up by a machine anyway.

Cheers,

Julia

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Cooking Part 2: How Can I Organize my Stuff While I am Cooking ?

Read the recipe, and then get out all the ingredients and tools needed for cooking. If you are not sure exactly what tools you will need, make your best guess. You will get better at this when you keep practicing. I would include bowls to put the chopped vegetables in.

After you chop the vegetables and put them in bowls, line them up by the stove in the order that you will use them. For example, onions take longer to cook than carrots, and carrots take longer to cook than broccoli. So, if you cook onions, carrots, and broccoli, put the onions closest to the stove, the carrots next to the onions, and the broccoli next to the carrots.

Cheers,

Julia

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Cooking Tips: Help for People with and without Non-Verbal Learning Disorder, Autism, Developmental Coordination Disorder/Dyspraxia, and other Neurodivergent Conditions.

Part 1: What parts of Cooking Can be Hard for Some Autistic People and Some People with Non Verbal Learning Disorder?

Firstly, cooking requires executive functioning skills, which are mental skills we use to manage tasks. Executive functioning skills include both organizational skills and time management skills. The ability to switch your attention quickly from one thing to another, such as from cooking a main dish to stirring a side dish, is also an executive functioning skill.

Secondly, cooking also requires planning and sequencing. People plan their cooking in their heads to some degree even if they are making up a recipe as they go along. Sequencing means knowing what order the steps to an activity go in and doing them in the correct order.

Finally, cooking requires fine motor skills. The term fine motor refers to how we use small muscles in our hands.

Soon I will post more parts with cooking tips.

Cheers,

Julia

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Commentary on an article about Gus Walz and Non-Verbal Learning Disorder from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and the term Higher Order Thinking.

Because Tim Walz’s (the US democratic nominee for vice president’s) son, Gus Walz, has non verbal learning disorder (NLD or NVLD), the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wrote an article about NVLD. People with NVLD are verbal — the term non verbal, in this context, refers to the skills that are harder for us. Here is a link to the article:

This blog post is to comment on this quote from the article: “Big picture deficits, or difficulty comprehending higher order thinking, may show itself as being unable to convey the main idea of a story.”

What is higher order thinking? Higher order thinking describes understanding abstract ideas that are not directly explained.

For example, if a piece of writing says, “The hunter aimed and fired,” most people would know that the hunter shot a gun, but some children who have trouble with higher order thinking would not know that because it was not actually stated. They might think, that’s subjective, how do we know the hunter did not use a bow and arrow? The same child could have difficulty predicting what will happen next in the story and understanding the author’s main point of the story.

(Citation for the above two paragraphs: Kathleen [Kathy] Westwood, speech language pathologist with training in a reading comprehension program, personal communication. General information and gun example from her, paraphrasing and example of a child thinking, “that’s subjective” from me.)

Two things I would like you to know: If someone has difficulty with higher order thinking, it does not mean that they are not smart in other ways or that they only have “lower order thinking.” Also, I recommend you not become inspired to use these terms as a way to “win an argument” with someone with NVLD. It will not help you get along better with anyone if you say anything like “I understand this better because I get the bigger picture,” or “You cannot be right because you do not have much higher order thinking.” In an argument like that, everyone loses.

Thanks,

Julia

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Commentary on a Los Angeles Times Article about Non-Verbal Learning Disorder.

Because Tim Walz’s son, Gus Walz, has non-verbal learning disorder (NLD or NVLD), the Los Angeles Times wrote an article about NVLD. Tim Walz is the US democratic nominee for vice president. People with non-verbal learning disorder are verbal — the term non verbal labels the skills that are harder for us. Here is the link to the article:

Here are four lines from the article and some comments about how I experience the challenges the article lists.

1. “… nonverbal kinds of learning that involve visual-spatial processing, such as telling time on an analog clock, …”

Yes, clocks—I can tell time with an analog clock, but I often have to look at, and silently talk myself through, which number the hour hand is at and which hour the number hand is at. Unless the time is three, six, nine, or twelve, I cannot tell the time by only glancing at the shape that the hands make on the clock.

Also, I know which way is clockwise when I look at a clock, but I haven’t always known which way is clockwise when I have been in other situations.

2. “…problems with tasks like tying shoes, using silverware and writing by hand,…”

These tasks use what are called fine motor skills, which we use to make small movements with our hands (and feet). Unlike a lot of other people with NLD, I have good hand skills. However, when I was a child, it took me a long time to learn to write with spaces between every word instead of letting the words run into each other likethis. Also, after I see a teacher demonstrate a combination of steps in a dance class, I often want to perform a lower energy and less refined version of the combination before I perform it fully. In dance, this is called marking, but most students can mark the steps while they watch the teacher once and then perform the combination fully.

3. “…problems with reading comprehension…”

I have heard a hypothesis that most people who do not have non-verbal learning disorder subconsciously create “movies” in their minds of any story they read. This movie helps them understand and remember the plot.

I once took a test that the teacher said was designed to learn if the students had been reading the book or not. One of the questions to find out if we had read the book was something like: “What object did a certain character put in a specific place?” This was not a good test of whether I read the book. I had read the book, but I did not remember the object, because, as this hypothesis goes, I did not subconsciously visualize it. The question was not a deep thinking question about what the object meant to the plot, but because I did not visualize the object much, I may have also had trouble understanding the object’s significance to the plot.

4. “…advanced kinds of math problems.”

I usually understand math rules, but I cannot do math problems as quickly as most people can.

Julia