Neurodiversity is a term applied to people with diagnosed or undiagnosed neurological deviations from the norm, including dyslexia, cognitive dysfunction, anxiety disorders, OCD, ADHD, and conditions that fall on the autism spectrum. It refers to the variations in the human brain and cognition, such as in terms of sociability, learning, attention, mood, and other mental functions.

The concept of neurodiversity celebrates these differences as valuable variations and an important part of human diversity—something to be celebrated, not cured.[i]

The people I described as ‘atypical’ are the undiagnosed individuals who don’t fall solely into one particular neurological condition but overlap on to one another. Each person is different, each with their own unique cocktail of limitations and corresponding skills, abilities, and perspectives.

Photo reference Therapy Focus

Click on the + to read about about each condition

  • Short term memory deficit

    Problems with abstract conceptualization

    Attention deficit

    Slowed information processing

  • Difficulty and confusion with math

    Poor number sense

    Low self esteem and anxiety around numbers/math

    Difficulty with money and calculating change

  • Avoiding eye contact

    Hysteries

    Sensitive to noises

    Hyperactive

    Sleep problems

    Ignoring the dangers

  • Difficulty with getting ideas on paper

    Problems with organization

    Problems note taking\Handwriting difficulties

    Similar sounds cause confusion

    Needing to re-read

    Co-ordination problems

    Difficult remembering things

    Gets lost easily

  • Excessive repetitive thinking about the same event

    Continuous cycle

  • Difficulty focusing

    Forgetfulness

    Always worried

    Easily distracted

    Easily get irritated

  • Frequent worries that interferes with daily life

    Irrational fears and avoidance of harmless objects, places and situations

    Recurring nightmares, flashbacks

    Withdrawal from social life

    Out of the blue panic attacks

  • Obsessions around losing control, contamination, harming someone and losing important things.

    Compulsions around washing/cleaning, orderliness, double checking, following a strict routine

Cognitive dysfunction

Dyscalculia

Autism

Dyslexia

Rumination

ADHD

Anxiety disorder

Obesessive Compulsive Disorder

Left - Right brain

Condition combinations

There is already a recognition that certain neurological condition do overlap on other singular conditions, like Dyslexia onto Dyscalculia or OCD onto ADHD, resulting in common symptoms.

Here are a few examples 

There are a lot of overlapping ‘symptoms’ which can make it difficult to diagnose. Here are some common differences

Although there is a recognition of a connection between conditions.  The atypical brain may very well suffer from all to most of the conditions to some degree, resulting in an array of corresponding skills and perspective.