Learning How To Regulate Emotions
While this is something that neurotypical kids may “pick up” along the way, those living with neurodiverse brains benefit from being clearly taught how to regulate their emotions so as to not get so overwhelmed.
An amazing strength that often comes with neurodiversity is the ability to feel the world around you intensely. Although this can be harnessed as a strength, it also comes with the challenge of often feeling overwhelmed by worries, anxieties, sensory information, and/or flooding of emotions (anger and rage). Learning how to slow down the process of going from 1-10 on the anxiety or anger scale is critical to success no matter what age you are!
Growing Healthy Friendships and Relationships
The world, unfortunately, bases social expectations on what neurotypicals expect. Those living with neurodiversity tend to struggle to pick up on social cues, often misread contexts, and sometimes interpret the world as more black and white than it really is.
In our work with neurodiverse kids and teens, we support the development and use of social thinking muscles. This is more than just learning “social rules,” which only get you so far. Developing strong social thinking muscles means knowing how to “apply” the rules. This is all about learning what to do in social situations and interactions, and how to think about and understand the impact of other’s thoughts and feelings about us. This is tough stuff, even for neurotypical kids and teens. Neurodiverse individuals, unfortunately, struggle even more.
We help kids/teens learn how to make AND keep friends. Although we frequently lump these two together, they are EXTREMELY different. Neurodiverse kids and teens benefit from having these two broken down step by step in order to successfully join in the complex world of friendships at any age. This is something that neurotypicals, as well as those with neurodiverse brains, can benefit from.
Developing Healthy Executive Functions
Executive functions are the umbrella term for the ability to do things like plan, organize, complete tasks, be flexible, and solve problems. Executive functions are critical for success in school, and also at home (think about the challenges you may face in getting your child/teen to do their homework or clean their room!).
We believe that executive functioning is so incredibly important. It is one of the biggest predictors of ongoing success.
The development of effective executive functioning is the difference between a child/teen who can launch successfully into the world on their own and the child/teen who struggles to ever leave the nest.
Living with neurodiversity means living with an ongoing daily struggle with executive functions. In our work with neurodiverse kids and teens, we target our executive functioning interventions to build sustainable systems and strategies that will help lessen the struggle both in the present, as well as for the future.
Does your child or teen:
At Thrive Counseling Center, we aim to create a supportive environment for neurodiverse clients so they feel welcome, safe, respected, and heard––a place they feel like they belong. As therapists, we strive to help our clients facilitate growth instead of direct or demand it. 
