♪♪♪ >>Welcome to "A World of Difference, Embracing Neurodiversity."

I'm Darryl Owens.

For some kids, school is a place of excitement and discovery.

All over the world, however, kids face obstacles in the classroom.

They may struggle with reading, focusing, or keeping up with assignments because of learning and attention issues.

And for some, these learning differences can trigger another hidden struggle, anxiety.

One study found that at least 21% of children with specific learning disabilities battle anxiety disorders.

These anxieties can be a real burden for neurodivergent children.

It's important for families to talk about these challenges children who learn differently face.

And the good news is there's a lot families and educators can do to support them.

There are effective strategies to help children with learning and attention issues manage their anxieties and thrive.

On this episode, we visit a dyslexic Massachusetts teenager whose fear of classroom failure taught her mother the importance of stepping up as a relentless advocate to help ward off her daughter's brewing anxiety.

Next, our panel of national experts opens up the toolbox and share strategies for helping children navigate these challenges and build confidence.

Later, you'll meet our latest difference-maker, who found that the dyslexia that darkened his horizon as a child is helping him build magical, beautiful, digital vistas that thrill and entertain audiences around the world.

We begin in Bedford, Massachusetts with the Hybl family, who've discovered that the great outdoors and robust family support are what 14-year-old honor student and star athlete Skye needed to help banish the negative thought stirred up when she reached middle school.

Healthday's special correspondent Mabel Jong brings us the story.

♪♪♪ >>14-year-old Skye Hybl triumphs on the soccer field and the ski slopes of New England but often gets caught up in the what ifs when it comes to school.

>>I always think about the what ifs.

When we have like a big test coming up or like a big project, especially with tests, like if I'm not feeling super confident with the subject that we're learning, it's like stressful because then I think that I'm gonna do bad on the test, and then it's gonna like affect everything, like grades, and then like high school, and then college.

>>While feeling a little bit nervous is normal, Skye has dyslexia.

And like many kids who learn differently, her world is sometimes filled with anxiety.

Skye was officially diagnosed with dyslexia in the fourth grade, but her mother Tracy recognized the symptoms much earlier.

>>I think even going into kindergarten, that she had dyslexia, because our older daughter has dyslexia.

And even in preschool, when Skye started writing her letters, they were, some of them were backwards, they usually weren't in a straight line, so they were kind of floating along the page.

We had her evaluated going into kindergarten, but it was too soon to really say.

You know, at that point, they thought it would be likely, but again, too early to say.

>>Tracy hired a trained reading specialist.

But without an official diagnosis, Skye wasn't put on an individualized education plan, until the fifth grade, after she was reevaluated.

That's when her in-school services kicked in.

>>I get like graphic organizers for MCAS and like essays that we do.

I get extra time if I need it on like quizzes and that stuff.

They don't take off points if like I have a grammar or spelling error.

I think they also make it so that I get like visuals.

>>After-school tutors are hired when needed.

And Skye and her mother have found unique ways to tackle her academic challenges at home.

>>So when Skye was learning her math facts, she would bounce on the trampoline while I would shout out a math fact for her to remember or for her to learn.

>>It really helps me since I'm like an active person.

Like doing a physical thing and trying to learn them helps remember them better than just like sitting down and like reviewing flashcards or something.

>>But then came middle school.

And no matter how much time Skye spent preparing, the fear of failure ramped up.

>>When things got like a lot harder then, and so I started noticing that I was getting more stressed about like assignments, like getting them done.

>>Speaking in front of the class, long-term assignments, and partner projects increased her anxiety and led to some difficult decisions.

>>One of my friends is like really good at school, and she always gets like good grades.

And so sometimes I'd have to like not be partners with her because she just goes so fast.

>>Tracy noticed changes in Skye as well.

She began asking a lot of questions, saying no to activities she enjoyed, and spending a lot of time in her room, missing some special occasions.

>>I remember we were celebrating my mom's birthday, and Skye was, you know, doing the math problems because she just had to get it done, you know?

It was like such a stressor, you know?

And really couldn't just kind of enjoy your life until you get that done and move on, you know?

>>That's when Tracy realized, to succeed, Skye needed to make room for other things in her life.

>>Time on academics is one thing, you know, in school for a dyslexic kid, but then when you come home, you're doing it again.

It's like you're running two marathons in one day.

The regular academics and then coming home and doing more is, I feel like, a lot, you know?

Because she wants to have a balanced life, you know?

And the sports really are an important piece of that, and time with friends, and things too.

>>Being part of an active family, Skye started using the great outdoors to turn negative thoughts into positive energy.

>>I usually like to go outside and play volleyball or like soccer or something.

>>And when she's in school and can't head outside, she practices a special breathing technique for anxiety.

>>Where like you breathe in for four seconds, you hold it for four seconds, and then you let it go for four seconds.

I just keep doing that, and that helps me like stay calm and like come back to like what we're learning.

>>As she heads into high school next year, Skye is working hard on maintaining a healthy balance in life.

Her class schedule will be challenging but was carefully chosen to manage the stress.

Tracy says she's proud of her daughter's success and hopes she becomes as confident in the classroom as she is on the soccer field or ski slopes.

>>I think she's a great student.

I think she's super bright, but I don't know that she always sees that in herself, you know, depending on whatever it is that they're doing in school.

But I hope that she sees that because, you know, it's definitely there, and I think the people around her see it >>For "A World of Difference, I'm Mabel Jong.

♪♪♪ >>Thanks, Mabel.

Next, let's meet our experts who provide a game plan for helping children with learning and attention issues manage anxiety.

♪♪♪ Dr. Cricket Meehan is the executive director of the school-based Center of Excellence for the Prevention and Early Intervention at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

The center primarily works with kindergarten through high school students and educators throughout the community to address non-academic barriers to learning, such as social, emotional and behavioral challenges, and mental health issues.

Dr. Michael J. Murray is a board-certified child and adolescent psychiatrist and medical director for autism and developmental disabilities at Sheppard Pratt in Baltimore, Maryland.

Dr. Murray's clinical and research interests include co-occurring mental health conditions in adolescents and adults with autism and interventions aimed at improving social wellbeing for adults and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder.

Tresha H. Stevens serves as a learning specialist at Beacon College in Leesburg, Florida, America's first accredited baccalaureate institution dedicated to educating neurodivergent students with learning and attention differences.

She's a certified gifted and talented specialist who previously served as a gifted and talented resource teacher for the Falcon District 49 in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

And we're gonna begin our conversation with Dr. Meehan.

How common is an anxiety in children with learning and attention issues?

>>So we know that anxiety, just in and of itself, is the most common mental health disorder among our children and our youth.

And anxiety affects about one in five of young people.

And if we break that down into the different age spectrums, it's about 1 in 12 of our kids that are 12 or under.

And among our teenagers, it's about one in four.

So if you think about that, that one in five total number in a classroom that has about 25 to 30 students in it, we're talking about five or six students who have anxiety.

So now, among those students who have anxiety, those that also have some form of neurodiversity, we know that that's approximately 30% of that group of students.

So again, in that classroom, if you're thinking about a classroom of 25 to 30 students, it's about one or two students in every classroom around our country who's experiencing neurodiversity and anxiety at the same time.

>>Well, that's a pretty big number, doctor.

Thank you.

So Dr. Murray, can you compare and contrast how anxiety might present in neurotypical versus neurodivergent children?

>>So, you know, as was just mentioned, right, anxiety is really common, right?

So we're gonna see it in neurotypical kids, kids with typical development, and neurodivergent individuals as well.

So neurodivergent kids are gonna have some additional layers on top of their anxiety experiences, right?

So they may be vulnerable to sensory sensitivities.

So sensory stimuli in the environment, such as lighting, noises, tactile things, are going to cause some physiological arousal, kind of get them on edge already even before they are dealing with social or emotional things in the classroom that would maybe provoke their anxiety.

Neurodivergent kids oftentimes have difficulty communicating their feelings, so they may have difficulty recognizing their own emotions, being able to tell someone about it.

So their expressions of anxiety are not the typical, I'm nervous, I'm tense.

It may be coming across as work refusal or darting from a classroom.

So it may be in a behavioral manifestation, which then may make it more difficult to understand.

And sometimes people will be looking at that as oppositional defiant behavior rather than an expression of anxiety.

And that mismatch will definitely just heighten their anxiety.

Kids who are neurodivergent frequently have executive functioning challenges, so difficulty with planning and organizing, time management.

All that leads to challenges with multitasking and dealing with the need to make rapid decisions in a bustling environment, all the things that can be necessary to get through the school day but are, you know, much more challenging because of their underlying neurodivergence.

And then lastly, you know, the social challenges, right?

The importance of understanding just the sheer amount of social information all of us get bombarded with every single day.

And if you are not able to process that information in a way that is typical with most of the people around you, you are going to be struggling to understand the information, you may be misinterpreting the information, all that leading to just heightened anxiety, not feeling comfortable in the place that you are.

>>So, Tresha, since you've worked in a K-12 school setting, can you tell us how some of these challenges with anxiety might present themselves in the classroom setting?

>>Sure.

As we've just heard, children who think and learn differently often struggle with their anxiety and processing sensory information differently.

So they have lots of challenges moving throughout their day.

There may be triggers that make their environment overwhelming and make them unavailable for learning.

It's hard to remember the steps for perhaps solving a math problem when you're worried about transitioning to another subject or perhaps leaving the classroom to go to an elective.

You might be worried that there's going to be a substitute who can't remind you when there's going to be a fire drill.

You may be worried about making friends, or maintaining friendships, or even being bullied.

So many times, these neurodivergent children who have anxiety issues are working so diligently to just be accepted and valued by their peers.

And they're consistently misunderstood and very often lonely.

>>Alright, well, thank you for that.

So Dr. Meehan, let me ask you this.

What are some of the external and internal factors that might contribute to the development of anxiety in neurodivergent children?

>>So many of your listeners have probably already heard the nature versus nurture concept.

And so that's definitely something that occurs here as well.

So we know that that nature piece, that genetics are involved in whether or not a young person may experience something like anxiety or neurodiversity.

So if you have family members or others, a parent, a mother, or a father, who has a similar condition, that child is much more likely genetically to also have that condition that can increase that chance.

And then the nurture piece of that concept is this idea that our environment plays a big role in the development of anxiety or other kinds of symptoms that we may experience.

So for our young people who are experiencing neurodiversity, in their environment, there are certain things that can exacerbate anxiety, changes in their environment, changes in their schedule.

Their brain functions in a different way than a neurotypical child.

And so just going through your daily routine and if suddenly there's a difference in that schedule, that can contribute to anxiety for that young person.

We know different parenting styles also in that environment can contribute to anxiety.

Our neurodivergent children, if we have a parent who isn't connecting with them in a way that works well with the way that their brain is functioning, that can lead to misunderstandings or uncomfortableness, and that can exacerbate anxiety as well.

Just fear of the unknown for our young people with neurodiversity can lead to anxiety.

And so there's a whole wide range of things within the environment that can contribute to that.

We also know that these conditions can occur together, and so one may also contribute to the development of the other.

So, for example, if we have anxiety symptoms that are starting to rise up, that can contribute to our neurodivergent symptoms being triggered.

And then conversely as well, if a young person with neurodiversity is having a difficult time relating socially, for example, with those around them, that uncomfortableness or that fear of the unknown, all of the things that I've already mentioned, can contribute to symptoms of anxiety.

>>Alright, well, thank you.

So, Dr. Murray, I'm wondering where society plays a role in this.

We live in a society where second place is the first loser.

And, you know, when you're in school, and certainly I remember myself in school, I always wanted to be first and with the best grades, and when I was on the field of sports, I wanted to be first there.

How does that play a role in creating anxiety in kids, this competition factor?

>>Yeah, so I think there is, like you said, our society is very much an excellence model, right?

We all strive for excellence.

We're taught to strive for excellence.

And there is that need to always try to excel, right?

And kids, you know, can take that to literally first in everything.

So a lot of the kids that I see in my clinic, you know, I have to be first in line.

I have to be first at the bus.

I have to be first to go through the cafeteria line.

Things that, seemingly, what difference does it make?

But, you know, it is something that is important to them, right?

It creates some sort of value to them.

And once again, the social and emotional processing challenges really, I think, play a part in this, where it is not knowing where your strengths are and where your own sense of excellence lies, right?

'Cause we all have things that we're excellent at.

>>Watch the full Ask the Expert segment on our website at awodtv.org if you wanna learn more about this topic.

You can also watch or listen on Facebook, YouTube, or on your favorite podcasting platform.

♪♪♪ Next, let's meet our latest difference maker.

Where do you go when life bottoms out for you while you're still sporting OshKosh B'gosh?

That's what Josh Almeida wondered when his teacher suggested to his family that he repeat first grade and when, later, his scholastic troubles were attributed to dyslexia.

To paraphrase Almeida, in his young mind, the diagnosis left his family with a piece of paper that clinically affirmed that he was dreadful at reading and writing.

Almeida felt like an outcast through grade school and up to college, until he began to realize his dyslexic way of visual thinking made him a problem-solving ninja.

That comes in handy with his company, Ascend Studios, which fills the world with interactive, fun, visual spaces fueled by sounds and lights, spaces that create magical experiences through human connection.

Not too shabby for the first grader who fortunately realized that after primary school troubles, the only way to go was up.

Correspondent Luisa Ardila brings us his story.

♪♪♪ >>In a world obsessed with conformity, neurodivergent individuals are often told that their differences limit their potential.

But artists and entrepreneur Josh Almeida considers his dyslexia his superpower.

>>If I chose it all again and I could choose life with dyslexia or life without it, I would absolutely choose with it.

It's what has made my company massively successful, and, you know, hire the people that we want, and have these great adventures, and go all over the world, and do these things.

And that's all because of dyslexia.

>>Josh is the founder and lead artist of Ascend Studios, a company using audiovisual technology to transform spaces into unique and immersive art experiences.

His first step to success, embracing his differences as the source of his power.

>>You know, when I was growing up, I was made to feel less than because I wasn't acing the tests and I wasn't, you know, doing all of the, getting the spelling bee, you know, all of those things.

And then I started to notice that I was, you know, really good at the creative portions, and I was really good at the visual stuff where other people weren't.

And I think that it was kind of then trying to figure out and see, oh, my mind works a little differently, and it's actually really cool.

And so it really becomes kind of a mental shift to really think of it in a way of an advantage.

That's a very empowering thing because it forces you to kind of, one, recognize your own self and your own kind of limitations within it, and then having the power to overcome them and kind of move the world around you to make it work for you.

And people respond to that power.

You know, it's a journey that you go through, but I think, at the end, it makes you a more independent person.

It makes you a more powerful person.

>>Harnessing his strengths not only empowered him, but it also helped him build a flourishing business with a meaningful impact on the world.

>>You know, I like to call myself an artist as opposed to CEO 'cause that's how I feel.

My gift and my team's gift to the world is to create more beauty and to create more intentional experiences.

And I think because of my difference, I'm able to really hone in on those things and understand a lot of kind of the subtext of what's going on within a room or a feeling, you know?

For us in Ascend, it was really using that of creating visuals for the rest of the world.

So when we go into like a dot-com company, it's very engineer-based and very logic-based, with coding and programming, you know?

But they want a space that their employees wanna hang out in, and they want the lobby to impress the clients.

That's where they bring us in to help kind of connect their story, and then with something that's different, creative, and visual.

Now I'm doing urban design.

I'm developing an art park in downtown Orlando.

I'm very much working with cities to create large, bigger than life art pieces in urban environments.

That's something that I really care about, inspiring other people.

I think if you do something on such a large scale, it will inspire someone else on their side.

>>For young people facing learning obstacles, he says parents and educators can do a lot to help unlock their potential.

>>It's really, again, trying to help recognize the advantages and not looking at as you are less than, but you're actually greater than because of these things.

It's also really important to adapt in the way that how do we teach and how do we convey messaging in a different way that really is structured for that difference.

You know, for me, it was very visual.

I learned by watching a lot of video, by doing it hands on.

>>Nowadays, as a corporate leader, he has also found ways to overcome perceived challenges.

>>A lot of the business world is a lot of like the traditional education world, right?

It's a lot of contracts.

It's a lot of verbiage, proposals.

And the sentence you write, you know, means being sued or not.

It means in scope or not, you know?

And so you have to write it perfectly.

You know, I say, like, I'm massively always battling the red squiggly line, you know, in all my emails and all my documents.

And so that has definitely been a struggle.

The way that I compensate is my team is also all very aware that I'm dyslexic and in that.

So before any document goes out or any email that's significant, you know, I have someone else read it.

You don't have to have a big team to kind of do that.

I had my girlfriend reading things.

I had my mom.

I had my friends.

Now there's amazing tools like Grammarly, which I use all the time which is a software.

AI-driven stuff right now is really taking off.

And I think, you know, you can use that to start writing a lot of your ideas.

>>Josh encourages others with dyslexia to lean on the people and tools around them to turn those stumbling blocks into stepping stones toward a meaningful future.

He says, once you do, you'll find a world full of brilliant possibilities.

>>I'm doing wild things that normal businesses within my world would never even thought of doing, have not even tried to attempt doing it.

But I've failed so much that I'm not afraid of it.

And I'm jumping right in.

And we're doing something kind of incredible, which I absolutely credit to dyslexia.

>>For "A World of Difference," I'm Luisa Ardila.

♪♪♪ >>Thanks, Luisa.

And congratulations, Josh Almeida, for making a difference.

And that does it for this edition of "A World of Difference, Embracing Neurodiversity."

I'm Darryl Owens.

I'll see you back here next time.

You can watch episodes of "A World of Difference" on the Beacon College Facebook and YouTube channels and on the show's website, awodtv.org.

The website also provides tip sheets and other resources for your parenting journey.

You can watch the show from the PBS App available on your favorite streaming device, and you can listen on your favorite podcasting platform.

Thank you for watching and supporting "A World of Difference."

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