Clever comes
in many forms.
And in neurodivergent learners, this isn’t always easy to see.
A child can be autistic, ADHD, dyslexic or otherwise neurodivergent and also be highly intelligent, creative and capable.
But the whole picture can be hard to recognise.
A child's dyslexia, ADHD, anxiety, executive functioning or other challenges become what everyone sees, while their abilities are easily missed.
Difficulty can hide ability.
Ability can hide difficulty.
A bright child appears to be coping, even when keeping up takes enormous effort.
Strengths compensate for difficulties, while difficulties can make strengths harder to see. The child appears average, and neither is fully recognised.
Sometimes they hide each other.
When we only see part of who a child is, we can only understand part of what they need.
Neurodivergence and intelligence aren't separate parts of a child.
An autistic child doesn't stop knowing everything about a favourite subject when joining the classroom conversation is difficult. A dyslexic child doesn't stop understanding complex ideas when putting them into writing is difficult. An ADHD child doesn't stop having quick, creative ideas when following through on them is difficult.
This uneven combination of significant strengths and genuine challenges is often described as a spiky learning profile. When high ability exists alongside neurodivergence or learning difficulties, you may also hear the term twice-exceptional, or 2e.
Understanding difficulty matters.
It just isn't the whole picture.
Diagnosis gives us important information about neurotype, challenges and the support a child needs.
And because diagnostic assessments primarily focus on areas of difficulty, remediation naturally becomes part of what happens next. And it should.
But there is other information we need too: what sparks a child's curiosity, where their strengths lie, how they learn and communicate understanding, and the conditions in which they engage and learn best.
Knowing what is difficult doesn't tell us everything we need to know about what to do next.
When a child feels seen for who they really are, they begin to understand themselves differently.
And that changes everything.
Understanding a child more fully.
At Up To Something Clever, we identify how a child learns, what they bring and what they need. That means looking at:
Strengths and challenges
What comes easily? What is hard?
What draws them in? What do they want to explore or create?
Curiosity and interests
How do they best take in, work with and understand information?
Ways of learning
Ways of showing what they know
How does their knowledge and understanding become most visible?
Barriers
What gets in the way?
Environment
Under what conditions do they engage, contribute and learn best?
When we understand more of a child, we can create better ways into learning.
A strength can provide a route through something difficult. An interest can make learning more meaningful. The right environment can make it easier to engage, contribute and show what they know.
And when children have opportunities to use what they do well, explore what interests them and experience themselves making progress, curiosity and motivation have room to grow.
What we understand changes what happens next.
Having opportunities to contribute, engage with purpose and see that what they have to offer is valued helps a child develop a stronger sense that they belong and matter.
And as young people experience what works for them, they begin to understand themselves better too. Over time, that self-understanding becomes self-advocacy.
This is how I learn. This is what I'm good at. This is what interests me. This is what gets in my way. This is what helps me. This is what I need.
What this looks like in practice…
FOR FAMILIES
Assessment, one-to-one guidance and workshops to understand how your child learns, make informed decisions about what they need, and help them develop the self-understanding to advocate for themselves.
FOR SCHOOLS
Professional learning and workshops that bring cognitive diversity into DEIB, helping schools create more equitable and inclusive environments where different ways of thinking, learning and contributing are recognised and valued.
