Â鶹ÒùÔº

The start of the school year brings excitement and new routines. But for many neurodiverse children, it also marks the return of being misunderstood.

Parents may notice their child struggling with transitions, overstimulated by noisy classrooms or labeled "disruptive" after a few days. Educators, meanwhile, may not be equipped to interpret behaviors that fall outside the expected norms.

Some education programs, like , emphasize play-based curricula and encourage assessment of students' development across varied domains of learning. However, can still linger.

In my and mentor to student teachers, I've sometimes observed this "readiness" being narrowly interpreted as sitting still, following routines and complying with adult directions.

For —those with autism, ADHD, sensory processing differences or other cognitive variations—these misunderstandings can lead to missed supports, exclusionary practices and long-term inequities in education and life outcomes.

When systems fail to understand and accommodate neurodivergent individuals early on, , affecting quality of life and social inclusion.

Racialized children are overlooked

Although public awareness of neurodiversity is growing, many children in Canada are still diagnosed too late to benefit from early intervention.

, while the median age of autism diagnosis is around 3.7 years, only 54% of children are diagnosed before age five, meaning nearly half miss the most critical developmental window.

But diagnosis is only part of the issue. Many neurodiverse children are never identified at all, either because their behaviors are misread or because their families face systemic barriers to health-care and assessment services.

that South Asian immigrant families, especially in Ontario, often experience delays in autism diagnosis due to stigma, language barriers, cultural misunderstandings and difficulties navigating complex or unfamiliar systems.

First Nations, Inuit and Métis families are also . These communities often face a "frozen in time" response from health and social services—a term that reflects outdated or inflexible systems with little culturally relevant support and/or screening tools to support their needs.

As a result, many racialized children are disproportionately diagnosed late, or not at all, and are denied the early support that could transform their lives.

School-related distress

when environments emphasize rigid behavioral norms and overlook diverse ways of learning. Emerging research suggests that these challenges often begin in the early years and continue to shape students' educational pathways.

students with Autism Spectrum Disorder experience school transitions as periods of heightened stress because of changes in relationships, routines and expectations, primarily when individual needs are not adequately supported.

Without adequate training in neurodiversity, many educators feel unprepared and rely heavily on diagnoses to guide support. When educators aren't prepared, exclusionary teaching practices, and missed supports and long-term inequities for students. School-related distress is overwhelmingly concentrated among neurodivergent students, and it's often linked to environments that are inflexible or unresponsive to their needs.

These systemic gaps contribute to the growing and underscore the need for more inclusive, neuroaffirming educational practices.

Often, rather than adapting the system. School systems must shift away from deficit-based approaches, which regard neurodivergent children in terms of what they lack. These approaches overlook systemic barriers, and overlook their strengths.

Instead, school systems should focus on transforming the learning environment itself. A reframes behaviors not as problems within the child but as a sign the school environment may not be supportive of their needs. This perspective prioritizes belonging, flexibility and universal support, starting with how we design classrooms, not how we label children.

Neurodiversity is not a problem to fix

Rather than seeing neurodivergence as a problem to diagnose, educators should approach it as a difference to understand. , first popularized by autistic advocates in the 1990s, recognizes that neurological differences are part of natural human variation.

From this lens, behaviors like fidgeting, stimming or requiring extra transition time are seen as expressions of self-regulation and cognitive needs. reframes stimming as a bodily practice that supports focus and emotional processing in environments designed for neurotypical norms.

Educational systems often create barriers . ; it's a dimension of human diversity to embrace.

Inclusion should not depend on labels; it should be a proactive strategy. Designing classrooms for cognitive and sensory differences from the start ensures all children, especially those from racialized and underserved communities, feel like they belong and can thrive.

What educators and families can do

Creating inclusive classrooms doesn't require waiting for a diagnosis, it requires a mindset shift. Frameworks like offer educators . In early years settings, this might look like:

• visual schedules and picture cues to support transitions;
• flexible seating, movement breaks or calming corners;
• storybooks and materials that reflect neurodiversity as part of everyday life;
• observing strengths before jumping in to "fix" perceived deficits.

Research supports these approaches. found that using UDL strategies such as choice-making, varied materials, flexible seating and multimodal activities, led to better skill development, emotional regulation and engagement in both diagnosed and undiagnosed children.

found that UDL-informed circle-time practices—like predictable routines, participation options and movement supports—fostered greater student participation and a sense of belonging in early-year classrooms.

When classrooms are intentionally designed for neurodiversity, they serve everyone better, from day one.

A call to start September differently

As the new school year starts, educators must shift from asking "is this child ready for school?" to "?" This reframing challenges deficit-based notions of readiness and their .

This change means educators must slow down, listen to behaviors with curiosity and remember that all children communicate differently. It also means school boards, education ministries and provincial governments need to give educators the tools, time and training to recognize neurodiverse learners with care.

When support is no longer conditional on a formal diagnosis or a child being , schools open the door to educational equity. When neurodiverse children are seen and valued from the start, rather than excluded or expected to be fixed, they are more likely to thrive.

As Ontario's own policy documents show, school systems already have a strong foundation for inclusive practice. What's needed now is the will to put those principles into action, starting in September.

Every child deserves to feel like school is a place for them.

This article is republished from under a Creative Commons license. Read the .