Mini Sparks Learning

  What I’ve learned from watching a neurodivergent child grow, explore, and teach the adults around them I used to think raising a child was about following a script. Wake up, eat breakfast, get to school on time, finish homework, go to bed. Life runs in neat patterns. Watching my aunt with her neurodivergent child taught me how wrong I was. That script doesn’t exist for everyone. And what I learned from observing her child has changed the way I see the world, notice details, and understand people. The first time I really noticed it, I was visiting my aunt’s house on a quiet weekend afternoon. Her child was sitting on the floor, deeply focused on a puzzle. The rest of us were chatting, moving around, tidying up. But they weren’t distracted. They weren’t “tuned out.” They were entirely present, studying the shapes, figuring out where each piece fit. I remember thinking: I would have missed all the tiny edges and patterns if I were in their place. That’s the thing about neurodiverg...