Learning Disability and Neurodiversity

Houghton, Valerie; Opebiyi, Moyo; Kennedy, Sarah; Heaslip, Vanessa

Abstract

Globally, there are many children and young people living with a disability or who are neurodivergent. These children often have poorer health outcomes and often experience discrimination and social exclusion. Their needs can be mis-diagnosed through diagnostic overshadowing or not be adequately assessed by the people looking after them. For some children, especially those with a significant or profound learning disability or neurodivergence communication is more challenging, and yet if not addressed this can have tragic consequences. This chapter informs the reader regarding a number of common conditions that children and young people with a learning disability or neurodivergence may have as well as discussing a range of communication techniques to support working with such children, young people and their families. Lastly, there are a range of reflective activities to enable the reader to be able to assess the current skills and knowledge in this area.

• Online Publication Date: Jun 4, 2025
• Publication Date: Jun 4, 2025
• Deposit Date: Jun 17, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 5, 2026
• Publisher: Springer
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Pages: 79-97
• Book Title: Needs of Children and Young People Living with Complex Mental Health Difficulties
• Chapter Number: 5
• ISBN: 978-3-031-84531-4
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-84532-1_5
• Keywords: Learning Disabilities, Disability, Neurodiversity, Equity, Autism,