Diagnosis Archives - More Than Quirky

Men’s Health Week: Unconfirmed Autism in Men

June 11, 2024

It is Men’s Health Week 2024. As part of this, More Than Quirky is looking into an aspect of autism that isn’t often discussed: undiagnosed males. What happens if we don’t adequately recognise our autistic boys, and they grow into unconfirmed autistic men? It is often shared that the increase in females and gender-diverse young people being diagnosed with autism is related to initial definitions of autism being based on the typical “male presentation”. Autistic[…]

The Underachiever: Failing to Reach Potential

November 1, 2023

One of the awful phrases parents of neurodivergent children often hear from medical professionals* is “They’re failing to reach their potential.” * The ones who aren’t neuroaffirming, and don’t really understand what they’re talking about. This is usually based on measured assessments, or ideal milestones for their age. Children who might be considered to be “failing to reach their potential” could include, for example: Is it True? Sometimes the professionals will be blatantly wrong. For[…]

Q&A: Should I Tell My Daughter She’s Autistic?

October 19, 2023

Q: My daughter is in Kindergarten and has just been diagnosed as Autistic. She was assessed after her teacher pointed out unusual things she’d noticed at school and we were worried about how little she sleeps. She likes going to school, and seems pretty happy in her small group of friends. She doesn’t have any learning problems. So should we even tell her about her autism? Should we just keep an eye on it and[…]

Off the Spectrum

September 22, 2023

A little over 100 hundred years ago, the term “autism” was first used to describe an aspect of schizophrenia. What we now know were autistic children were diagnosed at the time as schizophrenic. Previously, autistic people were considered to have dementia, or “developmental retardation”. In the 1930s and 40s, scholars began to appreciate that autism and schizophrenia were actually distinct from each other – though both still considered to be psychiatric conditions. It took until[…]

Questioning your own neurotype

June 19, 2023

“Take a good hard look at yourself,” is generally a fairly brutal, critical phrase. In the world of parenting neurodivergent children, it’s simply excellent advice. How many aspects of your child’s behaviour or experience had you thought was perfectly normal because it’s what you do? What your parents did. Your siblings. Your spouse. How many times has a family member or close friends dismissed your child’s confirmation by saying, “That’s not ADHD! Everyone does that.[…]

We Are All Learning: Welcoming Sia

June 1, 2023

There was a year, around a decade and a half ago, in which my friend and I saw live music most weeks. We saw Sia – either on a stage at festivals like Homebake, or in her own solo gigs – around half a dozen times that year. And while it wasn’t a factor worth mentioning, I always assumed she was neurodivergent. Stimming, atypical social interactions (which we all loved), hyperfixations on glow-in-the-dark paint and[…]