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Reply to "Do you consider ADHD "special needs"?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]“Neurotypical” really refers to autism. People with ADHD typically don’t have the same issues with interpersonal relationships and friendships, and don’t have the very different type of information processing and way of seeing the world as kids with autism. I don’t think it’s correct to lump them together.

Now somebody will say “it’s all on a spectrum!”. OK fine but then none of this has any meaning. [/quote]

Research scientist here. You are wrong, as you suspected. These terms do not simply refer to one psychiatric diagnosis, they refer to all mental health disorders. "Neurotypical" simply means what's typical behavior in the range of normal. "Neurodivergent" means what is not typical, and it infers there might be a particular diagnosis.

It's very important everyone understands that most mental health issues exist on a spectrum, ie, a range of severity. The DSMs set out a threshold of clinical diagnosis just because we need cut-offs and thresholds to practice medicine! Not because the issue magically disappears below the threshold. Families with a few diagnosed people and a bunch of non-diagnosed ones often notice that they share some of the same behaviors, but when that behavior is exaggerated, it leads to a diagnosis. There is a strong hereditary link to many mental health disorders, but since they exist on a spectrum, some relatives are hardly affected at all, while others are impacted in their daily lives.[/quote]

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