Understanding Neurodiversity
"If my (4 year old) son is reading a book, and I just touch him on the arm, he screams as if he is being burned." - Parent
The deeper in Flow a person, and the more abruptly they are pulled out of it, the more impactful and disregulatory the experience. For a basic framework of Neurodiversity support to be effective, it must be accepted as a first principle while decisions made on the path to disregulation may be voluntary, that negative outcomes of disregulation are not voluntary.​
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Implicit boundaries of acceptable behaviour will appear only when they are broken. These events must be followed by sensitive and careful discussion, or future boundaries will be further dictated by events and the opportunity for emotional growth may be lost.
Autism and ADHD
Neurodiversity is, as its name implies, diverse. There are many different manifestations of Autism and ADHD, with a plurality of physical, cognitive and sensory sensitivities. The challenge of providing effective support given varied manifestations of Neurodiversity is significant, and concurrent support to multiple ND individuals more so.
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​Music presents a uniquely powerful framework with which to notice, model and predict these processes. The experience of Music involves sound, sight, sensation, movement, touch, rhythm, time, the voice.
It can be mathematical, philosophical, neither, or both. It can be created intuitively, with great thought, or arbitrarily; all processes can be combined and reversed at will - 'do it backwards' or retrograde.
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With the options represented by these systems as a diagnostic toolkit, cognitive challenges can be modeled and isolated. Through this process, and using the Games now forming Books 1 and 2, Music is Easy Method gives users the tools to identify and consolidate these principles into an effective cognitive support cognitive infrastructure for ADHD and Autistic learners. ​​​​​
Part 1 - Cognitive Diagnostics with Music
Many learners struggle with learning through written Music, with certain cognitive neurotypes finding an abstract system-of-systems particularly overwhelming and inaccessible.
By breaking down these systems of codification into their individual parts, Music is Easy gives Neurodiverse learners a way to develop familiarity with individual systems and cognitive processes. At the same time, it gives those supporting these learners a clear and detailed picture of exactly what cognitive challenges are experienced.
For example, by taking away all codification but the Note letter, The Word Game gives learners a way to practice just thinking of the note they want and playing it on their instrument, and the power and agency to increase the difficulty and try it again - with 2 letters, 3 letters, entire sentences (DAD FED ED A BAD CABBAGE?).
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In a short session playing Words, a learner may practice finding each note several dozen times, building intuitive mastery of this process that they can translate to reading written music.
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The layered building of intuitive familiarity is key to accessing Flow State in Musical performance - 'Effortless Mastery', 'The Space', 'The Zone'. In this state lie confidence, compassion, bravery, public speaking, singing without fear, and feeling the groove.
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All learners will find value in this approach, while also learning more about themselves, their cognitive strengths and weaknesses, and any mal-processes or access challenges they have. The varied and multi-sensory Games, involving puzzles, movement, and communication, provide an unprecedented diagnostic and support framework for cognitive access needs, as well as easy and accessible methods to overcome specific cognitive challenges.
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Part 2 - Flow State and Hyper-Focus
Effective Support
Part 3 - Agency and Self-Regulation
The video on the left contains a simple demonstration of the sensation of being in and moving out of a cognitive 'Flow State'. Where numbers are shown on one hand, it is easy and quick to say them. When numbers are presented out of order on two hands, the brain is not able to intuitively recognise the number, and instead you have to count them.
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Through countless repetitions of the same cognitive patterns and outcomes by playing the Games of Music is Easy hundreds of times with a variety of learners, it became clear in testing that Flow State and Neurodiversity - in particular Autism and ADHD - are intrinsically linked.
Although the cognitive state of Flow and the resulting Hyper-Focus can be accessed by all, including Neurotypical learners, it is the degree, duration and severity of consequences of being pulled out of Flow that can constitute an Access Need.​
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This sensation may feel uncomfortable or jarring - for some cognitive neurotypes the sensation can be amplified, manifesting as literal pain - cognitive, physical and emotional - causing outbursts, misbehaviour, disengagement and 'Burnout'.
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Disregulation
​It must be acknowledged as a reality that individuals will experience lack of access, and disregulation in the course of their school and work life. Situations will not necessarily cater to their needs, and in an environment of scarce resources there will always be challenges.
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Therefore the goal of any support for Neurodiverse learners must be considered holistically, and is hard to quantify and measure. At its core, the support we provide must aim in helping ND individuals
- to understand their own cognitive challenges, features of disregulation, and effective self-support / mitigation,
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- to want to overcome their own Access challenges, and employ Agency in the development of self-regulation techniques,
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- to have the confidence and courage to articulate their needs, and develop reciprocal relationships of trust with those providing them support.​​​​
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Neurodiversity and Hyper-Focus
Part 4 - Organic (Autism) vs Explosive (ADHD)
​ADHD - Explosive Hyper-Focus​
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ADHD can be characterised by Explosive Hyper-Focus, a spotlight that begins at maximum strength on a single target, but quickly depletes and must move. Embodying Monty Python's 'And Now for something Completely Different', Explosive Hyper-Focus can make decisions quickly, change focus easily, move between targets of focus efficiently, but can struggle to connect abstract concepts and become frustrated when faced with the limits of its own intuition.
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In Explosive Hyper-Focus, disgregulation occurs when Focus is forced back to an object that it has moved away from. This could be reviewing work for mistakes, listening to a recording of themselves, or even just keeping a hand relaxed and not moving.​
Masking / The Iceberg
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Trying to cover up this disregulation is known as 'masking', and is a core survival technique employed by many Neurodiverse people from a young age, as a direct result of punishment for involuntary disregulation or the manifestation of an access need - either explicitly by figures of authority, or implicitly by peer groups - by exclusion from group activities, for example.
Often, disregulation will have been building under the surface while the individual does their best to conceal it, and it only manifests to an onlooker when it has exceeded their capacity to re-regulate
Both Autism and ADHD share a predisposition towards Hyper-Focus / Flow State, and the potentially severe consequences of disregulation. However, they constitute distinct and opposite embodiments of Flow State.
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Autism - Organic Hyper-Focus
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Autism can be characterised by Organic Hyper-Focus, a light that grows over time in a single direction. Be it a book, Game, concept, activity, Organic Hyper-Focus can easily incorporate and handle systems-of-systems and abstract concepts, as long as they are conceived of within the same fundamental target of focus, in the same direction.
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In Organic Hyper-Focus, disregulation occurs when Focus is pulled away from the object of focus, or when tasks have to be repeatedly stopped, started, changed, assessed, or checked. ASD individuals will often struggle with small talk, where topics of conversation may change quickly. Similarly, they may struggle with activites that involve many different tasks of a different nature in quick succession.
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"I'm trying to do this online course, and it just takes me back straight to school, in the worst way. It makes me so angry, I don't understand any of it, I feel so powerless and demotivated" - Adult Learner
"I try to help my (10 year old) daughter with her maths homework, and everything is fine until she makes a mistake and has to go back over her work, then she bursts into tears every time. We can't get past it." - Parent