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Neurodivergent students are often misunderstood and labeled as lazy and disruptive but a Palo Alto-based nonprofit organization is aiming to destigmatize neurodivergency in Silicon Valley schools and households. REEL, Resilience and Engagement for Every Learner, supported nearly 25,000 people last year.
The organization was founded by Callie Turk and Yael Valek, parents of neurodivergent and twice-exceptional children who they felt were not being well supported within the local public school system. Twice-exceptional learners are students who show advanced skills while also being autistic, dyslexic or have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Turk said her daughter was an amazing writer and thinker at a young age but she was struggling with making friends and following class instructions. Despite teachers wanting to help her, “No one really knew what was going on,” Turk said. It wasn’t until her daughter was in seventh grade that she was diagnosed with autism.
According to REEL, more than one in 20 students are twice-exceptional but yet families and educators lack the proper resources and awareness to support their children’s neurodivergency, missing their potential for success.
The co-founders of REEL wanted to create an organization that could better inform and guide schools and families that might be struggling with the unique circumstances of raising a neurodivergent child.
“A lot of families, especially in the high achieving communities in our area, feel like they’re supposed to be (parenting) in a certain way and when it doesn’t pan out that way, they themselves are feeling ashamed,” said Turk.
Although awareness and discussions around neurodivergency is increasing, there is still a lack of available resources and education that is necessary for sustained impact. REEL’s goal is to normalize conversations between educators and parents about autism, ADHD and dyslexia to build awareness and let people know that extra support is at hand.
The modern educational system was “designed for an industrial era, based on a set of norms and standards to create an average worker,” Turk said. “We standardized education to meet a level of industrialization in our country that just doesn’t exist in that way anymore.”
REEL is making a local impact through its work with Palo Alto parents, teachers and partnerships with Silicon Valley school districts including Menlo Park City School District and Portola Valley School District.
Schools are not designed to be environments for neurodivergent kids, she added. When students are not meeting school standards and expectations of skill levels by grade levels, it begins to impact their mental health, Turk said.
Studies show that up to 50% of autistic and ADHD students experience depression and more than 70% struggle with anxiety.
Regardless of whether a child has been labeled as neurodivergent, they might be labeled as lazy or frustrating in school. When these labels become internalized, students develop mental health struggles from shame and discouragement, Turk explained.
Even twice-exceptional students who are highly skilled, such as a child reading at the age of 3, are at high risk of anxiety and depression due to their high awareness that they don’t fit in with their peers, she said.
Through its back-to-school initiative “Bridge the Gap, Build the Year,” REEL is working on connecting parents and educators with the right resources and tools to help neurodivergent and twice-exceptional students meet their potential.
Turk said when she saw her daughter struggling, she had many questions running through her mind: Am I doing this right on her behalf? Am I really setting her up to live the life she’s going to want to live? Is she going to be OK?
“Especially when you live in a community that has the kind of suicide rates that we have and the accessibility to the train tracks, it’s starts at a really young age for parents to start thinking about, ‘Is my child going to be okay?’” said Turk.
The pressures of Silicon Valley are felt by students and parents who are trying to conform to the high achieving standards of the community. Turk said one lesson that many parents learn at the start of their neurodivergent journey is that the assessments and check list of what they need to do to “fix their child” are actually harmful to the parent and child.
REEL is working on shifting the approach that parents take to supporting their child by offering tools that are free or little to no cost. It also provides consulting, coaching and support groups for parents. Parents and educators can also attend one of REEL’s various workshops, panels and events to learn more about neurodivergence, mental health and neurodiversity-affirming practices.
For more information on REEL and its resources visit reel2e.org.
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