🌍 SUPPORT WEBSITES (Slide 15–18)
🇬🇧 UK
- National Autistic Society
- Epilepsy Society
- Mind
🇺🇸 USA
- Autism Speaks
- Epilepsy Foundation
- NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness)
🌍 GLOBAL
- World Health Organization (WHO) Mental Health
- Autism Society International
🧩 EASY READ VERSION
🧠 Autism, ADHD & Epilepsy are brain differences
💙 Everyone is different
👀 Social communication may be different
🔊 Sensory overload can happen
⚡ ADHD affects focus and activity
🧩 Autism affects routines and communication
🧠 Epilepsy affects brain electrical activity
😟 Anxiety is common
✅ Support helps people succeed
🤝 Respect and understanding matter
🧾 WORKBOOK / ACTIVITY
✏️ Name 2 strengths of autistic people
✏️ What is sensory overload?
✏️ What is ADHD?
✏️ True or False: Autism is an illness
✏️ What helps support neurodivergent people?
🧠 QUIZ ANSWERS
✔ Autism = neurodevelopmental condition
✔ ADHD = attention & impulse differences
✔ Epilepsy = seizure condition
✔ Anxiety = worry/fear response
✔ Sensory overload = too much input
💙 FINAL MESSAGE
🧠 These are not illnesses
🌍 They are different ways brains work
💙 People deserve understanding
🌱 Support creates independence
🤝 Inclusion improves lives
🧠 CORE MASTER KNOWLEDGE (FULL INTEGRATED PACK)
🌟 CORE KEY MESSAGES
✔ Autism and ADHD are neurodevelopmental conditions
✔ They affect how the brain processes information
✔ Every person is different
✔ Autism is NOT an illness
✔ ADHD is NOT a behaviour problem
✔ Strengths and challenges both exist
✔ Support should be individualised
✔ Society creates many barriers
✔ Removing barriers improves inclusion
✔ Understanding reduces stigma 💙
🧠 NEURODIVERSITY
Neurodiversity means:
🧠 All brains work differently
🌍 These differences are natural
🧩 Includes:
- Autism
- ADHD
- Dyslexia
- Dyspraxia
👥 Two groups often described:
- Neurotypical (typical brain development)
- Neurodivergent (different brain development)
💡 Different thinking styles = strengths + support needs
🧩 AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER (ASD)
Autism is a lifelong neurodevelopmental condition that affects:
- Communication
- Behaviour
- Thinking
- Sensory processing
Common features:
- Difficulty with social communication
- Strong preference for routine
- Sensory sensitivities (sound, light, touch, smell)
- Strong or focused interests
- Need for extra processing time
Important clarification:
- Not caused by parenting
- Not caused by vaccines
- Exact cause not fully known
- Can run in families
⚡ ADHD (ATTENTION-DEFICIT / HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER)
ADHD affects:
- Attention and focus
- Impulsivity
- Activity levels (restlessness or hyperactivity)
Common traits:
- Easily distracted
- Forgetting tasks or losing items
- Fidgeting or movement
- Interrupting conversations
- Hyperfocus on interests
🔄 AuDHD (AUTISM + ADHD TOGETHER)
Some people have both autism and ADHD.
They may experience:
- Need for routine (autism)
- Need for novelty (ADHD)
- Sensory overload + sensory seeking
- Emotional intensity
- Executive function difficulties
💡 This is real, valid, and common.
🧠 NEUROLOGICAL & BRAIN SYSTEM LINKS
Nervous System
Controls:
- Thoughts
- Emotions
- Movement
- Sensory input
In neurodivergence:
- Signals may be stronger
- Processing may be faster or slower
- Regulation may be harder
Brain systems involved:
- 🧠 Prefrontal cortex → planning & control
- ⚡ Amygdala → emotion & threat response
- 🧪 Dopamine & serotonin → mood & motivation
- 🔥 HPA axis → stress response
🔊 SENSORY PROCESSING
🔴 Hypersensitivity
- Loud sounds feel painful
- Bright lights overwhelming
- Strong reactions to textures
🔵 Hyposensitivity
- Not noticing hunger or pain
- Seeking movement or pressure
⚙️ EXECUTIVE FUNCTION
Executive function includes:
- Planning
- Organisation
- Time management
- Task initiation
- Emotional control
Difficulties may include:
- Forgetting tasks
- Trouble starting work
- Losing focus
- Feeling overwhelmed
😟 MENTAL HEALTH CONNECTIONS
People with autism/ADHD may also experience:
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Stress
- Burnout
- OCD
- Sleep difficulties
Reasons:
- Sensory overload
- Social difficulties
- Feeling misunderstood
- Chronic stress
⚠️ EPILEPSY & NEURODIVERSITY
Epilepsy = abnormal electrical brain activity causing seizures.
Key facts:
- Can co-occur with autism
- Can be mistaken for inattention
- Can be triggered by stress, fatigue, illness
🧩 SIMILARITIES & DIFFERENCES
Similarities:
- Executive dysfunction
- Sensory differences
- Emotional regulation difficulties
- Sleep issues
- Social challenges
Differences:
| Autism | ADHD |
|---|---|
| Routine preference | Impulsivity |
| Social communication differences | Inattention & hyperactivity |
| Repetitive behaviours | Restlessness |
🌍 FINAL MASTER MESSAGE
🧠 Autism, ADHD, and epilepsy are not illnesses
🌍 They are differences in brain function
💙 People are not broken
🌱 Environments can be improved
🤝 Inclusion comes from understanding
🧠 Every brain deserves respect
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