Debunking the Academic Success Myth | The Truth About Neurodivergent Kids

So what's happened is first of all, we've skewed everything to academics. And then now parents buy into that. If your child is doing well academically, that means you don't have mental health problems. And there's really still so much of a belief around that. I constantly get these lovely parents who think, wow, my kid can't have anxiety or depression or suicidal thoughts until even it creeps up and really becomes this major crisis. And it's something that I have to deal with all the time. And you know, they always say to me, oh my gosh, but they were doing so well in school. I just didn't think when I saw the signs, that's what it was. Right? And what are those signs? You know, changes in behavior, changes in friendship groups. Withdrawn. Your anger, irritation. You're lucky when it's that observable because things like anxiety, depression and OCD are largely internal and until it becomes a crisis. But we have shifted to academics first, everything else after. And we really become a fear driven society that your kid must go to college, they must do this.