An Autistic Student Helped Me Become a Neuroaffirming OT

Red-haired boy leaning on hands in classroom

One Student Changed My Lens

The day a student ran from a classroom with tears in his eyes was the day I changed the way I practiced.

I want to share my own personal experience in becoming more neuroaffirming, because this shift did not happen all at once. It happened because I knew an Autistic student who was being misunderstood, even though the adults around him were kind and truly wanted to help.

I will call him Jaden.

Jaden was eleven years old, non-speaking, athletic, friendly, intelligent, and full of personality. He loved to laugh, move, and be around people.

He could also shift from calm to deeply distressed very quickly.

When Jaden became overwhelmed, he would sometimes run from the classroom.

And no one understood why.

That Day I Became Determined to Understand Him

I remember walking into Jaden’s classroom that day and noticing immediately that something felt different - Jaden looked serious. Actually, he looked sad.

For this happy, playful boy, that was not what I usually saw in him. Yet, at that point in my career, I did not know how to be intentionally neuroaffirming in the way I do today.

All at once, Jaden suddenly stood up, became intensely dysregulated, and ran from the classroom. He was screaming, but what stayed with me most was that he had tears in his eyes.

That day, changed my focus.

I knew we needed to start asking better questions about what his brain and body were experiencing.

1- What Was His Body Telling Us?

As an occupational therapist, I started thinking more intentionally about Jaden.

What helped him feel regulated? What overwhelmed him? What parts of the school day were asking too much from his brain and body?

One thing became very clear. Jaden needed intense movement. Not a tiny movement break. He loved real motor challenges.

In OT, he loved pumping a swing higher and higher on the playground. He loved climbing from one swing to another in the OT room without touching the mat.

Movement was not a reward for Jaden.

Movement helped his body feel more organized.

My gut told me that he was sitting for too long. I also suspected that the noises, movement, smells, visual activity, and amount of sitting may have been far more demanding than anyone realized.

This is part of neuroaffirming practice. We do not just ask, “How do we stop the

behavior?” We ask, “What is the child’s nervous system telling us?”

2- Learning Needed to Become Meaningful

I also started thinking about the learning tasks being placed in front of Jaden.

Jaden noticed people. He looked up whenever someone entered the room. He engaged with the world around him. But he had very little interest in worksheets, which were being used for beginning phonics lessons.

He did enjoy Berenstain Bears books. And this mattered.

Part of neurodiversity-affirming practice is recognizing that a child’s strengths and interests are not extras. They can be part of meaningful learning. They can help a child feel seen.

I remember wondering how Jaden’s books could help him feel regulated enough to engage? Maybe they could open the door to reading. Maybe they could lead to learning about bees, picnics, homes, or treehouses.

We do not always know where an interest will lead.

3- Communication Changes Everything

Jaden was non-speaking, and this was another part of the story I began to think about very deeply.

I saw Jaden’s intelligence in how he planned movement, solved physical problems, and understood space, timing, risk, and possibility.

But Jaden did not have a reliable way to communicate.

Can you imagine the frustration?

Not being able to share what you want, say what you do not want. He was unable to ask when worksheet time would be over, make a joke, share an opinion, or tell someone how he felt.

Every human being needs communication.

Speech is not the only way to communicate. Students need systems, tools, partners,

and time. They need adults who presume competence and remain curious about what the student may be trying to share.

We Changed the Fit

So we made adjustments for Jaden.

We reduced the amount of time he had to sit. We honored the fact that he loved to stand and rock at his desk. We changed some of his reading work so that he could search for and circle simple words in pages connected to Berenstain Bear books he enjoyed.

The speech therapist became involved, and his mother was excited to explore an AAC device. Over time, Jaden took to it.

This is what neurodiversity-affirming practice looked like in that situation.

We looked more deeply at the student. We considered his sensory processing, movement needs, task demands, interests, and communication.

We asked how the school day could better match what his brain and body needed to feel safe enough, settled enough, and connected enough to learn.

That is what I mean by changing the fit. For those of you who have taken my course, "Insight to Autism", you know that I speak about student fit in schools often!

Why This Matters for Autistic Students

My story about Jaden is why neurodiversity-affirming practice has become central to my work.

Too often, Autistic students are misunderstood in classrooms. Adults may see the running, crying, rocking, humming, hiding, or shutting down. But they may not know what questions to ask next.

What is the sensory environment asking of this child? What are the motor demands? Is the task meaningful? Does the student have a reliable way to communicate? Are we including the child’s strengths and interests? Does the student feel emotionally safe with the adults around them?

The beautiful thing is that every one of us can become more observant. Every one of us can ask, “What might this child’s brain and body be telling us?”

That shift changed my work.

And I believe it can change your work and change schools.

Neurodiversity-affirming practice is about understanding the student more accurately so we can support learning in a way that is more humane, more respectful, and more effective.

For me, it began with one Autistic student.