Tristen Cortez EDINBURG – A study from the National Institutes of Health published last month looked to understand neurodivergent traits in children; traits that cause children to understand and learn differently than others.
The study found that neurodivergent traits, such as Autism and ADHD, are exhibited in different ways for boys and girls.
According to the researchers of the study, boys’ neurodivergent traits are more complex and easily spotted, leading to missed diagnoses for girls who exhibit more subtle social difficulties.
This development was something Cecilia Montiel-Nava, associate professor of child psychology at UTRGV, concurs with.
Montiel-Nava said the ongoing understanding of neurodivergent traits means that many adults are only starting to recognize them in their lives.
“We are seeing more and more autistic adults being diagnosed for the first time,” Montiel-Nava said. “So, these people were struggling their whole life because nobody that they were, you know, having cognitive difficulties because they didn’t have any noticeable cognitive learning of language problems.”
Difficulty in learning is something Diana Garza-Farias, director of the Rio Grande Valley Literacy Center, sympathized with.
The RGVLC provides education to adults who previously dropped out of school due to struggles earlier in life.
Garza-Farias said the mission of the center is important to her because of her own experiences as a child.
“My mom you know, she had five of us and I did not pick up a book and read a book ‘till I was in fifth grade,” Garza-Farias said. “I know I had problems at those times, with dyslexia, a different attention span, staying focused on one subject […] I just felt that I just couldn’t get across.”
Something that both Garza-Farias and Montiel-Nava recommended to build learning skills is reading; through physical books or even on a tablet.
Montiel-Nava said the resources available to children in the digital age can propel them to greater academic success.
“It is like these devices are the equivalent of ramps for people with disabilities or for hearing devices for the hard-of-hearing,” Montiel-Nava said. “So we are opening it to many options and to a better quality of life.”
Montiel-Nava concluded that UTRGV offers a program in collaboration with Pharr ISD called Head Start, which services over 300 families of children in the Valley who need additional educational assistance.
To contact the Head Start program for more information, email administration@hchsp.org/.
