Full STEAM Ahead: Nurturing Creativity and Curiosity in Neurodiverse Kids

Posted byAbPosted inADHD, adoption, FASD, Fun, growth mindset, Parenting, schoolTags:, , , , , , ,

It turns out our sweet T has burgeoning skills other than driving me batshit crazy.

I say this with love and fondness. 😇

I recently watched the documentary “I’m Tim,” about the rise and tragic loss of EDM artist Avicii, whose upbeat music T and I enjoy.

It struck me how supportive his parents were of his creative pursuits from an early age.

STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and music) has gained significant traction in education in recent years.

It resonates with me, because of its pragmatic nature and focus on hands-on learning and creativity – which align with T’s style of learning.

Repetitive worksheets? A struggle for T to complete.

Hands-on learning through building, experimenting, creating and play? He gets fully engaged for lengths of time, impressive when you consider his ADHD and FASD diagnosis.

It’s also nice when T finds productive ways to get off screentime, which brings out the disregulated worst in him.

T’s very supportive Child Youth Worker at school, who’s been with him since Grade 2 – he’s now in Grade 4 – has gifted him sketchpads and T often gets in a drawing mood for hours.

Get your mind out of the gutter and keep scrolling.
Here’s Santa!
I love his Daddy, Papa, T art.
Here’s another. 💕

The hubby and T recently both got into Legos.

My cousin, T’s Uncle J, gifted him a Super Mario Bros piranha plant Lego set for Christmas.

It’s a 540-piece set recommended for 18+ builders and my first reaction when T opened the gift was, “Are you trying to kill us?”

I imagined hundreds of Lego pieces thrown all over our home and T having meltdowns out of sheer frustration.

But it ended up being a wonderful perfect gift. T surprised us with his focus, working on it over a few days over the Christmas break.

The kid was so excited to show us the finished product and all the hubby and I heard, as he was walking up the stairs, was a loud crash.

Yup, the poor guy dropped the plant and the petal top shattered into pieces.

Oh the meltdown! 😂 Oh the “I fucking hate Lego” screams through the tears. 😂

But thankfully, the nice thing about Lego is that they can be rebuilt.

We thanked T’s Uncle J for this thoughtful gift by sharing a pic of the rebuilt finished product.

This melted bead art set was a gift from the hubby and I, as I learned on Christmas morning when T opened it. 😂

Similarly, I had visions of beads strewn all over our home. But it’s something T enjoys working on in daycare and he enjoyed working on it at home.

His designs are quite creative!

Screaming at me for snapping this photo of his unfinished art. 🤭

This Marble Run build set was a gift from T’s Grandad and Grammy – and it’s very cool.

T wanted to open it on Christmas Day, so I opened the box and sorted all the different parts.

Then quickly lost motivation to figure it out and wanted to take a nap instead. 😆

But this kid figured it out all on his own and regularly spends time constructing his own marble run courses, without help from the manual.

I love seeing the creative courses he comes up with.

I love seeing him fix his course, through trial and error, when something doesn’t work as planned.

It really is the best kind of learning and he is so engaged.

This was a recent course he built that the hubby and I thought was really cool.

The FASD caregiving journey teaches and reminds me everyday to take a strengths and interest based approach to learning with T.

He is bright and capable. Yes, he has and will always have challenges with learning.

But learning happens in all forms and magic happens when we find the things that truly pique our children’s interests and build on their strengths.

36 thoughts on “Full STEAM Ahead: Nurturing Creativity and Curiosity in Neurodiverse Kids”

  2. That’s AMAZING! Yikes that marble run manual. I want to take a nap just looking at it. No thank you! I’m so impressed he figured it out on his own. And, oh, the Lego breaking horror! But at least more quiet time as he rebuilds. I can imagine how nice it must be for you when he’s super engaged with a project like this for long periods of time. So great that you’ve found something he enjoys and is good at and is no doubt so satisfying for him. Hooray!

    This: “Are you trying to kill us?” made me LOL. 😛

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    1. Thanks Betsy. It really is a joy when our kids connect with something they enjoy.

      You’ll be amused to know we took T to an open house for a karate class. I think the crowd and formality of it scared him away. It would’ve been nice for him to take it on.

      We’ll try again when he’s older one day. 🙏

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      1. Perhaps it’s just as well about the karate? Would it be possible that he got disregulated over something and started kicking and punching things like he learned in karate? I honestly have no idea.

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  3. It’s great to hear how T has found some ways to unleash his creativity. He’s got quite the eye for design! The piranha plant lego set looks pretty impressive. Lego has come a long way since I was a kid. Not all kids learn the same way, and it’s great that you’re finding approaches to keep T engaged and hone his skills.

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    1. Thanks Linda. I was talking with a colleague yesterday about how wonderful it is to see the world through our children’s curious eyes. I bet you and K are and will have similar joys with M as she starts to navigate the world of Legos, Art et al! 💕

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    1. Lego is timeless and I love that you and Hawklad find a way to connect through it. The hubby loves it too. I will say I am not as patient! 😆

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  5. I still have the Lego’s that I bought for my son, he’s 43 years old. All the grandkids have played with them and a few years ago he bought a huge container of them from someone and he still builds with his kids. You had me laughing so hard as I saw the first picture T drew and yes, my mind was in the gutter. 🤣 That is fantastic he takes the time to build such intricate things.

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    1. I love that you’ve kept your son’s toys and now his kids and your grandkids can enjoy them. And who knows, it may get passed down to further generations! 💕

      I suspect you and I have very similar sense of humour. 😂

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  6. Oh no about the Lego crash! A tragedy for sure. But that marble run is so awesome! Love how T learns resilience and STEAM! So many great talents. Go T! You had me cheering (and laughing) from the very first line of this post.

    I love T’s Papa, Daddy and T art too. Mr. D has been drawing the three of us as well – his favorite thing is to include our ages. Which has an upside, I know the one with a 55 is me… 🙂

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    1. Thanks Wynne. It was a Shakespearean level tragedy. 😂 Thankfully it was short lived (at least that’s how I remember it).

      Oh our kids and their art truly are the best and the unintended (or is it?) humour too!

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  11. this is so great that you’re finding t’s strengths and things he’s drawn to, he will show you if given the opportunity as you’ve seen. we’re all learning as we go, and. his pictures show his love for both of you and your family as a unit. lego are such a great challenge and activity and you’ve chosen things for him to do that keep him engaged and interested and I’m sure that’s no easy task base on what you’ve said. another idea that I’ve used with kids I’ve taught who are neurodivergent are circuit sets, they can build them and there is an outcome, something may light up or make a noise at the end. they can get more complex over time and lead to real world applications. you never know what he’ll like until he tries it, and it sounds like you’ve offered him choices of great interest to t. keep on keepin’ on and he will keep on surprising you –

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    1. Thanks Beth! It’s always nice to hear from your experience as both a parent, grandparent and also a teacher. I’ve heard of circuit sets (eg Snap Circuits) as it’s something we do offer through work (library STEM programs) and it’s a great idea to look into it for T. Thanks for the suggestion! 💕

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  12. Bright and capable…and creative and thoughtful and brave, insightful? T has amazing capacity and I love how you allow him to teach you…surprise you. And after all that energy and enthusiasm, a well-deserved nap is a good thing (for all!). xoxoxo! 🥰

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  13. YUP, my mind was in the gutter! LOL –

    “But learning happens in all forms and magic happens when we find the things that truly pique our children’s interests and build on their strengths.” Love this line –

    great blog post – so much insight and meaningful information –

    And I love T’s creativity! 💖

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