Joining a club, sports team, or other extracurricular activity can be a rite of passage for kids. It’s a great way to make new friends, practice life skills, and learn about themselves.

With this, we also expect — or at least hope — our neurodivergent kids will succeed in those environments just like their neurotypical peers. But there’s no guarantee that adult leaders, like coaches, understand learning and thinking differences. Since we rely on them, it can be in your and your child’s best interest to share helpful information with them ahead of time.

On this episode of Parenting Behavior, host Dr. Andy Kahn discusses why it’s important to share information about your child with the other adult leaders in their life — and tips that can help.

We’d love to hear from you. You can email us at ParentingBehavior@understood.org.

Related resources

• 6 ways to improve your child’s self-esteem with extracurricular activities
• Do IEPs cover extracurricular activities?
• How to get your child involved in sports

Timestamps

(00:56) Why you should share information about your child

(03:01) How to talk about your child

(06:15) Finding the right activity for your child

For a transcript and more resources, visit the Parenting Behavior page on Understood.org.

We’d love to hear from you. You can email us at ParentingBehavior@understood.org.

Understood.org is a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering people with learning and thinking differences, like ADHD and dyslexia. If you want to help us continue this work, donate at understood.org/give