What happens when children with ADHD and other neurodivergent needs are expected to fit into an education system that doesn't fully understand how their brains work? In this episode of We're Not Your Typical, we sit down with Jamie Gilbert, a former assistant head teacher who spent 18 years working with children with social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) needs, around 95% of whom were neurodivergent. Jamie shares his experience working with children with ADHD, autism and other additional needs, and explains why he believes emotional regulation needs to come before academic achievement. We discuss the challenges children can face in mainstream and specialist education, the impact of masking, why children may release their emotions at home after holding everything together at school, and how working memory and executive function can affect everyday life. Jamie also opens up about his own experience growing up with undiagnosed ADHD, including the importance of understanding yourself, building confidence and finding the right tools to regulate your emotions. He explains how movement, sport, positive relationships and dynamic learning can help children engage, and why he believes ADHD should be understood as more than either a "superpower" or a deficit. We also talk about ADHD medication, diagnosis, rejection sensitivity, hyperfocus, working memory, parenting ADHD children, and how parents can adapt communication to better support their children. Jamie also shares more about ADHD School, his virtual educational programme designed to help children understand their ADHD brain, develop executive functioning skills and build their own ADHD toolkit. 🎙️ In this episode: • Understanding ADHD and the ADHD brain • ADHD and emotional regulation • ADHD, autism and neurodivergence in education • Social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) needs • Why emotional regulation can affect learning • Understanding masking in children • Why children may release emotions at home • ADHD and executive functioning • Working memory and communication • Supporting children with ADHD at home • Movement breaks and ADHD regulation • Hyperfocus and the strengths of ADHD • ADHD diagnosis and understanding the diagnosis • ADHD medication and individual choices • Avoiding the "ADHD superpower" narrative • Helping children understand themselves • Jamie's experience of growing up with undiagnosed ADHD • ADHD School and supporting neurodivergent children 📚 Find out more about Jamie's ADHD School: https://adhdschool.com/ 👉 Join our Patreon for more support, community and behind-the-scenes content: https://patreon.com/NotYourTypical?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink 👉 Subscribe for weekly episodes on autism, ADHD, SEND parenting and real family stories. Sponsored by B&W https://www.blackandwhitebridging.co.uk/ #ADHD #ADHDParenting #ADHDSupport #NeurodivergentChildren #ADHDAwareness #SENDParenting #AutismAndADHD #EmotionalRegulation #NeurodivergentFamily #SpecialNeedsParenting