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Helping Neurodivergent Kids learn Financial Skills · Talking FACS

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  Welcome to Talking FACS, what you need to know about family,
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  food, finance, and fitness.
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  This nationally recognized, award-winning podcast is hosted by the University
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  of Kentucky Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Program.
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  Our educators share research knowledge with individuals, families,
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  and communities to improve quality of life.
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  Hello, and welcome to MoneyWi$e on Talking FACS/
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  We share information you can use to strengthen your family, your community, and our state.
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  I am Mindy McCulley, Extension Specialist for Instructional Support with Family
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  and Consumer Sciences Extension at the University of Kentucky.
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  We are housed in the Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food, and Environment.
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  If you have spent any time with two children, or even two adults,
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  you know that two brains work in very different ways.
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  My guest today, Whitney Holmes, the Associate Director of Learning Services
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  with CATS/UK Athletics, is here to share with us about helping neurodivergent
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  kids with financial skills. Welcome, Whitney.
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  Hi, thanks for having me. I am really excited to talk about this topic because
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  this topic is personal to me because I have neurodivergent children in my life.
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  But first, will you explain for our listeners exactly what neurodivergence is and how common it is?
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  Of course. So, neurodivergence is very, very common.
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  There's no perfect estimate, but
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  most estimates say about 15 to 20% of the population is neurodivergent.
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  And what this really means is
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  it's just a term that encompasses all the different ways the brain works.
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  So neurodivergence includes things like ADHD, any kind of autism spectrum disorder,
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  dyslexia, dysgraphia, any other learning challenges, just to name a few.
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  And people contrast neurodivergent with neurotypical.
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  It's not the word I would choose to use as everybody's brain works really differently.
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  And the idea that there's a typical brain is not something I believe is completely
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  true as we all work differently.
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  But this is the terminology we're seeing here. And the other thing I want to
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  point out about neurodiversity is that approaching any kind of work with neurodivergence,
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  it's really important to use a strengths-based approach, whether the focus is
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  on financial skills or anything else, because especially neurodivergent kids
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  get a lot of negative feedback, and that makes them less likely to want to learn.
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  So when I'm working with neurodivergent students, which I do every day,
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  I really frame neurodivergence as the student's superpower because their brain
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  works a little differently.
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  And often that brings a lot of strengths.
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  For instance, a lot of the dyslexic people have amazing spatial problem-solving skills.
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  ADHD, there's hyper-focus that comes with it, and people can really dig deep
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  into things they're interested in.
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  And those are just kind of two big common ones. And the other thing I want to
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  point out is making sure that as you're speaking with your child,
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  really making sure that you're using a common language and working together
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  with other people in their lives, whether it's the school, other caregivers,
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  because creating routines and
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  kind of reinforcing common language really helps kids with all of this.
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  Yes. And I love that you frame neurodivergent thinking as a superpower,
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  because I know that some of the really profound thinkers of our time and even
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  in the past are definitely in this category,
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  but they might have been thought of as odd or different.
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  So I'm really proud that we are changing mainstream thinking,
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  are recognizing that we are all, we have special powers and neurodivergent brains
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  are really beautiful rather than less than.
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  And so financial skills are important for everybody. So why is it important
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  to focus on neurodivergent children? The reason we're kind of talking about
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  this today is a lot of times neurodivergent children might just need some different strategies.
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  And also in my career as an educator, I've always been trained to use strategies
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  for neurodivergent students to reach all students because really these strategies
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  improve learning outcomes for everyone.
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  So whether your child is neurodivergent or
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  not some of these skills and strategies can really still translate for
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  them people in general we all know have trouble
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  with financial skills and sometimes
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  neurodivergent people have some additional struggles like people
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  with ADHD sometimes have trouble with like impulsive spending accurately
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  judging risks or kind of avoid financial
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  issues instead of tackling them head-on before they get too bad so So starting
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  to like practice these things and giving kids a way to think about financial
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  decisions on a small scale can really go a long way towards helping them have
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  the tools to make sound decisions later in life.
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  And people with dyslexia or dyscalculia can have trouble navigating financial
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  statements or other documents related to finances.
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  So again, providing some skills and incremental amounts of information can be really helpful.
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  And this helps kids figure out where they shine and helps find ways to bridge
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  the gaps where they might have a little more difficulty.
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  And this isn't just about financial skills, but in general. So finding strategies
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  that work can really take time and patience is key, but focusing on success is so important.
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  So building these patterns, habits, and routines gives kids time to learn this
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  while the stakes are lower, and while they potentially have more confidence
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  in themselves, are willing to try new things.
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  We know a lot of kids are very confident, very willing to try just about anything,
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  so really harnessing the power of the child's brain is awesome.
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  Whitney, do you have recommended strategies that have proved successful for
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  working with neurodivergent children?
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  Before I go into kind of specific tips here, I really want to make sure I preface
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  all my suggestions with the fact, again, that every brain is different.
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  And things that are supposed to work don't work for everyone.
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  And so if you're doing things, check in with your child about how they're feeling.
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  Something I do with my students a lot, I read body language.
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  I can tell when they're overwhelmed.
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  Maybe they start humming or they start fidgeting. And those are kind of my cues
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  that they're starting to get overwhelmed or that maybe something's not working
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  for them and I need to check in and give them a second to reset.
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  You know, some of my students love checklists. They love to-do lists.
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  Other people get really overwhelmed at seeing more than one or two tasks.
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  Color coding. Some of my students love colors.
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  Others, they get really overwhelmed by them.
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  You know, even some types of neurodivergence like Irlens syndrome,
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  right? Certain colors can either make things easier, more difficult.
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  So just kind of checking in with your child as you're trying things is super important.
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  And if you have a child that you aren't sure what the issue might be,
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  do you have strategies for how they can help identify maybe where the issues might be?
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  For sure. I mean, one great thing is to use the resources at your school.
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  There are usually people there who can help direct you to resources that are
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  going to fit your needs and have a background in identifying neurodivergent children.
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  And really keep advocating for your child, right? I'm seeing this.
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  Are you seeing this? And what are some things we can do?
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  And using all those resources, but again, continuing to advocate is really important.
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  I love that. Yes. So what are some benefits of starting financial education early.
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  It's all about becoming independent later in life. And, you know,
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  we're helping to build math skills.
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  And so using money as a way to think about math also helps the kid in school.
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  But when you start early, you build patterns, you build routines,
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  you build brain pathways for kids to start thinking about things before they get too overwhelming.
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  And so, for instance, math can be perceived as boring by some kids.
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  And kids with ADHD especially have trouble learning about things that don't
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  interest them. I mean, don't we all, right? Yes.
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  So in using money to learn about math, we could also start seeing some more
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  practical application and finding some more excitement in a topic that may not
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  necessarily play to a student's strengths.
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  And providing these hands-on opportunities to practice in a low-stakes environment
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  can be really beneficial.
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  You know, whether it's using money to talk about percentages and fractions and
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  make those seem less scary, that's huge. But really, it's all about building
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  a way to help kids make decisions.
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  So, for instance, if you give your child a small allowance and have conversations
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  about decision-making, right? Providing that gentle guidance or reminders.
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  So as they're about to make that impulse purchase, reminding them that they
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  really want something else, it helps them start asking themselves these questions.
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  And we all, in any part of our life, we need rules and guidelines that help
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  us navigate situations.
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  And putting those patterns in the brain early is really important for success.
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  I love all of these tips, and I think that they are going to be so beneficial,
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  not only really to neurodivergent children, but to any child who is trying to
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  learn about boundaries and learn about patterns and learn really about how money
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  works and how to develop some financial skills.
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  So thank you, Whitney, for taking the time to share with me.
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  Great. Happy to be here. Well, I really appreciate your time.
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  And I think that this has been a wonderful conversation and an opportunity for
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  us to learn about a topic we've not talked about before.
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  So thank you for joining us. Anytime.
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  If you are just tuning in, you're listening to Talking FACS and you can find
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  us wherever you listen to your favorite podcast.
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  Thank you for listening to Talking FACS We deliver programs focusing on nutrition,
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  health, resource management, family development, and civic engagement.
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  Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Program, or contact your local Extension
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  agent for Family and Consumer Sciences.
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  Music.