Supporting Sensitive & Neurodivergent Kids Without Making Them a Problem

What if their difference is actually their brilliance?

There’s a quote that’s become a gentle anthem for those who don't fit the norm:

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree,
it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
— Often attributed to Einstein

And yet, this is exactly what many of our structures are still doing.

We measure children by narrow standards.
We praise what fits.
We pathologize what doesn’t.
And in doing so, we often miss the brilliance that doesn’t show up in traditional form.

The child who needs movement to focus.
The one who sees colors when they hear music.
The one who speaks few words but perceives volumes of energy in a room.

These children are often labeled sensitive, distracted, resistant, oppositional…
or simply too much.

But what if they’re not too much?
What if they’re just not designed to climb trees—
because they were meant to swim in an entirely different element?

Would You Teach a Fish to Climb a Tree?

(A powerful question from the book by Anne Maxwell, Gary M. Douglas, and Dr. Dain Heer)

This book changed something in me.
It didn’t try to fix children.
It invited a completely different question:

What if neurodivergence isn’t something to solve… but something to receive?

The authors speak to the subtle, profound awareness many children have—awareness that goes unacknowledged in environments that only value linear thinking, fast answers, or compliance.

Many children labeled with ADD, ADHD, OCD, Autism, or Sensory Processing Differences are not broken.
They are perceptive.
They are multi-dimensional.
They are energetic beings in a system that only rewards one narrow form of intelligence.

And often, they’re aware of everything.

The social dynamics no one is naming.
The unspoken emotions in the room.
The pressure their teachers are under.
The overwhelm their parents are trying to hide.

They’re not inattentive.
They’re tuning in to so much more than we realize.

Let’s stop trying to “normalize” difference

Trying to make neurodivergent or sensitive children behave like everyone else
isn’t inclusion.
It’s erasure.

We end up teaching kids to distrust their own way of sensing the world.

We say things like:

• “Stop daydreaming.”

• “You need to try harder.”

• “Why can’t you just sit still?”

• “Be like the other kids.”

Even if we mean well, the impact is real.
And internalized.

What if, instead, we asked:
🌿 What is your body asking for right now?
🌿 What are you aware of that no one else is noticing?
🌿 What kind of space actually works for you to thrive?

What if we created learning environments that made room for different kinds of brilliance?

Sensitive ≠ fragile. Neurodivergent ≠ broken.

The children who are the most reactive often don’t need more discipline—
they need more regulation, more understanding,
more space to be exactly as they are.

Many of them are energy readers.
Intuitives. Movers. Builders. Quiet feelers.
Deep thinkers who just don’t show it in the way we’re taught to expect.

When we support these kids with tools that honor how they naturally function—
something opens.
They begin to soften.
They come alive.
They show us just how much they were holding back while trying to fit.

This is the work I offer—for children, families, and educators

In my sessions and workshops for kids and families, we create space for:

• Expression that doesn’t rely on performance

• Movement and art that calm the nervous system

• Body-based tools (including Access Bars®) to release overwhelm

• New ways of communicating that don’t shame or silence

• Support for caregivers who are doing their very best, often without a map

I don’t see kids as problems.
I see them as potent, perceptive beings who often just need someone to meet them where they are.

If you’ve been told your child is too much, too sensitive, too difficult—
I want you to know:
They might just be too brilliant for the box they were put in.

Let’s raise them with the awareness that their difference isn’t a disorder.
It’s a doorway to something greater.

With softness, wonder,
and a deep honoring of every kind of brilliance,

Nihan
🌿
Facilitator of creative freedom, sensory regulation & new possibilities for kids and families
nihansevinc.com