Great reminders about the lack of physiological markers. The (or one?) elephant in the room, to me - I’d phrase it as - to what degree a kid’s just naturally well- or poorly-suited to the public school environment itself.

A child that finds it difficult to sit in one place and listen to words about abstract material for hours every day…I mean does that sound divergent in any way?

One of the fundamental markers of childhood in my experience is a certain…animation, just this almost irresistible urge to move around, negotiate whatever activity is occurring and in what way, with whoever is nearby…switching activities and modes of play fluidly. Seems like the most normal shit ever to me lol.

I do recognize we need a standardized way to educate our kids in a modern society, but as we learn more about young brains, we gotta start developing a more diverse way to accomplish the learning and development of self-discipline. The one-size-fits-all approach just obviously leaves many underserved, and worse, leaves them internalizing a lot of frustration with self, not to mention taking all kinds of drugs to “treat those symptoms”.

Well spill the beans ya old goat, which two games?!

Haven’t broken enough expensive-looking stuff yet, clearly!

You’re right that it’s hard, and that it’s kind of a “put on your own mask before helping others” scenario. If you’re just barely holding on, you’re right, you may not be well-positioned to provide help. And in that case, the critical priority for you should be to get out of that situation first. Easier said than done, I know.

But, take heart! There are skills and habits and such you can build along the way that play to your own strengths and which will be useful if things get truly gnarly. Starting on them several years ago would have been better than starting on them today, but starting today is better than starting tomorrow.

I had this big exhaustive list (in a Lemmy comment thread) of things to pick and choose from to try to slowly get better at - it’s since been deleted! I’m working on tracking that down so I can provide it here, it was seriously useful (and heartening, in the way it shows how we can all contribute due to the wide range of things needed).