Seasonal Transitions and Neurodivergence

Over the past 8 years of work with neurodivergent children and adults, I’ve noticed an intriguing phenomenon. Every spring and fall, as well as at other times of the year where there are major changes in weather patterns, the neurodivergent people with whom I’m involved seem to experience a significant increase in dysregulation. When I was still a school-based therapist, this would show up as meltdowns, shut-downs, school avoidance, anxiety, and difficulty focusing and maintaining behavioral expectations in class.

Now that I work primarily with adults, I see more issues with increased difficulty in basic functioning, volatile moods, depression, anxiety, and sensory overload. It has seemed to me, the more I’ve thought about this and observed this phenomenon, that neurodivergent people of all ages experience major changes in weather patterns and circadian rhythms as stress, with all the impacts that stress has on vulnerable nervous systems…