Over the past few months, the Elementary School (ES) Wellness Team at Presidio Knolls School (PKS)—consisting of Kayla Story and Missy Silver—has been visiting second-grade classrooms to lead lessons and hands-on activities designed to help students explore neurodiversity. These sessions highlight how our brains are uniquely wired and how these differences contribute to a diverse, inclusive, and supportive learning community.
Lesson 1: Understanding Neurodiversity
In our first lesson, we introduced the concept of neurodiversity—explaining that our brains are wired differently. These differences impact how we process information, think, and experience the world. We used a visual representation of the brain to illustrate the uniqueness of each person’s neural pathways—the channels that send information in the brain.
The students were then asked to imagine what their own brain pathways might look like and to reflect on these questions:
Do you think in one color or many colors? Black and white or colorful?
Are the messages your brain sends in the shape of spirals, straight lines, zigzags, circles, or brushstrokes?
Do you think in numbers, pictures, or patterns?
Do all sections of your brain look the same?
They then created personalized drawings of their brains and pathways, incorporating elements such as languages, music notes, numbers, rainbows, swirls, zigzags, and spirals. These creative and unique drawings reflected diverse personalities and learning styles. Afterward, the students shared and commented on each other’s artwork, celebrating the beauty of their varied interpretations.
Sample student drawings of their unique brains and pathways.
Lesson 2: Using the Calming Cart
During our second visit, we introduced the Calming Cart, a resource designed to help students regulate their emotions when they feel overwhelmed, anxious, or stressed. We explained the symbol students can use to indicate when they need a break and how to use the tools in the cart appropriately.
The Calming Cart includes timers, breathing exercises, fidgets, drawing/journaling materials, and books that help remind students of ways to find calm.
We read books from the Calming Cart, such as I Can Do Hard Things and I Am Peace, and reflected on the importance of mindfulness and calming techniques in our daily lives.
Lesson 3: Power Packs and Flight Gear
In our third session, Kayla and Missy introduced Power Packs and Flight Gear, which are part of the Superflex Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) curriculum for Grade 2. Power Packs serve as personal “toolboxes” filled with strategies to help students regulate emotions, stay calm, focus, and feel safe.
After explaining the concept, we provided examples of Power Packs and passed blank templates for students to personalize. Since every student has unique needs, their Power Packs reflected different strategies. Many students included tools they had learned from the Calming Cart, as well as techniques they learned at home. Items in their Flight Gear ranged from water bottles and gum to journals, fidgets, music, and yoga mats.
Students then shared their Power Packs with the class and explained how each Power Pack contained different types of gear to meet their individual needs. This activity celebrated the diversity of their tools and strategies and reinforced the importance of personalized emotional regulation and focus techniques.
Power Pack & Flight Gear
Sample drawing of a student’s Power Pack & Flight Gear—a toolbox with strategies and items to help students regulate emotions, focus, stay calm, and feel safe.
Lesson 4: Introducing Accommodations
In our next session, we revisited Power Packs, Flight Gear, and neurodivergence. To illustrate how some students need different kinds of support in the classroom, we read a Lizzy in a Tizzy, a story of a girl who finds it difficult to focus in school. She struggles to concentrate, follow the teacher's instructions, and feels overwhelmed when she sees her classmates completing tasks quickly. Lizzy’s teacher helps her by
offering breaks,
allowing her to move around the room,
repeating instructions, and
giving her extra time to finish assignments.
Through Lizzy's story, the students learned that not everyone learns the same way—different strategies are necessary to help each person succeed.
Lesson 5: Accommodations and Equality
Following our discussion of Lizzy in a Tizzy, we introduced the term “accommodations” to the students. Together, we brainstormed different types of accommodations and discussed how they can help students learn and feel confident and successful. The students came up with many great ideas and explored how accommodations might sometimes feel unfair. To deepen our understanding, we read That’s Not Fair, a book that provides specific examples of accommodations that might seem unequal, such as gum chewing, typing instead of writing, using voice-to-text, having extra time, or working one-on-one with a learning specialist or counselor.
We discussed the difference between needs and wants, and what it means for something to be fair versus equal. Though these concepts can be challenging for students to understand, our students demonstrated empathy and tolerance, realizing that everyone learns differently and needs different tools to succeed.
Lesson 6: Review & Reflection
In our final session, we reviewed all of the key takeaways from our neurodiversity lessons. Missy and Kayla placed several tools and strategies in the center of the community circle, allowing each student to select a tool, strategy, or accommodation that helps them be their best self.
Students shared how this new information has changed their mindset, behaviors, feelings, and attitudes around neurodiversity, learning, accommodations and fair vs equal.
Embracing, Supporting Neurodiversity Benefits Everyone
When students recognize the different ways people think and learn, they’re not just making room for others—they’re expanding what’s possible for themselves. They gain new perspectives, find creative solutions, and create a space where everyone can thrive, ultimately allowing us to harness the strengths that help us all grow.