Empathy and inclusive collaboration are among the core values for the Santa Clarita Valley International School in Castaic.
To further that message to its students and the community, the charter school celebrated its third annual Neurodiversity Celebration Spirit Week last week. Beginning on Monday of that week, the celebrationkickstarted with a key speaker followed by interactive and activity booths.
At the end of the week, a silent disco to culminate the week was held in the school quad with all students, often called learners, encouraged to join. The silent disco consisted of children wearing headphones where they could control the volume of the music to their preference.
“We are celebrating, understanding, and just learning how to empathize and be more inclusive with our friends that are neurodivergent,” said Jenae Coleman, SCVi school counselor. “We have a lot of learners that are neurodivergent, so we want to put on something to make them feel seen, heard and understood.”
But just because children were wearing headphones, it didn’t mean the outdoor space was dead silent. The disco transformed more into a “hangout” where children engaged with one another to play board games, enjoy snacks, and other activities.
On occasion a few children would break out in a song such as “Party in the USA” by Miley Cyrus or “Pink Pony Club” by Chappell Roan. Children sang at the top of their lungs, attempting to out-sing their peers.
The silent disco, as well as other activities throughout the week, aimed to show students a glimpse of what some of their peers may experience on a day-to-day basis, according to Coleman, and teach students who may be neurodivergent that it “doesn’t mean that it limits you. You can still be successful.”
People who are considered neurodivergent “are actually very, very smart. They typically have these really special abilities that we don’t know about. Some of these talents get masked because they do need accommodations in other forms,” Coleman added.
Eighth grader Charlie Sedek was one of the many older students assisting with booths throughout the week. Sedek designed neurodiversity-focused trivia questions for students to engage with that aimed to expose them to information.
“Everybody’s unique. Even if you’re not neurodivergent, everyone’s always different and I think that is the amazing part about humanity, that everybody is different, and there’s no two people that are exactly the same,” Sedek said.
SCVi School Director Chad Powell was inspired by the key speaker who was neurodivergent himself, and how he’s used his strengths and special talents, in a positive way.
“I think that resonated a lot with our learners, too. It’s the idea that we all think differently, we all have our strengths, and let’s not focus on things that we wish were different about ourselves,” Powell said.
Celebrating Neurodiversity Week was another way to encourage connection among the SCVi community and “when I see all the kids working together, it just reinforces this idea of what makes us special and this idea that you belong here,” Powell added.
