Complaints & connections · borters.ch
A differently wired brain is not a defect — being understood early matters more than the diagnosis itself.
Also known as: neurodiversity · neurodivergent · neuroatypical · different information processing · umbrella term for ADHD, autism, dyslexia, dyscalculia, dyspraxia
Open in the tool — with search and all the links →This compilation is for information and replaces neither medical diagnosis nor treatment. If you have symptoms, see a doctor.
Neurodivergence is not a disease but an umbrella term: it describes people whose brains process information differently from the statistical majority. It covers autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dyscalculia, dyspraxia, Tourette’s and stuttering, among others. The formal diagnoses carry the word “disorder” — which marks a deviation from average, not a defect, and certainly not a lack of intelligence, upbringing or effort. An estimated 15 to 20 percent of the population is neurodivergent in some form; overlaps are the rule rather than the exception. It usually shows first in kindergarten and the early school years: a child tells stories fluently but struggles with letters, cuts clumsily, loses the thread in noisy rooms, or needs three times as long for homework as their siblings. In Switzerland assessment runs via the paediatrician, the school psychology service and, depending on the question, child psychiatry, speech therapy or occupational therapy. What helps is rarely a single measure but a combination: targeted support, formal accommodations at school, understanding adults — and a clear message to the child that they are neither stupid nor lazy. Girls are recognised systematically later because they often compensate quietly. It is often said that neurodivergence is a fashionable diagnosis. These differences have been described for decades — what is new is that we see them earlier and support them better.
“They’ll grow out of it” often costs years of confidence. An assessment never hurts, even if it comes back normal.
Start with the paediatrician and teacher, then the school psychology service, and if needed child psychiatry, speech or occupational therapy.
Extra time, tools or adapted marking level the conditions — they do not lower the standard.
Otherwise children explain failure with “I’m stupid”. An age-appropriate explanation protects self-image.
Music, sport, tech, animals, storytelling: one area of success carries a child through hard school years.
Fixed routines, visible plans and short chunks with breaks help more than appeals to willpower.
Anxiety, sleep problems or low mood are more common and treatable — include them in the assessment.
Swiss parent groups and specialist associations know the school routes, forms and contacts from practice.
There is no drug for neurodivergence, and there should not be one — only what is a burden is treated: attention, sleep, anxiety, sensitivity to stimuli. Stimulants work in ADHD within hours, melatonin on falling asleep, SSRIs on anxiety. What changes more than any drug is the fit of the surroundings: lowering stimuli, making routines predictable, adjustments at school and at work. These measures work at once and have no side effects.
Depending on the definition, about fifteen to twenty in a hundred people count as neurodivergent — ADHD about five, autism one to two, dyslexia five to ten, dyscalculia three to six. Overlaps are the rule, not the exception: about four in ten autistic people also have ADHD. In girls and women it is often recognised only in adulthood, on average years later than in boys, because the signs show differently.
One area comes easily, another stays hard despite practice. That gap is the key signal.
The child practises hard yet barely progresses. More drilling alone does not solve it.
Keeping up and adapting all day is draining. A meltdown at home often follows.
Reading, maths, motor skills and attention often occur together. One diagnosis does not rule out another.
A child who quietly works twice as hard goes unnoticed — and is identified years later.
Statements like “I’m just stupid” are a warning sign — not of laziness but of unexplained overload.
No value makes any of these diagnoses. An iron shortage does worsen sleep, concentration and resilience — and it is simple to correct.
Thyroid disorders imitate restlessness, irritability or lack of drive. The value belongs alongside before a treatment with medicines begins.
With a one-sided diet over years the look is worthwhile. The value has nothing to do with the disposition itself.
A lack causes exhaustion, problems concentrating, low mood and forgetfulness — and it is one of the few causes that can be found and put right with a single blood draw.
Low values are common with low mood. Whether correcting it lifts the mood is not settled; that it makes sense in winter at our latitudes is.
An empty store causes tiredness, lack of drive and problems concentrating long before any anaemia becomes visible. In women of childbearing age the most common single reason.
A building block of the cell coverings in the brain. The studies on mood are inconsistent; as part of a good diet it belongs there anyway.
Needed for making the messengers in the brain. It runs short with alcohol and under certain medicines — and it is always judged together with B12.
Before anything special is tried, the simple round is worth it: ferritin, vitamin D, B12, thyroid. Tiredness, irritability and loss of concentration out of any one of those four holes look from outside like a character trait — but are measurable and fixable.
Across all studies a small effect on restlessness and attention, distinctly weaker than a medicinal treatment and distinctly better tolerated. Where it appears it takes two to three months to become visible — weeks are not enough to judge by.
Frequently recommended, rarely studied. Where it helps, it helps most via sleep and calf cramps, not via attention itself. Citrate and glycinate are better tolerated than oxide, which mainly loosens the bowel.
Clearly worthwhile and well supported when deficient — vegan, older adults, certain drugs. No energy boost without a deficiency.
Clearly worthwhile and well studied when deficient; fewer data for the wider uses. Fat-soluble — check blood levels at high doses.
Clearly effective with proven deficiency, useless without. Take only with a documented deficiency — excess is harmful.
In pregnancy clearly established against neural-tube defects, otherwise mainly with deficiency. Can mask a B12 deficiency — watch both.
A shifted sleep rhythm runs through almost all the forms — the body clock runs later than everyday life demands. That is not a question of will; anyone wanting to change the rhythm shifts it with light in the morning, not with discipline in the evening.
Constantly adapting to an environment that does not fit is strain — with everything the stress axis brings over time. That is one reason adapting the environment carries further than adapting the person.
Across the different forms selective eating is common — usually by texture, smell or appearance, not by taste. Vitamin C, iron and vitamin D are then worth measuring.
Across the different forms regular movement acts on sleep, tension and concentration. Not a cure but the ground on which everything else works better.
Sleep problems are more common than average in nearly all forms — and too little sleep amplifies the next day exactly what is already hard.