AtyKids Guides
Clear guidance, no jargon.
Understand the key steps, know who to contact and where to find resources. Always non-medical.
24 guides
International
Understand
Executive functions: working memory, inhibition and flexibility
Working memory, inhibition, flexibility: what executive functions cover in children, what you can observe and what actually helps day to day. Guidance, non-medical.
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Daily life & environment
Sensory overload: understanding what may be happening
Noise, light, crowds, clothing labels: what sensory overload covers in children, what you can observe and what actually helps day to day. Guidance, non-medical.
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Understand
Observing a situation without interpreting it too quickly
Separating what you saw from what you concluded: why it changes a school meeting or an appointment, and how to record observations that are actually usable.
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Daily life & environment
Why transitions can be so hard
Stopping a game, leaving the house, switching activity: why these moments cost some children so much, and what actually helps. Guidance, non-medical.
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Understand
Understanding neurodiversity in childhood
Where the word neurodiversity comes from, what it actually describes, and why it replaces neither a diagnosis nor a need for support. Clear guidance, non-medical.
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Understand
ADHD: understanding attention, impulsivity and functioning
Attention, restlessness, impulsivity: what ADHD covers, why prevalence figures vary so much, and what helps day to day. Guidance, non-medical.
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Understand
Autism: understanding the spectrum, the variability and the needs
Why we speak of a spectrum, how much autistic people differ from one another, and why a profile of needs beats a label. Guidance, non-medical.
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Understand
Specific learning disorders: what the word "specific" means
Dyslexia, dyscalculia, written expression: what specific learning disorders cover, what the word specific excludes, and why prevalence figures vary so much.
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Communicating & supporting
Emotional regulation: understanding without reducing a child to their behavior
Why a child needs an adult to come back down, how that changes with age, and why "use your words" usually arrives too late. Guidance, non-medical.
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Daily life & environment
Fatigue and cognitive load: when a child is no longer available to learn
Why a child can switch off without having done anything obviously tiring, what cognitive load is, and how to strip out the effort that teaches nothing.
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Ontario (Canada)
Local systems & processes
The Ontario IEP: what it is, what it contains and the parent's role
What an Individual Education Plan is in Ontario, who must have one, the 30-day rule, what it must contain and how parents take part. Guidance for families, non-medical.
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Local systems & processes
The Ontario IPRC: identification, placement, review and appeal
How an Identification, Placement and Review Committee works in Ontario: what it decides, the parent's rights at the meeting, how reviews happen and how to appeal a decision.
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School & learning
Accommodations, modifications or alternative programs in an Ontario IEP
Three words that sound interchangeable and are not. What accommodations, modified expectations and alternative programs change for an Ontario student, and why it matters later.
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Communicating & supporting
How to prepare for an Ontario IEP review or meeting
When an Ontario IEP is reviewed, how the IPRC annual review differs from it, what a parent can request, and how to prepare so the meeting changes something.
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Canada
United States
Local systems & processes
IEP vs 504 Plan: what's different?
IEP or 504 Plan: two different laws, two eligibility routes, and one document that federal rules do not actually require. What separates them and how to ask.
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Understand
Getting an autism evaluation in the U.S.
How an autism evaluation usually works in the U.S.: who to talk to first, the professionals involved, and how school and medical paths differ. Guidance, non-medical.
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Local systems & processes
504 Plan: what it covers and how to request one
What a 504 Plan is, the kinds of accommodations it can include for a child with ADHD, autism or a disability, and how to request one from the school. Non-medical.
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Communicating & supporting
How to prepare for an IEP meeting
Practical guidance to prepare for an IEP meeting: what to bring, questions to ask and how to take part effectively for a child with autism, ADHD or a disability. Non-medical.
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Local systems & processes
Requesting a school evaluation under IDEA
How to ask a school to evaluate your child under IDEA: who can request it, why consent starts the clock, the 60-day rule and when your state sets a different one.
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Local systems & processes
Procedural safeguards when a family disagrees
What the procedural safeguards notice is, when the district must give it to you, and the routes open to families under IDEA: mediation, state complaint and due process.
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Local systems & processes
What an IEP is: components, services and the annual review
What an Individualized Education Program actually contains, who sits on the team, what the annual review is for, and what a parent can ask to have written into it.
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Local systems & processes
FAPE, LRE and parent participation explained
What free appropriate public education and least restrictive environment actually require, and why supplementary aids must be tried before a more restrictive placement.
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School & learning
ADHD at school: IEP, 504 and support without assuming eligibility
How ADHD is handled at school in the U.S.: which route may apply, why good grades do not rule a student out, and what support can start immediately.
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