Sonia Gray

If your child is neurodivergent, or if you are yourself, there's an overriding sense that people don't really take it seriously.

No matter how great the challenges are, they are largely invisible and often unpredictable.

Even those who are diagnosed in adulthood as autistic or with ADHD can find it hard to accept and often suspect they've inadvertently gamed the system somehow.

It's really hard to believe that it's not just a character flaw.

But science is advancing quickly and we're reaching the stage where there are clinical tools to use alongside evaluations.

Scientific research that is moving out of the lab and reaching real people to give them an understanding and to improve their outcomes.

And Aotearoa New Zealand is leading the way.

In this episode, I talk to two of the team from the Matai Medical Research Institute in Gisborne about their groundbreaking ADHD study and about what research is telling us in general about the biological basis of ADHD.

And I speak to Dr. Jessie Jacobson and Dr. Ruth Monk from the Centre for Brain Research at the University of Auckland.

Jessie and her team research the genetic basis of neurodevelopmental conditions, including autism, not to try and cure or change people, but to give clarity and ultimately to improve lives.

neurodiversity it's no longer a fringe conversation for decades neurodifferences have been framed as deficits but now we're questioning that narrative what if variation is part of the design in season three i look at the science the systems and the stories shaping what happens next and the tools that can really make a difference kia ora i'm sonia gray and this is no such thing as normal season three

The work they do at the Matai Medical Research Institute is diverse, in-depth, ground-breaking and life-changing.

Studies on traumatic brain injuries, multiple sclerosis, the effects of meth addiction on the brain, and of course the ongoing research into how the ADHD brain works, with a goal to map an atlas of the ADHD brain.

Paul Condren was the MRI technician when I went into that very noisy but very flash fMRI machine.

It's his job to capture incredibly detailed images of the brain.

Mostly, the actual meaning of these scans comes later.

Any changes on the structural side are not going to be obvious to the technician looking at the screen.

And more data means you're not just seeing a single moment, you're starting to see what the brain is doing in real time.

And that's been a game changer, particularly for this ADHD research, because ADHD is now understood to be more complex than a single spot in the brain.

It's about how brain networks connect and communicate.