This post references tools and resources found in The Neurodivergent Toolkit [HERE]

🧠 Part 7: Supporting Brain Systems With The Neurodivergent Toolkit

Today

I’m gonna show you how learning zooms out from neuron → network → system → job (and why that matters for behavior).

You’ll learn how to design learning that supports multiple brain systems to increase rate of retention.

Last Time We Were Together

We talked about learning as an electrical wave 🌊—and why the wave collapses when stress is high, task entry is hard, or the brain has to scan for threat.

If you missed the last post read it [HERE]
If you’re new, start with 🧠 Part 1: Mental Health is a Learning Issue [HERE]

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From Neuron → Connection → Pathway → Network 📡

A neuron activating is not the same thing as a student “learning.”

Learning happens when:

• neurons activate together
  
• those neurons connect
  
• those connections are repeated enough to stabilize
  
• and then those connections join larger neural networks
  
  

Once a network is built, info and skills get uploaded and become retrievable.
Meaning: the brain can pull it back up later, in a new context, under pressure, with distractions… in real life and in a multitude of ways.

All of this 👆 is what we should be prioritizing in schools.

Not “did they hear it” or “were they looking at me?”
But “can they retrieve it?” or “did the info get uploaded into Long Term Memory?”

Less focus on seat time and more focus on diversifying experiences in the classroom.

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Zoom Out Again: Networks Combine into Brain Systems

A brain “system” is basically a cluster of networks working together to do a job.
When we hear:

“limbic system” 

“the prefrontal cortex” 

“emotional center” 

“executive functioning” 

What the person is usually referring to is a “system” in the brain that does something specific. 

What’s the limbic systems job? Well the limbic system is the survival brain we’ve been referring to. So the limbic system’s job is “survival.”

What’s the prefrontal cortex’s job? Welp, the prefrontal cortex is, once again, a system we have been referring to, as the PFC thinking brain. So the prefrontal cortex’s job is higher-order or complex thinking.

A system is a cluster of networks working together to do a job. They’re made up of millions of neurons that form connections that create pathways that generate networks that make up larger systems so a person  can read, skateboard, pick their nose, or hit next on Netflix..

Why does this matter?

In classrooms, we’re constantly asking students to run multiple systems at once.
For example:

Filtering distractions + holding onto directions requires attention + working memory systems. Two PFC thinking brain systems for what is perceived to be a student just sitting and looking at us.

Then there are:

Turning thoughts into words + putting those words on a page requires language + motor/output systems. This sounds simple but those systems have A LOT of networks and use up A LOT of energy. 

Checking work, noticing mistakes, fixing them, protecting social safety, avoiding embarrassment which requires self-monitoring + survival systems.

Here’s why we’re seeing what we’re seeing 👇:

 When stress is high, the brain defaults to the survival system.
So the systems we need for learning don’t have enough energy to stay on at the same time.

That’s when we see:

• Refusal
• Constant arguing
• Shut down
• Perfectionism
• Clowning
• Eloping

Not because students are choosing to be defiant or want to “hurt” you.
It’s because the amount of systems needed to run at once is overloading the brain and the brain is reverting back to it’s survival system, or the survival brain 🧟

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How This Shows Up as Behavior

When PFC thinking networks power down, survival 🧟 networks power up.

The brain naturally reverts to the survival brain for functioning and this natural shift spikes activity in the amygdala- so the threat network amps up and right out the gate the survival brain is HOT 🔥 and rearing to go 🏎️. 

Why? 

Because not being able to think clearly puts the brain at a massive disadvantage, so it’s auto response is to go into protective mode. What uber sucks is that the PFC thinking systems need to be online in order for the brain to “regulate”. If the PFC thinking systems aren’t online the brain has to co-regulate somatically (through breath, rhythm, movement, signals of safety and security).

This shift spikes impulsivity, reward seeking, paranoia, hypervigilance and all of the other survival behaviors.
AND THIS 👆  IS ALL GOING TO HAPPEN NO MATTER WHAT. 

 As teachers we can influence two things: 

The environment

Our response

🌎 Let’s zoom in on behavior and systems

So how will you know when the PFC thinking brain has powered down and the survival brain has taken over? Keep reading 👇

If the working memory system is powered down:

• They (students) ask you to repeat directions 12 times
• They start, stop, and shut down
• They copy peers
• They automatically shut down
  
  

If the language/output system powers down:

• Shrugging and mumbling are a go to response
• Refusal shows up during writing or communicating
• They avoid/distract instead of produce

If self-monitoring system powers down:

• they rush
• they make a TON of careless mistakes
• they melt down when they’re corrected
  
  

If the survival system takes over:

avoidance, clowning, arguing, eloping, yelling

especially at transitions, independent work, sub days

You have to adjust the environment so it keeps the systems we need engaged and we have to adjust our instruction so that those systems don’t require as much energy to use. 

This is why it’s absolutely imperative that we focus on meeting students’ NEEDS.

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What Teachers Can Do About It 👇

Design for brain systems, not standards

You don’t need to become a neuroscientist.

You just need to stop designing lessons that only rely on one or two systems (listening and watching) and/or stop shaming kids who can’t access 6 systems at their seat on their own.

Your new design goal is :

 ✅ Activate multiple systems during instruction so more networks and systems are retrievable later.

Two things you can do tomorrow

1) Use Cue → Chunk → Chew to hit multiple brain systems on purpose

If you’re using the Toolkit: In the Instruction Kit, use Cue → Chunk → Chew (p.9).

Run rounds of it tomorrow like this:

• Cue (30 sec): show a visual goal + say it once
  

• Chunk (10 min): teach one idea
  

• Chew (5 min): students do “draw it + explain it” or choose 2 combined activities that hit two different systems while still hitting the same target
  
  

(Instruction Kit — Cue → Chunk → Chew, p.9. Neurodivergent Toolkit [HERE].)

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2) Use Designated Spaces to reduce system shutdowns during independent work

If you’re using the Toolkit: In the Classroom Environment Kit, use Designating Spaces (Designating Spaces section).
Why it works: fewer unclear expectations/boundaries = less scanning/worry = more mental energy to power learning systems.

Do it tomorrow like this:

 Label two zones only:

• Work Time (where independent work happens)
  
• Reset (where students go to regulate without a power struggle)

Post the first two steps of the task—bonus points if you use visuals!

Avoid only posting on a slideshow and make sure it’s not hidden by papers or sensory equipment!

(Classroom Environment Kit — Designating Spaces. Neurodivergent Toolkit [HERE].)

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Closing Thought

If a student can do it with you but can’t do it alone, that’s not proof they weren’t listening or don’t care.
It’s proof the systems you needed during instruction weren’t online while you were teaching.

When we design for neuro- and psychological needs we support a variety of systems AND increase the amount of energy our students’ brains have to power them! 

And that, my mystical unicorns 🦄 is brain based learning.

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Coming Next

Next post is the final June wrap up: we’ll connect systems → motivation → behavior, and I’ll show you how to build STICKY learning.

🧠 Part 8: Systems, Motivation, and Sticky Learning [HERE]

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Why Psychological Needs

Psychological needs aren’t a “bonus feature” of the classroom.
They will make or break your:

•  classroom culture

• student motivation

• students’ cognitive capacity

Psychological needs are the conditions that DETERMINE whether any of the above systems can run.

When autonomy, belonging, or competency are chronically compromised, the brain chronically prioritizes survival which chronically steals energy from the systems required for learning.

If you want the full framework + tools (Instruction Kit, Classroom Environment Kit, Behavior & Needs Detective), they’re all inside The Neurodivergent Toolkit. Get it [HERE].