emergent responsive neurodiverse community
What Global Cultures Can Teach Us About Supporting Neurodiverse Children Ryk Groetchen, Executive Director of imeetsweApril 2026Berkeley CA I recently had the good fortune to reconnect with Vodzi Torgboh, a teacher from the Ewe tradition of coastal West Africa. He was sharing social music-and-dance with a group of Western music teachers, transmitting rhythm as the … Read more
The case for universal early childhood music access for children 0–7 Our thesis is that music-making is not enrichment: it is primary nourishment. In the first seven years of life—the window of greatest neural plasticity—active musical participation supports brain architecture in ways that no other intervention replicates. Independently of talent or performance, music-making supports child … Read more
In this new monthly feature, clinical psychologist (and imeetswe Board Secretary) Dr. Brighton Earley, Psy. D., answers questions related to our Neurodiverse Topic Of The Month. This month, Dr. Earley responds to questions related to our featured topic Unstructured Child-Directed Play Q: As a parent, isn’t it my role to teach important life skills? Shouldn’t … Read more
Children need lots of free play, and free-play time with a parent is often one of the highlights of a child’s day. With our busy work schedules, we might forget to create reliable windows of time that are devoted solely to unplanned, unstructured connection–time directed by our child’s attention and supported by our undivided participation. … Read more
topics of interest from the neuroscience, therapy, and neurodiverse communities
by Dr. Brighton Earley, Psy.D. As a psychologist who works with children, I have acquired these bits and bobs of knowledge that I can apply (experiment with) to my own child. In Therapy School we learn that music is one thing that helps us humans with regulation, so we should recommend it to our patients … Read more
Co-regulation refers to the dynamic interaction between two people–between their bodies, minds, or nervous systems–through which they help each other move toward a state of balance or calm. This process can happen automatically, beneath our awareness, or it can be a conscious, mindful practice. Co-regulation is one of the most important foundations of early parenting … Read more
It’s been very emotional for me to reemerge from the darkness of lockdown to return to building community through music-making. In my conversations with folks, it becomes clear that a younger generation of families don’t know about some of the ways we connected before, and don’t necessarily remember many of the ways things were different … Read more
