Neuro-Affirming Conversation Starters

Gentle prompts to help connection, understanding and celebration of differences.

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Meaningful conversations can help children feel seen, heard and valued – especially when navigating a world that often misunderstands or overlooks neurodivergent experiences.

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This printable resource offers calm, open-ended questions designed to support self-awareness, empathy, and connection between children and trusted adults.

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What’s Included:

A 1-page, full-colour PDF featuring 16 thoughtfully designed prompts across four themes:

• Getting to Know Ourselves - Encouraging reflection on strengths, challenges and the unique ways each brain works.

• Understanding Differences - Promoting curiosity and acceptance around how others think, feel and process the world.

• Talking about Needs and Strengths - Creating space to name what helps, what hurts, and what might go unseen from the outside.

• Building Empathy - Fostering compassion for peers and offering gentle ways to respond when someone is struggling

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The questions are written with PDA and autistic children in mind, but can support a wide range of neurodivergent or neurotypical children, at home or in educational and therapeutic settings.

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Who It’s For:

• Parents or carers wanting to deepen understanding and emotional connection with their child

• Educators, learning support staff and pastoral teams looking to open dialogue in class or 1:1

• Therapists or mentors supporting self-reflection and identity exploration

• Any adult seeking respectful, low-pressure ways to talk about difference, needs, and strengths

 

Why It Matters:
So many children are asked to fit into a world that wasn’t built with them in mind. These conversation starters centre the child’s voice and invite genuine, respectful dialogue — building a foundation for co-regulation, advocacy and belonging.

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Review:

"The resources provided by Natalie are excellent and strongly informed by neuro-affirming practice and current research. I shared the regulation strategies and calm plan resources with staff at an additionally resourced provision during a PDA training session. These materials aligned perfectly with the key messages I wanted to convey—particularly the complexity of PDA and the role of anxiety and autonomy in driving behaviours.

 

Practitioners found the resources helpful for reflecting on their language and reframing current thinking. This led to staff feeling more equipped to plan for dysregulation and, crucially, to consider preventative adaptations to the environment and their approaches to reduce distress escalation. I would be more than happy to recommend these resources to any colleagues involved with supporting children and young people whose needs may be best understood through the lens of PDA."

Emma - Educational Psychologist