Neurodivergent kids face special mental health risks. New initiative seeks ways to protect them

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Set us as preferred Like many young people with a diagnosis of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, Jacob Schreiber was creative, empathetic and endlessly curious.He found deep satisfaction in composing music and studying the stars.

He took solace in understanding how and why the world worked as it did.His 2024 death from suicide at age 19 devastated his loved ones.In their grief, Schreiber’s family has turned to the questions Jake grappled with his whole life.“He was always searching for answers,” his mother Lori Schreiber said.

“Why am I different from my sisters? Why do I feel different in my brain?”Jake Collective, a nonprofit foundation founded in Schreiber’s honor, is partnering with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention on a five-year, $5 million research initiative devoted the mental health needs of neurodivergent children and adolescents.“Neurodivergence” is an umbrella term for a variety of conditions that affect the way a person thinks or processes information, such as autism, ADHD or dyslexia.While each of these conditions manifests in a variety of different ways, research has identified a troubling pattern: children with diagnoses of autism or ADHD are, in general, more likely to experience depression, anxiety and other mental health conditions than their neurotypical peers, and to think about and die by suicide.Yet there is, to date, little evidence-based guidance on effective interventions for kids whose brains work differently.Even less of that information has reached the adults best positioned to support them in a crisis, such as parents, pediatricians and community therapists.“Suicide in the autism population is a serious concern, but we know so little,” said Dr.

Paul Lipkin, a neurodevelopmental pediatrician at Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore who is collaborating on...