Neurodivergent author and educator Jen Malia is working to replace negative perspectives of neurodiversity with positive ones, one book at a time. Her titles include Too Sticky! Sensory Issues with Autism and the Infinity Rainbow Club chapter book series featuring a cast of neurodivergent characters. Malia is also a professor of English at Norfolk State University and the creative writing coordinator for her department. PW spoke with Malia about her teaching, her writing, and how she’s advocating for the neurodivergent community that counts her children, her husband, and herself as members.
How did you find your voice to write books for kids?
My path to writing for kids started when I was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder on the very same day as my daughter. I wrote about this experience in an essay for the New York Times, and ended up writing many other pieces on our story and about neurodiversity. This became a special interest of mine as I researched neurodiversity. As I learned more, I wrote reported and personal essays for the Washington Post, New York Magazine, Glamour, and Woman’s Day, and appeared on NPR and other outlets.
Then, one day, in one of my writing groups, an illustrator friend introduced me to an editor at Albert Whitman, who asked me if I had ever considered writing a children’s book. We worked on the manuscript together, and I soon received a book offer. I asked for time to consider the offer while I queried agents. I ended up signing with my agent, Naomi Davis at BookEnds Literary Agency. After I finished Too Sticky, my editor asked if I would be interested in working on another picture book or a chapter book series. I had an idea for a chapter book series. I’d read many children’s books with one or two neurodivergent characters, and I thought about writing a story with a whole cast—a club of neurodivergent kids. And the Infinity Rainbow Club series was born!
Can you tell us about these books focused on neurodiversity?
All of my stories are based, at least in part, on my own and my kids’ experiences with neurodivergence. In the first book, Too Sticky: Sensory Issues with Autism, the autistic girl, Holly, is based a bit on my daughter. But a lot of the sensory issues with sticky hands are also difficulties for me. Also, Holly’s way of communicating with other classmates and interacting with her family was inspired by my own observations of my kids and/or interactions I’ve had with my daughter. While it is entirely fiction, it is based on real-life experiences.
The same is true of the Infinity Rainbow Club. The first book in the series, Nick and the Brick Builder Challenge, focuses on an autistic boy, Nick, who is very much based on my autistic son. They share a lot of the same traits, from the way they interact with their siblings to their love of Legos. There’s also a scene in the book when Nick has the start of an autistic meltdown at the dinner table, and ends up going to his safe place in his bedroom closet. Then, his mother goes in and checks on him, and she ends up lying on the floor in the closet with him. Like this mother, I’ve been there many times, lying on the floor with my son.
I add these types of moments to help readers understand that there are both positive and challenging moments of being autistic and neurodivergent. While these children may have difficulties at school, often times it’s those moments at home where autistic kids, and other kids who might be neurodivergent, have the most trouble. This is because many times they’re able to feel more comfortable at home, and that might be where all the stress from the little microaggressions that built up during the day result in a meltdown.
In Violet and the Jurassic Land Exhibit, Violet has OCD, and is obsessed with the number seven. She has to do things in groups of seven—even if there aren’t really seven things to do. But, like a lot of kids, she also loves dinosaurs and volunteers in a natural history museum with her club. Then, there’s the third title: Connor and the Taekwondo Tournament. It is told from the point of view of a boy with ADHD. He has a lot of trouble with focusing when doing math problems and his Taekwondo forms. He sometimes gets lost and forgets what the next steps or moves are and needs to learn how to to keep his focus. His days are very much like a typical day for me, and my child with ADHD. Taekwondo helps Connor focus—as it did for me, too.
Why did you decide to write these books? And what are your hopes for your books—and for your neurodiverse and neurotypical readers?
Before I started writing books on neurodiversity, I noticed many books focused more on autism, and not on a kid who happens to be autistic going about their everyday life. So that’s what I’m trying to do with my books. I want my books to be about autistic kids and to tell the story through their lenses and experiences. They build with Legos. They go to dinosaur exhibits. They compete in Taekwondo tournaments. They do a lot of things that aren’t just stereotypes that people often associate with autistic or neurodivergent people.
While some stereotypes might be true some of the time—like rocking back and forth, not making eye contact, or having trouble making friends, etc.—they aren’t true all of the time. For example, there may be times when someone might be stimming [a repetitive movement that can help autistic people cope with uncomfortable emotions, thoughts, or situations]. I stim, myself, as an autistic person, but that’s not the whole picture. I believe that many people think that autistic or neurodivergent children cannot do things that their peers can do, and it’s not true. With my books, I am trying to break down these stereotypes and to create positive and truer representations of autistic and neurodivergent people.
Why is this representation so important to you, and why do you feel it should matter to all of us?
Research indicates that there is a greater prevalence of children—as many as one out of five kids—presenting as neurodivergent vs. neurotypical in classrooms. So, with this growing number of children with autism spectrum disorder and other forms of neurodivergence, I want to highlight in my books the strengths alongside the challenges, as well as the ways these children are helping themselves with the tools that they get from teachers or from their parents, and/or how they learn to advocate better for themselves to get the accommodations they need. And the sooner they start advocating the better. If I had known and was diagnosed earlier, things would have been less difficult, and I could have helped myself better. So, now I am hoping to do this for my kids and other neurodivergent kids to help them survive—and thrive.
What’s one thing you’d like others to know about people who are neurodivergent?
I would say that it’s important to realize that neurodivergent people have different abilities, strengths, and challenges—and that we need to nurture their strengths. When we recognize the positive qualities in others, we can help them identify them in ourselves.
With my books and other writing, I want to replace negative perspectives of neurodiversity with positive ones. I create neurodivergent characters who have challenges, but who can also do a lot of things, because they are capable. I think that a lot of times people are focused on what neurodivergent kids can’t do, not on what they can do. We need to work to change this.
