Labels can help schools identify services, organize support, and communicate needs. They become harmful when the label replaces the person.
Every student enters the room with a history, strengths, fears, relationships, and ways of making meaning that no category can fully describe.
Seeing the whole person requires curiosity. What happened before this behavior? Where does the student feel successful? What conditions make participation easier?
Belonging begins when people recognize that they are more than the most convenient explanation others have created for them.