Danville Student Creates NeuroGuidance, International Organization For Neurodiversity Education & Awareness

DANVILLE, CA — When Sriyan Daggubati was in middle school, he had a brilliant friend who still found himself falling behind in class.

“I remember watching teachers write him off, and classmates whisper about how ‘different’ he was. It didn’t make sense to me. He was smarter than most of us, just in a different way. That stuck with me. I realized how unfair it was that his potential was being overlooked, not because of a lack of ability, but because the system wasn’t designed for him. That was the first time I really understood what neurodiversity meant and why it mattered,” said Daggubati, now a senior at Monte Vista High School.

He realized that for many neurodivergent students, STEM classes in particular can “feel like a locked door…not because they don’t have the key, but because the lock is built wrong.”

Inspired to help them and their teachers help them get through the door, Daggubati founded NeuroGuidance, an organization devoted to helping neurodivergent students succeed in the classroom and beyond. Since he founded it five years ago as a high school freshman, NeuroGuidance has blossomed into an organization that has supported over 2,000 students across the globe, partnered with leading universities, and reached over 100,000 international listeners through a Spotify podcast that focuses on everything from AI and neurodiversity to epilepsy, neurodevelopment, and stem cell research.

NeuroGuidance is currently working with SRVUSD teachers to help them better support neurodivergent schools, and are collaborating with professors from Stanford and UC Berkeley to create workshops for teachers at Monte Vista and schools across the Tri-Valley.

At first, Daggubati said his only goal was to make sure that his friend and other students like him didn’t “fall through the cracks.” He wrote resource guides in his bedroom, and reached out to groups online to see if they shared similar frustrations. He began connecting with students, educators, and parents from around the world, and realized his organization could be much bigger than he originally imagined.

He began attending workshops like the International Science and Engineering Fair and the Stanford Neurodiversity Project’s summer camp, which helped make further international connections and helped open his eyes to the latest trends in neurodiversity research and inclusion. This helped him forge formal partnerships with the Stanford Neurodiversity Project, Duke University’s Neurodiversity Connections, and the University of Michigan’s Center for Disability Awareness. These partnerships helped Daggubati structure programs using the latest research, guests on the NeuroGuidance podcast, mentorship, and help creating workshops for teachers.

The partnerships also lent NeuroGuidance credibility that helped it raise $10,000 from a mix of grassroots fundraising and grants. The funding has gone toward creating and distributing free resource guides that break down STEM concepts in plain, accessible language; providing technology and lab kids to neurodivergent students without access; and the NeuroGuidance podcast, here Daggubati interviews a number of educators, researchers, and neurodivergent experts.

It’s also helped NeuroGuidance reach over 2,000 students across 25 countries. Daggubati helps delegate tasks to roughly 100 student officers from around the world, who help run STEM accessibility workshops and mentoring sessions, tailored to meet the specific needs of their schools. For example, he helped design sensory-friendly classroom resources for a school in Kenya, and spent time listening to the needs of local school children.

“That night, they spoke openly—and the reason was simple: they felt heard. It is rare for a young man thousands of miles away to make our students feel seen. For many of them, it was life-changing,” wrote Venise Tutugbuwa of the Budding Classrooms Foundation in Nigeria.

Closer to home, NeuroGuidance has partnered with a number of SRVUSD schools like Monte Vista, SRVHS, Cal High, Pine Valley Middle School, and Charlotte Wood Middle School, to provide teachers with resource guides to help make STEM more accessible, mentor students who need extra support, and helping classes set up project-based learning activities tailored to neurodivergent strengths.
“I remember one teacher telling me that a single strategy she picked up from our materials, like letting a student explain a math problem visually instead of writing it out, completely changed how that student participated in class. A student who once avoided speaking up suddenly became eager to share,” Daggubati said.

Daggubati says he hopes to create more workshops throughout the Tri-Valley focused on practical professional development, like how to adapt lessons, shift classroom culture, and recognize and celebrate the strengths of neurodivergent students. He is also planning a student-centered event at Monte Vista to talk to fellow students about creating a campus culture of respect and inclusion.

San Ramon City Councilmember Sridhar Verose said that he is also considering working with NeuroGuidance on city initiatives, like making local parks more sensory friendly.

“For many of them, it was the first time their voices were heard outside our borders,” Tutugbuwa said of NeuroGuidance’s work with her students. “They carried that pride for weeks afterward, telling us, “Now people across the world know we matter.”

For more information, visit neuroguidance.com.