Digest #153: Neurodiversity in Education
By Carolina Kuepper-Tetzel and Chiara Horlin
For today’s digest I teamed up with Dr Chiara Horlin who is a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Psychology at the University of Glasgow and an expert in neurodiversity and what role it plays in education. She has co-founded The Neurodiversity Network (see below) as a resource to support and represent neurodivergent students and staff. Before diving into the resources, it is important to know what neurodiversity is. So, I asked Chiara for a definition of neurodiversity and why it matters for education:
Neurodiversity is an understanding and a recognition that not all brains are the same or work the same way. Much of this world is built for a typical type of brain, for people that think in a typical type of way. But in reality we all think differently, we learn differently, we feel and we experience moods differently as well and these differences are completely normal. Sometimes these differences are given specific labels like ADHD or Autism, but understanding neurodiversity means recognizing and respecting these differences. It also means understanding that neurodiversity can bring huge benefits to those with learning and thinking differences. An acknowledgement and a respect for these differences can not only reduce stigma around differences, but can also support people to build unique strengths and capabilities.
All ability and disability must be considered in a social context and education systems are one of those social systems that can cause a difference to become a disability or disadvantage where one need not necessarily exist. Much of our education systems are not designed to support cognitive or learning differences, but due to necessity are targeted at a 'prototypical' student. Neurodivergent students will always fall outside this prototype and an inclusive approach to what learning looks like, and what achievement looks like is essential in supporting them. Neurodiversity must be considered in the context of strengths, differences and challenges, and the metrics of success adjust accordingly. Neurodivergent people may have skills particularly suited to further education beyond school, such as proficient memory skills, a focus on detail, creativity, as well as passionate interests. and a strong desire to acquire accurate knowledge. Neurodivergent conditions nearly always present heterogeneously and so there are vast differences in coping mechanisms and skills. However, even when able to flex these unique skills, students have been reported to have a heightened risk for academic and personal challenges, do not have their social or academic needs met, and thus might not reach their full potential.
From this it becomes clear that obtaining a full understanding of neurodiversity is important to support neurodivergent students in your classroom. Here are five resources to get you started.
1. The Neurodiversity Network, University of Glasgow, @UofGNeurodiv
This is a recently founded network by Dr Chiara Horlin and Dr Elliott Spaeth that aims at increasing awareness, support, and represent neurodivergent people in Higher Education. You will find a wide range of resources on their page. We would like to draw your attention particularly to a very insightful video of a student panel discussion: Student-focused Panel Discussion: Neurodiversity Celebration Week. Here is also a Sway that summarizes the most important goals. Also check out the helpful info slides on there.
Image from Pixabay
2. Neurodiversity in Education, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
This is a document that provides an overview of different aspects of neurodiversity: prevalence, how it affects people in the classroom and workplace, and what it means to be inclusive in your teaching. You will find some numbers and stats on there that provides a bigger picture.
3. Teaching for neurodiversity: Training teachers to see beyond labels, Dominic Griffiths for Impact, @CharteredColl
This is the summary of an evaluation study that looked into the effectiveness of a teacher training that emphasized on ‘seeing the whole picture‘, ‘understanding neurodiversity‘, and ‘classroom support strategies‘. Here is a the full report, if you are interested.
Image from Pixabay
4. Neurodiversity and the pupil “creeping…unwillingly to school“, Dr Sue Fletcher-Watson, @SueReviews
This is a 11-min video about the challenges that neurodivergent students face on a daily basis in the classroom and explains why “core deficit“ theories are not helpful, but rather harmful, and closes with alternative ways to think about neurodiversity.
5. Celebrating neurodiversity in the classroom, Kristina Rizga, The Atlantic
This is an interview with an elementary school teacher in Brooklyn who has implemented an evidence-based program in her classrooms, ASD Nest. She talks about the benefits of supporting social and emotional skills in her students and how this is positive for all students - whether they are neurodivergent or neurotypical.
From time to time, we pick a theme and provide a curated list of links. If you have a theme suggestion, please don’t hesitate to contact us! Occasionally we publish a guest digest, and If you'd like to propose a guest digest click here. Our 5 most recent digests can be found here:
Digest #148: Engaging Students in Online Learning
Digest #150: How to Read an Academic Paper
