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Inclusive teaching: Support systems for neurodiverse students

Supporting neurodiverse students doesn't mean singling them out, but developing clear routines and skills beneficial for all students.

6 min read

Best PracticesEducation

An adorable, confident child in a school uniform leans far across the desk and looks directly into the camera with a huge smile. She holds a pencil and is surrounded by markers. for article on neurodiverse students

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Neurodiverse students are present in virtually every classroom, yet many teachers don’t have the tools or the knowledge to fully support these learners. Fortunately, teachers can easily acquire this expertise. What’s more, they will likely find that these strategies benefit the general student population as well.

By adapting teaching methods to accommodate students with diverse neurological needs, teachers also can foster a more inclusive and effective learning environment. This approach not only helps students with neurodiversities thrive, it also instills valuable qualities such as responsibility and self-advocacy in all of the students.

Here are a few ways that educators can enhance the learning and development of neurodiverse students.

Establish classroom routines

One tactic for helping such students lies in establishing clear classroom routines. Neurodiverse students tend to struggle with executive functioning skills such as planning, organizing, prioritizing and initiating tasks. The key to improving these essential skills is adding more structure and predictability to the school day. Teachers can accomplish this by establishing clear and consistent classroom routines that help students understand exactly what they need to do and when they need to do it.

Predictable routines can prevent neurodiverse students from becoming overwhelmed by the uncertainty of the day ahead of them and the myriad things they could be doing at a particular moment. Introducing more routines also adds more efficiency to the school day, maximizing time for instruction and minimizing disruptions. 

In addition, establishing communication expectations is essential. It’s important for students to know what to expect for each activity and transition, including what to do when they are finished with work or waiting between tasks. 

For example, a teacher might establish a routine in which students complete a journal entry first thing in the morning or lead a group discussion every day. To make this routine as predictable as possible, teachers can tell the students how long the task will last, and set a timer to signify that journaling or group discussion time has finished. By promoting group activities, it encourages interaction, dialogue, and collaboration with peers.  

A routine of this nature can reduce anxiety in neurodiverse students because it tells them exactly how class starts every morning and how long they are supposed to sustain attention to this particular task. Students in general usually have an easier time focusing on tasks with clear-cut boundaries. 

The use of visuals of their daily routine also establishes clear indications of what is expected next. Visuals are often a good resource for visual learners who require a little more prompting beyond verbal reminders. This also allows for a smoother transition into the next item on the agenda. 

Recognize DOOM boxes

Teachers can helps students with neurodiversities recognize unhelpful behaviors and encourage more adaptive habits. One of these unhelpful behaviors is the use of DOOM boxes. DOOM is a relatively new term for “didn’t organize, only moved.” So, a DOOM box would be a space where someone stores random, unorganized items just for the sake of putting them away. 

Due to their struggles with organization, neurodiverse students often end up with DOOM boxes in the form of their backpacks or desks. For example, instead of actually cleaning out their desk, a neurodiverse student might just jam everything that was in their desk into their backpack.

Teachers can help neurodiverse students organize their personal spaces by turning organization into a classroom activity. Rather than expecting students to clean out their desks or backpacks on their own time, teachers can make these tasks part of the classroom agenda so everyone organizes their desks and backpacks together. 

By involving the entire class, you prevent neurodiverse students from feeling singled out in their need to organize their spaces. It’s also easier to focus on getting organized when students view organization as structured activity that takes place at the same time every day.

Schedule relaxation sessions

Another way to reduce anxiety in both neurodiverse students and their classmates alike is scheduling relaxation sessions at set points throughout the day and incorporating emotional regulation. Students can lose focus or become overwhelmed for all sorts of reasons, so it’s important to give them the chance to calm their minds and gently disconnect from whatever may be stressing them out at that moment. Helping students learn to recognize and manage their emotions with coping strategies will enable them to regain control of their feelings and have a deeper understanding of self-awareness. 

“Zones of regulation” help students categorize how the body feels by dividing their emotions into four colored zones. It can be used throughout the day as a check-in. 

Several apps and YouTube tutorials can walk a class through a variety of breathing exercises, usually lasting no more than five minutes. Think about certain times of the day when students seem like they could use a boost in energy or focus, such as right after lunch.  

Encourage self-advocacy

Neurodiverse students can feel isolated by their anxiety. As a result, they might present as very shy and may be fearful of expressing their needs in social situations. When they don’t understand something in class, they may be afraid to raise their hands and draw the entire class’s attention to themselves. In most cases, the student’s hesitation stems from the false notion that they are the only person in the class who needs help.

Teachers can build the essential skill of self-advocacy in all students by incorporating checkpoints into lessons in which students can ask questions and communicate any difficulties or confusion. This shows students that they are expected to have questions and shouldn’t feel ashamed to ask for help. Neurodiverse students can evolve into more responsible and engaged learners once they realize that asking questions actually makes school less stressful and doesn’t result in the negative outcomes they may have envisioned.

Additionally, teachers can implement peer-to-peer sessions with an assigned partner about the lesson’s subject matter to make sure both students are up to speed. Neurodiverse students may be less hesitant to express difficulties in this environment because only one person is listening, and they can take their time to determine exactly what about the subject is confusing them. 

Peer-to-peer sessions also let neurodiverse students to improve their social skills and bond with classmates, which can be a challenge in unstructured situations like recess or lunch. The underlying goal is to create an open and accepting classroom that deliberately fosters communication and collaboration instead of leaving it entirely up to neurodiverse students to socialize with their classmates.

Enhancing the learning of students with neurodiversities doesn’t mean giving them special treatment. It’s more about adopting strategies that are undeniably beneficial for the whole class, but particularly helpful for neurodiverse students. By implementing clear routines while also building self-advocacy and organizational skills, teachers can support the success of neurodiverse students and deliver a more effective learning experience that molds students into confident and responsible individuals.

 

Opinions expressed by SmartBrief contributors are their own. 

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