A starting point for neuroinclusivity: Essential reading and thoughts from some of the leading neurodivergent minds.
Guest blog by Caroline Keep, award-winning teacher, PhD researcher and diagnosed “austistic ADHDer” and Global Equality Collective expert.
Caroline Keep is a founding GEC expert. She speaks for us at events and helps QA our content for the GEC Platform. Here she discusses and educates us, using her lived experience as an award-winning teacher, PhD researcher and diagnosed “autistic ADHDer”. So, if you want to be neuroinclusive when it comes to your staff, students and homes here is your starting point!
We are all talking about inclusion it seems…
So, I wanted to write a short piece of KnowHow on neurodivergent inclusion. Seems everywhere I go often schools are removed from the neurodivergent and disabled community, we sum up everything in SEND terminology and forget that SEND children are people and as they grow up, they become parts of a wider community. I rarely see neurodivergent teachers leading neurodivergent policies for SEND, I attend events, conferences and get togethers that are often totally inaccessible to me as an autistic ADHDer with a disability.
I hear teachers tell me they won’t tell anyone they are neurodivergent ( even though this could mean better support and our teachers actually staying in education longer!) as they fear they would be seen as not competent; they worry they won’t be taken seriously … and even when they do… I hear of discrimination and ableism. We have an issue! Everyone knows it. Especially with ADHD and Autism hence this Knowhow concentrates on those resources.
If we can’t do inclusion well for our staff, we can hardly do it for our students. Even with the best intentions I regularly see organisations promote quite old fashioned and outright harmful practices such as teaching social skills to only autistic children, expectations on our language and regularly excluding ND ( abbreviation for neurodivergent) children from activities under the “ can’t cope guise”.
If we want education to be inclusive, we must start listening to our neurodivergent children, teachers and advocates. Inclusion isn't truly inclusive if it's dictated solely by neurotypical adults expecting everyone to conform to their standards. At the GEC, we strive to foster a genuinely inclusive and diverse environment. To move forward, we must start listening to our neurodivergent children, teachers, and advocates. To that end, I asked several neurodivergent leaders to share their insights on what education needs to know and hear. Here is a selection of essential readings and thoughts from some of the leading neurodivergent minds. I am grateful for their expertise and hope you will take their perspectives seriously, as they are crucial for achieving real inclusion in education. Thank you to my fellow advocates for these posts, blogs, tv shows, books and tweets everyday, they keep me going!
Remember, 'Inclusion is not about bringing people into what already exists; it is about transforming our culture, spaces and norms to create a new, better space for everyone.'
The Language
What is neurodiversity and what are considered to be neurodivergent conditions:
The GEC Playbook on ‘The Diversity of Neurodiversity’ (written with the awesome Catrina Lowri of Neuroteachers) gives at a glance guide to more information on what it is to be neurodivergent:
Dyslexia - affects about 1/7 people. It’s often thought of as only about spelling and reading but can cause issues with executive functioning and working memory.
Dyscalculia - affects about 1/10 people. It can mean issues with all areas of sequencing, spatial understanding as well as number.
DCD - often called dyspraxia, Developmental Coordination Disorder is a more accurate name for this condition.This affects all areas of coordination including fine and gross motor skills. It’s thought to occur in around 1/12 people.
DLD - Developmental Language Disorder is probably the most overlooked type of ND. It’s extremely common, affecting around 1/6 people. Those with DLD may have good receptive language and comprehension skills but poor expressive language skills.
ADHD - Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is massively under diagnosed, especially in women and girls. It is thought to affect around 1/12 people. The attention deficit side of the conditions is often overlooked.
Autism - although the National Autistic Society says this condition affects around 1/100, much of the recent research puts the figure at 1/28. Autistics have differences in sensory processing, and social communication.
Other common ND conditions:
Epilepsy, Tourette’s and obsessive compulsive disorder and a number of other conditions which are considered ND, such as bipolar and schizophrenia.
Not a Spectrum but a Wheel
Did you know that the idea of a “spectrum'' is no longer used by many practitioners, nor is language like being “severely” autistic?
Being autistic in particular is not linear and autistic people can share many traits with neurotypical people.
The Wellbeing and Autism Wheel is used in clinical assessments and can help you to understand neurodiversity too. Results are referred to as the “spiky profile” as it illustrates both weaknesses and strengths.
Our favourite depiction (pictured above) can be see in The Art of Autism, a comic strip by Rebecca Burgess. If you like this wheel then we recommend taking a look at App Wheels for autism and dyslexia.
We recommend reading up on the language of neurodiversity covered here by Dr Nick Walker in the most cited piece on terminology.
Research
The most detailed place for autism research can be found by following Ann Memmott PgC MA including a critical read and a monthly round up.
We recommend reading Children at the frontline — neurodivergence and school distress by Dr Sinéad Mullally
The following research covers autistic communication:
People
We will be launching our new ‘Circle’ of expertise soon so watch this space for our NEW neurodiversity directory. In the meantime Caroline suggests checking out:
Kieran Rose - The Autistic Advocate’s blog What is Autism is a really critical read along with the book Autistic Masking: Understanding Identity Management and the Role of Stigma co-authored by Amy Pearson.
Stimpunks Foundation provides Mutual Aid and Human-Centered Learning for Neurodivergent and Disabled People and is a wealth of carefully researched information including Autistic rapport
Speech and language therapist (SLT) Elaine Mcgreevy at Access Communication CIC who shared this critical post on teaching social skills.
Autistic Speech and Language Therapist (SLT) and Co-Founder of Divergent Perspectives Emily Price
GECKnowHow
The GECKnowHow is the biggest* collection of inclusion, diversity and well-being resources ever - for everyone! It’s our way of helping parents, teachers, carers and the wider education community to find material that supports our Inclusion Revolution. Check out the latest KnowHow collections, including Neurodiversity and share your best resources with us. Learn more here.
In addition to our KnowHow resources Caroline also suggests:
Spectrum Gaming’s entire padlet of resources for anything on autism and neurodiversity
The NEST - NEurodivergent peer Support Toolkit is a free suite of resources to help mainstream secondary schools establish and maintain peer support networks for neurodivergent students. Follow Dr Catherine Crompton for more information.
SEDSConnective (also in the GEC) have information about hypermobility which is an important piece of the puzzle as our physical health contributes to our overall wellbeing more than we realise and hypermobility differences can lead to emotional dysregulation in neurodivergent people.
Books
Emily Katy’s book Girl Unmasked: How Uncovering My Autism Saved My Life and her website about autism and ADHD especially for young girls and their families trying to find a way forward.
Steve Silberman’s Neurotribes is an essential read on autism for everyone.
A look at how social norms are really created in Empire of Normality: Neurodiversity and Capitalism by Dr Robert Chapman
Kala Allen Omeiza’s Autistic and Black: Our Experiences of Growth, Progress and Empowerment
Untypical: How the world isn’t built for autistic people and what we should all do about it by Pete Wharmby
Ellie Middleton @elliemidds : UNMASKED: The Ultimate Guide to ADHD, Autism and Neurodivergence by Ellie Middleton
Watch list - and no we don’t have enough of that for more than two on a list!
Both these series are written by neurodivergent writers and acted by them too:
Geekgirls on Netflix by Holly Smale
Elle McNicoll @BooksandChokers A Kind of Spark on the BBC
The Law
We recommend reading A Beginner's Guide to Linguistic Justice in Settings and Schools by Dr Vishnu Nair and Warda Farah
Here’s a handy list of legislation related to Neurodiversity and inclusion:
Legislation for SEND Code of Practice in the Children’s and Families Act
England - ECHP Advice by the National Autistic Society
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/section/6 The Equality Act - section 6- for SEND
National Strategy for Austistic Children, Young People and Adults 2021 to 2026
Guidance sheet for Disabled Students on the Equality Act - Disability
GEC Members also check our GEC Library resources on the law as part of your platform membership.
Other must-read resources on Neurodiversity:
10 Books for Neurodiversity Celebration Week written by Caroline Keep
Caroline also suggests the following blogs, websites and other resources to further your knowledge::
Misunderstood: ADHD through the eyes of a 17 year old by Robin Macpherson
ADHD Foundation and ADHDUK to find support for parents of young people with ADHD and Autism.
Autistic Realms for all things Autism from Helen Edgar - a ;ate identified autistic, parent and qualified primary teacher with over 20 years of experience working in SEN settings.
Benefits of Body Doubling for ADHD by René Brooks
Understanding school anxiety for autistic children by Autistic Girls Network
Bitesize infographics on ADHD from Pina Varnel such as ADHD and Starting Tasks
A discussion about Sensory Processing from Children & Young People’s Occupational Therapist Holly Sprake-Hill https://x.com/HollytheOT and her colleague Denise Martin for the NHS England Workforce, Training and Education podcast
Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria (RSD): A Guide for Autistic Humans by Autistic Coach.
Why do some strategies and tools not work for people with ADHD? over on YouTube from Jessica McCabe
Follow Harriet Cannon University Disability Practitioner, NADP Director & Senior Accredited Member, AAPHE founder for all things Higher Education
The work of Autistic Doctor Mary Doherty including this discussion on inclusive language regarding Neurodivergent people, featuring Mary Doherty, Hari Srinivasan, and Axelle Ahanhanzo.
The brilliant comics of Dani Donovan to view information about ADHD in a super easy friendly and often funny way.
Black Hair and Autism: A Refusal to Disentangle by Neurodiverse Connection UK.
About us
We exist to help schools build positive, inclusive cultures by empowering them to become Culture, Diversity and Inclusion experts. We’re already working globally with 300+ nurseries, schools, colleges and trusts to make ordinary classrooms extraordinarily inclusive. Find out more about our award-winning GEC Platform.
In the GEC Platform members can find our Neurodiversity Playbook as well as 100+ videos for teacher training, support for neurodivergent staff, PDA and lots more.
We also include data capture with our staff and student surveys when it comes to neurodiversity and our in-built coaching recommendations for action planning!
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