Teach Secondary 13.8

T he mainstream education system is designed for neurotypicals. Not deliberately, but rather because the systemhas been designed to educate the largest number of people as affordably as possible. Since most students are neurotypical, the education systemhas essentially been built with their needs in mind. This means that many young people with autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia and other neurodiverse traits will struggle to fit in educationally and socially. Clashes between the system and the needs of neurodiverse students can cause some students to fall behind their peers educationally, and sometimes develop behavioural issues. Neurodiverse traits will hence tend to be labelled as disabilities, since the design of mainstream education system causes them to be so. In reality, however, they’re different abilities ; different ways of thinking. Outside the box Negative views of neurodiversity run deep. My own parents suspected me of having ADHD for many years until my partner nagged me into pursuing a diagnosis at the age of 29. They’d kept their suspicions a secret, as they thought I’d be insulted by the suggestion. In reality, it was a relief to discover that certain things I’d particularly struggled with were due to a medical issue I’d been born with. It explained a lot. Scientifically speaking, there can be many benefits to neurodiversity. Individuals on the autistic spectrum can be unusually sensitive to their environment, while less socially focussed. In hunter gatherer societies, individuals highly sensitive to small changes in their immediate environment would have been vital for group survival. It’s entirely possible that sensitive autistic individuals would have been the first to hear predators, for example. Being sensitive to taste and smell may have further helped with alerting groups as to which foods were edible. Additionally, neurodiverse people can often perform better than their neurotypical peers at creative thinking and imaginative problem solving tasks. In a 2019 article for Scientific American , for example, cognitive psychologist Holly White described how her studies into creativity and ADHD demonstrate that people with the condition find conceptual expansion (popularly known as ‘outside the box’ thinking) much easier than their neurotypical peers (see tiny.cc/ts138-SN1) . One study sawWhite set university-age students with and without ADHD the task of designing a fruit that might exist on an alien planet, ending with the ideas of the ADHD group being rated as more original. While both groups incorporated fruit type features in their designs, the students with ADHDwere more likely to include features entirely atypical of existing fruits, such as tongues, straws and even hammers. Elsewhere, a former engineer and businessman turned dyslexia trainer, advocate and therapist named Ronald D. Davis has done extensive work showing how the ability of dyslexics to think in pictures can confer a good grasp of 3D spatial thinking – an important skill for sculptors, designers and engineers, all of whom require the ability to think in 3D in order to succeed in their roles. Accuracyvs. originality As a teacher with ADHD, I’m passionate about designing lessons that highlight the strengths of neurodiverse students, and encouraging other teachers to try them out. Inspired by Holly White’s research, I’ve designed a scheme of work that rewards both accurate drawing , regardless of an idea’s originality, and original ideas , regardless of the quality of drawing. I teach both art and textiles, and settled on a series of lessons that would culminate in students creating a fashion illustration. I taught students an easy step-by-step method which would allow them to draw a basic human body in proportion. Next, I taught themhow to draw clothes on the body, and then told them to add to their basic body outline to create a quality fashion illustration. I informed them that the best designs would get a positive phone call home and be displayed on the wall. The success criteria called for original ideas and accurate drawing – ideally both, but focussing on one would be fine. I suggested that students focused more on the originality of their ideas think of their fashion IMAGINATIVE LEAPS Alice Guile considers how certain teaching approaches and activities can tasks can help neurodiverse students play to their strengths “Neurodiverse people can oftenperformbetter than their neurotypical peers at creative thinkingand imaginative problemsolving tasks” 62 teachwire.net/secondary