The Different Learning Needs of Neurodiverse Children

“I’ve never learnt how to handle an autistic child before”.

The moment I said those words, the Teacher aide that was to help train me immediately corrected me; “We don’t say ‘handle’, we say ‘support’”. Replacing those words changed the way I thought about teaching entirely.

Neurodiverse children are not a burden nor are they in any way incapable of learning. I have met some of the most incredibly talented, intelligent and ambitious children and many of them were neurodiverse. When I say ‘neurodiverse’ I’m referring to children with autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia etc.

With most children that are neurodiverse, and most children in general to be quite honest, a break down of tasks and visual representation is necessary to keeping them engaged and excited to learn.

I now am part of the education of five main students who are neurodiverse and many other students with different learning needs.

Below is a simple overview of what I do to support neurodiverse learners as a Teacher Aide.

Have Patience

This is a tough one sometimes. Neurodiverse learners need patience from you, the adult. They sometimes have to process the information given to them slowly because it doesn’t always sink in immediately - it’s not innate. Give them some time to go through it in their head. As a Teacher Aide I have the luxury of being patient with my student since I only focus on them for a particular period of time - many teachers don’t have this luxury and can sometimes rush their student. Patience, however, is a key point for Neurodiverse learners and it needs to be practiced as much as possible. The Te Reo Māori word for ‘Autistic’ sums it up perfectly;

Takiwātanga - In his/her own time and space.

Make A Checklist, Break It Down To Chunks And Visuals

Most of the students I work with have a similar reaction to when the teacher gives instructions in class, no matter how simple - stressed and overwhelmed!

This feeling is based on the instructions being hard to memorise and when a child, and in particular a neurodiverse child, does not remember what they’re meant to do they get stressed and start panicking. It also doesn’t help that instructions sometimes has a lot of words chained together at too fast a pace.

Above is a task checklist that was made for an autistic child. The hour is broken into three 20 minute chunks and each task is worth 100 Banqer dollars. This has worked really well and it incentivises the student to finish the work.

I found that the best way to solve this is to visualise and write down each step and even breaking down those steps into sub-steps. Next to each task, I place a box for them to physically tick off so that they prove to themselves that they are completing tasks, one by one. These little achievements turn into completing the overarching task and they can feel better about themselves.

Banqer is a great way to give students as a reward because it allows them to raise funds throughout the term/year. For my student in particular, for each task he completes he receives 100 Banqer dollars and then at the end of the term is able to purchase something with that money such as a toy, bag of sweets or whatever his teacher deems appropriate. Find out more about Banqer here https://banqer.co/nz/

Link Your Activities To Their Interests

Children know what they like and dislike, but when a task is given to them they may complain a little bit but get on to work nonetheless. Neurodiverse children will tell you exactly what they like and dislike and will voice and show that they refuse to do a task they don’t want to. It can be difficult to persuade them simply by saying ‘because it’s what we’re doing today’.

Instead, relating the tasks to their interests allows us to gain their engagement and the work will then be easier to understand as it would relate to their world.

For example, one of my students can find science to be a difficult subject, however the weather is something that they are highly fascinated by and can sit their for hours just simply looking through the weather on my phone. So, to introduce science as a daily subject I made a science book worded to his level of understanding and included weather phenomena so that not only are we mentioning what the weather is like in Wellington, but how does that phenomena occur? I’ve tested it out every day and it has become an integral part of our mornings. He even now identifies it as not his ‘weather’ book but as his ‘science’ book.

The Zones Of Regulation

The zones of emotional regulation is a great way to help neurodiverse children, and other children in general, to identify their emotions. For the purposes of simplifying it and in conversation with my colleagues, I use 3 zones; green, yellow and red. Green is where I want my students to be at; they are able to learn, receive and retain knowledge. They are happy and excited and filled with energy. Yellow is when my student is frustrated, getting anxious and may find something difficult enough to try and negotiate out of it. They’re tired, nervous and may feel embarrassed that they can’t do something. The red zone is a no learning zone; the student is angry, they will not do work, they may even throw their learning tools and refuse entirely to even answer a question.

For each student how each zone looks, or if there are even more zones, is completely different. So invest a week or two and test out what each zone looks like, especially the red zone.

For my particular student which I’m drawing this inspiration from, in the mornings I have a colleague to help me put him in the green zone; this is where he is crying from laughter. We can be a little bit silly with him and make jokes with him. I have observed that when he reaches that level of joy, especially in the mornings, he is open to learn almost anything and even retrieve other learning materials and tools to learn something new.

Never Lower Your Expectations

As I was being trained on how to support neurodiverse children, there is one point that always keeps on coming up if it were about autistic children or ADHD children or whoever - Never lower your expectations. Always remind the student that you have the same expectations as the other students in the classroom i.e. we are doing maths now, we respect our classroom equipment. You must hold the same expectations but teach them at their level of knowledge and challenge them where you can.

When we lower our expectations for neurodiverse children, and I know how tempting it can be, it can come from a place of love because you want to make sure that the child can succeed and have an easy day. But, in fact, you’re doing them a disservice. By lowering your expectations, you are giving them an unrealistic view of how their lives will be when they are adults and you are also demeaning them and degrading their mana. It is vital that we have the same expectations of behaviour and level of work ethic but altered to suit their particular neurodiverse attribute.

For example with one of students I support, he is a year 8 and so I say to him “You’re a year 8 now, that means we have to read chapter books and do some homework.” I pick out a 4 to 5 chapter book that is suited to his level of reading. We read and look through the pictures and talk about what we’ve just read and how it fits into his every day, one chapter a week. On Friday, he receives 3 questions he has to answer over the weekend and he can take the book with him. When he answers all 3 questions he receives Banqer dollars as a reward - and then it’s repeated.

Same expectations but alter the work to suit their current comprehension.

Don’t ‘Dumb’ It Down, Simplify It

Neurodiverse children are NOT dumb; far from it. The processing of information can be challenging and so as educators we have to have creative ways to present that information. Simplifying knowledge can be difficult sometimes especially when you get stuck on using a different word that doesn’t quite reach the same meaning.

For example, back to my autistic student who is 12 years old, I have been trying to explain natural phenomena such as thunder storms. Part of my explanation is using the words ‘negative charges’ and ‘positive charges’ - I still don’t know if he understands what I’m saying (since he’s non-verbal). So, first I’ve started using ‘minus’ and ‘plus’ and ‘they’re friends that miss each other’, then I developed it into ‘negative’ and ‘positive’ and ‘the negative wants to be close to the positive’. Now, I’ve started using ‘negative charge’ and ‘positive charge’. With the help of the videos that he can watch by scanning the QR code, I’ve been able to create an understanding of thunder storms that is suited to him.

Your Voice And Tone Matters.

Neurodiverse children can be sensitive to how we present not only our body language but also our voice and tone. I have a naturally deep voice and so my tone has to be softer. Children generally don’t know how to regulate their emotions, nor do they have a full understanding of how they should react to their emotions and so we adults have to be the ‘in control’ ones.

When a child, especially a neurodiverse child, shows frustration and anxiety when confronted with work, we must put on a calming monotone voice and use simple words that will enable a frustrated mind to focus.

“I can see that you are upset. Please tell me which question is upsetting you. Is it question 1, question 2 or question 3? Which question is upsetting you?”

I am grateful because while I was raised by my mother who was an early childhood educator and a teacher back in Iraq and Jordan, for many years I saw first hand her motherly approach and tone of speech to children’s needs.

Conclusion

As an educator I get excited to meet and work with a neurodiverse student because they bring me so much joy when I am able to teach them something that everyone thought they would never understand. Neurodiverse children are smart, intelligent and beautiful souls that deserve our time and effort. They make teaching exciting and push our creativity and allow us to become flexible with our teaching.

Don’t be afraid to try out a new way and don’t be afraid to challenge a neurodiverse child, you’ll be surprised of what they are able to accomplish - I’m no longer surprised.

Thank you for taking the time to read this blog, please feel free to comment and add any advice or stories you’ve experienced while supporting and working (or even raising) a neurodiverse child/student.

All resources that have been shown in this blog are available at the QT store here