Differentiating our educational spaces to ensure all students belong

Taking time to reflect on the year ahead can be hard, but it is always worth the effort. It often means thinking deeply about what’s working in our educational spaces and what needs to shift. I’m reflecting on a few big questions: when we notice educational structures that are built to cram all students into one small box, how do we widen the space? Are we designing learning for all our students, or only the neurotypical ones?

Belonging for All Students

As a special education classroom teacher, learning specialist and now director of learning support, my whole career has been about supporting students with learning disabilities and many other kinds of neurodivergence. Based on these experiences, I’m hyper aware that many schools were not built with all kinds of students in mind. I feel a deep affinity for the equity work of schools, knowing that neurodiversity is part of that work. This means that in educational spaces we all have a responsibility to create opportunities for belonging for all students. This requires looking at the systems, structures and practices within our schools.

Reexamining & Reimagining

One way to help widen the box is to see if our systems, structures and practices are neurodiversity affirming. Many foundational areas likely need to be reexamined and reimagined. This includes the curriculum we teach, the instructional strategies we use, the way our classrooms are set up, and even our schedules (daily, weekly, yearly). For example, as a colleague once said to me, curriculum and teaching practices are not neutral. Each curricular approach or instructional decision benefits one kind of learner and potentially disadvantages another. When we talk about best-practice, research-based or evidence-based approaches for curriculum, we should be talking about those that are effective for the most kinds of brains and learners.

Widening the Box

We could continue to be rigid, to focus on trying to make all students fit into that one small box. Or we can keep working, the way so many educators do, to find ways to widen that box little by little so that more and more kinds of students can thrive in our schools.

You can also check out my post about Simple Adjustments for a Calmer, More Engaged Classroom.

What are your burning questions about supporting neurodivergent students or making your classroom and school neurodiversity-affirming?