How to use this blog post:
There will be a short section at the top explaining briefly what aspect of the spectrum you might encounter (Aspect). The middle section will list a few examples of how it could manifest in a university environment (What you might see). The final section will offer some possible solutions (Things to try). Please be mindful that this list is not exclusive or complete. Please also remember that everything in both the middle (What you might see) and the final section (Things to try) are examples.
Always stick to the 5 Ts as well and remember that the individual you are interacting with might be different and that is okay.
In this hands-on guide, I have intentionally oversimplified some definitions for pedagogical purposes.
Aspect: Atypical body language = their body language might not meet your expectations and differ from what you are used to
What you might see: too little eye contact, too much eye contact, fidgeting, always moving a leg, playing with a pen, rocking back and forth slightly, doodling, chewing on something like a pen, sitting in a way that in uncommon, etc
Things to try: Remind yourself that this is normal for them and they are doing what they need to do to focus on you. Ignore their atypical body language and just carry on as you would with anyone else.
Aspect: Lack of Object Permanence = they might struggle to remember something that is no longer in front of them and
Short-term memory problems = struggling to remember small pieces of information and have them readily available
What you might see: things are “out of sight, out of mind”, they might not send the email/report/chapter they promised until reminded, they might not show up to the meeting they agreed to, etc
Things to try: Have a non-judgmental conversation (trust me, they feel bad already).
Explore reminder options: Bullet points after a meeting to have a record what was agreed? Calendar invites for all meetings instead of just verbally setting a date? A fixed time a week to send an update to create a habit and/or allow for reminders on phone? Try making to-do lists on a platform with reminders? Maybe using phone alarms? Calendar invites with a 10 mins slot “send report” instead of reminder email? Consider exploring MS To-Do (part of UoE license) to create tasks and assign them to people and/or make use of the Outlook/To-do connection by flagging emails so they get added to the to-do list automatically.
Bottom line: try out ways of shifting the labour of remembering small things onto technology.
Aspect: Issues with Executive function = struggling to start a task or remain on a task
What you might see: they might struggle significantly to start a task, even though the task seems to be simple. They might only manage to use their coping strategies after hours, so you might receive their work at 3am. You might receive their work very last minute, eg due noon, received 11:59:52am.
Things to try: Maybe suggest a different schedule/working pattern: small, simple tasks in the morning, bigger tasks in the afternoon, or tasks they struggle less to start in the morning and the harder ones in the afternoon, for many executive function increases after they have executed some tasks. Support and/or encourage “body doubling” (doing a task with company, eg marking essays together in a room rather than alone) by offering to organise a room and coffee. Consider deadlines, for some they are unhelpful stressors, for some necessary for executive function.
Aspect: Problems with set-shifting and focus = they might struggle with change from one task to the next, having too little or too much focus
What you might see: they might struggle to focus on a task and get very easily distracted (hypofocus) or they might focus on a task so much they forget to drink, eat or go to the bathroom (hyperfocus), they might lose the ability to focus if they have to swap back and forth between tasks
Things to try: Consider a change in schedule to minimise set-shifting, such as doing all teaching in a block, then doing research in a block. Allow them to schedule their breaks around sets rather than fixed time slots, such as finish teaching for the day, lunch, then paperwork rather than teaching, lunch, 1 more hour of teaching then paperwork.
Aspect: Time blindness = struggling judging how long things take or took already
What you might see: they might be always late to meetings or just barely in time, they often assume something can wait until the last minute because “it only takes me an hour”, in reality it will take 10 hours. Or they will badly plan events, assuming something will fill 2 hours, but it only takes 10 minutes. They might struggle to judge and keep track of the time they invested in a task already, eg they spent 3h on feedback for a short essay when only 45 mins were allocated.
Things to try: Encourage them to block of travel slots in their calendar before meetings or teaching (with reminders on!) and to build in a buffer, if they tend to be late. Encourage them to track their hours when marking or similar tasks where time is limited. Encourage the use of agendas with time slots so everyone in the meeting knows that eg 20 mins in 1/3 of the content should have been addressed. This works for teaching too, eg they can mark in their slides when they should have covered this aspect of a topic.
Aspect: Hypersensitivity = being more sensitive to sensory stimuli and
sensory processing disorders = struggling to process the input from one or more sense
What you might see: they might be sensitive to sound, light, smell, or tactile input. This may reach from causing stress and requiring more labour of them to cope with the input to distress, pain and a shutdown due to overstimulation. They might struggle to hear when there is background noise or the sound quality is bad, they might struggle to focus, they might not be able to see what is in an image or read text from a screenshot.
Things to try: Give them as much control as possible about their work environment, such as the ability to control the lights, the room temperature, etc. Provide helpful technology such as noise cancelling headphones. If students/staff are hot-desking in shared offices, consider having a quiet office (no talking at all) and a social office (quiet chats are allowed). Consider providing other colleagues with good tech, such as suitable headsets/microphones for online meetings to avoid bad sound quality. Encourage having cameras on in meetings where possible, mute everyone who is not speaking. Enabled Closed Caption subtitles. Use Teams or Zoom, never Collaborate. Face colleagues/students when you speak so they can lipread. Always use Alt text for pictures/graphs.
Aspect: Working Memory issues = problems with short-term memory and recall on task-relevant information
What you might see:
They might struggle to remember what was said 30 seconds ago, forget meetings, forget tasks they agreed to carry out. They might forget what they are doing mid task. They might struggle to retrieve information related to the task or not find the right words mid sentence.
Things to try:
Shift the work onto technology. Send calendar invites. Use MS to-do. Send bullet points after a meeting. Send a wee agenda before the meeting. Reduce additional stressors in the environment, such as background noise (ANC headphones) or people walking into their office. Encourage the use of technology, ancient and modern, such as transferring numbers by copy/paste instead of short-term memory, having a notepad and writing intermittent steps down.
FAQ:
Q: Some of these are very similar, is it possible that more than one aspect contributes to what I see?
A: Yes, absolutely! Everyone on the spectrum will show a mixture of different aspects, sometimes they can manifest similarly. And the coping mechanism can overlap, too. What works and why will vary from person to person.
Q: Don’t you always say that they neurodivergent person is the expert? Why do I need this list then?
A: They are the expert and they may have coping strategies in place already. If they do, try to give them what they know works for them if possible. Sometimes they are not the expert just yet because they grew up in an environment where they could not safely declare or where they were bullied. They might be at the start of their journey and only now find themselves in a place to ask for help.
Q: I think my student/colleague is on the spectrum. But they don’t seem to know. What do I do?
A: Use the tips on this list anyway. They work whether the person knows they are on the spectrum or not. They also are likely to work for other underlying causes. Eg control over room temperature will work for a hypersensitive person and for someone going through menopause. Control over light works for someone who suffers migraines and for a photosensitive person on the spectrum.
Q: Wait… isn’t all of this just implementing the 5 Ts?
A: Yes, it is. So, if you need to adapt, you know where to look.
Q: I need more help/have more questions. Can I contact you?
A: Yes, email me here. Or send me a Teams message here. Or book a slot to meet with me digitally or in person here.
