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Teaching@UW

Neurodiverse Students

Neurodiversity refers to a variation in the brain function and behavioral traits of individuals. The term acknowledges that “people experience and interact with the world around them in many different ways; there is no one ‘right’ way of thinking, learning, and behaving.”

Neurodiverse students often possess unique strengths, such as intense focus, creativity, or attention to detail – traits that can help students succeed. At the same time, traditional learning environments and teaching approaches may pose challenges for neurodiverse students, particularly those with autism, ADHD, and other neurological conditions.

This page shares strategies that enhance the accessibility of your teaching practices to support neurodiverse students. While these strategies can be particularly helpful to many neurodiverse students, ultimately they benefit all UW students.

Strategies to support neurodiverse students

Strategies to support neurodiverse students

Neurodiverse students thrive when they understand well in advance of due dates what is required of them and how they can navigate the learning process. Provide explicit instructions, consistent routines, and transparent expectations.

  • Share your syllabus as early as possible. Provide clear, consistent, detailed information in your syllabus. If you need to change your syllabus, communicate those changes in advance (ideally in several modalities, e.g., at the start of class, through a Canvas announcement or by email), and clearly label the changes on the syllabus. Consider using the Syllabus feature in Canvas to increase the accessibility of your syllabus.
  • Provide students with a course schedule with weekly topics, readings, and due dates. Consider using the Canvas course calendar to help students integrate the schedule into their calendars.
  • Be explicit and literal in all your communications. Provide detailed instructions for reading assignments, participation activities, and assignments, including information about word count, formatting, and citations. Consider asking a colleague or TA to read your syllabus or assignment instructions to check for understanding.
  • Provide specific and detailed feedback on assignments so that students know exactly what they need to do to improve. Rubrics can be an efficient and equitable way to provide clear feedback to students.
  • Be clear about how/when students can communicate with you (e.g., email, Canvas inbox, through office hours, etc.), and when they can expect a response (e.g., within 2 business days).
  • Explain the purpose of office hours. Some neurodiverse students at UW* have shared that they may take statements literally and interpret “office hours” as “the time my professor is working on their research.” This interpretation is also common among first generation students. Consider adopting the term “student hours” so that students know that this is a time for them to meet with you.
  • Use Canvas as the central platform for sharing materials. Neurodiverse students have shared that having information in lots of different places can be confusing. Students find it helpful to have all their course information and assignments consistently accessible through a single platform. Make all your materials digitally accessible and post them in Canvas.

  • Adopt a consistent course structure (e.g., with a weekly framework)
  • Offer both Zoom and in-person options for office hours
  • Add some flexibility to your grading (e.g., give students a window of time in which to submit assignments rather than a single due date; allow students to drop a low grade, etc.)
  • Structure group work with choices. Clearly define roles within the group (e.g., timekeeper, notetaker, etc.) and allow students to select which role they will fulfill.

  • Incorporate a short break into long lectures or class sessions so that students can pause, stand up, or stretch if needed. Some students may have sensitivities to aspects of the physical environment of a classroom and may benefit from the break.
  • Recognize that students may have different needs for their learning environment. Sensory issues can distract from learning and participating. Whenever possible, be flexible in allowing students to sit where they are comfortable in the classroom.

  • Establish community agreements that acknowledge diversity and difference as strengths.
  • Think about accessibility as you are creating course materials and designing assignments and activities. Use the Ally tool in Canvas to check the accessibility of your Canvas pages and run the Ally Course Accessibility Report to improve the accessibility of your course
  • Adopt Universal Design for Learning (UDL) into your course design practice. Create flexible course materials, varied assessments, and accessible content. UDL benefits all students, including those with diverse learning needs.

Additional resources

* The information on this page is informed by “Neurodivergent Voices: Identifying Teaching Practices That Support All Learners,” a grant funded project conducted by the UW Center for Teaching and Learning. The project included focus groups with UW students who identify as neurodiverse. Thank you to all who supported the project, including: