‘Neurodiversity should be at the core of teaching and learning practices’

Where does your passion for neurodiversity come from?

Both my professional and personal life. I started my career/ fieldwork in psychology in Italy by working with children with developmental disabilities in school settings. Neurodiversity lies at the heart of my teaching and professional ethos. I am proud to have contributed to meaningful changes in how neurodiversity is recognised and addressed within education. Our School of Psychology has made significant progress in understanding neurodiversity, but there is still work to be done to translate this understanding into concrete and practical changes. I remain dedicated to advancing this cause and fostering a more inclusive educational environment for neurodivergent individuals.

Can you give me some examples of those meaningful changes?

Since joining Manchester Metropolitan University five years ago, I have been actively promoting the neurodiversity agenda within our institution. I now serve as a representative of the Neurodiversity Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (ED&I) Committee. One significant initiative I co-founded and co-led is the Neurodiversity Seminar series with Dr Yael Benn (ED&I lead), Dr Verity Longley (our disability coordinator), and Dez Mendoza, co-chair staff of the Disability Network at Imperial College in London. This initiative has been well-received and has fostered a deeper understanding of neurodiversity within the academic community. 

I am also committed to empowering autistic students to take personal initiative and create spaces for visibility and advocacy within the School of Psychology. We have established a neurodivergent support group led by autistic students. And finally, I have taken particularly to my heart supporting neurodivergent students' engagement in research and publish their work on neurodiversity-related topics. This approach demonstrates the potential of student-led research in advancing the field, and I am particularly proud of our own recent collaboration, Aspasia, on the dissertation project of one of our Conversion students Alina Friedman, which has already led to a successful publication in a novel area – self-diagnosis. The paper offers an insight into the experiences of growing up as an underdiagnosed autistic adult. It reflects on the systemic injustice which autistic individuals meet when living as an undiagnosed autistic person. On the other side, self-diagnosis emerges as an opportunity to make a deliberate choice for some neurodivergent individuals not to pursue a formal diagnosis as a mean of self-validation. It also creates a space for developing a strong sense of identity, agency, and affiliation to the autistic community without the need of a formal label.

Can you tell me about your own research projects?

I am a lecturer in Psychology and currently lead the module 'Childhood and Early Years Interventions' in the MSc Program on 'Childhood Development and Wellbeing in Practice'. My specialism is children and neurodiversity. I supervise MSc student dissertations on related topics, and lead some research projects. One focuses on institutional trauma and its effects on parents of autistic children. Another ongoing initiative is a collaborative autoethnographic project with undergraduate autistic students within the School of Psychology. This project is an analysis of repressive behavioural narratives found in fiction books used in primary schools for literacy assessment. Our goal is to explore the potential impact of these narratives on the body autonomy and identity of neurodivergent audiences. We aim to challenge existing neurotypical norms in children's behaviours, and to advocate for more inclusive educational practices.

And you've sought to create more inclusive educational practice on your own course?

I took over the Childhood and Early Years Interventions module last year. It was an opportunity to put into practice many years of study on neurodiversity and autism, not just as a psychologist, but also as a mother to a neurodivergent child. I believe my preparation is more rooted in my lived experiences and practice than in my clinical psychology degree, which was primarily based on the deficit-model approach.

The unit has been re-imagined and re-written with a stronger emphasis on practical application. Student feedback from previous years had highlighted a gap between the theoretical learning and the practical skills needed for their professional roles when working with children. Most students who enrolled in the course last year were working in mainstream and special schools as teachers or teaching assistants or were seeking to deepen their knowledge to better support neurodivergent children in their future practice. These students' expectations became the drive for change, reflecting the current paradox in the system for children with developmental disabilities: high demand for support whilst limited funding and insufficient training for teachers.

Students have turned to us, seeking to fill this professional and knowledge void. There is a real struggle when professionals enter schools and face the daily challenges of supporting a neurodivergent child. They feel frustrated and lost. And this is the first step – they are taking responsibility to acknowledge that this change has to start from them, from educating themselves. But whether there is a place where they could do it is an entirely different matter. 

My aim is to move away from presenting neurodiversity solely as a framework for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. It shouldn't only be about the disability services and providing inclusion. Indeed, neurodiversity should be at the core of teaching and learning practices, and pushing this further it should be taught at university. I wanted neurodiversity to be a core subject in the curriculum, presented alongside the medical model. Both paradigms should be taught and critically examined to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of autism and related disabilities.

That seems like a timely shift.

Yes – activists and advocates are increasingly mobilising to highlight the importance of listening to lived experiences, and the necessity of including these perspectives in our curricula. It is essential that these voices inform and shape educational subjects in psychology used to train future practitioners who will work with neurodivergent children. As educators, it is our responsibility to ensure that professionals working with children are well-informed about the range of existing paradigms and practices. The medical model should be one option among many, not the only one, so that practitioners can make informed, ethical, and professional decisions when supporting children.

This shift in our approach is also a commitment to our children. For too long, their experiences have been marginalised, leading to harm and trauma caused by the prevailing medical systems. Therefore, the module adopts a practical stance on early interventions. We explore neuro-affirmative practices for working with neurodivergent children, mainly in school settings. We challenge traditional behavioural ideologies, emphasise the importance of language and cultural competence, and provide students with the tools to develop and understand educational plans and EHCPs, models of co-regulation, and assessment of needs and supportive interventions during challenging moments. I am also teaching autism using theories that neurodivergent researchers in these areas have developed. And I welcome experts in this area in our School wishing to give a talk and any form of contributions on neuro-affirmative practice for our course. There needs to be more engagement with the expertise of the neurodivergent community, so that teaching can happen in ways that are more effective. 

What has the feedback on the course been like?

Many of the students experienced a genuine catharsis, leading to a shift in how they had previously understood autism for instance. While some found it challenging to grasp, students were open-minded and engaged students eager to learn more. I have witnessed students becoming enthusiastic and reporting that learning about neurodiversity has entirely transformed their approach to autism and their interactions with neurodivergent children. 

Together with Dr Emma Tarpey, the previous Program Leader, we began reviewing the module and consulting with neuroaffirmative therapists to identify potential improvements. Now, with the current Program Leader, Dr Kalum Boldfield, we are planning new initiatives to further develop the integration of neurodiversity within the module and at large scale in the course. This ongoing process has been well received by both students and staff, and it reflects our collective commitment to continuous improvement and innovation in this important area.

Tell me more about why you think it's so important.

As educators, we have to prepare students who will become future professionals. Our educational systems continually fail children and teachers – there's a lack of funding, insufficient training, and the exclusion of children from schools. A key factor driving that is we don't have a culture that values neurodiversity and disability. These children are not broken – they simply have different, valid, and unique ways to process information, thinking and relating to others, besides their challenges. There's a different culture to learn. Embracing this can foster a more inclusive and empathetic approach to education and beyond.

And neurodiversity should not be confined to students who are neurodivergent. It is a fundamental aspect of human nature. For many years, psychology has promoted a unique model of brain function, which has wrongly ingrained the belief that we all process and sense information in the same way. I believe it is time to challenge these outdated frameworks and embrace beautiful approaches which are growing in academia, such as Dan Goodley's approach to disability studies. Module leads should acknowledge neurodiversity when introducing psychological knowledge, incorporate concepts such as Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences into their pedagogy, creating content and workshops that make learning accessible to all. 

What's the ultimate goal?

Currently, at MMU, we have a highly effective support system in place, offering Personal Learning Plans (PLPs) for students who require additional support for their learning. This is crucial, as being neurodivergent presents unique challenges, particularly in navigating a system that has been primarily designed for neurotypical individuals. Therefore, I believe it is essential to continue investing in neurodiversity and raising awareness. The School of Psychology is committed to this effort and should maintain this focus, potentially with increased investments in the future.

However, this approach is only one part of the solution. To achieve greater equity, we must move beyond the concept of reasonable adjustments, which still reinforces a status quo of 'us' versus 'them' and frames the body as disabled, implicitly ascribing a deficit to them. Instead, we should strive for a more inclusive approach by adopting more firmly principles of universal design for learning (UDL). This approach emphasises creating an educational environment that is accessible to all students from the outset. We should foster a system based around creativity, play-based learning, sensory and embodied practices of learning in education. This moves us away from a model that relies on students disclosing a diagnosis or seeking validation through a diagnostic label simply to access learning opportunities. Everyone should be able to learn. And by incorporating students' perspectives into this process, we can design a more inclusive and equitable educational system that works for everyone, regardless of their neurotypes.