COABE Takeaways- Neurodiversity in the Adult Classroom

Any teacher who has ever had a student who couldn’t sit still, struggled to turn in work on time, or seemed to shut down when things got hard has experienced the reality of teaching neurodivergent learners. So…all of us!

Dr. Pam Noble’s COABE session on neurodiversity in the adult academic classroom explored a question that many educators ask themselves: Is this a problem with the student, or a problem with the system? Neurodiversity simply means that brains work in a variety of ways, and there’s no single “right” way to think, learn, or communicate. It has nothing to do with intelligence, and it’s more common than most people realize.

Neurodivergent students tend to face specific challenges, particularly in the areas of self-regulation, communication, and flexibility. What causes these areas to be a challenge is that they happen to be some of the exact skills school demands most: time management, note-taking, handling criticism, and navigating social situations. So when a student struggles, it’s worth asking whether the environment is set up to help them succeed. Are we expecting learners with Android operating systems to function effectively in an iPhone world?

Noble has some very good news for teachers; small changes go a long way. Sharing classroom schedules early, allowing fidgeting (which may mean making fidgets available or encouraging learners to move their bodies in non-obtrusive ways), making yourself approachable, and encouraging and honoring accommodations (both official and unofficial) can dramatically change a student’s experience. The session also reminds us that behavior that often is named as disruptive, such as verbal outbursts in class, disengagement, and shutting down can often come from pain or confusion, rather than defiance. Punishing it tends to make things worse.

The closing message from Noble is worth sitting with: openness and acceptance are easier than resistance and fear. It reminds us all that creating an inclusive classroom isn’t about lowering academic standards, it’s about building an environment where every kind of brain, no matter what their operating system, can actually learn.