David – Tutor At Learner says: As a tutor who identifies as neurodivergent, there are ways that I can help my students in a different way than a neurotypical person. My experiences over the years have helped me become a better tutor and find new and innovative ways to connect with my students. Together, we can normalize neurodiversity. It will not happen overnight, but the more neurodivergent people discuss in the context of education, the more it is one way to help people understand.
Inclusive Teaching for a Diverse Brain
There is a whole spectrum of students that are neurodivergent. No two cases will present themselves the same. As tutors, it’s important to observe each student’s unique behaviors and needs, and to provide an inclusive environment with diverse strategies that support neurodivergent learning styles.
Innovative Teaching Methods
Hyper-focused One on One Sessions
Tutors can offer many innovative ways to tutor their students. One way is through hyper-focused one-on-one sessions with students. Tutors can leverage that hyper-focus in small bursts in a session, and when that student’s focus is less effective, they can pull back. Tutors can provide an in-depth structure for students but also know when to leverage that hyper-focus in neurodivergent students in short windows.
Sensory-Friendly Environments
One important thing that all tutors can provide their neurodivergent students is a sensory-friendly environment where they can perform at their best during online tutoring sessions. We can encourage students to establish quiet places to study and work in sessions without intense sensory overload.
That can include encouraging students to turn off their phones and lower the brightness on their screens, which can lead to distractions for those students with ADHD.
Executive Functioning Support
One of the things that autistic tutors can excel in is executive functioning skills—organizational skills, time management, and staying on task with schedules can benefit our students and encourage them to focus on a task-oriented process. Neurodivergent tutors can help students who struggle with this (autism is a spectrum, after all) by assisting them in creating calendars, planners, checklists for assignments, and other tools they can use to be successful. Tutors can also help them explore when things do not go according to plan (which can lead to negative thoughts, meltdowns, or more) and how to adjust to those situations due to these tutors having experienced these issues.
Engaging and interactive lessons
Customized Learning Plans
One upside of online tutoring is customizing lessons for each student. As a neurodivergent tutor at Learner, I can customize my lessons for all my students. That student-centered approach can be especially advantageous to students with autism and ADHD by adjusting to their needs in session and tutoring them to their different goals. When a tutor customizes their approach to their learning needs, it adds flexibility, which is vital for neurodivergent students.
Strengths of Tutors with Autism
A Detail Orientation and Focus
In sessions with my neurodivergent students, I emphasize ways that they can learn to be structured and organized in lessons. Suppose I am tutoring a student in essay writing. In that case, I can explain the importance of creating a graphic organizer to serve as a place to put their ideas in a structured organization way and start a rough draft.
Taking time between writing drafts and trusting the writing process (giving them time to revise) are essential parts of how we learn to write—and encourage them that they can write. Many of my neurodivergent students, especially those with ADHD, who could be working on five different things at once, feel they will never complete any of them. It can be challenging when I encourage structure and empathy. Also, having patience for any tutor is important, and knowing their limits and your own is important to help that bond that one-on-one tutoring allows.
Passion for Subjects
I know it is universal in the tutoring world, but I have spent my life diving into topics ranging from creative writing to ancient world history. I have dove into the depths of literature across the ages and read books my whole life. Those on the spectrum can have a deep passion for what they learn because it is a passion (education, for me). I can share that with my students by being enthusiastic in every session to explore the depths of what knowledge has to offer. I can also inspire all my students, especially my neurodivergent students, to pursue their particular interests.
I had the opportunity at Learner to tutor a neurodivergent student, and she was a good writer. She had a teacher who decided her mission was to make my students feel bad about her writing. It took a while, but I found that she was passionate about mental health advocacy and psychology—a shared interest and so I was able to encourage her to focus on writing (she has ADHD) to her interests. She found her previous love for writing because we combined it with her passion. By the end of the year, her overall grades improved, and she wrote a fantastic essay for her college admissions. One thing I have learned is that my passions as a neurodivergent human being help me stay focused on tasks, and tutoring is one of those passions.
Conclusion
Neurodivergent tutors bring a unique perspective into education, one of experience, empathy, and understanding. I bring into tutoring my personal experience, but many educators have faced struggles with neurodivergence students. There is so much value in having diverse perspectives in education, from the neurotypical to the neurodivergent tutor—it is all important as we look at ways we can innovate the online educational world and even in the classroom. As a neurodivergent educator, I will say that we need more awareness and support from the community as this issue does not get enough attention. Understanding is a great start, but we can also continue to change the way we approach education and accommodate all students.
