Department of Social Work

Advocacy for Neurodiversity

 

Teaching Every Child is a collaborative effort between Parent to Parent FSN-HC, the Social Work Care Collaborative and other university and community groups to address service gaps in the educational system for families and children with neurodiversity. 

 

Our program has 3 main goals:

1. Develop and provide continuing education regarding neurodiversity,

2. Engage graduating education majors in professional development training to strengthen their confidence and understanding and skills in working with children with neurodiversity, even if not identified as “exceptional children” or EC, and

3. To collaborate with families of people with neurodiversity, teachers, and people with neurodiversity in development of the training and to help facilitate engagement.

Families and students with neurodiversity report a disconnect between teachers and themselves, and students are having difficulty coping with their education in the mainstream classroom. Teachers from across the state, both general education and EC graduate teachers report feeling under prepared. Those children who do not qualify for EC services may struggle the most because they need extra help, but have difficulty getting what they need or may “get into trouble” because their behaviors or responses do not fit in with the rest of the class. 

While we envision a long range plan including micro, mezzo and macro changes, the immediate plan is to develop and provide continuing education for graduating and new teachers to support them in developing a deeper understanding and additional skills regarding the challenges of neurodiversity, how to recognize learning needs earlier, how to directly address these challenges in the classroom.  Eventually, we could advocate for changes in legislation that would require more training in this area for students in the education track in their undergraduate and graduate programs. Micro services can also be developed for these families and children as well.