Building community and learning skill support for neurodivergent students.

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  • Date: Day 1, Tuesday
  • Time: 2:15pm - 3:15pm
  • Location: Fall Room

Presenters:

Katherine Rowland, Learning Strategist in Accessibility Services, University of Toronto, St. George Campus

Session Description:

One of the major challenges for neurodivergent (ND) post-secondary students is sustained executive function skill-building. Indeed, ND students are also navigating multiple diagnoses and intersectional identities, making their experiences even more complex, and often requiring additional avenues for support. We are using both multi-session skill-building groups and one-off workshops as programming opportunities directed towards ND students as add-on to one-to-one learning strategy sessions. Programming that Accessibility Services at University of Toronto, St. George Campus currently offers for ND students includes ADHD Skills Group, Career Pathways Series for ND Students, Virtual Accountability Check-ins, and ADHD Study Hubs. In addition, specific social groups for ND students are held throughout each semester. We discovered that students value the community building and accountability aspects of these groups, in addition to continuing to build on executive functioning skillsets. Taken together, providing skill-building programming opportunities directed towards ND students can be an effective measure in supporting and enhancing learning experiences at post-secondary institutions. 

Learning Outcomes:

  • Content and considerations for building out programming for ND students.
  • Tips for recruiting students into multi-session groups.
  • What’s working, including what content is valued by students within groups/workshops.

Thank you for taking the time to join our LSAC community today. Before we begin, we would like to pause to intentionally express our gratitude for the land we are on today and to all the Indigenous Peoples past, present and future that have and continue to be stewards of these lands. We recognize that moving forward we are mutually responsible for the caretaking and preservation of this land for future generations.

We commit to co-creating an accountable space. In our LSAC community, we are committed to creating an accountable space where we welcome individual growth, learning, and unlearning. In this space, we recognize and gently remind one another that we are all tender humans with our own stories and experiences, both positive and negative. We aim to lead with kindness, openness, and patience as we identify and break down barriers to create a safer space for us all. 

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