Episode Summary
In this episode, we explore effective strategies for supporting neurodivergent students in the classroom. I define neurodivergence and discuss the spectrum it covers, including conditions like autism and ADHD. Emphasizing tailored support, I provide practical strategies for educators to implement, such as creating calm learning environments, using fidgets appropriately, and employing visual cues. I cover the importance of flexibility in teaching practices, offering options like alternative workspaces and movement breaks to foster engagement. We also discuss the significance of teaching social skills explicitly and the need for downtime to support student well-being.
It’s important to have all of these strategies in our toolbox and be ready to be pulled out and used any moment. But think about it as a let’s try out this strategy and see if this works. And if it doesn’t work, we’re going to be problem solvers and try a different strategy.
– Zeba ~ Ep. 59 Strategies for Supporting Neurodivergent Students
In this episode I share:
- The Meaning of Neurodivergence
- Strategies During Lesson Times
- Supports During Work Times
- Social Skills and Peer Interaction
Learn More:
Resources Mentioned:
- Social Emotional Classroom Supplies
- Social Emotional Curriculum: Support for Students with ADHD | Executive Function
Connect with Zeba:
- Instagram – @kindergartencafe
- Facebook – @kindergartencafe
- Website – www.kindergartencafe.org
- Tik Tok – @kindergartencafe
Read the Transcript
[0:00] Hey teacher friends, it’s Zeba
[0:01] from Kindergarten Cafe and today’s podcast episode is highly requested. It is about how to support the neurodivergent students in your class, inclusion classes, kids on IEPs, kids not on IEPs. We definitely all interact with the neurodivergent students at some point in our teaching career, whether they’re diagnosed or not. So I’m going to talk to you about some different supports that you can try with your students in your class.
[0:30] Music. You’re listening to the Kindergarten Cafe podcast, where kindergarten teachers come to learn classroom-tested tips and tricks and teaching ideas they can use in their classroom right away. I’m Zeba, creator and founder of Kindergarten Cafe, and I help kindergarten and teachers with everything they need from arrival to dismissal in order to save time, work smarter, not harder, and support students with engaging and purposeful lessons. I’m here to cheer you on through your successes and breakthroughs and offer support and resources so you never have to feel stuck or alone. Ready to start saving time and reducing your stress.
[1:23] So first, what do I mean by neurodivergent? Some kids that might fall under that category would be kids with autism or kids with ADHD. So they might be kids that are diagnosed. They might be kids that are on IEPs, but they might not be. So it’s important to know different strategies to help kids that are struggling, that are needing extra support in the classroom. And one thing that I really want to get across is for kids specifically like with autism, but true for ADHD as well. I learned this phrase, I was taking a class on autism, on autism spectrum disorder. And the professor said, if you meet one kid with autism, or she didn’t say kid, but if you meet one person with autism, you’ve met one person with autism. It is called a spectrum for a reason, and it is a range, and every kid is different, and every kid has different strengths and different struggles. And so it’s so important to try out different strategies with your students and really observe how they are working, and then if they’re working, great, and if not, trying out different strategies.
[2:29] And even over time, the same thing that might have worked might not work later on in the year as kids change and develop or get used to things. So it’s important to have all of these strategies in our toolbox and be ready to be pulled out and used at any moment. But think about it as a let’s try out the strategy and see if this works. And if it doesn’t work, we’re going to be problem solvers and try a different strategy. So again, I want this episode to really focus on the supports that you can try and not get into the hows and the whys of the genealogy of the neurology of, you know, behind the scenes of what makes these neurodivergent students neurodivergent.
[3:10] Especially because in kindergarten kids often come to us without being diagnosed without being on IEPs but you get to know them and you know that they need extra support in order to do the things the other kids do in the classroom so.
[3:24] We’re going to talk about what supports might be helpful during lesson times. We’re going to talk about supports that will help students during work times. And then we’ll talk about supports for working and playing with others. So supports during lessons. It’s important for you to have a focused environment, calm environment, minimize distractions for the students. So we talked about this in the decorations podcast episode, but we don’t want too much visual clutter. And you might want to think about where the student would best sit, whether it’s right in front of you or in the front near you, close enough where you can give a little tap. Or maybe they don’t want that at all. They want to be in the back where they can use a fidget and not be distracting to other students.
[4:12] Especially for kids with autism, the way that they look when they’re listening is going to look different than other kids. And so it’s important to know they may not look directly at you when you are teaching and we can teach into facing the learning is the way I say it but that doesn’t mean they’re not listening and so it’s important to know first of all they’re they’re listening all the time so even if they don’t look like they’re listening it’s be very mindful of what we’re saying around kids always a general good rule of thumb but also for specifically on the rug yes we want to teach kids to face the learning but to know that just because they’re not looking directly at you does not mean that they’re not taking in what you’re saying. So maybe that impacts where they’re sitting. Maybe they’re sitting on the side where they can look at the side of their eye. I found that helpful or in the back where they’re not distracting others with a fidget or they might want a chair to help them support themselves while they’re sitting. Getting to know your student, trying those out is important.
[5:11] When you’re giving kids a fidget, it’s important to talk about it as a tool and this works especially for kids with ADHD. But for kids with that you’re giving a fidget to, you want to be clear that it’s a tool and not a toy. You want to model for them how to use that fidget. And then talk about how we don’t want to distract others. This is a tool to help us focus. So we want to keep it in our hands where only we can see it and we’re not showing it to others. And if it’s not helping us focus, if it’s distracting us or others, then it goes away. Right. Be very clear about that. Like it is a tool to help us. And if it’s not helping us then we don’t use it you can get little fidgets and little things but the thing that i have found that work the best is called thera putty and it has different density levels i guess strength levels um it’s created by uh ot’s and occupational therapists and i found it just you just break off a little piece of the putty and give it to the kid and that’s all they need and it really does help them calm their body down help them focus and regulate their body during the lesson. You also want to have some visual cues to reinforce your expectations so that you’re not constantly calling out kids’ name.
[6:26] Neurodiversion kids, especially kids with ADHD, tend to hear their name called an excessive amount. And it’s no one’s fault. I’m certainly guilty of it as well. But we want to be mindful of that. We want to be mindful of the fact that they are hearing their name an excessive amount. It is damaging to their self-esteem. It is damaging to how the kids see them. It’s frustrating for us it’s frustrating for the kids they start to tune it out like all these reasons and more we want to be mindful of making sure we are not saying their name a hundred thousand times a day so the more that we can use visual cues or like give a little tap and then a visual cue to the child is helpful which is why a child that might need those reminders sitting right in front of you where you can just do a quick tap is super helpful do a little you know just a little tap and then show the visual on your hand or a visual on a card without having to interrupt your lesson, without having to distract the other kids is helpful. If you know you have kids that are very wiggly and have trouble sitting still for a long time, keep your lessons short. Add lots of movement breaks, right? Be aware of when the kids are needing a break and give them that movement break. You should have these planned at times when you know they’re going to be sitting for a while, you should definitely plan to do movement breaks right beforehand or in the middle to help them stay engaged. Some kids might need more physical activity and more breaks, and we’ll get to that in just a second.
[7:53] When we’re giving directions, as I said in the transitions episode, podcast episode, we want to make sure we’re breaking down directions into very small, manageable steps with clear directions, simple language. And whenever possible, having a visual is really helpful for neurodivergent students and other students as well. kids with learning disabilities or language processing disabilities or ELL students, kids learning English. Having those visuals really helps them to understand and follow the directions and go back to, if they’re confused about what to do next, they can go back
[8:28] to it to look at what’s the next step. Which brings me to the support during work times. Having a space where they can work separated from others can be helpful. I wouldn’t use it every single time, And I would frame it more as like a choice for them to notice in themselves when they need that privacy, when they need that distraction-free area for them to go. I like to call it like a little workspace or an office. If you don’t have a separate table or area that’s really separate from the rest of the class, you could get privacy shields, which I’ve made myself that are just two folders taped together and laminated so that it becomes a little shield for the students so they’re not looking around at other students.
[9:10] Some students might benefit from noise canceling headphones to drown out the outside noise of what’s going on. Some kids are more sensitive to that noise than others. Visual timers also work well to help the students see how much time they have left in their work time and it helps them focus on their task at hand. So they’re like, okay, I only have this amount of time. I really got to get this done.
[9:34] Or like, I only have to do this activity for a few more minutes. It helps them see the end is in sight. With all students, but especially neurodivergent students, we want to be flexible in the way that kids show their work and do their work. So maybe kids, the kids in your class don’t work while sitting down. Well, can they stand while they work? Can they write on a clipboard against the wall? That would be good for their OT. Can they sit on the rug while they work? can they have a wiggle seat that’s really helpful too it’s just like an inflatable little thing that has almost like prongs but they’re like just sensory input little bumps i’ll put a link to some examples for my amazon storefront but the kids sit on that and it helps them wiggle and helps them stay focused some kids it works really well some kids this is extremely distracting so again we talk about how it’s a tool and we want to use it to help us focus and if it’s not helping is focused. It’s not a tool for us. You could also get like a bouncy band where the kids sort of can bounce against the band and they’re moving their legs while they’re working.
[10:40] Maybe also for these students, you reduce the amount of time that they need to work before they can earn a break, maybe a movement break, or maybe a like reward break. They might need more motivation and incentive to complete their tasks. So maybe you reduce the amount of time that they have to work or you reduce the amount of work they need to complete so that they can be successful and they can earn that break time. So having that frequent break time is important for movement or for like motivation. For different kids, you’ll understand that they need different things. When they can be more successful with what you’re asking of them, it builds up that self-esteem and you can slowly over time build up their stamina to work more and do more of the expectations. It doesn’t mean changing your expectations they’re still doing the work they’re just not doing as much so that they can have a break which is what their body needs okay so that was supports during work time there’s obviously a ton more i could say but we’ll leave it at that for now we can always do more later but those are the biggest strategies that i would say help students during learning times.
[11:47] Now let’s talk about how to support neurodivergent students with playing with others. This is an example of why it’s so important to teach social skills explicitly, especially for students with autism. Having that explicit teaching and role modeling of the social skills with other kids is so important so they can see what’s expected.
[12:10] Kids with autism tend to be very literal and not understand what we call the hidden curriculum, which is those like social cues that kids are giving out. And so explaining to kids like when someone’s face looks like this, they’re upset, like getting very literal and explaining more than you think you might have to. It’s good for all students. Again, good for all students, but especially students with autism. So when we want to show someone we’re listening, we could nod our head along to show that we are listening or we could repeat back what we heard them say or we could look at their face so that they know they’re listening or wait until they’re done talking for us to say our thing like just be very explicit and break down all these social skills and we want to give lots of opportunities to role play different scenarios or role play with puppets or to have like to have the kids act out or for other kids to model so that they can see what we’re talking about when we say, when kids’ face looks like this, that means they must be mad. We could say, are you mad? How are you feeling? Are you okay?
[13:18] Things like that. And we want to give them the language to use as well. Anytime we’re doing a social skills and we’re talking about different problem-solving strategies, we want to give the language to use, the exact language. And it can become like a script for students. And it can become very helpful for kids that don’t quite pick up on that naturally. That explicit teaching is so important. When kids are playing together, it’s important to help facilitate interactions between peers, especially if we know that kids might prefer to play by themselves or might struggle with interacting with other peers. Initiating play with others is a big area where kids with autism might struggle. And so when they’re sitting down to play, we could go join them and help facilitate that by modeling the language we want them to use. So we could say you know oh suzy is playing with legos and you’re playing with legos we could say suzy do you want to play legos with me now you try and we literally just give them the words to use and help them ask like to play together and then we want to stay to make sure that they are successful in compromising on a play plan and what that play is going to be and that is really important to help build friendships and to help teach them how to play with others as well.
[14:36] And then when they do have trouble with peers and solving problems, they might have a harder time than others with being flexible with an idea. With compromising, they might get more upset than other students that might be more willing to be flexible. And so they might need to take a break. They might not be ready to try another idea. And that might be frustrating to other kids, which is say, oh, they’re working on being flexible with sharing ideas. like maybe they can try again tomorrow and give them a chance to take a break. And I think this is also why it’s important to not force social interaction every chance that you can, that some kids just need some alone time to play to really give themselves a break because it is a lot of work, more so for some kids than others. It’s a lot of work to interact and play and be willing to be flexible and compromise with others.
[15:28] So they might need that break and that downtime. But we want to be there to support them. If they are having a hard time being flexible, to remind them, hey, we learned these strategies or give them two options, right? Of like, remember, we learned strategies for how to solve problems. You can use rock, super scissors, or you can say, I’ll go first this time and then you can go first next time. And if they go with that one, you need to make sure that the next time they play that you preview with them. Hey, remember, you got to go first last time and you said that the other student get to go first this time. So we need to make sure we’re being a good sport by honoring them. Previewing with students is a really good way to avoid some of the stress and anxiety that comes with interacting with others, playing with others.
[16:12] So saying like, okay, so you’re playing Legos by yourself right now. That’s great. In five minutes, I’m going to come and I’m going to ask you to play with Susie. What do you think you might want to play with her? Oh, okay, great. And anytime you can give choice, two choices, not too many choices, or anytime that you can give a chance to take control can be really effective strategies. So in that situation, I gave a preview and then I gave them ownership over the decision. I gave them control over what game they were going to play.
[16:45] They’re still playing the game with Susie, but they get to choose what game. So again, just touching the surface here, but definitely strategies that you can use with all students that are really good to keep in your toolbox for when kids are struggling with learning on the rug, learning during work time and playing with others.
[17:04] And in future episodes, I’d love to get into more specific strategies for kids with autism or kids with ADHD. So we’ll see when we can do that. Love to have some guests on for that to be a little bit more specific for the kids in your classroom. room. But yeah, hope you found this helpful.
[17:21] And send me a DM. Let me know which strategy you hadn’t thought about and are wanting to try with your students. I’d love to know. And our quote of the day, did not forget, our quote of the day, a six-year-old girl said to me, being a child is a lot like being a mom. And I said, how so? And she said, because there’s a lot of work to do, like school. So school is hard work. And for some kids, it’s even harder because they’re managing a lot of different impulses and executive functioning and social skills. And it’s a lot to manage. So keep that in mind. Remember that no two kids are alike and that it’s our job to find out what strategies will help them and then encourage them to use those strategies and start to recognize when they need them on their own. That’s the goal is for them to recognize, you know what, I need to take a walk right now. My body’s feeling really wiggly. Great. I’m so glad you recognize that. Absolutely go take a walk, right? That’s the end goal. And these are some ways to help get there in the process.
[18:26] But what I did forget to mention, I remember the quote of the day, but I did forget to mention, if you are looking for more support for your students that have ADHD, or even if they’re not diagnosed, but they struggle with maintaining attention to task and regulating their impulses, I have a small group curriculum that is all about supporting students with their executive function. And it focuses on teaching different strategies for impulse control and self-regulation and all that kind of stuff. And it’s really been really successful for my students and tons of teachers out there with their students. So if you have a group of students or a student or two that you think could benefit from that, it’s called the Fantastic Focussers Curriculum, and I’ll put the link in the show notes to help you out. So you can always reach out if you have questions, though, about it. Okay, that’s it for real. Thanks so much. Thanks so much for listening to the Kindergarten Cafe podcast. Be sure to check out the show notes for more information and resources, or just head straight to kindergartencafe.org for all the goodies. If you liked this episode, the best ways to show your support are to subscribe, leave a review, or send it to a friend. I’ll be back next week with even more kindergarten tips. See you then.