GCSE Maths for Neurodivergent Learners: Build Your Confidence in Number, Proportion and Algebra

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The double empathy problem talks about the idea that autistic people DO actually have social skills. They might look different to neurotypical social skills. The way that a person interacts with other people, the way that a person has conversations. What is deemed okay. And acceptable and rude. The way that body language plays into it. All of these factors contribute to the way that autistic communication can be different from neurotypical communication styles.” This section is the meat and potatoes of the whole book. There are 14 chapters dedicated to various mathematical topics. It’s intriguing that the focus is on the numerical side of things rather than on more abstract concepts like probability or shape and space. Burnt Out By School? Understanding and Helping Your Autistic Young Person, Mon 9 Oct 19:30 - 21:00 BST

These beautiful infographics from @neurowild_ also illustrate the double empathy problem, and the differences that we might see in the social communication styles of Autistic and neurotypical people. We can all learn maths, we just need the right environment, the right support and the right mindsetWow. I just had to share this. In my opinion this is probably one of the best GCSE maths books for neurodivergent learners on the market. The book is aimed at GCSE students; allowing them to learn about and consider their own learning styles and decide what methods work best for them. It is an empowering book of practical tips and one I would highly recommend. The book gives great clarity on the different learning difficulties encountered by neurodivergent students and how these difficulties specifically impact maths learning. It covers basic maths strategies for a wide range of GCSE topics, and also looks at maths anxiety, revision and exam techniques. I particularly like the style of the book: the use of colour; pictorial representations of ideas; and the simple, unambiguous language. Although aimed at students, I would also highly recommend it to all maths tutors and teachers; who will undoubtedly benefit from the huge amount of strategies it contains to help us, as educators, to think outside the box with how we present material to our students. It is also a book I wish I had had access to when I was doing my own GCSEs! Books like this are simply useful for EVERY learner. Having been a SENDCo and now an SEND Education Consultant, I will be recommending this book far and wide to tutors, teachers, parents and students alike. It is simply brilliant! @JKPBooks @JKPSpecialEducation Judith Hornigold #maths #neurodivergent #mathsanxiety #mathsteacher #mathstutor https://lnkd.in/e6hUG6F6 Neurodiversity affirming approaches provide learners with the skills that they need to be able to communicate and navigate social interactions with confidence and in their preferred way, as well as understand and advocate for their own needs and preferences. This way of teaching social skills supports learners to develop positive relationships with others in a way which they enjoy, and which supports their needs and mental health. Here are our top tips and useful resources for making your social skills teaching neurodiversity affirming: The quote “We see the world, not as it is, but as we are – or, as we are conditioned to see it” by Stephen R. Covey couldn’t ring more true for the estimated 1 in 7 people (more than 15% of people in the UK) classed as neurodivergent. And if you are a teacher, that could mean there are quite a few neurodivergent students in your class. With Neurodiversity week running from the 16th (Saturday) to 20th of May, I thought now would be an ideal time to highlight the subject. What is Neurodiversity? What does a neurodiversity affirming approach to social skills mean, and why do some approaches to social skills teaching need updating?

With care and nurturing, evidence shows that a neurodivergent classroom translates to a diverse and positive working world, one filled with great promise and creativity. This is reflected in the way employers such as Google, Microsoft and Apple look to embrace neurodiversity by actively looking to recruit neurodivergent people. Neurodivergent Students and Creativitity Students are given a better chance of grasping the material that is being presented thanks to the use of visual aids and activities that require them to use multi-sensory approaches. Lessons are highly interactive, which ensures that students are actively involved throughout the whole process of learning. Students will be able to put their newly acquired knowledge to the test with the book’s plenty of practise problems. Further chapters of the book focus on factors and primes, directed numbers, indices, ratio and proportion, algebra, equations and inequalities, and even quadratics.I could get on board with this chapter, the grid method is common, easily used wherever I am (even if my hand drawn grids look a little tipsy) and quite simply, simple. This is a well-used, maybe even well-worn quote, but that doesn’t make it any the less true. It is the driving force behind successful strategies and interventions for many neurodiverse children. In any maths classroom there will be children with dyslexia, dyscalculia, dyspraxia and ADHD, plus many more neurodiverse ways of thinking. It would be fair to say that initial teacher training does little to prepare a teacher to meet the individual needs of all the children they are presented with. It could indeed be argued that all children are neurodiverse. In a class of 30 children, there will be 30 individual profiles and personalities, all with their own strengths, weaknesses and interests. Their attitudes to education and their own self-belief will have been formed and informed by their experience of school up until that point. Teaching would be very simple if every child in the class were identical in every respect, but they are not and that is what makes teaching so challenging and, ultimately, so rewarding. Autistic people are often described as having difficulties with social interaction and communication, and most report that they find it challenging to process and understand the intentions of others within social interactions. However, this problem goes both ways - studies have found that neurotypical people also find it difficult to read the emotions of Autistic people. This was first described by Dr Damien Milton in the early 2010s as the double empathy problem. Allow your neurodivergent students the space and time to rise to your expectations — just don’t be disappointed if it takes a little longer. They may just exceed them in style. Adapt Your Teaching Style

I highly recommend this comprehensive book for every neurodiverse learner working towards GCSE Maths. It provides valuable insight (for the learner and those working with them) into the challenges being neurodiverse can have on the acquisition of maths, but then offers essential tips on overcoming these challenges to achieve success. The study guide covers fundamental topics in a straightforward, easy to follow way with useful visual images and practical examples to aid understanding. A 'must have' resource. For a long time, much of the emphasis of social skills teaching has been on supporting neurodivergent learners (in particular Autistic learners) to learn how to interact, socialise and communicate in the same way that neurotypical people tend to. Although this has usually been done with the best of intentions, the more that neurodivergent voices are listened to and learnt from, the more we see that this can in fact cause even greater challenges. Neurotypical children have been able to develop social skills in the way that comes naturally to them, and not expected to alter their social interactions to suit their neurodivergent peers. Neurodivergent children on the other hand have been expected to learn a whole set of challenging rules that do not come naturally and that can feel difficult and uncomfortable, and have been given the message that their own preferred ways are not good enough and need to change. This can cause masking, be detrimental to mental health, and ironically make them feel less confident in social situations and in interactions and communication with others. GCSE Maths for Neurodivergent Learners is out now! Find out more about what this invaluable book has to offer, here. How many more young people need to lose their lives to the unconscious bias we have about neurodivergent traits before people really sit up and listen?

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The word neurodiversity includes all of the many different ways of thinking, learning and processing information that we see in humans. Thank you for appreciating the reality of the situation for parents. It really means a lot to know that there are professionals out there who really ‘get it’ and who are working so proactively to offer appropriate support and advocate for us.

I have dedicated my life to changing this. My organisation Connections in Mind, which is a community interest company, works with schools to help them to better understand neurodivergent young people and supports professionals to help young people to understand their brains and different brain states better so they can be kinder to themselves and those around them. The schools we work with are changing the way they interact with students on so many levels but most importantly the behaviour policies which, as clearly indicated in the article, cause so much psychological harm to vulnerable young people.school #universities #students #community #training #educationreform #autism #executivefunctions #neurodiversity #neurodivergent People who are neurodivergent are sometimes described as having learning differences. These conditions on their own do not impact on IQ (although a person may also have a learning disability which does impact IQ), but may mean that learning is accessed more easily in ways that are different from more ‘typical’ learning and teaching styles which have historically dominated the education system.