{"id":5941,"date":"2021-12-20T01:35:15","date_gmt":"2021-12-20T09:35:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learningcommons.twu.ca\/?p=5941"},"modified":"2024-04-28T12:17:32","modified_gmt":"2024-04-28T20:17:32","slug":"multimodality-accommodation-neurodivergence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/learningcommons\/2021\/12\/20\/multimodality-accommodation-neurodivergence\/","title":{"rendered":"Multimodality accommodation & neurodivergence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Multimodality Accommodation & Neurodivergence<\/h1>\n

Andrew Johnson<\/h3>\n

December 20, 2021<\/span><\/h3>\n
\n
\n

This year involved a lot of exposure to new ideas for me (and for everyone). I have been working on research involving multimodal communication, and I recently received a diagnosis for ADHD. Both of these have opened my eyes to new ways I can interact with students (and people in general).<\/p>\n

First, I have a way to begin discussing neurodivergence with students who have some kind of difficulty with a \u201cnormal\u201d academic situation such as timed examinations, extended reading, strict due dates, or inflexible professors. I can express that I, too, have ADHD and have learned several techniques to deal with these areas of conflict, and<\/em> that the student is not \u201cin the wrong\u201d for learning in a different way than \u201ceveryone else.\u201d I have also seen how common these divergences are\u2014dyslexia and ADHD are both so common in higher education that I almost feel that a substantial portion of the academic population must have been \u201cfaking it\u201d (not faking neurodivergence but faking normalcy) for years. Why are the rigid deadlines and outdated reading techniques still around when everyone<\/em> hates them, including professors? How come professors also have ADHD but don\u2019t talk about it or make allowances for students?<\/p>\n

Second, I\u2019ve experienced the power of multimodality. This first started years ago when I began listening to audiobooks, but recently I\u2019ve started discussing tasks with people instead of just writing them down. I tried out Kanban techniques that use web applications. I\u2019ve run into students who know exactly what they need to do, but they just need someone to talk to out loud while they make their outlines\u2014with almost zero input from me, the tutor.<\/p>\n

Both of these new experiences point to a major consideration whose term I don\u2019t like but will use anyway: accommodation. Academia is getting better at this, certainly, but there\u2019s still a long way to go. Yes, it\u2019s good to \u201caccommodate\u201d for neurodivergence, but why can\u2019t some of these accommodations (such as low-sensory time or flexible deadlines) be available as the norm? Why do we need to get special permission? There\u2019s a lot of rethinking that needs to be done, and now, in a time when everything is changing and shifting modalities anyway, is a wonderful time to start restructuring and reprioritizing.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know what the right answer is, but options<\/em> are important, as is destigmatizing<\/em>. I think we\u2019re doing a better job of this\u2014many of my friends (myself included) have investigated medication and discussed changes with friends, family, and fellow students. Many professors have expressed understanding with uncertainty. Right now, I think the biggest thing we can do is continue making ourselves available and be visibly flexible. Embrace the change, find techniques that work with all sorts of multimodalities and neuro-organizations, and encourage people to try them out. We\u2019re doing pretty well with destigmatizing therapy; let\u2019s maybe also get to destigmatizing executive dysfunction as well.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Multimodality Accommodation & Neurodivergence Andrew Johnson December 20, 2021 This year involved a lot of exposure to new ideas for me (and for everyone). I have been working on research …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2157,"featured_media":5942,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[78,188],"class_list":["post-5941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reflection","tag-fall-2021","tag-reflection-andrew_johnson"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pad6JM-1xP","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/learningcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/learningcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/learningcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/learningcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2157"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/learningcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5941"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/learningcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5941\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7975,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/learningcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5941\/revisions\/7975"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/learningcommons\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/learningcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/learningcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/learningcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}