Neurodiversity workshop at Spurgeons Academy

Today I had a lovely day with the teachers of Spurgeons Academy, running a workshop for them on neurodiversity. 

Its always good to be with them, and to be able to help build their knowledge and skills base so that they can better teach and support the children of Spurgeons Academy, 80% of whom are single or total orphans. Today was no different. 

I shared info about dyslexia, dyscalculia, dyspraxia, autism and ADD, none of which the teachers knew anything about beforehand. It was info I’d pulled together from online courses, relevant reliable websites, conversations with parents of neurodiverse children, and other professionals. It was definitely basic level info only, but even that was an eye opener for them in many ways. 

I was very mindful that the teachers don’t have access to assessment opportunities for children who they might have concerns about, and that they don’t have access to resources for additional input / classroom assistants etc who can help out. There also aren’t the accommodations over here to give children extra options in exams - additional time, a scribe etc that can be an option in the Uk and other similar countries. 

So in some ways I was concerned that this info might be adding pressure that they don’t need, as it would be one more thing for them to think about. But, there was a real hunger for the info, and it was a topic that the teachers had asked me to do some training on following a conversation I’d had with some of them on a previous visit. 

And we also discussed the opposing views regarding the benefits or not of getting a diagnosis. Yes, it can be useful in countries where it can open doors to extra support, but in countries where that isn’t an option, then how necessary is the diagnosis? Instead is it better to empower the teachers to recognise that there might be various reasons why a child is struggling to read, or finds it hard to relate to others, or gets stressed when there is too much sensory overload etc? And then, even if they don’t know the diagnosis behind that child’s presentation, at least the teacher can be more open-minded and creative in thinking how best to support the child.

That was the focus of today’s workshop, and it went really well. The feedback was good, the questions showed lots of deep thinking about real-life applications of the information and the small group discussions were really buzzing. All in all a very good day.