by Judith Evans – SENCO
We often talk about the difficulties students with a diagnosis face. Instead of thinking in a deficit model way consider also the strengths associated with the following diagnoses and how they can be used in your classes to promote engagement and success.
ASD
- Attention to detail and observational skills
- Logical
- Good long term memory and recall of details
- Unswayed by peer pressure
- Reliable
- Loyal
- Honest
- Non- judgemental ( takes others at face value)
- Knowledge of routines
- Desire for accuracy and order
- Ability to hyper- focus
- Thinks outside the box
- Visual learner
- Good vocabulary (though they may not always understand the words they use)
ADHD
- Curious
- Highly energised in the moment
- Energetic
- Creative
- Persistent
- Adventurous
- Big-picture thinking
- Copes well with unpredictability
Dyslexia
- Visual thinking
- Creative and interconnected thinking
- Navigation
- Big picture- thinking
- Pattern recognition (useful for prediction)
- Spatial knowledge
- Sharper peripheral vision
- Narrative reasoning
- Verbal communication
- Good at reading people
These ideas were taken from an article in Sec-Ed journal Rethinking SEN labels in you class – Daniel Sobel and Sara Alston
Judith Evans – SENCO
