Salin Myers and Dr. Jennifer Blue
Neurodivergence is a term that describes people who think differently than others such as those with autism, ADHD, dyslexia , and other conditions (McDermott, 2023). These students typically have a harder time functioning in the classroom due to the structuring of the educational institution and are often underrepresented. Higher education typically disables neurodivergent people as it was structured for neurotypical people, which leads to fewer neurodivergent students and faculty in higher education (Sarchet, 2024).While higher education is required to provide accommodations by the federal government it still unsure whether professors truly understand neurodivergent students.
IRB approval
Survey
Data Analysis
We had a total of 55 people take the survey, 48 students and 7 professors. Of the students 10 were male, 37 were female, 1 identified as other, and 7 identified as non-binary.
•All the students were neurodivergent. Of the 48 students 12 were self-diagnosed and 36 were professionally diagnosed. None of the self-diagnosed students received accommodations but two-thirds of the professionally diagnosed students receive accommodations.
•Students felt accommodated on average around 83.8 out of 100
•We asked both professors and students if professors understood neurodivergence:
•Professors rated themselves an average of 41.7 out of 100
•Students rated the professors’ understanding:
•1 student said profs understand very well
•21 moderately well
•15 slightly well
•4 not well at all
•Of the professors 4 out of 7 said they hadn’t received training for how to teach any neurotype
•1 received training on how to teach neurotypical students and not neurodivergent students
•1 professor received training on both neurotypes
•Both of those professors were neurodivergent
While the students feel they are accommodated there is still a lack of understanding of neurodivergence, as both students and faculty agree.
There were 7 non-binary people out of 55 who took the survey, a large percent, which supports the idea of “neuroqueer”, a large disruption to the normal way of behavior and thinking (McDermott, 2023).
None of the self-diagnosed students had accommodations; students still need official documentation to receive accommodations at Miami.
Implementing universal design in how we instruct our classes, for example: how we structure the curriculum, can help. Also, having the faculty attend a Miller Center presentation can help them learn about neurodivergence (Burgstahler, 2015).
Sarchet, L. N. (2024). Experiences of Disabled and Neurodivergent Faculty in Higher Education: A Systematic Literature Review. Journal of Disability Studies in Education, 4(2), 156-177. https://doi.org/10.1163/25888803- bja10032
McDermott, Liam G. "Neuroqueering physics: A new scientific literacy." arXiv preprint arXiv:2307.05531 (2023).
Burgstahler, Sheryl E., and Michael K. Young. Universal Design in Higher Education, Second Edition: From
Principles to Practice. Harvard Education Press, 2015.
Critical Thinking: In this undergraduate research experience I learned how to synthesize multiple sources and a survey into one coherent poster. I created a survey in which I only asked a couple, well chosen, questions which would in turn help me answer the multitude of questions I had about the genereal experience of neurodivergent people at Miami University.
Technology: When creating my survey I learned how to use Qualtrics and I correctly ordered the questions so each participant received the right questions in the correct order. I was taught how to use Excel to analyze the raw data we received from the participants.
Communication: When creating the survey I was taught how to properly word questions so that the wording was easy and understandable for the participants when they took the survey.
Salin Myers is an undergraduate researcher studying under Dr. Jennifer Blue in the Department of Physics. He is a biology major with an interest in neurodivergence and how it interacts with higher education.