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Autistic Students and Education: Creating an Inclusive Classroom

Explore the experiences of autistic students and learn how to create inclusive and enabling educational environments with the University of Kent.

Duration

4 weeks

Weekly study

3 hours

100% online

How it works

Included in an ExpertTrack

Course 4 of 4

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Unpack education policy and common difficulties for autistic students

This four-week course will help you develop your understanding of the experiences of autistic people as you delve into common issues in education such as bullying and school refusal.

You’ll examine these obstacles to education to help you reflect on what autistic learners may encounter and how to help improve their experience.

You’ll also explore key legislation and education policy to understand what we should be doing according to policy, and what still needs to change.

Discover strategies for supporting autistic students in the classroom

To help address the barriers to education for autistic people, you’ll explore how to create enabling learning environments.

You’ll think about reasonable adjustments that could be made, including addressing sensory aspects of environments, before exploring a range of approaches to provide support in the classroom.

Gain specialist knowledge from experts at the University of Kent

Your learning will be guided by autistic and non-autistic academics at the University of Kent, who’ll share their expertise on how we can better support autistic students.

By the end of the course, you’ll have a greater understanding of how to support and enable the voice of autistic people. Through this advocacy, you’ll be empowered to take action to support the autistic voice.

Week 1
Education legislation
- Welcome
  Welcome to the course. To begin, we'll introduce ourselves and you'll have a chance to think about what you already know about education and autism.
- Legislation
  In this activity we consider legislation related to education.
- Legislation in practice
  Having looked at some of the key legislation, we now consider how it relates to practical experience. Image by woodleywonderworks https://www.flickr.com/photos/wwworks/, CC BY 2.0
Week 2
Experiences and issues in education
- Experiences of education
  George and Damian discuss their own experiences of education - at school, at university, and as parents
- Issues in education
  In this activity we consider issues for autistic people in education - both as students and as parents. Image by Erlich Bachman via hdwallpapers.net, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Social identity
  In this activity we discuss the role of autistic social identity. Image by Nick Youngson, http://www.nyphotographic.com/ via Alpha Stock Images, http://alphastockimages.com/ CC BY-SA 3.0
Week 3
Learning environments
- Sensory differences
  In this actvity we think about autistic sensory differences, particularly with regard to educational settings.
- Enabling learning environments
  In this activity we examine principles underpinning good practice when supporting autistic people in education settings, thinking about how to create enabling learning environments.
- Good practice
  In this activity you are invited to discuss how you would go about evaluating an educational setting for its support for autistic learners. What would you be looking for as 'good practice'?
Week 4
Supporting autistic students
- Support in practice
  In this activity we think about practical issues in the support of autistic students, discuss the SPELL framework, and introduce two case studies.
- Approaches to support
  In this section we look at different approaches to support
- Reflections
  Reflections on legislation (Image: DayakSibiriak, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)