13 Navigating a Teaching Lab with Autism

By Sophie Tomlin

“One of the most important things you can do for students is to be willing to learn and collaborate. School and learning typically caters to one way of learning, so a little bit can go a long way.”

Over my years as a student, I’ve been fortunate to have had some wonderful, and understanding teachers.  I also did fairly well in school, as the environment lent itself to a lot of structure, which was essential to my well-being. As someone who struggles with very sensitive hearing because I have a very difficult time filtering my senses, tests can be hard. Since I wasn’t your typical idea of what an autistic person looks like, nor did I struggle in school, I didn’t find out until I was 20 years old. Although I did have some struggles that were more obvious earlier on. I had flashbacks, was triggered by loud noises, and had fluctuating energy levels. I also found changes to my regular routine very disruptive, like holidays and snow days.

Probably the thing for which I was most grateful was patience. For a long time, I wasn’t sure what it was that was giving me so much grief – whether it was mental illness, previous trauma or a neurodivergence, or some combination of all three. I was always very open with my teachers about what I was dealing with because I thought it would help them be better able to help me. I have the same philosophy with doctors. Even if they didn’t know how to help me with the root cause of the issue, it allowed them to understand why and how I was struggling and then we could work together to find a solution. It also made it easier for me to ask for things that I might need, like extensions or a quiet room. I was able to build a relationship with my teachers, even if it was simply familiarity. It also made it a lot simpler to ask for accommodations from my teachers, because I never know how much context to give, so I end up giving nearly all of it.

I had a teacher in high school who, at the beginning of the semester, handed out sticky notes and asked us to write three things that we wanted her to know about us. Whether it be that we have a part time job, we struggle with focus, anything at all that we thought would be helpful for her to know. If there was anything that she was concerned about, or wanted clarification on, she asked us to speak with her during lunch, or during the class. She ended up being one of the most important supports for me. This isn’t to say that you need to be completely involved in all your students’ lives, but just saying that awareness and compassion go such a long way. Similarly, I had a professor who gave the students an anonymous (except for student number) survey asking people to be completely honest about what accessibility requirements they had.

One of the most important things you can do for students is to be willing to learn and collaborate. School and learning typically caters to one way of learning, so a little bit can go a long way. Also, please don’t assume people are faking a condition, or issue. Not only does that make it that much more difficult for people who need accommodations to be taken seriously, it’s also dismissive of the reason why someone would do that in the first place. Maybe they are lacking the base skills and are scared to ask questions for fear of being shamed for doing so, so they resort to cheating. Instead of assuming the worst, try to be compassionate and work with your students to find a solution.