education Archives — THINKING PERSON'S GUIDE TO AUTISM

Overhead photo of a Black student wearing a mulberry beanie, working with a ruler on a piece of paper at a desk. To their left is a copy of Dr. Seuss's book "Oh the Places You'll Go" with an iPhone on top of it.

Understanding What Disability Policy Means, Within Education

February 9, 2025 • By Kaishawna Fleming

How can education and disability policy best serve disabled learners, and also support those learners and their families?

Graphic with a pale celadon background, titled Creating a Neurodiversity-Affirming Classroom: PEACE. The top half of a circle is portioned info five wedges, each with a different color background and a neurodiversity infinity symbol in the center. From left to right, the wedges have different colored backgrounds and text reading: Purple: 1) Provide curricula that celebrates diversity Yellow: 2) Embrace differences/maximize strengths Tan: 3) Accommodate sensory needs Green: 4) Collaborate with Students on Discipline Pink: 5) Enhance Executive Functioning At the bottom is a black bar with white text reading, "Sara Woods PhD"

How to Create a Neurodiversity-Affirming Classroom

January 5, 2025 • By Sara Woods, PhD

Promoting a neurodiversity-affirming classroom amidst the struggles of today’s educational system is not easy, but taking some of these practical steps can make a big difference for students

A photo of Kaishawna Fleming, a Black woman wearing noise-canceling headphones and a black-and-gray top.

Educators: How Understanding Autistic Identities Can Help You Help Your Students

February 13, 2024 • By Kaishawna Fleming

How should educators approach autism, and how can understanding autistic identities help educators better support autistic and non-autistic students?

Book cover with an orange background. An illustration of the lower halves of five folks is at the top: A yellow guide dog, a person with brown skin using a cane, a person with brown skin standing with their hand on their hip, a person with white skin and crossed ankles standing with their hand on their hip, and a person with brown skin using a wheelchair.]

We Move Together: A Review of a Wonderful Book on Disability

June 11, 2021 • By Kate Ryan

We Move Together should be in every library that children have access to. It should be read to classes—I think it is appropriate for any elementary school age or even middle schoolers.

A Black adult with curly medium brown chin-length hair and glasses reading a book with a young Black student with long black hair in cornrows.

How to Be The Teacher Our Autistic Students Need

September 17, 2019 • By Miss A

We can be the teachers that our students need. We can celebrate neurodiversity while we hold ourselves to higher standards. We can provide robust education, equal access to the curriculum, and a life of autonomy and dreams. It starts with this…

Ghanaian staff and students seated around a table.

Educating Autistic Students in Ghana: AACT’s Success Story

February 7, 2014 • By Shannon Des Roches Rosa

The Autism Awareness, Care, and Training (AACT) school in Accra, Ghana is a place of peace, calm, and competence—plus the occasional whoop, shout, or “eeeee”—while students and staff radiate not just positivity but confidence. This is because students are encouraged to learn to the best of their abilities, and are appreciated for exactly who they are. AACT is a remarkable place.

How Autistic Mentors Can Help “Problematic” Autistic Students Succeed In School

August 24, 2012 • By Shannon Des Roches Rosa

How the right accommodations helped one autistic student instantly go “from being a misunderstood, odd child with behavior problems to being a supported autistic child.”