Aaron is a 3rd grade student who attends Neurodivergent Academy 3 days a week after school to work on higher order thinking skills. His teacher reports that, in school, Aaron struggles to express his own ideas. When we suggested graphic organizers as an accommodation for Aaron to organize his thoughts, she replied that it was important for students to “write on their own.”
They are the graphic organizers of the world, free and accessible to everyone.
Sharon Rose Alterman, MS.Ed, Founder of Neurodivergent Academy
Understandably, Aaron is often hesitant or resistant to try new skills or topics he has not had success with in school. But there is one topic that consistently brings a smile to his face: the ocean depth. Aaron loves sharing knowledge about the deep ocean, especially the coral reef.
On Monday, after a weekend to relax from the pressures of his first year of state testing, Aaron wrote this petition telling people why it is important to protect the coral reefs. Entirely his own words, he used the template provided by change.org to organize his thoughts. Templates like that are available for nearly any type of “real world” writing: job cover letters, thank you notes, and more. They are the graphic organizers of the world, free and accessible to everyone.
Aaron *can* write independently. He *can* express his thoughts and opinions. Read his petition, or ask him a question about coral reefs, and this is obvious. But more important than that, by leaning into his passion, Aaron has the opportunity to see success that he isn’t feeling in school right now. At last count, his petition was near 100 signatures in just two days.
“My teacher.”
Third Grader, Aaron, on who to share his petition with.
That is the power of using a neurodiversity inclusive framework to drive learning. That is why I founded Neurodivergent Academy: Because neurodivergent students deserve to be able to access the curriculum in a way that works for them. They need neurodivergent educators who can model that using accommodations is a tool to access their strengths, not a weakness to “overcome.” Aaron’s passion for learning hasn’t died. Not yet. When he finished writing his petition, I asked him to who he wanted to send it to. “My teacher.” He said almost immediately. He wants his teacher to see him succeed, just like any other third grader. With support from tutoring at Neurodivergent Academy, he is doing just that.
Neurodivergent Academy 