Advising Neurodiverse PhD Students
The purpose of this document is to provide a primer for good practices in advising students who are Neurodiverse (ND), a non-exhaustive list of assistive technologies that ND students have found helpful, general areas where faculty can find support for their students, and links to resources. This guide is aimed at faculty who may not be familiar with neurodiversity or have neurodiverse students.
Understanding Neurodiversity
Neurodiversity refers to the diversity in sensory processing, motor abilities, social comfort, cognition, and focus. While neurodiversity is often associated with autism, it broadly covers a variety of people such as those with ADHD and dyslexia. It can also be used as an umbrella term for those with anxiety, depression, or other neurodivergent conditions. In short, the first good practice is understanding the breadth of ND conditions and that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to supporting these students. ND conditions often go undiagnosed for academically gifted students, and these people are already your students and colleagues. These ND individuals have often achieved success despite the various barriers within academia, but with small accommodations, we can reduce these barriers and give more ND students an opportunity to succeed with less pain and challenges along the way.
Good Practices for Advising
Disclosing Needs Should not Require Disclosing Conditions
One of the most important factors for advising ND students is to create an environment for ND students to feel comfortable with expressing their needs. This is a good practice in general, as all students should feel comfortable stating what they need to be successful in their program. However, oftentimes this can be misinterpreted as students should be comfortable disclosing their condition, potentially as a justification for their needs. For example, a student with ADHD should feel comfortable expressing their need for noise-canceling headphones to be able to work in a distracting lab environment. However, unless the student is comfortable disclosing their condition, they should not be pressured to justify the request with the fact that they have ADHD. Unfortunately, despite the prevalence of ND students in academia, the stigma still remains. Regularly communicating that you are open to accommodating needs—without requiring justifications—could reinforce feelings of support.
Tailor Clear Communication to Student Needs
Another good practice is being proactive in providing helpful accommodations and behaviors. Setting clear norms for workstyles and preferences early on can avoid miscommunications and help the student stay productive while being supported. For example, asking the student whether they prefer follow-ups or whether they will reach out for help will avoid the student feeling like they are either being “micromanaged” or “abandoned”. Some students may prefer a written summary to accompany verbal discussions; GPT-based tools could record meetings and provide valuable summaries. As a disclaimer, data security and privacy should be considered when using AI tools, especially in research settings. As a personal example, I find simultaneously taking thorough notes, keeping track of deliverables discussed, and being present in meetings challenging. Offloading notetaking to an AI assistant has helped me to be more present in discussions while having thorough notes to review as needed.
One thing to be aware of is that many ND students have rejection sensitivity (RSD) which can intensify when receiving criticism or feedback. As an example, a student with RSD may interpret harsh paper reviews as a reflection of them personally, rather than a reflection of the work. This can have a negative effect on the student’s self-esteem and they may withdraw from work; oftentimes the “light a fire under them” approach does not work well and has an opposite effect for ND students. Starting with the students strengths and positive aspects of their approach before discussing areas of improvement will help students receive feedback. It may be worth asking yourself the following questions before delivering feedback: Have I acknowledged the student’s strengths first? Have I provided clear suggestions for improvement without making it personal?
Self-Reflection on Student Progress and Common Missteps to Avoid
With this context, it is important to communicate expectations to ND students clearly and what the ramifications of failing to meet those expectations are: breaking a piece of equipment on accident is not the end of the world (things break) but missing an important deadline for a second time may seriously jeopardize progress in the program. When the student is not making satisfactory progress, it is important to do self-reflection and verify whether the student has been set up for success. While there are many reasons why ND students may present an appearance of being unmotivated, for a student to reach the PhD program is in itself an indicator that they are indeed a motivated individual. Does the student have passion for this specific topic? Does the student have the prerequisite skills for the project? Is the project properly scoped for the student?
Assistive Technologies
Unfortunately, assistive technologies (AT) targeted towards Neurodiverse PhD students remain an emerging area for development. However, there are some more general-purpose ATs that we have found helpful for PhD students. These technologies are constantly evolving and faculty should remain open to emerging tools that could better support their students. Additionally, what may appear as a toy to a neurotypical person may actually be a valuable tool for ND students (such as a fidget spinner). Not all ND students will benefit from the same tools, and faculty should be open to exploring and even testing new technologies with their students. This can foster an experimental and supportive atmosphere.
The ATs below are organized as Personal (i.e., per-student) or Infrastructure (i.e., typically licensed via the university).
- Personal – “Low Tech”
- Visual Timer (Personally I found this very useful, I have one at my desk at home and one at my desk at work)
- For ND students (particularly those with ADHD and Autism), the visual timer is particularly helpful in combating the effects of hyperfocus, time blindness, and burnout.
- Hyperfocus: Paradoxically, students with ADHD may be unable to control their focus and hyperfixate on a specific task (which may or may not be a priority)
- Time blindness: students may often lose track of time during hyperfocus on a specific task, or while hopping between multiple tasks. This may result in missing responses to emails, missing deadlines, etc.
- Burnout: ND students may have an extraordinary ability to complete a large volume of tasks in a very short amount of time but at the cost of burnout. Extended periods of hyperfocus can lead to burnout, where the student has exhausted their executive function abilities in performing tasks.
- The Pomodoro technique (or 40/20’s) can be useful for students to time-box one specific task. 40 minutes of specific, intense focus toward a specific task, 20 minutes of reorganization, note-taking, and recovery. This can assist students in maintaining a consistent pace of productivity while reducing the risk of burnout.
- The 20 minutes of recovery must be structured to be effective. It is designed to help set up for the next 40 minutes.
- Formatted Notebook/Notepads
- Pages can be formatted to help visualize and organize tasks
- Examples include KANBAN, Eisenhower matrix, etc
- Students may become overwhelmed with the large number of tasks they must complete. ND students often work in the “now” and the “not now”. If all of their tasks are on one list, they feel they must do it all “now” which can be overwhelming. However, they must take care to not lose the tasks that must be completed in the “not now” list.
- Students should find a formatted method that works for them. Some students use sticky notes on the wall as a visual Kanban.
- Other Personal Items
- Stim toys, stuffed animals, fidget toys, other accommodations, knitting, having something to do with hands at meetings, specific seating arrangements, not necessarily provide but not take away
- Tailor to people who want to be helpful but know nothing, structured doodles
- Visual Timer (Personally I found this very useful, I have one at my desk at home and one at my desk at work)
- Personal – “High Tech”
- iPad
- Useful multi-purpose tool (see below)
- LightScribe Pen
- Can be helpful for students who prefer writing on paper to digitize notes (much more economical than iPad)
- NC Headphones (Personally I found these very useful. My NC headphones have transparency mode which allows me to select how “present” I am in my environment)
- Noise canceling headphones can be helpful in reducing distractions in grad office/lab environments. Noise that requires processing (e.g., speech in the environment) can cause students to lose track of their current task. Some students find white noise, lo-fi or other productivity playlists to be helpful.
- Goodnotes/Notability/Scribe/Notion (Personally I found this very useful. I have applied formatted notetaking tools like those mentioned above to Notion, which syncs my notes to multiple devices and is easy to access from anywhere.)
- A “high tech” version of formatted notebooks/notepads. These can be helpful for students who have difficulties keeping track of their physical objects (i.e., leaving their notebook at home) or have motor control challenges that make handwriting difficult.
- Forest App
- A “high tech” version of the visual timer. This can be helpful for students who have difficulties keeping track of their physical objects. Personally, I have a physical visual timer at my home office and work office.
- iPad
- Infrastructure
- Zoom/Teams/VC
- ND students may prefer video conferencing meetings in certain contexts. For example, a student may prefer to work from home and a meeting that requires them to come to campus may disrupt their workflow for that day.
- Slack/Teams/Instant Messaging (Personally I found this very useful. Setting up project channels is a more effective at organizing conversations rather than hunting through email threads.)
- Platforms such as Slack offer a way to maintain contextual information within channels for a given project and 3rd party plugins for reminders/task assignments. This can be beneficial over email messaging.
- Otter AI/Meeting Summarization Tools (Personally I found this very useful. The AI notetaking tools can be hooked into reminders/calendars as well.)
- ND individuals may have challenges taking thorough notes and participating in meetings at the same time. AI summary tools can offload the task of notetaking so that students can be engaged in meetings.
- Zoom/Teams/VC
Finding Support
Universities are often ill-equipped to address the specific needs of neurodivergent (ND) students pursuing PhDs. Traditional accommodations provided by university disability offices, such as extra time on exams or extensions for assignments, are designed for undergraduate or coursework-based programs and do not align with the needs of doctoral-level work. Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) or similar support systems, which primarily focus on addressing acute mental health issues, also fall short of providing the kind of coaching and ongoing support that many ND students require. These offices often prioritize resolving advisor-advisee disputes rather than fostering strong, proactive mentoring relationships that could benefit ND students. Additionally, university disability offices may lack the knowledge or resources to effectively support ND students, often questioning their requests for specific tools like an iPad, which might not seem essential to someone unfamiliar with the challenges of ND individuals.
One of the hurdles is that students themselves may not always know what accommodations or tools they need, as there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Opportunities to test assistive technologies and find what works best for their specific needs can be invaluable. However, technology and tools are not foolproof—things can break or malfunction, adding another layer of frustration. It’s crucial for ND students and their mentors to advocate for their needs and make their presence known to university offices, even if expectations for immediate results are low. Additionally, exploring creative solutions outside traditional university structures, such as connecting with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) offices, student organizations, or departmental groups, can sometimes yield faster and more tailored results. These groups often have direct insight into the unique dynamics of PhD programs and faculty relationships, enabling them to address issues more efficiently, even if the approach is less systematic. Despite these challenges, there is reason for optimism. Many students and advocates are working to raise awareness of ND needs at the PhD level, and this growing awareness is leading to incremental but meaningful improvements. Universities are beginning to recognize the value of personalized support and the importance of inclusive practices.
Funding Opportunities
Funding opportunities specifically aimed at supporting ND students in STEM fields can provide essential resources and tools for success. One notable program is AccessComputing (where you are reading this), supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF). This initiative focuses on broadening participation in STEM by providing funding and resources for individuals with disabilities. Information about these and other funding options can be found through NSF’s initiative for supporting persons with disabilities in STEM fields: NSF Supporting Persons with Disabilities in STEM. By leveraging these resources, ND students can access financial support that facilitates their research, accommodations, and professional growth within their field.
Links to Resources
Below, you will find links to resources. Some may not be tailored specifically for ND students.
https://neurodiversity.engineering.uconn.edu/assistive-technology/
https://med.stanford.edu/neurodiversity.html
https://new.nsf.gov/news/nsf-investing-48m-broaden-participation-computing