Unconscious Bias & Neurodiversity

"That child is not normal."

"He must be one of yours."

"Can't you just take them?"

"I've tried, they can't learn."

In 2023, we've come a long way from institutionalizing our children and adults with disabilities throughout much of the world, however, these statements are still ones that I hear from classroom teachers. In 2020, in the United States, 66% of students being served under IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) spent 80 percent or more in their general education classes (National Center for Education Statistics, 2022). In 2021, 15% of all U.S. public-school students ages 3-21(7.3 million) were students who met the criteria for special education under IDEA (National Center for Education Statistics, 2023). Across the world, the push for inclusive education and overall education for all children continues to be significant (UNESCO, 2020). With one in ten children in the world having disabilities (United Nations, 2021), it is imperative that our teachers are prepared to support all learners. No longer should we be hearing the statements described above, because as Jung et al. (2019) put it, students with disabilities are not your students or my students, but our students.

In her article published in the Atlantic, Jackie Mader (2017) shares the story of Mary Fair, who became a general education teacher in 2012. Fair discusses entering the classroom after graduating from her teacher preparation program, feeling unprepared to support her learners with disabilities. Mader (2017) states, "Many teacher-education programs offer just one class about students with disabilities to their general-education teachers, “Special Ed 101,” as it’s called at one New Jersey college." A 2017-2018 study from the U.S. Department of Education National Center for Education Statistics reports 70% of public-school general education teachers took coursework in serving students with special education needs prior to their first year of teaching in comparison to 49% of private school general education teachers reporting doing so, leaving 30% of public-school educators and 51% of private school educators without any coursework on serving our neurodivergent populations.

The lack of appropriate teacher education to support all learners is not isolated to the United States; In Israel, where students with disabilities are included in the mainstream general education classroom, a qualitative study finds that teacher training is insufficient when it comes to teaching students with disabilities - theoretical courses were nonexistent for general education preservice teachers and preservice teachers studying early-childhood education had the opportunity to take one class over the course of their schooling. Fieldwork for the general education preservice teachers included working in classrooms with students who have disabilities, however, it is noted that these students were never pointed out to the preservice teachers, nor were they provided guidance in how to support these learners. The early-childhood preservice teachers had similar experiences in their fieldwork, however, they were provided the opportunity to visit a special education school which promotes inclusion, but the teachers were not provided the opportunity to observe inclusion in practice. In Malaysia, Rabi et al. (2018) conducted a study with 30 pre-service general education teachers at Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris to identify the importance of the Inclusive Education Course (IEC) offered to UPSI's preservice teachers in four core areas including knowing the characteristics of students with special needs, awareness of teaching techniques to support students with special needs, attitudes towards special needs students, and, and inclusive education policies. The findings of this study confirm the authors' hypothesis that although the general education teachers are not special education certified, the incorporation of courses focusing on education enhances their effectiveness in the inclusive classroom.

Studies such as that from Kelly et al. (2014) prove that while policies and laws can provide guidelines for inclusive education, in order to truly see a difference in the education of neurodivergent students, we must provide a professional development, coursework, and field work to current and pre-service teachers which cultivates awareness and skills in working with students with disabilities.

Reviewing Unconscious Bias

Unconscious bias, also known as implicit bias, are innate biases we hold which affect our attitudes and actions and have been built through our cultures, values, families, etc. Unconscious bias, when left unchecked can lead to having stereotypical ideas about others, prejudice, or even discriminatory behavior.

Quiz: Checking Your Unconscious/Implicit Bias when it comes to Physical Disabilities

Unconscious Bias, Neurodiversity, and Neurodivergence

Unconscious bias can deeply affect our ability to cultivate safe, just, and equitable educational spaces for all learners in a variety of ways. Some examples include:

• Unconsciously preferring specific students due to their neurological behaviors such as memory, processing speed, and problem solving ability.
• Assuming certain students will succeed at tasks/activities/content better than others due to their neurological behaviors.
• Displaying micro aggressive behavior towards individuals who inhabits traits others may perceive as 'abnormal'. These aggressions can occur explicitly through exclusion of groups, events etc. or in a more subtle way such as being talked down to.
• Using students who are neurodivergent as 'tokens' and repetitively praising them publicly more often than other students.
• Utilizing language such as 'crazy' to describe individual's traits and/or behavior.
• Assuming a student does not need an accommodation or providing accommodations the student does not need without having a conversation with the student themselves.

Combatting Our Unconscious Bias as Educators

In order to combat our unconscious bias, we must first recognize and become aware of it's existence. By recognizing and becoming aware, we can gain the ability to pause and assess situations, hone into our higher order blooms taxonomy thinking, and make a decision only after we've checked ourselves. Now, as teachers, we make anywhere from 1,500 decisions a day to more (Klein, 2021). Life is busy, situations move quickly, and we make mistakes. Providing ourselves with grace as we learn and grow is vital while simultaneously working to overcome our unconscious bias. Some tips on overcoming unconscious bias, particularly when working with students with disabilities include:

1. Educate Yourself & Your Team: Professional development is a key piece of working as an educator. By engaging in PD focused on unconscious bias as well as on topics which we may have unconscious bias towards, we have the opportunity to develop, enhance skills, knowledge, and effectiveness in various areas.
2. Embrace the Discomfort: It can be uncomfortable and initially discouraging to become aware of our implicit bias. However, once we are able to embrace and lean into the discomfort, we consequently gain a greater ability to reflect, have hard conversations, and admit when we might be wrong.
3. Spend Time with Individuals Different from Yourself: Imagine that you have a hobby...let's say...skateboarding. You love to skateboard! The people you spend time with love to skateboard! It's great when you hang out because you have the same interests which allows for easy conversation and opportunities to partake in your shared activity. However, if you only ever spend time with your skateboard friends, you may only ever be hearing from people who agree with you and think you are right, which inhibits your personal growth as other opinions are not being considered. Your friends might say that you are the best skater...and you might believe them and stop trying to improve or learn from others. Furthermore, if you only ever spend time with your skateboard friends, you will miss the opportunity to spend time with people who love to cook, or draw, or play music, or read! By missing out on these people, your mind is less likely to become open to new ideas. When we spend time with individuals who have different interests, we cultivate a wider and more diverse toolbox to solve problems, communicate, and create. Finally, if you only ever spend time with your skateboard friends, you might get stuck in the skateboard bubble. You might miss cooking, drawing, music, and reading cultures and experiences altogether, limiting your perspective and growth.
4. Practice Intercultural Communication Strategies:

• Start with Inquiry: Be curious about others, their background, and who they are as human beings while avoiding assumptions based on what you think rather than know about a specific individual
• Engage in Empathetic Dialogue: When conversing with others, seek to build bridges of understanding, tolerance, and acceptance
• Be Aware of Power: When engaging in conversation with others, be aware of power - this could be based on materialistic or symbolic circumstances

References

Gilor, O., & Katz, M. (2017). Teaching Inclusive Classes: What Preservice Teachers in Israel Think About Their Training. Journal of Cognitive Education and Psychology, 16(3), 293–303. https://doi.org/10.1891/1945-8959.16.3.293

Jung, L.A., Frey, N., Fisher, D., and Kroener, J. (2019.) Your students, my students, our students: Rethinking equitable and inclusive classrooms. ASCD.

Klein, A. (2021, December 6). 1,500 Decisions a Day (At Least!): How Teachers Cope With a Dizzying Array of Questions. Education Week. https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/1-500-decisions-a-day-at-least-how-teachers-cope-with-a-dizzying-array-of-questions/2021/12

Mader, J. (2017, March 1). Teacher Training Is Failing Students With Disabilities. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/03/how-teacher-training-hinders-special-needs-students/518286/

National Center for Education Statistics. (2023). Students With Disabilities.?Condition of Education.?U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved June 6, 2023, from?https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cgg.

National Center for Education Statistics. (2022). Students with Disabilities.?Condition of Education. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved June 6, 2023, from?https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cgg.

Rabi, N. M., Ghazali, N. H. C. M., & Piragasam, G. A. G. (2018). The Importance of Inclusive Education Course for Preparing Pre-Service Teacher to Teach Students with Special Needs in School. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 8(11), Pages 1848-1858. https://doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v8-i11/536

UNESCO. 2020. Global Education Monitoring Report 2020: Inclusion and education: All means all. Paris, UNESCO. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000373718/PDF/373718eng.pdf.multi

United Nations. 2021. One in 10 children worldwide live with disabilities. https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/11/1105412

U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS), "Public School Teacher and Private School Teacher Dat a Files," 2017-18.