Academic Writing, Assessment, and Neurodiversity

The number of students with specific learning difficulties entering higher education has increased dramatically over the last decade, yet academic support for these students is often insufficient. This innovative book will equip teaching staff with the tools to support these students with learning and assessment, arming them with the skills they need to excel in higher education. Combining a scholarly rationale for inclusive pedagogies with practical strategies for busy practitioners, the book uses accessible and meaningful inclusive techniques based on the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), the theory of Complementary Cognition, and the author’s own principles of compositional pictography to show how educators can harness students' differing cognitive strengths and help them to use them to their own advantage. The book demonstrates how the challenges associated with learning differences are manifested in student writing and assessment, with chapters covering such topics as: How to scaffold support to develop the areas students find challenging. How to deploy metaphorical and visual pedagogies to develop approaches to studying and writing. How to make assessment design more inclusive. Presenting an inclusive, practical, and research-informed pedagogical approach to the teaching of academic writing, this practical guide is an essential read for anyone supporting higher education students with assessment, including tutors, lecturers, learning developers, and disability advisors.