Neurodivergent peer mentoring and support

Transcript

NARRATOR: In this case study, Jane Goodfellow and Ashley Skinner from North Metropolitan TAFE talk about Eurovision peer mentoring and support.

JANE GOODFELLOW: Thank you for coming in to North Metropolitan TAFE today. Can you tell me a little bit about yourself before we get started?

ASHLEY SKINNER: Yeah. My name is Ashley Skinner. I am a student here. I am diagnosed with ADHD and autism. I have been since I was in my late teens. I'm 20 years old. I've been here for about 5 years, but I've done animation at TAFE for about three.

JANE: So, can you tell us how you started here at TAFE? Which qualification did you start with and where are you now?

ASHLEY: I started as a VET student in high school. I went through the Library course. So, for those 2 years I actually wasn't diagnosed. And that made things a little bit difficult in terms of accessing learning support. Now that I have the diagnosis and I have access to learning support, coming into animation side of things, it's made it easier for me.

JANE: What have you accessed in many years that you've been here?

ASHLEY: I have accessed learning support. Back in my Cert 3 in particular, I used them quite a bit, mostly cause I didn't feel like I had that connection to lectures at the time. They helped in terms of breaking questions down and explaining it a little bit better for me, especially when it came to the theory work.

JANE: Yeah. And think about even library staff. Have you ever accessed anything in the library to support you and you know, how do you feel about going into these spaces and accessing that support?

ASHLEY: I access the library quite a bit, actually. Every Monday I'll go in and ask if I can book a study room. And I do that for lunch time breaks. It's good to get away for from like the loud noise that TAFE can produce. So, myself and some of my classmates will take the time at lunch to go and sit in those study rooms and just get away from it, I guess.

JANE: Yeah, nice quiet space for you to just yeah, regulate again and then go back to class.

ASHLEY: Exactly.

JANE: Yeah. And are you aware of any other students in your class that have disability?

ASHLEY: neurodiversity, yes. Yeah. Very much so. Diagnosed or not, there are quite a few students in the arts industry who are neurodivergent.

JANE: And can you describe any support staff, not just your lecturers, but other support staff at North Metro TAFE that have made a real difference to you and reduced overwhelm and you know, fatigue, that sort of thing in the college?

ASHLEY: The learning support staff help. But of course, the principal lecturers help as well. I'm not pointing fingers. Uh no. Principal lecturers have definitely helped with… when it comes to needing additional support.  If there's something that a lecturer cannot help me with, I find myself going to the principal lecturer.

JANE: So, you find that what really helps you is having a team of people that you can go depending on where you're at and what you need at that particular time.

ASHLEY: Yes.

JANE: Yeah, that's a good answer. What's been the most helpful thing that has been done to help you in your studies, cause you've been particularly successful having gone right from Cert 3 right up to an advanced diploma, which you're now halfway through. Congratulations.

ASHLEY: Thank you.

JANE: What has been the thing that's made the biggest difference for you and your success in, in the way that we've helped you manage your disability.

ASHLEY: Building those relationships with the lecturers has definitely helped. Being on that, like I guess this you can consider it like a wavelength. We're on the same sort of wavelength. I can point out a few particular lecturers that are that I sort of relate to more, but that doesn't mean that you can't get along with, you know, all of them.

JANE: So what do they do, the ones that, you know, you would like to mention? What do they do that really stands out for you?

ASHLEY: Some of them, a lot of them are like you're able to form that, I wouldn't say it's like a friendship sort of bond, but it's kind of like that. You… sure, it's more of like a professional setting, like it's student / lecturer sort of environment, but to be able to talk to them about what could essentially not just be, you know, your work, but anything, just general life actually helps that relationship quite a lot quite a lot. Of course that doesn't work for everybody, but it helps me quite a bit.

JANE: So them being open and approachable so that you feel comfortable and you feel safe, I suppose, in that environment to go and talk to them about anything.

ASHLEY: Exactly, cause you may get a couple of people or a few people in my class who don't feel they are able to just be open like that. They are more shy, more closed off, but they're still able to talk to those lecturers because they are very much on that open side.

JANE: What strategies have they used in class to help with your neuro divergence?

ASHLEY: Lecturers are pretty flexible. They, some of them are a little bit neurodiverse themselves, so they have an understanding when it comes to not just myself, but other students as well, who are dealing with neurodiversity. Such as allow more time between like tasks. If class is going to start, they'll generally give like 10 minutes at the beginning of each, the beginning of each lesson just to give a bit of time to just settle in and get ourselves logged in or just to adjust to the environment, whatever it may be.

JANE: Is there anything that the lecturers do that actually make it easier for you to access the content?

ASHLEY: Yep. Teaching the same content in two to three different ways. One of my lecturers in particular will put stuff up online prior to actually teaching the content. He'll have it in text format and then he'll have a video demonstrating how it's actually done to teach, to accommodate both those that actually read, have reading learning and then visual learning as well. And then in class when it's actually time to teach that, he will verbalize it.

JANE: Right and what makes him such a great lecturer apart from the strategies? Is there something else that he does that allows you to sort of really connect with the content?

AHSLEY: Yep. One-on-one, if we have a question, he'll come over to us and he will show us how it's done and then he will break it down further if we need further direction. Say I need to find something in Photoshop and that CTRL F ain't working, he will actually come over. He'll find a chair if he's able to and he will actually point it out or he will explain where I can go to find it in multiple different ways, not just one.

JANE: Right. Okay. So he's taking the time to actually connect with you where you need him to be.

ASHLEY: Exactly.

JANE: Excellent. And is there anything that you would suggest to the TAFE to do differently in the future? Is there anything that you think that we could do a little bit better?

ASHLEY: Peer mentoring groups.

JANE: Very good idea. Very good idea. And while we're talking about that, I believe you've started one yourself.

ASHLEY: I have.

JANE: Can you just tell us a little bit about that?

ASHLEY: I run a peer mentoring group on Tuesdays, between like at lunchtime, in one of the study rooms. And it invites not just the Cert 4s, because that's our lower level now, but also Diploma students and even Advanced Diploma students to come and interact with each other. We actually play card games., so we'll play like Uno. That's our main focus at the moment and I will talk to them about their TAFE work, where they're at. I'll ask them where they are at.

JANE: So a no pressure environment, but you're sort of checking and mentoring and making sure everyone's feeling really good about their studies. Yeah, but no lectures there.

ASHLEY: No lectures, no.

JANE: It's all students.

ASHLEY: I feel if a student… Well students may, especially when they first start at TAFE, they may not… they're not going to have the same relationship that I have with the lecturers now. They are new to the environment. They may just want to talk to another like another student who has that ability to talk to someone else about it if they need to. They have that confidence to confide in me if they need to about, I'm not focused or I'm struggling with like my work, I don't know where to begin. I had one student come to me last week actually. I asked him, ‘Where are you at with your with all your assessments?’ And he tells me that he is still focusing on the backgrounds and it's for animation. I told him that it would be best to focus on the actual assessment for now. The assessment requires the actual animation part. Once you get past the animation part, you can focus on the backgrounds and make it look really, really good, but the main focus of the assessment is to show your skill of the actual animation.

JANE: So, you've chunked it for him.

ASHLEY: Yeah. I've I wouldn't say it's not simplifying it. A lot of people get that mixed up when they're trying to explain things. It It's more trying to get to the root of the question and go, ‘This is what actually needs to be done out of everything’, and direct the focus to that. Another way is by scheduling classes between certain days. Now, Mondays have heavy public holidays in Australia. We have quite a few, especially in the first semester and Fridays, we have a couple. I would rather all the classes, if possible, to be scheduled between Tuesdays and Thursdays. We always have stuff on, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It gives time for routine to be set in place. Monday, with all the public holidays being there, it really messes with the schedule. Especially this semester for me, I have struggled and I'm finding it hard to get all my work in. We've had like five or six public holidays, and that's five or six weeks being taken out as a result.

JANE: That's good advice. Ashley, you've been a wonderful advocate for your peers with neurodivergence, so I thank you for that, and you have actually implemented some incredible things here at TAFE. We're really lucky to have you. Thank you so much.

NARRATOR: This video was developed by the Australian Disability Clearinghouse on Education and Training in partnership with the Australian government Department of Employment and Workplace Relations. For further information on building inclusive practices and supporting students with disability, visit our website adcet.edu.au