What is it like to be a student with autism? “I cannot fully function at university”
Overstimulation, unclear deadlines and professors with insufficient teaching skills: for many students with autism, university is a source of frustration. What can teachers do to make life more pleasant for these students? Folia took the UvA course Autism in Education.
Change is the hardest thing, says UvA student Hanna*, who was diagnosed with autism at the age of 14. “The transition from primary to secondary school was difficult, but studying at university was quite a shock, despite my preparation.”
The pace was much faster than in secondary school. Hanna: “If someone tells me something, I often have fifteen follow-up questions straight away. There is often no time or space for that at the university. Sometimes something is explained very briefly or incompletely and then I immediately build on that, while I am still left with uncertainties. Because of this lack of clarity, I lose track and then I panic.”
No filter
Clarity is the key word for students with autism, as is evident from the Autism in Education workshop that is organised twice a year at the Faculty of Science by the student psychologists of the University of Amsterdam and the Teaching & Learning Centre (TLC) Science. Ten teachers are present at the beginning of February because they have questions about supervising theses of students with autism, or want more tools to help students in education.
“There is no one size fits all,” student psychologist Joline Peters starts with a disclaimer. “Autism is a spectrum: everyone is different. People with autism process information differently than most people. Simply put, they process a lot of information at the same time because they have no filter. So all external stimuli come in.”
Autism falls under the concept of “neurodiversity”Neurodiversity is broader than just autism; it also includes ADHD, dyslexia and dyscalculia., which refers to the diversity of brains in general. According to some researchers, the term neurodiversity would be more suitable because it emphasises that people’s brains differ and people with autism are not “sick” or have a “disorder”, but simply have a different wiring. Peters also agrees with this approach. “I have noticed that if you adapt the environment, people with autism function very well. So it’s just a question of how we have set up the system.
How can you best adapt the study environment for people with autism? That starts with the syllabus, says Peters. “Make sure it is clear and complete. And that also applies to choosing groups: make it clear which groups of students can choose themselves and which you choose as a teacher. It doesn’t matter which form you choose, but make sure students know what to expect.”
Then there are the assignments, which are sometimes so vaguely described that students have to make assumptions in order to get started. Peters: “That is very difficult for students with autism, because making something up ‘just like that’ is not in their vocabulary.” Sudden deadline changes can also cause a lot of stress, especially if it is not clear
what the new plan is. Peters: “Clarity, predictability and structure are important. And in the end, all students benefit from that.”
Tension
Sometimes there is an area of tension between supervision for students with autism and the independent nature of the university. For example, students with autism often have many questions when writing their thesis. Teachers can have the idea that they are guiding the student too much by answering all these questions.
How far do you go in this? The general rule is that a teacher should help to the extent that a student can meet the learning objectives independently. A teacher who supervises a student with autism with the thesis asks the group what you can do if you suspect that a student could use more help than you can offer. In that case, it is always good to refer the student to the study advisor, who can help the student further.
Feeling embarrassed
As a student with autism, you are not only eligible to psychological support and extra time for exams. Since 2006, there has also been practical study guidance for students with autism, organised by student psychologists from the University of Amsterdam (UvA). Finding an exam hall or making a schedule can be a challenge for students with autism.
The UvA currently employs nine student assistants and one intern who provide weekly study guidance to students with autism. Eighty students at the UvA with a diagnosis of autism make use of this service.
The number of students with autism at the UvA is probably much higher. 1 to 2 percent of the Dutch population has autism, which would mean that at the UvA, with over forty thousand students, there are between four hundred and eight hundred students with autism.
Master’s student of journalism Koen Bruning (25) is one of them. Last year he wrote the book Op het spectrum (On the Spectrum) about his life with autism. He never asked the university for extra assistance because he did not know that people with autism were also eligible for extra time for exams. He considers himself lucky that he always studied on a small scale, which meant there was enough time for questions and there were always classrooms available where he could work with fewer stimuli.
“I always told my fellow students that I had autism, but when it came to institutional matters, I felt ashamed. I felt like I would be given privileges over other people. When really I just want to be a guy who can study his subjects on an equal footing with others. I eventually managed to do that, but I had to resit statistics six times during my bachelor’s degree. Somehow it just didn’t click for me. But more students have problems with statistics and at the time I didn’t make the link with autism.”
Researcher first and foremost
If the university kept track of who has autism, they would be able to lend a helping hand to students like Koen. Information about which students have autism would also help teachers, participants of the workshop agree. But that information is not public, a student does not have to indicate that he or she has autism, says Peters.
Hanna has made it a habit to email teachers prior to the course and ask if she can stop by for five minutes. “Then I explain that I have trouble with ambiguity and ask what I can expect from the course. That way I can assess the teacher’s attitude. Because of the stigma, I only use the word “autism” if I really get stuck during a course and I know the teacher a little better.”
For Hanna, a good teacher influences whether or not she wants to take a course. “Ideally, you want to choose courses based on the content, but I have noticed that the teacher who conveys the information is equally important. At university, teachers are often primarily researchers, not educators.”
Maths on PowerPoint slides
Good teachers are definitely out there, Hanna assures. These are the teachers who adjust the pace of the lesson to the students’ reception and replace lesson material with question hours if necessary. Things really go wrong for her when teachers share all their information on PowerPoint slides. “There are teachers who present entire mathematical derivations on a PowerPoint slide and then immediately start talking. I don’t know what to focus on and you can’t take in such a huge chunk of maths. A blackboard where you write the calculation along with the teacher is much better.”
In the end, Hanna – like many other students with autism – “was forced” to spread her bachelor’s degree over four years. “That helped, but it didn’t solve everything. I still feel that I cannot fully function at university. I have a high grade point average, which is often what people see. But I have lost count of how many times I have cried in toilet cubicles. And this certainly does not apply to all students with autism, but I do think there are a few other people who feel the same way I do.”
Hanna believes this is due to the education system. “It is too rigid. We are all completely different people, but are ultimately tested in exactly the same way. That doesn’t make sense, does it? It happens out of necessity, as a result of scale.” If she could ask the University of Amsterdam anything, it would be to provide teachers with better training in teaching. And to prioritise the quality of education over the quantity of teaching materials. And then she sighs: “And no more teaching maths with PowerPoint, it really is no longer acceptable.”
Hanna* is a pseudonym for privacy reasons. Her real name is known to the editors.
