LD@3 Empowering Neurodivergent students: creating a peer mentoring model for, and in partnership with, Neurodivergent students at the London School of Economics

The transition to higher education for students who identify as Neurodivergent can be marked by high levels of stress and anxiety, and may be shaped by their poor prior educational experiences (Bhandari & Rainford 2023). Therefore, if arguably many Neurodivergent students enter higher education expecting an inferior educational experience, as Learning Developers how can we work with these students to improve their time in higher education, especially considering the diversity of Neurodivergent students’ experiences? The London School of Economics has had an extensive Student Academic Mentoring (SAM) programme since 2017. The SAM programme’s dual key aims are to improve students’ wellbeing and sense of belonging through peer-to-peer mentoring. In 2021 a student proposal was brought to us to pilot a branch of SAM for Neurodivergent students. In this session I would like to show you the story so far of our response to that proposal and our experience of partnering with our students to make this proposal become a reality. I will take you through year 1 of our pilot and identify the important lessons the SAM team learnt along the way by collaborating with our Neurodivergent mentors and mentees, including our plans for improvements and expansion in phase 2 of the pilot next academic year. For Learning Developers who are keen to improve their provision for Neurodivergent students, I hope this presentation may inspire other institutions to look for more ways to work directly with students who identify as Neurodivergent and highlight the benefits of working with these students in the co-creation of initiatives designed specifically to support them.

Presenter: Jenny Stowar, Learning Developer, London School of Economics