A key part of the Neurodiversity Project is to collate and share resources from across the university.
From little things big things grow! We are starting to collate this list, and this page will feature a growing list of resources for staff and students. Please check back as this page will be regularly updated as resources are shared with us.
Please reach out to us if you have neurodiversity-affirming resources that you would like to feature on this page.
Neurodiversity-Affirming Research
This section contains research the project team has found useful. Please get in touch if you have articles you would like us to share here (especially if they are your own!). These might be sharable articles or recordings of research presentations.
Note: we realise there is a current bias towards studies on Autism — this isn't intentional! We are looking at other articles and welcome suggestions of neurodiversity-affirming articles for other neurotypes.
Neurodiversity and the physical environment
Creating the conditions for inclusion: Investigating optimal physical spaces for supporting neurodivergent staff and postgraduate students
Useful for: Everyone! The objective of this pilot project was to investigate the lived experiences of current postgraduate students and staff within a university faculty who have self-identified as having sensory differences.
Research from other institutions
Neurodiversity 101
Annual Research Review: Shifting from ‘normal science’ to neurodiversity in autism science
Useful for: Everyone! Go read it now! (Especially anyone conducting Autism research or research on other neurodivergent populations)
Pellicano, E., & den Houting, J. (2022). Annual Research Review: Shifting from ‘normal science’ to neurodiversity in autism science. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 63(4), 381–396. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13534
Neurodivergent strengths
Considering the Autistic advantage in qualitative research: The strengths of Autistic researchers
Tags: Autism, Strength-based, Qualitative research, Researchers
Useful for: Qualitative researchers, Autistic researchers
Grant, A., & Kara, H. (2021). Considering the Autistic advantage in qualitative research: The strengths of Autistic researchers. Contemporary Social Science, 16(5), 589–603. https://doi.org/10.1080/21582041.2021.1998589
The strengths and abilities of autistic people in the workplace
Tags: Strengths, Employment, Autism
Useful for: Changing conversations in working with autistic colleagues from deficit discourse to celebrating strengths (so useful for everyone!)
Health and well-being
Autistic well-being: A scoping review of scientific studies from a neurodiversity-affirmative perspective
How to conduct neuro-inclusive research
Avoiding Ableist Language: Suggestions for Autism Researchers
Neuro-inclusive teaching and learning
“It Seems Like I’m Doing Something More Important”—An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of the Transformative Impact of Research Experiences for STEM Students with ADHD.
Tags: ADHD, STEM, Creative problem-solving, ADHD strengths in research
Useful for: Educators (especially in STEM but findings are very generalisable to other subject areas), anyone with ADHD, especially if you are struggling with formulaic-feeling courses and/or are thinking about going into research.
Zaghi, A. E., Grey, A., Hain, A., & Syharat, C. M. (2023). “It Seems Like I’m Doing Something More Important”—An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of the Transformative Impact of Research Experiences for STEM Students with ADHD. Education Sciences, 13(8), Article 8. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci1
Dropping out and moving on: A qualitative study of autistic people’s experiences of university
Tags: Autism, university, barriers
Useful for: Staff who interact with students to understand some of the struggles Autistic students have in completing higher education degrees.
Stimulating curriculum and Teaching Innovations to support the mental wellbeing of university students
Tags: Teaching, Well-being, Curriculum
Useful for: Educators and curriculum designers
Note: Not specifically about neurodivergent students but provides good tips about supporting student wellbeing more broadly (which includes neurodivergent students of course!)
Baik, C., Larcombe, W., Wyn, J., Allen, L., Brett, M., Field, R., James, R., & Brooker, A. (2017). Stimulating curriculum and teaching innovations to support the mental wellbeing of university students. Australian Government Department of Education and Training. http://hdl.handle.net/11343/217777
Support Services for Neurodivergent Students
Here is a list of some of the helpful support services for neurodivergent students at the University of Melbourne.
Please note: this list is by no means exhaustive. We will continue to add items throughout 2025.
Advice for Neurodivergent Students
| Support Service | Description | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Counselling and Psychological Services (CAPS) Neurodivergent programs | Counselling and Psychological Services (CAPS) has recorded a series of webinars to provide students with neurodiversity-affirming information on Autism and ADHD, as well as tips and strategies for Autistic students and ADHDers. Please see the CAPS website for more information about these webinars. |
|
| Academic Skills | Academic Skills provides one-on-one advice, workshops and resources to help you develop the communication and study skills that will set you up to succeed in your next assignment, upcoming semester, further study, and career outside of university. Available to every enrolled student and graduate researcher at the University of Melbourne, our services support you to continually improve your academic skills, including writing, critical evaluation, time management, collaboration and more. |  |
| If you suspect that you or your adult child has a maths learning difficulty or Dyscalculia, please complete this form to organise for someone from the Maths Learning Difficulties and Dyscalculia service to contact you about an appointment date and time. We use a series of tests that we have found, from our research, provide the most accurate picture of an individual's basic understanding of number. Our battery of tests was recently updated to include appropriate measures for older students and adults. All testing takes place on Fridays at the University of Melbourne Psychology Clinic (Level 2, 138-146 Cardigan Street, Carlton) and lasts up to 1 hour 15 minutes (with a 10-minute break after approximately 40 minutes, if needed). There is a $407 fee for testing (including GST), which includes the report which will be sent to you about three weeks after testing. We do not offer an intervention program equivalent to the one offered for school-age students. However, when we send out the adult reports, we include some links to materials that you can access to assist you in managing number manipulation. The invoice will be sent to you directly from the University of Melbourne after the report has been completed. | |
| University of Melbourne Health Service ADHD diagnosis and treatment | This website provides information about about the process for an ADHD diagnosis in Victoria and provides a list of services that may be able to support you with this process. |  |
| University of Melbourne Psychology Clinic | This University of Melbourne clinic provides psychological assessment and therapy, and have multiple psychological service options staffed by a combination of student clinicians and fully qualified psychologists. | |
Support Groups for Neurodivergent Students
| Support Service | Description | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Counselling and Psychological Services (CAPS) Neurodivergent programs | Counselling and Psychological Services (CAPS) runs a 6-week, in-person support group for students with a formal diagnosis of ADHD. Please see the CAPS website for more information about this new initiative. |
|
Resources for Staff and Graduate Researchers
Inclusive Teaching Resources
Dr. Matthew Harrison, Dr. Jessica Riordan and Dr. Sarah Timperley
| Resource | Link | |
|---|---|---|
Co-Adaptation workshop slides | These slides are designed to support staff in facilitating their own co-adaptation workshops, where academics can work in partnership with students to modify an assessment task, a teaching resource, a process or an activity to make it more inclusive for neurodivergent students (and hopefully improve the learning experience for everyone). The slides contain the process that we have developed and some guiding steps in how to facilitate these workshops but please reach out if you have any questions. | |
| Co-Adaptation prompts for surveys | This document contains prompts that you can use to guide students in giving feedback, and prompts for supporting academic staff to reflect on the feedback they have received from the students. We recommend putting these prompts into two surveys (one survey for the students, and one survey for the academic staff). These prompts are also included in the Co-Adaptation Workshop slides. Click the link icon to download the Co-Adaptation prompts for surveys (.docx file) | |
External resources and groups
| Resource | Description | Link |
|---|---|---|
RECON (Research and Collaboration for Neurodiversity) Facebook group | RECON is a community specially for women and nonbinary scholars in academia and STEM. Created and run by Hannah Riskas, a neurodivergent PhD candidate at La Trobe, this grass-roots community welcomes staff and research students from anywhere in the world. Connect via Facebook for research advice, tips, community, collaboration opportunities, and help to develop a collaborative database to connect neurodivergent researchers with similar interests. | |
Webinar Resources
Supporting Neurodivergent Students by Connect. Inspire. Share.
Association for Academic Language and Learning (AALL)
Supporting neurodiverse students as an ALL practitioner requires a multifaceted approach that addresses their unique needs and leverages their strengths. This panel brought together experts from five Australian universities to present evidence-based strategies for creating an inclusive and supportive learning environment. The panellists shared their experiences working one-on-one with neurodiverse students, discussing both successes and challenges.
Panel members:
- Matt Harrison – Senior Lecturer in Learning Intervention, University of Melbourne
- Jessica Riordan – Research Project Leader, University of Melbourne
- Tiana Blazevic – Academic Learning Advisor and Disability Support Project Officer, University of Adelaide
- Kathy French – PASS Program Coordinator, University of Tasmania
- Rebekah Clarkson – Learning Advisor, University of South Australia
- Kevan Jones – Academic Learning Advisor, University of Queensland
Download the lecture slides here.
Recorded 21 August 2024.
We are excited to share these recordings of presentations at our first ever research symposium. During this event we had researchers from a wide variety of faculties share their neurodiversity-affirming research, or neurodivergent researchers sharing their research in their field of interest. It was a wonderful celebration of neurodiversity-inclusion at the University of Melbourne.
Keynote Address: Breaking barriers and celebrating differences: Insights from our 2024 Neurodivergent Student Needs-Analysis
Dr. Jessica Riordan (She/Her)
Co-Lead of the University of Melbourne Neurodiversity Project and Research Fellow at the Faculty of Education
Keynote Address: Insights from our 2024 staff needs analysis
Dr. Sarah Timperley (She/Her)
Co-Lead of the University of Melbourne Neurodiversity Project and Research Fellow at the Faculty of Education
Let it go – A review on how Information Systems in Higher Education Institutions can hold back neurodivergent students
Susan Sheldrick (She/Her)
Graduate Researcher, School of Computing and Information Systems
Exploring the Intersection of Gender & Neurodiversity in School Avoidance and Exclusion
J Paterson (She/They)
Graduate Researcher, Faculty of Education
Emerging Insights from the Early Childhood Teacher and Educator Neurodiversity Project
Dr. Ame Christiansen (She/Her)
Lecturer, Faculty of Education
Neurodiversity in the trans community: Findings and reflections from the TRANSform project
Eli Ward-Smith (They/Them)
Graduate Researcher, Department of Medicine
Dr. Julian Grace (They/Them)
Research Fellow, Department of Medicine
Obsessive Questions About Darkness & Light: The Autistic Art of Researching Back
Caitlin McGregor (They/Them)
Graduate Researcher, Faculty of Arts
Embracing my neurodiverse brain when building a career in academia
A/Prof Karen Lamb (She/Her)
Principal Research Fellow – Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health
Autistic Leaders' Lived Experience and Leadership Development
Dr. Ju Nah (Juna) Tan (She/Her)
Discovery Subject Tutor, Department of Accounting
Prof. Michael Davern (He/Him)
Chair of Accounting and b.i.s, Department of Accounting
Communicating the Autistic Voice in Drama Activities
Luke Ingram
This recording was shared as a bonus presentation at the Celebrating Neurodiversity Research Symposium.