Mosaic of Neuro-Affirmative Environments: How Educators and Systems are Centering Neurodiversity

Although inclusive education has expanded and evidence shows neutral to positive outcomes for neurodivergent students without harm to neurotypical peers, more research is needed to understand the school- and program-wide conditions or approaches that facilitate inclusion. Meanwhile, neurodivergent learners, especially those at the intersection of multiple marginalized identities, continue to face systemic barriers, such as exclusionary placements, punitive discipline, and pressure to mask or conform. Research reveals much more about these barriers to inclusion than the system features that sustain it. This research agenda, led by Digital Promise’s Learner Variability Project, asks what works, for whom, and under what conditions. It proposes a multi-phase approach, including a landscape scan of system and policy features linked to inclusion and a case study exploration of programs and schools nominated as neuro-affirming and centering neurodivergent students. Through synthesis and subsequent participatory action research leveraging those findings with a cohort of new sites, programs, and schools, the research aims to assemble a mosaic of neuro-affirming practices for sites can adapt to their own contexts to support neurodivergent learners.