SEL Social Emotional Learning

ISLES Members, As an organization, we would like to create a position statement advocating that neurodiversity is considered when planning for diversity, equity and inclusion in our international school communities. After several months of research, discussion and drafting, the ISLES board and ISLES members (through ISLES Connect), the following draft statement was created (below). As an ISLES member, your feedback is welcome and valued as we move toward finalizing this position statement. In the comments in this Forum, please provide both WARM feedback (verbiage/ideas that resonate with you, you can endorse, or you believe are important to include in the statement) and COOL feedback (verbiage/ideas with which you disagree or question, are unclear, or you do not believe are important to include in the statement). Please submit your feedback before Friday, January 6, 2023.

DRAFT ISLES Neurodiversity Position Statement ISLES is committed to developing leadership capacity and systems-level expertise for high quality student support in international schools. Systems of student support are only high quality when they embrace diversity, facilitate inclusion and ensure equity. Further, we recognize that diversity exists in all forms, including neurodiversity. As defined by Judy Singer, neurodiversity refers to the idea that as a result of natural variation in the brain and cognition, people experience and interact with the world around them in many different ways. There is no one ‘right’ way of thinking, learning and behaving and differences are not inherently pathological. We believe that neurological differences should be recognized and respected as a social category on par with race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability status. When we intentionally build a culture of belonging with strong systems of support, we create high quality educational experiences where all students can thrive.