What the LEANS resource pack is, and isn’t!
✘ A one-off activity or event. | ✔ LEANS is cohesive curriculum with a progression of ideas and content across units. It is designed to be delivered over one term or longer, setting the class up to apply and reflect on this idea over time. |
✘ A “pick n’ mix” collection of stand-alone neurodiversity activities and tools. | ✔ The LEANS materials are a set, designed for delivery in a certain order—and many will make little sense out of-sequence! The LEANS Teacher Handbook explains why we discourage people from picking and mixing. |
✘ A neuroscience teaching resource. | ✔ For pupils, LEANS is light on brains and neurons. It does discuss information processing throughout, but focuses on people’s experiences. |
✘ A skills programme or intervention for children who are struggling socially or academically. | ✔ LEANS is designed for whole-class delivery, to upskill everyone about what neurodiversity is. It does not teach study skills or interpersonal skills—and tries to be minimally prescriptive about the “right” things to do. |
✘ A programme that trains teachers or gives “top tips” on how to teach neurodivergent pupils | ✔ In the teacher-facing materials, LEANS gives a grounding on neurodiversity terms and concepts, and discusses how to teach about this topic sensitively and successfully. |
✘ An anti-bullying programme for schools. | ✔ LEANS talks about how our actions can impact others, but is not suitable as an anti-bullying tool. We’d encourage you to seek a dedicated programme. |
✘ A tool to tackle school exclusions, or anxiety around school attendance. | ✔ While LEANS seeks to increase accepting attitudes and actions in the school environment, it’s not a silver bullet. It was not designed to address these situations. |
✘ Only for children with diagnoses of conditions like dyslexia, ADHD, Tourette’s, or autism. | ✔ LEANS is not a psychoeducation programme, and doesn’t give lists of facts about diagnoses. It discusses a range of experiences, including people without diagnoses. |
✘ A diagnostic tool, to something that encourages people to identify themselves or others as neurodivergent. | ✔ LEANS is a not a diagnostic tool. It does not encourage participating people to label themselves in any particular way, or include activities that ask people to label or sort themselves. It does encourage people to think of themselves as a member of neurodiverse groups. |
✘ The right choice in every classroom. | ✔ Classrooms need to individually assess their suitability for LEANS. Our self-evaluation exercise in The LEANS Teacher Handbook can help you do this. |
Community FAQ
We aim to regularly update this FAQs section, as we hear from people who are using LEANS or considering it for their school.