LEANS Community challenges

In 2022, LEANS team members at SMRC and our partner charity the Salvesen Mindroom Centre ran the LEANS Community (LEANS-C) impact project, which was all about creating longer-term impact from the LEANS resources. This funding enabled us to introduce free LEANS companion resources for parents and carers, and launch our LEANS Champions programme, providing free direct support.

LEANS-C has really been about moving information, tools and momentum out of our small, central team and into the wider community. We’d like to wrap up this chapter of the project by posing two community challenges, encouraging everyone to get involved.

The issue: There are reams of educational resources and many educational priorities. What issues matter most? What stuff is good? (and what is neurodiversity, anyway?!)

We challenge YOU to… share LEANS and other neurodiversity resources with the people or organisations you know. If you think it’s important for schools to understand and teach about neurodiversity, speak up and share stuff they can use! A personal recommendation about a resource, book, training course, or anything else can be memorable and convincing in the midst of all the confusion—whether you are an education professional, a parent, a researcher, third sector, or are another member of the community.

Don’t forget that you could also recommend LEANS or neurodiversity content to an organisation—can they list or suggest these items, when others come seeking information on their website or from their team?

The issue: So far, there aren’t groups or networks where people interested in LEANS (or neurodiversity teaching and learning) can meet one another and talk about these topics.

We challenge YOU to… set up a venue for interested people to talk about the LEANS resources, and/or wider issues around neurodiversity and education. After many discussions, our team agreed that this is a place for community members to lead the way with what they want to talk about, in the places they can best access!

A network or group could be almost anything—a Facebook group, a mailing list, a monthly meet-up at the local library, a wiki, Reddit, a seminar series, a special interest group within a professional association, or something else! It doesn't have to be big, fancy, or often. It’s also OK if it’s limited to people in a particular location, profession, or within an existing organisation (for example, the NHS).

Do you know of an existing group, or are you starting one? Are you looking for one? Please share it on our LEANS Communities Padlet! This is like a virtual noticeboard with sections for UK/ROI, rest of the world/international groups, professional groups, and research groups. You DO NOT need to create an account or log in to add to this Padlet; just click and go.

LEANS Communities Padlet

Please note that the Padlet is a pilot. If it’s not working for people or we have issues with inappropriate content, we may move this information somewhere else, such as a page on the LEANS website. Thanks for your understanding.