Neuroinclusive Advising with Rachel Adams and Fred Zinn

Welcome to Ep 138: Neuroinclusive Advising with Rachel Adams and Fred Zinn. Rachel Adams is Associate Director of Education and Training, Disability Services at UMAss Amherst and a Doctoral Candidate, UMass Higher Education and Administration. She offers education and training around disability and also teaches undergraduate students at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Fred Zinn is Associate Director, Digital Learning in the College of Education at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and focuses his practice on teaching teachers how to teach and teaching with technology as well as educating others about accessibility. In today’s conversation, Rachel, Fred, and I discuss how faculty and staff in the role of an advisor can support undergraduate and graduate students, both formally and informally. We discuss best advising practices specifically with a neuro inclusive lens. You’ll hear my new favorite term in today’s conversation “unconditional positive regard” in relation to supporting neurodivergent students, but it seems appropriate to me to use in many other situations. I hope you enjoy this thoughtful conversation on the Think UDL podcast.