Natalie Holdren, Education Specialist Credential Coordinator (Extensive Support Needs) in UCSB’s Teacher Education Program, will give the Zoom lecture “Neurodiversity on Campus: Student-Centered Services and Faculty Support” on Tuesday, December 7 from 2 – 3:15 pm. The webinar is sponsored by the UCLA Tarjan Center in collaboration with Santa Barbara City College. Registration is required. Please register online.
While the increase in the number of students on the autism spectrum that are entering college is encouraging, statistics show that they continue to have lower completion rates than their peers. This webinar will consider some of the barriers that students on the spectrum face in navigating postsecondary education, especially during times of Covid-19, and will share strategies one California community college has implemented to provide student-centered services and faculty and staff training using a neurodiversity perspective. In addition to her work at UCSB, Dr. Holdren is an educational consultant for Santa Barbara City College (SBCC).
This webinar will provide an overview of the ways SBCC has worked to facilitate student success through a package of supports that embrace a neurodiversity perspective, student-centered approaches, and faculty and staff training. Holdren will also share the struggles, student feedback, and lessons SBCC has learned with the hope of creating dialogue around promising practices for meeting student needs and the next steps for moving this work forward.
UCLA’s the Tarjan Center, a University Center for Excellence in Disabilities Education, Research and Service, is a catalyst for collaboration, innovation, and systems change to advance the self-determination and inclusion of all people with disabilities. It serves as a bridge between the resources of the university and local, state, and international organizations, agencies, policy makers, people with disabilities and their families.
Holdren is an alumna of the Gevirtz School (Ph.D., Education, ’17, M.Ed., ’06, Education Specialist Credential – Moderate/Severe, ’05).