Managing and supporting student behaviour is an integral part of teaching, with any population and in any educational setting. It can be a particularly significant issue when working with students with exceptionalities who have developmental differences that lead to unexpected behaviours or difficulty following classroom norms. The conversation regarding whether or not classroom norms need to be followed is one worth having, but in this article, we will explore one aspect of differences in nervous system development that can greatly impact behaviour, particularly fight or flight responses.
Our method books, lesson plans and assessment tools in music education are all built around one thing—progress. Students learn a concept, implement it, and then move on to the next, more challenging task. But what about neurodivergent learners whose learning pattern may not be so linear?
