How much support should you provide?
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You may be unsure how to respond to the academic needs of students with disabilities.
Boundaries are a critical element in social engagement, but can be subtle and hard to distinguish, especially for students with social communication or mental health difficulties, those with Asperger's syndrome or autism.
Because of this academic staff can sometimes find themselves becoming inappropriately over-involved with the needs of individual students. This can lead to students having unrealistic expectations and becoming overly dependent.
You may need to think quite carefully about your role – about what you can provide and what is the proper responsibility of someone else.
- Be clear about what you can and cannot offer and the time you have available.
- Ask for advice from more experienced colleagues, but be careful to preserve confidentiality.
- Find out if your institution has any guidance or training materials on working with students with particular disabilities.
- Know how to refer the student to other sources of appropriate support.
- Is pastoral support part of your role, or is this the responsibility of someone else in your department?
- Do you know about the role played by other staff in the institution whose responsibility it is to support students, particularly those with mental health difficulties?
- Remember, it is not your responsibility to ‘fix’ a student’s problem.