Neurodiversity in Education: Research and Practice

The EARLI SIG15 will come to Valencia in September 2024 with the appealing theme of ‘Neurodiversity in Education: Research and Practice’.

"Neurodivergence" is a non-medical term that describes individuals whose brain develops or works differently from what is considered “neurotypical”. This term emphasises the fact that the human brain has natural variations in the way it processes information. This approach recognises conditions such as autism, dyslexia, ADHD or deafness as facets of human neurodiversity. Hence, through the neurodivergent lens, the educational approach towards children with, for example, autism, dyslexia, ADHD or deafness, both in research and in practice, emphasizes their strengths rather than their limitations.

The goal of the neurodivergent approach appears clear, yet the method of addressing it remains uncertain. The EARLI SIG15 Conference will provide researchers and practitioners with the opportunity to reflect in a robust and collaborative way on the neurodiversity perspective adopted in education by discussing questions such as: Is the neurodiversity perspective a useful epistemological framework?, Which is the purpose of depathologising neurodivergence?, Is it this new perspective applicable to all individuals within the neurodiverse spectrum in education?

The EARLI SIG15 Conference encourages researchers to submit their contributions in Special Educational Needs related to (but not limited to) the neurodiversity perspective. We welcome submissions about the following topics related to Special Educational Needs and neurodiversity in education, here are some examples of what could fit in the conference:

-Academic achievement (including, for example, maths, or reading)’s assessment and intervention for SEN students.
-Inclusive pedagogy and digitally supported learning.
-The influence of educational digital technology in the learning of students with SEN.
-Effects of school climate in the learning process.
-Influence of cognitive factors in academic functioning of students with SEN.
-Influence of socioemotional factors in academic functioning of students with SEN.
-Parental involvement and academic achievement of students with SEN
-The role of teacher vs student interactions,
-Societal and policy trends...

Please note that the conference theme and the mentioned topics are only meant to inspire submissions, but not to limit their scope. All proposals that address any question related to special educational needs could be considered as a potential submission for the conference!

News: This year there will also be the opportunity to view and test ICT demonstrations, so if you have developed an evidence-based App or tool, you will be able to show it to the conference attendees your demo during a designated time slot at the conference. Check our submission guidelines for more information.

Please note that the EARLI SIG15 Special Educational Needs conference will be held immediately before the EARLI SIG2 Comprehension of Text and Graphics, which will also take place in Valencia. We would like to take this opportunity to strengthen links between both communities, and we plan to organize combined activities, such as joint symposia and / or joint poster sessions, on topics such as struggling digital readers, multimedia to support comprehension of students with special needs, etc. Please contact the organizers if you would like to propose or to participate in such events.

We hope to welcome you in Valencia!

The submission format will be the same for all presentation types (see below). To keep the workload for both participants and reviewers at a lower level, we decided to reduce the allowed length for the submission proposals:

Proposals should be no longer than 600 words, plus a brief abstract that is no longer than 60 words. The word limitation for the proposal does not include references or tables/figures (up to two), which can be added in a pdf file attachment.

The brief abstract should highlight just the main idea or important results of the research. It will be printed in the conference program.

Please note: Both empirical and theoretical contributions are welcome!

For empirical contributions, the proposal should be written concisely and include a brief background and the motivation for the conducted research as well as sufficient information regarding the research questions, design, sample, methods, and (if already present) results with important conclusions. Of course, it will not be possible to include a comprehensive theoretical background for the work in the short proposals and this is not expected. Please focus on making sure that the added value and the quality of your own research stand out in the submission.

For theoretical contributions, the proposal should be written concisely and include a review of previous literature with diverse perspectives on a topic and build on existing work in the field. They can include a data section, or extend the current theory literature without including data. It should become clear what is original about the contribution and why it is important with respect to theory and/or practice. In addition, it should highlight how the contribution is relevant to the SIG 15 topics in particular and the implications of the contribution for theory and/or practice.

Presentation Formats

The conference will have three presentation formats that will allow participants to present work in different stages and also make room to discuss work in progress.

Please note that authors will be asked to indicate which of the three presentation formats they prefer during the submission process. The final decision on the presentation format will be made based on the review results and the fit of the proposed work to the scope of the SIG 15 conference.

1) Oral Paper Presentation

This is the standard format that gives participants the opportunity to present and discuss the results from recently completed research as well as work in progress but in the late stages. The paper proposals that receive the most favorable reviews and that fit well to the conference’s scope will be allocated to the 20-minute oral presentation format (15 minutes presentation and 5 minutes discussion).

We will try to keep the conference single-tracked. Thus, invitations for oral presentations will be highly selective. Other paper proposals that fall within the scope of the conference and are of sufficient scientific quality will be invited to submit a poster or to symposia presentation.

2) Research Blitz with Poster

(Oral Single-Track Blitz + Poster Session)

The poster sessions will be of substantial length and scheduled at convenient times during the conference, making this a lively and interactive presentation format to present studies and make interpersonal connections. This format is perfectly suited to present new ideas or work in progress.

To make it possible to introduce the scope and highlights of the presented posters to the entire audience, each presenter will have a maximum of 3 minutes for a blitz-introduction to their research. The blitz session will take place before the poster sessions to raise interest and awareness of presented topics in order to support more lively discussions.

For the posters we recommend a maximum size of A0 (portrait or landscape format).

3) Demos: Demos/ICT Demonstrations allow presenters to display, explain and familiarise users with a potentially useful teaching or research tool or method. The presentation may include references to completed research, but the point of the presentation is to demonstrate the tool, not present the research for criticism. Demos will be scheduled individually in poster sessions.

Requirements for preparing an ICT demonstration: • An abstract of 60 words. • An extended summary of 600 words, detailing the purpose and the characteristics of the tool or method to be presented, the demonstration activities planned, and its significance for research and/or educational applications.

4) Symposia

Symposia present research on one topic or theme, providing a coherent set of papers for discussion. Symposium sessions consist of 3-4 oral paper presentations and the discussant’s contribution. For symposia, please submit an overarching abstract of 100-150 words describing the contents and purpose(s) of the symposium. Furthermore, please submit for each paper a short abstract of 60 words + extended summary of max. 600 words. Symposia are directed by a chairperson, who should be one of the presenters. In symposia, participants should come from at least two different countries. Please note that every participant must register individually.

Please Note: Number of Submissions

You are welcome to submit more than one proposal for the conference!

The number of co-authored presentations is not limited. However, the first author is expected to be the presenting author and to be registered for the conference.

How to Submit Your Proposal

To submit a proposal, you will need an EARLI account. If you do not have an EARLI account yet, simply create one here – it’s free of charge.

The SIG 15 conference submission system will open on December 15th, 2023.And will be open until February 18th, 2024 at 23h59 (UTC +1).

Note: All submissions should be completely anonymous to ensure a fair and blind review process. Therefore, please make sure that you do not include any names or institution names in your submission or in the attached pdf file.

Please adhere to the submission guidelines. Most importantly, make sure that your abstract is no longer than 60 words and the proposal (excluding references) is no longer than 600 words. If you wish to add references and tables/figures (up to two), you are invited to send them in a separate pdf file.

To submit your proposal via the EARLI system, please follow these steps:

• Log into the EARLI system.
• Go to “My submissions” and click on the right side on "+New Submission" (green button).
• Select the correct conference (SIG 15 Conference 2024) from the list and click on "+New Submission" on the right side.
• Fill in the form with the basic data for your proposal and click on "Save Draft" (green button).
• Then click on "Paper Info" in the upper list and fill in the three fields (Abstract, Summary, and Accepting Formats).
• Then go to "Paper Meta Data" (this only works if the previous fields have been filled in correctly) and enter the remaining information.
• Either click on "Save Draft" for intermediate saving or "Save & Submit" to finally submit your proposal.

Please note: For each submission, a presenting author is needed. If your proposal is accepted, the presenting author will need to register for the conference in order to schedule the proposal.

REVIEW CRITERIA

Important criteria for the review process will be:

For empirical contributions:

• Relevance for the domain of SIG 15 (Special Educational Needs)

• Scientific quality of the research rationale and study design

• Clarity, coherence, and conciseness of the submission

• Significance for theory and practice

• Soundness of research methods and design

• Quality of (preliminary) analyses and conclusions

For theoretical contributions:

• Relevance for the domain of SIG 15 (text and graphics comprehension)

• Originality and quality of the research rationale

• Clarity, coherence, and conciseness of the submission

• Significance for theory (advancing the field) and practice

• Soundness of theoretical argumentation

• Quality of inferences

The reviewers will be asked to rate the respective criteria on a scale from 0–100%. However, if you are presenting work in progress, please clearly indicate the current state of the work and in which state you will be able to present the research to allow to consider this information in the review process.