Differing Abilities in STEM

March 25, 2021
Disclaimer

Any content or opinions 

expressed in this webinar are 

not that of the U.S. 

Department of Education nor 

an endorsement of any 

persons, products, programs, 

or policies mentioned herein.
ED STEM Resources

 STEM Webpage www.ed.gov/STEM

 STEM Newsletter www.ed.gov/subscriptions

 Next STEM Webinars: 

 Summer STEM Learning, early May

 Advanced Manufacturing, June

 Ready Now Special Ed Technologies

 Special Ed Technologies Webinar/Recap
Snapshot: Students with Disabilities or Differing Abilities

• SWD score lower on NAEP 

• SWD = 12% of HS population but less than 1% in 

AP courses

• Fewer SWD graduate HS

• ~20% undergrads report a disability, often older

• 28% of undergrad SWD in S&E fields, on par

• SWD leave college w/o degree at higher rates

• S&E w/ disability more likely to be unemployed
Larry Wexler

Director, Research to Practice 

Division, Office of Special 

Education Programs, U.S. 

Department of Education
OFFICE OF SPECIAL EDUCATION OSERS AND REHABILITATIVE SERVICES 6

OSEP Resources Related to Autism

IDEA requires every child with a disability be provided a free 

appropriate public education (FAPE). FAPE services are 

provided based on needs rather than based on a disability 

label

Intensive Intervention: Interventions for 

students with disabilities, many of whom 

have autism, who have severe and 

persistent learning or behavior difficulties 

who require intensive specialized 

instruction to succeed in school and be 

prepared for postsecondary opportunities
OFFICE OF SPECIAL EDUCATION OSERS AND REHABILITATIVE SERVICES 7

OSEP Resources Related to Autism

OSEP funds grants to support children with disabilities with the 

most intensive needs: Includes children with autism

• Personnel Preparation Grants: Some focused on autism content.

• Funded TIES Center to provide Technical assistance to States & Districts to 

support children with the most significant cognitive disabilities in the 

general education environment.

• Funded AFFIRM autism professional development training modules: 

200,000 new users during pandemic.

• IRIS: Autism training modules, Assistive technology training modules.

• Data: Published autism longitudinal data to drive discussion: 

OSEP Fast Facts: Children Identified With Autism.
Joyce Ward

Director, Office of Education, U.S. 

Patent and Trademark Office

National Council for Expanding American 

Innovation

https://www.uspto.gov/kids/CardsTemple.html

https://www.uspto.gov/kids/activities.html

https://www.uspto.gov/kids/parents.html

Student Programs
Dr. Temple Grandin

Professor, Animal Science, 

Colorado State University

Inventor

Autism Advocate
The World Needs All the 

Different Kinds of Minds

Temple Grandin, 

Professor of Animal 

Science

Colorado State 

University
These Innovators Had Creative 

Hobbies

Bullied in school 

Learned calligraphy 

 No speech until age 3

 Played the violin
Thomas Edison

 Labeled addled by 

a teacher

 Hyperactive High 

School drop out

 Probably had 

autism
Jane Goodall

Credit Jane 

Goodall Institute

• Had a two-year secretarial degree

• Obtained her Ph.D. without a Bachelor’s Degree

• Difficulty remembering faces

• Loved solitude in the trees
Stephen Spielberg

 Rejected from a top 

film school due to 

poor grades

 Bullied in school

 Dyslexic

 Childhood Super 8 

Movie Camera
Four Different Types 

of Thinking

1. Photo Realistic Visual Thinking Object Visualizer – Poor at 

algebra

2. Pattern Thinker Visual Spatial Music and Math – Poor in 

reading

3. Verbal Facts Language Translation – Poor at drawing

4. Auditory Thinker – Visual perception fragmented

There can be mixtures of these thinking types
Brain Scans of Large Visual Thinking Circuit

Control T. Grandin

Humphreys, Minshew, Behrmann, and Cibu, 2006
Brain Scans

T. Grandin Control

Humphreys, Minshew, Behrmann, and Cibu, 2006
Abnormalities in Left Hemisphere

Working Memory and Algebra Department 

Failed to Develop

University of Utah, 2010 
How to Determine Types of 

Thinkers in Children

 Visual Thinker – Art, building 

things, and mechanical ability

 Math Thinker – Mathematics, 

building things, computer 

programming, music

 Verbal Thinker – Love facts, 

history
Grandfather Co-Invents Auto Pilot

Different Kinds of Minds 

Complemented Each Other

• Visual Thinker

• Mathematical Engineer
Schools Need to Keep Classes that Foster 

Creativity and Problem Solving

 Art, sewing, cooking

 Playing musical instruments

 Woodworking

 Theater

 Welding

 Auto Shop

 Creative writing
Arts Foster Scientific Success

 Nobel prize winners 50% more likely 

to have an arts and craft hobby 

compared to other scientists

 Painter, musician, actor, dancer, 

composer, poet, photographer or 

craftsman

Robert Root Bernstein et al., 2008
Since I was weird, I learned 

how to impress potential 

customers by showing a 

portfolio of my work
Sold my work by showing my portfolio
People Need to Touch in 

Order to Perceive
Picture From My 

Original Portfolio
Replica Used in HBO 

Movie Temple Grandin
Put it on 

your phone

30 Second 

WOW
Half the Cattle in North America are 

Handled in Systems I Designed
Aerial Photo of 

Early Major Project
First Dip Vat Project - 1976
 Worried our educational system 

is screening out visual thinkers 

with strict algebra requirements

 Visual Thinkers needed to 

prevent serious problems such 

as Fukushima reactor meltdown 

and aviation accidents
Mathematicians Calculate Risk

Visual Thinkers See Both Risk 

and Solutions to Problems

Possible Impact with Terrain
A Visual Thinker Would See Ways the 

Small Fragile Sensor Could Break
We Have Lost the 

Skills to Build This
Who Builds Large Food 

Processing Plants?

 Visual thinkers – Design plant layout and 

build highly specialized mechanical 

equipment

 Math Thinkers – Engineers, boilers, 

refrigeration, calculate roof trusses

 Retiring Visual Thinkers - Not getting 

replaced
 Visual thinkers, AI, and some people 

with autism, ADHD or dyslexia are all 

bottom up thinkers. 

 Concepts are formed from specific 

examples

 Top down verbal thinkers tend to 

overgeneralize

 Sensory Based not Word Based 

notices detail
Tips for Working with Minds That 

are Different

 Never overload working memory

 Provide Pilot’s Checklist for tasks with 

multiple steps

 Stretch them slightly out of their comfort 

zones

 Limit screen time

 Provide choices of hands-on activities
Ultimate Goal of Education

Where is a student ten years 

after high school graduation?

Learn to be a life-long learner
Dr. Megan Vinh

Co-Director, STEM Innovation 

for Inclusion in Early Education 

Center (STEMIE) and the Early 

Childhood Technical Assistance 

Center 
STEM INNOVATION FOR INCLUSION IN EARLY EDUCATION

stemie.fpg.unc.edu

facebook.com/STEMIIEE/

twitter.com/stemiiee

stemie@unc.edu

pinterest.com/stemie_FPG/

Stay Comnnected
STEM INNOVATION FOR INCLUSION IN EARLY EDUCATION STEMIEFest 2020 archives available at 

https://stemie.fpg.unc.edu/stemiefest
Cary Supalo

Research Developer, 

Educational Testing Service
My life changed at age 7...

I had a normal day, went to bed, then woke up blind...
“...you have been problem-solving your whole life...” 

Dr. Mallouk, Penn State
do education research

Bodner Group

(2014 – 2018)

break barriers

assistant professor of chemistry 

(2012 – 2014)

innovate Access Technology 

for teaching STEM

Founder (2009)

President (2009 –2016)

Accessible assessment 

systems for education 

Research Developer (2016-curr.)
Full integration into education needs access to learning tools, 

resources, assessments, and mentorship.
We can move the needle on access 

and inclusion in quality education by 

shifting the assessment lever. 
BornAccessible

Inclusive 

Test Item 

Design: 

Some Research 

Areas

Leveraging commercially available access 

technologies with appropriate braille and 

raised line drawing supplements.

Multi-modal interfaces to access math 

and science assessments

Efficacy of computer-based inclusively 

designed science simulations
Removing 

Access 

Barriers in 

STEM: 

Some Research 

Areas

Efficaciously delivered real-time electronic 

math and science content.

Non-ambiguous teaching methodologies to 

shift vision-normative STEM instruction.

Shifting STEM teachers’ expectations of the 

capabilities of the blind in K12+HE contexts.

Developing next generation science access 

tools.
Inclusion is increasingly a trend in 

spaces where it was once thought 

impossible. Live the life you want!

51
Allyson Knox

Education Policy Lead, 

Microsoft Philanthropies

Microsoft Neurodiversity Hiring

Commitment to Diversity 

Code.org Accessibility
Q & A
Resources

 National Center for Special 

Education Research (incl. 

STEM)

 Compendium of Math & 

Science Research by NCES & 

NCSER (2002-2013)

 OSEP Fast Facts: Children 

Identified With Autism

 Ready Now Special Ed 

Technologies

 IES Special Ed Technologies 

Webinar/Recap

 Zero Barriers in STEM Education

 INCUDES Network

 Disabilities, Opportunities, 

Internetworking and Technology

(DO-IT)

 Research in Disabilities 

Education Collaborative 

Dissemination

 STEMIE

 STEM for All Multiplex: 

Including Individuals with 

Disabilities in STEM

 PhET Interactive Simulations