Supporting Neurodivergent Students — A Counselor's Guide

This course equips school counselors with practical, evidence-based strategies for working with students with ADHD, dyslexia, autism, and executive function challenges in international and multicultural school settings. Participants will explore how each profile presents in school-aged students — examining the impact on academic performance, behavior, and social-emotional development, and the evidence-informed strategies that make a real difference.

A central focus of the course is collaboration. School counselors rarely work in isolation — and with neurodiverse students, the quality of the team around the child is often what determines outcomes. Participants will build concrete skills for collaborating effectively with learning support specialists, occupational therapists, psychologists, and other members of the student support team, ensuring counselors can play a meaningful and well-defined role within that wider system.

Throughout, the course emphasizes empathy, belonging, and a strengths-based lens — challenging unconscious biases and deficit-framing that can unintentionally exclude neurodiverse learners. Participants will leave with concrete tools for individual counseling, specialist collaboration, family partnership, and school-wide advocacy.

Intended Audience

This course is designed primarily for school counselors working in international and multilingual school settings. It is also relevant for learning support specialists, school psychologists, and other student support staff who work with neurodiverse students or contribute to student support teams.

ISCA Student Standards

This course will support you in providing strategies for your students to be able to:

Develop self-awareness as learners, build confidence in their unique strengths, navigate social relationships, and access the learning environment in ways that work for them.

Social-Emotional (Primary)

• A1 – Social and Self-Awareness
• A2 – Relationship
• C1 – Personal Safety

Academic (Primary)

• A1 – Self-awareness as a learner
• A2 – Effective Learning
• B1 – Self-directed Learning and Student Agency

Global Perspective & Identity Development (Supporting)

• B1 – Identity Development

ASCA Professional Standards and Ethical Standards and Practices

Ethical Standards (2022):

• A.1 Supporting Student Development
• A.3 Comprehensive School Counseling Program
• A.6 Appropriate Collaboration, Advocacy and Referrals
• A.10 Marginalized Populations

Professional Standards & Competencies (2019):

• B-PF 1
• B-PF 2
• B-PF 6
• B-SS 3
• B-SS 5
• B-SS 6

Essential Questions

1. What is neurodiversity and why does it matter for school counseling practice?
2. How do neurodiverse profiles affect students' academic performance, behavior, and social-emotional development?
3. How can school counselors move from a deficit lens to a strengths-based, inclusive approach when supporting neurodiverse students?
4. How can school counselors advocate for neurodiverse students within the wider school system?

Participants will have knowledge about:

1. The concept of neurodiversity as a natural variation in the human brain and its importance in education;
2. Common neurotypes represented in international school classrooms, including ADHD, autism, dyslexia, and dyspraxia;
3. How students with specific learning differences present in school settings and what is happening neurologically;
4. Executive functioning skills — such as working memory, processing speed, time management, attention, and organization — and their critical role in learning and behavior;
5. How unconscious biases and traditional learning models can unintentionally exclude neurodiverse learners;
6. The roles of learning support specialists, occupational therapists, and other student support professionals — and how school counselors can collaborate effectively with each.

Participants will be able to:

1. Recognize common signs and characteristics of neurodiverse profiles as they appear in classroom and counseling settings
2. Apply practical, research-informed strategies to support students with ADHD, autism, and specific learning difficulties academically, socially, emotionally, and behaviorally
3. Collaborate effectively with learning support specialists and other members of the student support team to design coordinated, student-centered approaches
4. Analyze real-life scenarios to determine appropriate interventions, accommodations, and referrals
5. Challenge deficit-framing and unconscious bias in their own practice and in the wider school community
6. Advocate for neurodiverse students within school systems and structures

Dr. Christina Limbird

Dr. Christina Limbird is a co-founder of Linden Global Learning & Support Services and an educational psychologist with over 20 years of experience working with international schools around the world. She leads a diverse, multidisciplinary team of 90+ specialists — including educational psychologists, speech and language therapists, counselors, occupational therapists, and behavior specialists — spanning the globe.

Dr. Limbird's career is defined by a commitment to inclusive education and a belief that every student deserves an advocate who sees the extraordinary potential in them and has the skills to bring it out. She built a comprehensive inclusion program at an International Baccalaureate school in Germany, founded an award-winning nonprofit that launched peace and community-building initiatives for teenagers in post-conflict Croatia, and co-founded Girls Gearing Up International Leadership Academy, with hubs in Germany, Malawi, and India.

A specialist in bilingualism, Dr. Limbird has published extensively on its effects on literacy acquisition. This commitment to empirically sound evidence underpins everything she brings to schools, families, and young people — and to this course.

ISCA Member Price: $395

Non-Member Price: $475

Dates and times of offerings:

August 17, 24 and 31, 2026; 12:00PM - 3:00PM

Contact Hours: 9 hours

Time commitment between sessions: N/A

Required Resource(s): N/A