Overview of Simulations

The activities in this section were developed as part of an interactive professional development workshop focused on neurodiversity and mathematics education.

Rather than beginning with strategies, these activities invite participants to experience how classroom structures can create barriers to mathematical access. Each simulation highlights a different type of barrier commonly present in mathematics classrooms, including:

• dense text,

• cognitive overload,

• executive functioning demands,

• ambiguous language,

• and hidden expectations.

The goal is not to create frustration for its own sake, but to encourage reflection on how students may experience mathematics classrooms differently.

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These activities are not intended to simulate disabilities themselves.

Dyslexia, ADHD, autism, and other types of neurodivergence are complex conditions that cannot be fully recreated through short activities. Reducing a disability to a simulation would be an oversimplification.

Instead, these simulations are designed to isolate specific barriers that teachers can recognize, reflect on, and redesign within mathematics classrooms.

The focus is not:

“This is what it feels like to be neurodivergent.”

The focus is:

“What barriers might students be encountering, and how could classroom design reduce them?”

Many classroom barriers remain invisible to people who do not regularly experience them.

For example:

• a mathematically capable student may struggle to access a dense word problem,

• a student may lose track of thinking due to working memory overload,

• or a student may interpret ambiguous directions differently than intended.

When participants encounter these barriers themselves, even briefly, it can shift the conversation away from assumptions about motivation, effort, or intelligence and toward questions of accessibility and classroom design.

The simulations are intended to support empathy, reflection, and more intentional instructional choices.

Each simulation is followed by:

• reflection questions,

• discussion,

• connections to classroom barriers,

• and opportunities to rethink task design and instructional practices.

The activities are designed to help participants recognize that:

• barriers are often embedded within classroom structures,

• access and rigor are not opposites,

• and small instructional changes can significantly impact student experiences in mathematics.

A key part of each activity is the opportunity to redesign tasks and rethink classroom structures.

The goal is not simply to identify barriers, but to ask:

• How could this task be made more accessible?

• Which demands are necessary for the mathematics, and which are unintended barriers?

• How can classrooms maintain meaningful challenge while expanding access?

Inclusive mathematics classrooms are not created by removing challenge. They are created by thinking more intentionally about what students are actually being asked to navigate.