Mandy Young-Guzmán S25 Impresses Fellow Attendees at a National Professional Conference

Her talk, “Improving Classroom Structures for Autistic Students,” characterized autism and neurodivergence, considered the classroom challenges of autistic children, and recommended accommodations.

What year and division are you in?

This last semester was my second one at Hampshire, and I was in Div II; I transferred from Central Connecticut State University (CCSU) after spending three semesters there.

What inspired the talk you presented at NAEYC?

I took an education class at CCSU that made me interested in the way that neurodiversity is accommodated in classrooms. I wrote a final paper on the topic, and that was my first experience with researching neurodivergence. I then did an independent study, which led to more research.

I observed students at a local elementary school as well as at my own former elementary school, which is a Montessori school. I looked at the ways in which students with disabilities were accommodated and considered how to improve on them. During my first semester at Hampshire, I took Autism and Neurodivergence, with Guarav Jashnani, and learned about a lot of useful research and theories that I was later able to incorporate into my talk.

How did you come to work with Director of Assessment, Professor of Cognition and Education Laura Wenk?

Last semester, I contacted Professor Wenk and asked her to advise me as I conducted an independent study during which I would create a presentation. I used all of my previous research and met weekly with Professor Wenk. I had never attended a conference like this before, let alone presented at one, so I needed some help with structuring the talk and considering how to best present my information to my target audience of educators. I know that most teachers are trying their best and working around any limitations they face, and I wanted to make that clear in my talk.

 I also incorporated my own experiences as a neurodivergent student who attended both traditional public schools and alternative Montessori schools. I challenged a negative, deficit-based view of neurodivergence...

What made it possible for you to deliver your talk in Orlando?

I learned about the conference from Carlo Torre, the professor at CCSU with whom I did my first independent study. I told him I wanted my work to have an impact and to get some recognition within my field. At the end of that semester, he told me about the annual conference of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), a professional membership organization for early childhood educators. I submitted a proposal based on the work I’d done until that point. Six months later, I received an email saying that my proposal had been accepted. I later learned that they received around 1,100 proposals and accepted 55 percent.

I spent the next several months working with Professor Wenk to organize my research and make it conference-ready. I also incorporated my own experiences as a neurodivergent student who attended both traditional public schools and alternative Montessori schools. I challenged a negative, deficit-based view of neurodivergence and argued that providing choices, sensory-friendly environments, flexible learning and assessment options, and validation of student contributions would empower and benefit all learners. Some 5,000 people attended the conference and there were more than 170 at my session.

I discovered that just 1 percent of the NAEYC conference attendees and speakers were between 18 and 22 years of age. I was 19 years old when I presented, which gave me better proximity to the group of students discussed at the conference. I wanted to make sure the students’ points of view were well represented.

I enjoyed the opportunity to network. I also had some audience-participation sections of my presentation, and I would throw a sensory toy to anyone who answered a question or shared their thoughts.

After the conference, a lot of people reached out to me to say that my presentation was impactful and to discuss how they’d use my findings in their own work. Several people invited me to deliver the talk at other events. I was asked to speak to students at Charter Oak State College and at an organization in Michigan, and someone encouraged me to submit my proposal to Connecticut’s local version of the national conference. I was interviewed on Identidad Latina Multimedia and featured in The Suffield Observer. I was also invited to deliver the talk in Mexico by an attendee and made a Spanish version.

What attracted you to Hampshire?

Hampshire gives students lots of opportunities to do independent projects and to study what interests them, which is what I did with the independent study course that led to my presentation. There’s also no judgment through grades or in the classrooms; professors are supportive and it’s an overall supportive environment. I could see that when I first came to campus for a tour.

What did you plan to study here? Has it changed?

I hoped to take advantage of the diverse areas of study that Hampshire encourages students to explore instead of just picking one. My major at my other school was political science, and I wanted to incorporate that and use those credits toward my Hampshire degree. Here, I can expand my studies to include other subjects because political science is relevant within lots of areas.