This Is How My Brain Works
Use fictional examples. Leave out diagnoses, medical information, names, passwords and contact details.
Learning goal: Describe interests, strengths and learning preferences without pressure to conform.
People learn and communicate in many ways. Your preferences may change with the place or task. Choose only what you want to share; you do not need to explain a diagnosis.
- Choose a real or made-up learning situation. Leave out names, diagnoses and private details.
- Explore the three activities. Choose supports that fit you; skip any that do not.
- Write, type, draw, point, sign, use AAC or ask someone to scribe your own ideas.
- Choose one next step and an adult who can help make it possible.
Grades 3–5 support: Use the prompts and examples, or explain your ideas in your own way. Ask for words, a scribe or one direction at a time.
Interests with depth
Choose an interest and a challenging question you would like to investigate.
An interest I want to explore
A deep question about it
This Is How My Brain Works
My learning conditions
Consider one task that worked well. Describe the conditions, not whether you seemed like everyone else.
Conditions that helped me think
A barrier I would like removed
Optional deeper thinking · Grades 6–8
Propose a rigorous interest-based investigation and identify access conditions that let you pursue it.
This Is How My Brain Works
Share my preferences
Create a short, optional message for a teacher or family member.
I communicate or participate best when…
Please ask me before…
My next step
What will I try, and who can support it? Write, draw, dictate, sign or use AAC.
This Is How My Brain Works
Accessibility & alternative responses
Offer concrete questions, visual or tactile supports, AAC and processing time. Accept parallel participation and nonspoken answers.
Teacher facilitation
Use interests as pathways to depth, not rewards for compliance. Never require eye contact, suppress harmless self-regulatory movement or promote masking. Ask before interpreting behavior as a preference.
Family-use suggestion
Invite the learner to choose what to share. Try one support together, ask what helped, and change the plan with their permission. Do not turn this sheet into a test or require private information.
Specialist formats
These printouts are not Braille. Embossed Braille and specialist tactile materials need qualified, technically validated production. The accessible digital version supplies structured text, not a specialist-format substitute.