Study skills that stick for neurodivergent learners

As a parent of a neurodivergent high school student, you might be wondering why your child finds studying especially difficult, even though they know how to do it. Getting a study strategy to stick is often a separate challenge from finding a good one. 

Our recent article covered practical ways that parents can support neurodivergent high school learners. Now, we’re focusing on study strategies. Read on to learn which study strategies for neurodivergent students are backed by evidence, and how you can begin helping your child to use them. 

What study skills work for neurodivergent students?

Not all study techniques are created equal, and nor will each one work for every student even those with the same umbrella neurodivergent diagnosis.

However, research points to two techniques with relatively strong evidence for their effectiveness:

1. Active retrieval
2. Spaced practice

Active retrieval means trying to bring information to mind without looking at your notes. It can be applied by students in many different ways across all subjects and topics. For example, closing the textbook and writing down everything you remember about a topic, then checking what you missed. It can also look like practice exams, flashcards and teaching someone else a topic off the top of your head. The methods that bring this to life should be tailored to each student’s individual strengths.

For a neurodivergent learner, this might mean adapting active retrieval to suit how they process and express information best. A student who finds writing effortful might prefer to talk through a topic out loud, recording themselves and listening back to check for gaps. A visual thinker might sketch a concept map from memory rather than writing notes. The underlying principle stays the same, bringing information to mind before checking notes, but the format can and should be flexible.

Spaced practice refers to spreading study sessions out rather than cramming them into one sitting. Studying for 30 minutes a day over two weeks is typically more effective than five hours the night before a test, even though the total time spent is similar. Spacing revision out gives the brain a chance to partly forget and then re-strengthen the information over time. This is one of the least known reasons for taking a slower and steady approach to studying, and one of the most compelling.

Spaced practice can also be adjusted to suit individual needs. Some students might benefit from shorter, more frequent revision sessions rather than a fixed daily block, particularly if sustained focus is challenging on any given day. Others may find it helpful to plan their spaced study sessions in advance. It can help to treat the spacing plan as flexible, checking in with your child regularly about what’s working and adjusting the frequency or length of sessions as needed. A plan that looks good on paper isn’t much use if it doesn’t match a student’s energy levels and attention across the week.

These strategies can feel counterintuitive: the techniques that feel easiest, like re-reading a textbook or highlighting key sentences, might feel productive but tend to be the least effective. Meanwhile, techniques that feel harder in the moment, such as testing yourself, tend to be more effective. The extra cognitive effort involved may contribute to strengthening memory, which researchers sometimes call ‘desirable difficulty’. Teaching students about this is important, so they can learn to embrace the difficulty of effective learning by understanding that it’s a better use of their time and effort. 

Why don’t some study techniques work?

Knowing that a study technique works is only half the story. Executive functions, the set of higher-order thinking skills responsible for planning and organising, which we’ve discussed in earlier articles, also play a vital role. For example, a student who struggles with planning ahead may be aware that starting their exam revision early to allow for spaced retrieval is beneficial, but may still end up cramming at the last minute. In this case, it might take parents carving out time or helping them plan ahead to avoid leaving everything to the last minute.  

Executive function is also sensitive to what’s happening around a student on any given day. Motivation, stress, sleep and mood all affect how well a student can access their planning and organisation skills, and in turn how well they can study. For example, intense stress or emotions can cause us to lose access to our executive skills. These things aren’t always in your or their control, but being aware of them will help everyone adjust expectations and plans.

What helps study strategies stick for neurodivergent students?

In our experience, teenagers are more likely to use a study strategy they had a hand in shaping. Teaching them a study method, however well supported by evidence, tends to be less effective than teaching them to build and test their own.

One way to do this is to treat studying and problem solving as a process that can be learned. This can look something like guiding the student through the following steps:

1. Define what you’re trying to achieve
2. Work out what’s getting in the way
3. Brainstorm a few possible ways around that obstacle and pick one to try
4. Implement the plan
5. Review how it went and plan what you’d change next time

Here’s an example of how this could be applied to the evidence-based active retrieval study technique mentioned above:

1. The student decides their goal is remembering key quotes for an English text
2. They notice the obstacle is reading over the quotes – this doesn’t seem to be working
3. They brainstorm some ideas and decide to try writing the quotes from memory instead
4. They try this for a week
5. They review whether it helped and adjust from there, perhaps spacing study sessions out further or trying it out loud as well as on paper

Overall, choosing effective study techniques is essential, but so is the process of a student working out how to use the techniques in a way that suits them.

If you’re looking to put this into practice, our Study Skills Coaching Program works with neurodivergent secondary students over a series of sessions to build and test effective strategies together. Get in touch to find out more.

Disclaimer: This article is general information only, not individual advice. For guidance specific to your child, please speak with their treating clinician, school or other qualified professional.