1: Organising your time

• Make use of a calendar

This could be a wall calendar, for example, or a calendar that sits on your desk or any other easy place you can find it and check it each day. It may be that you have a ‘key’ to colour-code different activities that may feature in your week. For example, this might include seminars, social events, and medical appointments. This would then allow you to visually scan what activities are occurring in your week.

• Make a priority list!

A priority list can be written to help organise assignment deadlines. It may be helpful to list all the assignments or homework that need to be completed and number them in order of priority. This can sometimes help if you have multiple assignments to do in one semester.

• Phone calendars work well too…

It may be that you use your phone calendar and a visual calendar to remind you of key deadlines for upcoming work. For some people, the use of multiple calendars may be too much. The best thing is to try a few methods and work out the best one for you!

2: Engaging with lectures

• Notetaker support

The Student Disability and Inclusion Team employ a pool of Learning Support Assistants, that students may receive support from, if it is deemed suitable following a student support appointment. One of the key elements of support a Learning Support Assistant can help with is notetaking. This can be helpful and enable you to focus on the content more during the session if this can be challenging to do if also having to make notes.

• Utilise the lecture slides provided in advance!

You’ll usually find that your lecturers will upload PowerPoint slides and material before your lectures. These can be found on your online module pages (typically held on a platform called ‘Blackboard’). It can be helpful to download these slides ahead of the lecture and write some notes in advance. It may be that you add to the ‘notes’ section on PowerPoint, or use a word document, or notepad! You can even print out the slides in advance of the lecture and scribble down some notes on them if that is helpful. Again, it is about finding the best way for you.

3: PATs (Personal Academic Tutors)

• Support from your PAT

All students are assigned a Personal Academic Tutor (PAT) during their time at university. The PAT will be your academic point of contact to provide support and advice around your academic progression. Moreover, they can also be a point of contact for pastoral concerns. They can help you navigate the issues you may be facing and signpost you to other available support at University (for example, this may be the Wellbeing team if a student was facing challenges with their mental health).

If you do not find that you can effectively communicate with your PAT, or do not get along, Senior Tutors can help with that. Senior Academic Tutors (SATs) provide another layer of support for students and are another academic and pastoral point of contact within your faculty, for you to talk to.

You can change your PAT, if needed, and the Programme Lead or your faculty administration office may be helpful contacts to arrange this. Of course, you can always contact the Student Hub directly if you require support.

The student we spoke to shared that because of their autism, they find it very difficult to contact people that they do not already know. Therefore, it is important to note, the Student Disability and Inclusion Team may also be able to assist with this if you are having difficulties with your PAT. If you wish to change your PAT or are unsure of next steps, you can reach out to your Specialist Practitioner in the SD&I team via studenthub@soton.ac.uk. They may then be able to start the conversation on your behalf, to remove that initial barrier.