Communication and Teamwork Skills to Support Neurodiversity

Reviewed by Karen Douglas, Professor, Radford University on 1/25/26

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

This book is divided into three sections on disability, teamwork, and communication. Each chapter is short yet clear and concise information is presented along with hyperlinks to interactive activities and videos to enhance engagement and promote additional connectivity to the content. Key takeaways are listed at the end of each chapter. Furthermore, key words are highlighted and hyperlinked to a definition. At the end of the chapter, they provide a list of the words in the glossary. This will help with color contrast for anyone using a screen reader and/or speech to text. The glossary and reference list of the end of the book are comprehensive.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

Chapter 4 (How People Learn Best) has readers reflect on their strengths and weaknesses. It would be helpful if the chapter discussed common strengths and weaknesses for neurodivergent people similar to the specific examples of communication styles in Chapter 12 where common difficulties possibly faced in a team meeting are explained - stimming, eye contact, tone, small talk, and masking. Chapter 4 emphasizes learning styles (visual, auditory or kinesthetic) to help a team function but strengthening the evidence base would be beneficial.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The book references person-first and identity-first terminology by acknowledging that people have different preferences with identity or person first, and a person should ask an individual directly their preferences. The text uses identity-first primarily throughout, referencing “disabled people” and “autistic people” at times. The examples of groupwork challenges and solutions in Chapter 9 are common and will not be obsolete in a few years.

Clarity rating: 5

Suspected unknown terminology and vocabulary are highlighted in yellow and referenced in glossary. The highlighted vocabulary is at an introductory level. In addition, Chapter 2 defines neurodiversity, neurodivergence, and neurotypical and then provides more in-depth elements of the terms.

Consistency rating: 5

The book begins by talking about disability and neurodivergence and then transitions into best practices for effective teamwork without much intertwining. However section three on communication ties the first two sections together. The entire book is succinct and provides quick transitions between ideas. The terminology and writing style are consistent throughout the book and deliver content that is straightforward and easy to read.

Modularity rating: 5

Each chapter is broken into digestible chunks and appropriately flows into the next chapter. The format of each chapter is consistent with learning objectives, content, interactive activities, and key takeaways.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The book is organized in a logical and clear fashion with information on topics relevant to neurodiversity and effective teamwork.

Interface rating: 5

The book provides detailed and valuable information to enhance teamwork productivity and effective communication. All of the hyperlinks to the interactive activities and vocabulary definitions work appropriately without navigational issues.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

No grammatical errors were found in the text.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

The book is Australian-based as it provides examples related to Australian animals and their government but this does not hinder the generality of the content. The Teamwork section shares generic strategies everyone can use and does not make any references toward cultural differences and/or backgrounds specifically. Chapter 13 specifically focuses on inclusiveness and accessibility. The email templates at the end of the book are appropriate examples and could be used for many situations.