Neuro-Led Learning · Individual support
Specialist Mentoring
Individual mentoring Disability Support Allowance (DSA) for approved students that begins with listening and understanding. We take a trauma informed approach that recognises the affect that barriers to education can affect learners.
Specialist mentoring provides a regular, confidential space to understand how sensory experience, nervous-system regulation, executive functioning and educational demands interact. Together, we develop practical approaches that work with the student’s individual patterns, priorities and strengths.
Enquire about mentoringWho is specialist mentoring for?
Mentoring is available for neurodivergent (Autism, ADHD) students and those with mental health challenges (SM-MH) in Higher Education (HE). These classifications are for DfE and SLC purposes; but as experienced practitioners we do understand the unique and often complex challenges faced.
Generally, specialist mentoring may be helpful when a student is finding the sensory, social, organisational or emotional demands of education difficult to manage consistently.
What we can work on
Understanding yourself
Recognising personal patterns, strengths, sensory needs, early signs of overload and the conditions that support learning.
Managing demand
Exploring workload, transitions, competing demands, attendance, communication and the cumulative effort of education.
Executive functioning
Developing realistic ways to begin, plan, prioritise, organise, remember, switch between tasks and complete work.
Regulation and recovery
Identifying practical regulation methods, planning recovery and reducing the cycle of pushing through, becoming overwhelmed and falling behind.
Self-advocacy
Building confidence to explain needs, use reasonable adjustments, communicate with education staff and make informed choices.
Sustainable progress
Using manageable steps and micro-habits to make progress without expecting the student to become a different kind of learner.
A Neuro-Led approach
There is no standard programme to follow and no expectation that one strategy will suit everyone. Sessions are shaped around the student’s current priorities and the real situations they are navigating.
Neuro-Led mentoring considers what the student is being required to sense, regulate, remember, organise and process—and what may make participation more accessible and sustainable.
Mentoring costs
Disabled Students’ Allowance
£52 per hour
VAT inc.
If Specialist Mentoring is included in your DSA support, the cost is normally funded in line with your approved entitlement and provider arrangements.
What specialist mentoring is—and is not
Specialist mentoring is practical, education-focused support. It can complement reasonable adjustments, disability support, teaching and healthcare, but it does not replace them.
It is not therapy, counselling, medical treatment, diagnostic assessment or subject tuition. Where a need falls outside mentoring, I will be open about the boundaries of the role.
About your provider
Hi, I’m Lissa
I’m the founder of Neuro-Led Learning (formerly DSA Mentoring and Consultancy), Specialist Mentor and inclusive education practitioner with experience supporting neurodivergent learners in further and higher education. I’m also neurodivergent myself, so my approach combines professional knowledge with lived understanding. Neuro-Led Learning is a registered DSA provider that works with highly knowledgable and professional associate mentors who, not only meet but exceed non-medical help practitioner standards. We are fortunate to cover several cities in England and Wales.