Designing Equity with AI: Scaffolding, Offloading, and Translation for Students with Learning and Attention Differences

This session positions AI tools as a mechanism for supporting students with learning and attention differences grounded in theories of distributed cognition. It distinguishes cognitive barriers arising from peripheral demands from those related to conceptual understanding and higher cognitive tasks. Drawing on scaffolding, cognitive offloading, and translation, the session argues for equity through intentional task design rather than individual exception. It concludes by examining the pedagogical trade-offs between AI-supported cognition and the pursuit of tool-independent mastery.