Case Study

How an Employee with ASD Copes at Work Using MindView AT Mind-Mapping Software

Background

Mohammed Asif works for ATM Operations at Lloyds Banking Group. As well as making sure that support issues are completed within strict timescales, he is also involved with completing system updates, prioritising and organising workloads, process development and ongoing process reviews. This means that every day he has to balance the demands of incoming technical support against on-going projects. Mohammed sometimes finds it difficult to communicate, prioritise and organise tasks as he has an autism spectrum disorder. In particular he would find it difficult to put thoughts down on paper and then structure and prioritise them.

Challenge

Like many people with an ASD, Mohammed is a visual learner. He finds connecting information spatially, using colour and images helps him organise his ideas and gets him started on tasks that he would otherwise struggle to know where to begin. Mohammed underwent a workplace assessment that suggested mind mapping software may help with structuring tasks and communication. This led him to try Matchware’s MindView software. MindView is a powerful mind mapping package used widely in education and the workplace. As well as offering advanced management and collaborative features, MindView’s AT Edition provides a unique range of tools for users who need additional support with writing and reading. With MindView, users can quickly build a map with all their ideas, and then re-organise and extend their thoughts simply by dragging ideas around the map. Mohammed noted “Even though MindView has lots of tools built-in, within a couple of weeks I was very efficient with using the software. I use it all the time now.”

Capturing Ideas

Mohammed found that with MindView he can capture his ideas and organise his tasks much more quickly than before. “When I use MindView, it helps me to think better and more creatively. I don’t have to worry about what I’m saying, just the ideas and how I connect them.” He also found being able to add colour and images to his MindView maps made it easier to read the information. “I find that if I associate ideas with pictures or particular colours then I can recall them more easily. I can think through my ideas based on their spatial relationship, remembering what they look like which is much quicker for me. I can also use the text to speech tool in MindView to read aloud everything I have written to make sure it is correct, which is improving my written communication.”

Integration with Office

Mohammed has also been impressed with how MindView integrates into the common Office applications. “I have used other mind mapping programs, but they did not have the functionality I needed in the workplace. MindView offers the right supportive features as well as all the productivity tools I need in the workplace.” Mohammed finds the office integration particularly useful for supporting written communication. “While I might prefer to keep my information on a visual map, that’s not always the best way to share it with colleagues to complete a report. MindView’s Word export tool makes it easy to export my map as a Word document. The document it creates is structured with headings making it easier for everyone to navigate through, and for me to complete any remaining sections.”

Mohammed also makes use of MindView’s project and task management tools. “I add deadlines for tasks to my map, this helps me prioritise my work and with the timeline I can see which task I should work on next. I have also found the Gantt chart view very useful when I have been working on new projects.”

Conclusion

Now that Mohammed has been using the software for two years he continues to see the positive benefits. “MindView is helping me to work quicker and more efficiently. It’s also helped me be more creative and makes managing my workload less stressful. I can really see how it has improved my performance overall.”