Autism
Cori Martinez
English 1316
Professor Brown
23 November 2012
Autism
When I was in middle school, I went to this summer camp and met this little Autistic girl. She was very sweet, but I noticed there was something different about her. If I called her name she wouldn’t respond, and sometimes she wouldn’t talk much. I did not know her for very long because we were in different age groups but when I found out she was Autistic, it sparked an interest in working with special needs students.
What is Autism? “Autism means a developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction, generally evident before age 3 that adversely affects a child’s educational performance” (Hunt and Marshal 279). Autistic students have problems with communicating. Part of the communication problem is a problem with understanding metaphors. For instance, if you tell an Autistic student that it is raining cats and dogs outside, they will assume that there are cats and dogs falling from the sky. Autism is part of a group of developmental disorders called Autism Spectrum Disorders. “ASDs include a wide continuum: Autism, Pervasive Development Disorder not otherwise specified, Asperger's Syndrome, Fragile X Syndrome, and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder” (Friedlander 141). Some of these are familiar and common and some are not. Asperger’s syndrome is a version of high functioning Autism.
There are a few main ways to teach Autistic students: resource classrooms, where a student is in a specific special education classrooms, where a student gets their social skills instruction in a resource classroom but the rest of their instruction in a mainstream classroom, or inclusion. In an inclusion setting a students get both their social skills instruction and their regular lessons all in the same classroom. Getting both social skills instruction and regular lessons in the same classroom is the best way to teach autistic students.
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English 1316
Professor Brown
23 November 2012
Autism
When I was in middle school, I went to this summer camp and met this little Autistic girl. She was very sweet, but I noticed there was something different about her. If I called her name she wouldn’t respond, and sometimes she wouldn’t talk much. I did not know her for very long because we were in different age groups but when I found out she was Autistic, it sparked an interest in working with special needs students.
What is Autism? “Autism means a developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction, generally evident before age 3 that adversely affects a child’s educational performance” (Hunt and Marshal 279). Autistic students have problems with communicating. Part of the communication problem is a problem with understanding metaphors. For instance, if you tell an Autistic student that it is raining cats and dogs outside, they will assume that there are cats and dogs falling from the sky. Autism is part of a group of developmental disorders called Autism Spectrum Disorders. “ASDs include a wide continuum: Autism, Pervasive Development Disorder not otherwise specified, Asperger's Syndrome, Fragile X Syndrome, and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder” (Friedlander 141). Some of these are familiar and common and some are not. Asperger’s syndrome is a version of high functioning Autism.
There are a few main ways to teach Autistic students: resource classrooms, where a student is in a specific special education classrooms, where a student gets their social skills instruction in a resource classroom but the rest of their instruction in a mainstream classroom, or inclusion. In an inclusion setting a students get both their social skills instruction and their regular lessons all in the same classroom. Getting both social skills instruction and regular lessons in the same classroom is the best way to teach autistic students.
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