| Extending Your Knowledge: Autism: There is much written about Autism from the family, medical, and educational realms though we will be reading and viewing through the eyes of someone with Autism. Here are the web links (click on the images). Please choose from these resources (share others with the group as well) and respond to during this online learning experience. Additional Videos: The World Needs All Kinds of Minds How Autism Freed Me to be Myself Different Ways of Knowing What I Have Learned From My Autistic Brothers Forget What You Know Ask an Autistic Reflection: How did your view of Autism change after you had the opportunity to think about Autism through the eyes of someone with Autism? What essential learning experiences should occur in the classroom? How can learning institutions embrace and celebrate Autism? What teacher moves might you make in your classroom to ensure learning and engagement? |
31 Comments
Mikaela Newell
7/15/2015 11:48:07 am
It was very refreshing to watch videos that portray what it really means to be autistic. In my experience, I have found that many people are unfamiliar with the Autism spectrum and make inaccurate assumptions about what Autism is. From my experience, people regard an Autism diagnosis in a negative light, many parents that I have worked with have initially been fearful of this diagnosis. This is due to misconceptions and inaccuracies. I would love to share these videos with families to help correct some of these misconceptions.
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Peter Rakes
7/17/2015 11:35:50 am
Mikaela,
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Laura Brady
7/20/2015 06:04:26 am
I totally agree with you that it is hard to believe that the entire autism spectrum can be classified as the same disability, given how differently it presents itself in different people and how individual it can be! It just reaffirms the idea that as teachers we need to do the hard work of getting to know our students' idiosyncratic strengths and weaknesses, no matter what label they are given. I also agree that the video was really inspiring in the way that the children featured had really come to an understanding of themselves and how autism makes them different and had reached a point where they were confident about their uniqueness and not ashamed.
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Kelcy West
7/21/2015 12:02:28 am
This was a really insightful reflection, and really helpful for me as someone who is unfamiliar with Autism. It is a sad truth that public schools are forming a mold which students should fit into, especially with the emphasis put on the common core, as you state. But if we can create an environment where all students know and understand Autism, then we will make one bigger step towards a more accepting society. Classrooms are becoming more inclusive in Massachusetts, but unfortunately not in every school in the country, and therefore society and the "real world" can still be exclusive. I agree with you that if schools educated students about Autism in an accepting and comfortable way, then students and people with Autism would have more opportunities for employment, and probably even more opportunities for making more friends.
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7/21/2015 12:11:56 am
In terms of helping an autistic child have the best possible experience in a classroom, I saw this year, what a difference an talented 1-1 aide can make. Unfortunately, many schools don't have the funding for this.
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Christina Deborah Pressley
7/17/2015 04:25:20 am
Autism has always been a hard topic for me.. As a sister with a brother with autism if there's anything I hate it's explains autism. I am very very close to my brother, and I loved all the videos on this blog but of course the one I connected to the most was the Ted talk what I learned from my brothers with autism.
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Emily Burdick
7/19/2015 12:09:36 pm
Christina,
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Rachel Jones
7/21/2015 01:27:26 am
Thank you for sharing your personal story. I think that as teachers we have such an important role in teaching kids that we all learn differently and think differently and thats normal. It should become common place to have a diverse classroom of learners, where everyone gets the support they need. Autism is just one disability in the classroom and I think that your outlook on diversity in the classroom is how everyone should see it.
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Kelcy West
7/17/2015 05:46:23 am
I watched a few of the "Ask an Autistic" videos, and plan on watching more of them. I found them so informative, and I know that the information is genuine since a person with Autism is speaking in the videos. They were personal, realistic, and engaging to watch.
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Peter Rakes
7/17/2015 11:48:17 am
Kelcy,
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Samantha Curtis
7/20/2015 08:19:20 am
Kelcy,
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Christina Deborah Pressley
7/20/2015 01:05:25 pm
Yes Autism Speaks is sadly not for Autism. It's sad because organizations like AS get a lot of attention and support but there are many other nonprofits to give to. I struggled watching the controversies research also. Autism is far from a tragedy and epidemic. If anything autism is something that has always been in our society but didn't have a name.
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7/17/2015 10:23:24 am
I was inspired to hear about autism through the people who were autistic. Although I have been in contact with some students with varying degrees of autism, I had not really thought about the ways in which autism can be a “gift.”
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Peter Rakes
7/17/2015 11:29:13 am
I enjoyed watching the videos of people with autism describe how they feel inside. As one of the mothers stated, a major issue facing individuals with autism is a "lack of understanding." This lack of understanding can lead people to think that these individuals are "acting out" or "being naughty" when the truth is that these acts are a way of communicating needs. To paraphrase one boy, just having support helps everything else. It is so important to preach patience with children. How many "normal" children are great communicators or experts at emotion regulation? If parents and professionals take the time to support children with autism just as they would another child deemed to have "x" amount of potential, it is apparent that they can do great things. I have seen documentaries that described people who are able to taste music (like one child described tasting words and feeling uncomfortable by some) and it is widely accepted that this can be a form of higher functioning, so it is not fair that we should view a person with autism as lacking intelligence or an ability to function "properly". When a child is supported there really is no telling what skills they may unlock.
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Emily Burdick
7/19/2015 12:15:55 pm
Peter -
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Laura Brady
7/20/2015 06:11:18 am
I think you make a great distinction when you say that some might see certain behaviors as "acting out" or "being naughty" when in fact they are a way of communicating needs. I think that's an idea that teachers really need to keep in mind when dealing with students' problematic behavior, whether the student is autistic or not. I'm also very interested in checking out the book you recommend. It is amazing how greatly a person's life can be affected, for better or worse, by the way educators perceive their special needs. I think it's amazing that this person was able to persevere through such a turbulent life with such a lack of support and finally come to the realization that the label of autism is not the sole definition of her. It sounds fascinating.
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Rachel Jones
7/21/2015 01:35:22 am
I really enjoyed reading your blog post. I couldn't agree more with your statement about supporting a child because there is no telling what skills they can unlock. As well as the amount of potential any child can have. The only person who can determine this potential is the individual themselves and if parents and professionals treated children with autism the same way they treated other students with potential, I agree there are no boundaries to what they can achieve. More people should think this way.
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Emily Burdick
7/17/2015 01:20:09 pm
For this post, I watched Insights from an Autistic and two TED Talks entitled “Forget What You Know” and Temple Grandin’s “The World Needs All Kinds of Minds”. I also read the article about 15 comments not that are offensive to people who have autism. These resources provided an insight that I thought was very helpful as someone who has worked with children with Autism, but do not have any close connections with it. I think the videos and article raised a valuable point of allowing children time to think (and as Jacob puts it to stop learning and start thinking) in order to best produce creative work. Temple Grandin’s point about the multiple ways of thinking and how vital those types of minds are in classrooms and work situations. I also jotted down her suggestion of mentor program. I truly believe in using the community as a tool for learning within your own classroom. Learning institutions can become more open to multiple pathways to solve problems and using the fixation of the student to actually support their learning. I certainly am planning to make these moves in my own classroom to make it nurturing and welcoming. I think another point in “Forget What You Know” video was when Jacob said “Think about that field [that you are in]...And instead of being a student, be that field”. I found that to be such a powerful message to question and continue making things better as you see them. I think that’s the crucial take away from these videos: make sure to let thinking happening, in all different types of ways.
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Jon Weinberger
7/25/2015 12:27:54 am
Emily,
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Laura Brady
7/20/2015 05:56:30 am
I chose to watch the BBC Film “My Autism and Me,” which was a wonderful look at the lives of four different children with autism, and showed just how different autism can look in individual children while illustrating the challenges they share. It was definitely eye-opening to see the world through the eyes of someone with autism and fascinating to hear them describe their experiences in their own words. The film did an excellent job emphasizing the fact that people with autism are individuals who should not be seen as merely their disability, but as unique people who simply understand the world a little differently. The young narrator, Rosie, made a great point that while three out of four children who have autism feel unhappy and anxious, not because they are autistic, but because they do not get the support they need.
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Samantha Curtis
7/20/2015 08:24:31 am
Laura,
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7/21/2015 12:02:10 am
In my school in Newton, the parents took responsibility for a differences curriculum. The most powerful sessions were when they had students come in who had various disabilities from learning disabilities to asthma. For the students, seeing other students who had the disability and were able to talk about them matter of factly made them a lot less scary and helped the other students understand and develop empathy for the disability. However, they were done infrequently and with little follow up. I think in order for this method to be really successful, there needs to be a way for these issues to be embedded in the curriculum in a more ongoing fashion.
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Kelcy West
7/21/2015 12:18:46 am
This film you watched, "My Autism and Me" sounds really helpful and interesting, so it is definitely something I will watch soon. I like your idea of putting the students' interests in the lesson to draw their attention. I am a big advocate for this, since it is something that can help engage all students, but especially students with Autism. It is so important for teachers to get to know each individual student so that they can make changes in the lessons not only for their academic or social needs, but for their personal interests as well. Thanks for recommending this video!
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Samantha Curtis
7/20/2015 08:10:09 am
One of the videos that fascinated me most was “Insights from an Autistic: What its Like to have Autism” The man describing his Autism was so different from many of the Autistic students I have had in my classroom. He was very high functioning and was able to drive, work, attend community college, and maintain relationships with friends and for a time, with his ex-girlfriend. He had many goals and while he struggled with direction, I wouldn’t have known he was autistic if he hadn’t said so in the video. Many of his experiences sounded very familiar to an every day child growing up struggling with friendship and fascination with toys. Ultimately it changed my perception of Autism as this unbearable disease that hindered its sufferers from doing much of anything without becoming overwhelmed. As an educator I do have high expectations of my Autistic students but I do know that progress usually comes slow and sometimes it’s harder to see exactly how far students have come in just a years span. Hearing about how this man worked to overcome his Autism throughout his life and still struggles through it was eye opening for me.
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Christina Deborah Pressley
7/20/2015 09:06:28 pm
Hi Samantha,
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Rachel Jones
7/20/2015 10:33:42 am
I feel as though I only had a surface level understanding of Autism before this class, and these videos. I only had experience with those peers of my own, as well as a few students from my student teaching. I also did not have much experience with students who had severe autism. Most of my experience is with students diagnosed with Aspergers, or are low on the "Autism Spectrum." I still am unsure if I am using the correct terminology, and I do not want to offend anyone, I would really like to learn more, especially because I know I will have students in my classroom who have Autism. I found the video of Rosie and her brother and friends very eye-opening because it truly showed how broad a different a diagnosis of autism can be. Rosie herself, compared to her brother Lenny, seems completely normal, and had she not explained how she felt in certain situations I would not have labeled her with a disability after the 15 minutes I saw of her. Her brother Lenny however, is non verbal and much less functioning than Rosie. She says herself that he will have to be taken care of his whole life. Rosie tell us that she has the form of autism known as aspergers. I find it shocking that the same disability, autism, can have such a wide variety of characteristics. I'm not sure if this hurts the educational system or helps it?
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Jon Weinberger
7/25/2015 12:23:14 am
Rachel,
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Jessica Fox
7/27/2015 11:46:27 pm
Rachel,
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Jon Weinberger
7/25/2015 12:17:46 am
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Jessica Fox
7/27/2015 11:42:22 pm
I agree Jon that my views did not change, I just felt more inspired and more interested in people with autism because I too have worked with children with autism. Coming from the same school you do, I really feel the "Understanding Differences" program is great along with our bullying prevention program. I think it's programs like those that will develop more acceptance in the world which is what society needs.
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Jessica Fox
7/27/2015 11:39:30 pm
After seeing these videos and hearing these stories through the eyes of children and people with autism and their families, I feel more inspired to help families with autism. People think of people with autism as so negative but they are really such interesting wonderful people. They show love, excitement, joy, anger and all the other emotions “typical” people do but in a “non-typical” way. I think it is so important to embrace this community of people and make sure to always make them treated with the same respect any other child or person would get.
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