Teaching Autistic Children

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses the creation and maintenance of effective teaching strategies and programs for children with autism. The paper looks at adult-directed teaching, child-directed teaching, visual supports, the reward system and imitation as a developmental tool. The paper also discusses the argument of the home vs. the traditional classroom setting for educating autistic children. The paper notes that, for those children who are only slightly or moderately afflicted with autism, the classroom, under the guidance of a trained professional and with the assistance of parents, appears to be the best environment for instruction and education.

Outline:
Child-Directed Teaching
Visual Supports
The Reward System
Imitation

From the Paper:

"As any well-trained professional will attest to, the overall development of effective teaching strategies for children with autism is only a section of the continuing struggle over whether or not to include autistic children in a normal educational environment as one would find in any public school in the United States. Thus, there continues to be much debate concerning the argument by some that the home of an autistic child should be the prime environment for education as opposed to the other argument that autistic children should be included in classrooms with their "normal" peers. Within the last ten years or so, this situation has altered greatly, due to a number of clinical studies which have shown that young children with autism (5 to 7 years of age) when placed in a "normal" classroom environment do indeed respond favorably. However, controversy and disagreement abound and as Karen S. Exkorn explains it, the main issue is "whether it is best to include autistic children in regular classrooms or to provide separate special education classrooms," all the while keeping in mind "the child's basic civil rights to be part of his/her community and the child's individual requirements for instruction" (2005, 67)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• (2007). Autism Fact Sheet. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Internet. Available at http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/autism/detail_autism.htm.
• Exkorn, Karen S. (2005). The Autism Sourcebook. New York: Prentice-Hall.
• Jordan, Rita and Stuart Powell. (2002). Understanding and Teaching Children with Autism. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
• Mesibov, Gary B., et al. (2003). Autism: Understanding the Disorder. New York: Kluwer Academic Press.
• (2006). The Culture of Autism. Autism Independent UK. Internet. Available at http://www.autismuk.com/index3sub1.htm.

More papers on Teaching Autistic Children:

• Research Proposal # 72136 : "Teaching Autistic Children"
• Descriptive Essay # 132939 : "Assisting Speech Development in Autistic Children"
• Research Paper # 74995 : "Autistic Children"

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