“People With Autism Ace Intelligence Test”– Globe and Mail
Filed Under (Activism, Adam, Autism and Intelligence, Autism and Learning, Research) by Estee on 17-06-2009
I’m leaving my theme of writing about children for a moment to disseminate today’s article in The Globe and Mail here.
It defintely makes a lot of sense to us as Adam has learned to play piano using visuals and patterns. He just had his first recital last week and beamed with “hey, that applause is for me?” kind-of-pride that just swells and oozes with, well….joy.
ESTÉE KLAR
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA
Writer/Curator/Founder of The Autism Acceptance Project. Contributing Author to Between Interruptions: Thirty Women Tell the Truth About Motherhood, and Concepts of Normality by Wendy Lawson. Lecturer on autism and the media and parenting. Current graduate student Critical Disability Studies and most importantly, mother of Adam -- a new and emerging writer.
“But when teaching someone with autism to read the sound “ea,” for example, it might be better to present a page with 100 words like peach, teach and reach to show the visual pattern.”
When I was in first grade and they were trying to teach phonics, I just did NOT get it, at all. Years later I never understood what teachers meant by “sound it out” – if you don’t know a word, then how do you sound it out, by making up sounds to go on the page? Fortunately, with the help of my dad answering whenever I asked “what’s this word?” and the help of word lists and children’s dictionaries, I was able to teach myself how to read, and by about third to sixth grade my vocabulary and spelling were actually above average (though by second grade my spelling was pretty fraught with errors still, though not much more than could be expected and I could always learn them before a spelling test). Weird though to see in print what I was saying ten years ago.
Estee,
I thought you were anti-autism speaks… and since they paid the bill for the research….. http://autismgadfly.blogspot.com/2009/06/has-autism-speaks-picked-up-tab-for.html
What happens if this research is now used for new therapy methods, new medicines, new places to look for gene research….. curing???
S.
I know they did. Hopefully there will be a greater proliferation of research in this area as well.
Distilling people into “for this and anti-that” is just too simple, Farmwife. People’s attitudes change, the direction of research can change…that is what is important.
I will venture a guess here that while we will be able to assist autistic individuals in many ways, we will never be able to distill simple solutions or eliminate the differences that are inherent to being human.
Somtimes, no matter what the issues, there are certain truths that hold true. Logic and patterns fit a spectrum of learning also to the technical mind.
Better to spend Autism Speaks’s money on this kind of research, than the alternatives.
w00t! for Adam and his piano playing (and recital!). I’ve been trying to get Jeremy interested in playing off and on for years. He really liked a set of music-theory CDs for kids called “Music Ace”, years ago, but we could never get him interested in taking keyboard lessons.
Hi Phil,
Nice to see you here! Yes, we got Adam interested in learning notes and playing by putting tactile letters of the song on the page. He likes to point to each letter (or note) and then subsequently play the note at this early stage of piano learning. What was lovely was to see his pride when people clapped for him.
Then, he had his school play. It was fantastic. He goes to an inclusive school and participated fully in the play — acting and playing in the school orchestra. I must say that watching him coordinate with a huge orchestra was outstanding and I held back my tears. I was so proud of him.
Brilliant – so happy for u and Adam
I have been lucky enough to have spent some time in a school for children who are on the spectrum and notices that some of the kids had a motor deficit or some coordination issues. I told the director about Neurodevelopmental therapy (Carmel tierney.com) which helps children with poor coordination and motor skills. We did not know if there would be any benefit for the children at the time and so decided on a trial which is still in progress. While it is too early to say what the results are early indicators are positive. this therapy is based on the work of Sally Goddard at INPP.CO.UK. the theory behind the application of NDT for children on the spectrum is that stimming behaviours indicate a need for neurological stimulation which in turn promotes neurological maturation. the upshot of improved neuro maturation for some children is the ability to focus on a specific task which is an essential skill for learning.
love your bolgbs. xc