Autism

 Multicultural Education 2120

In the Temple video the subject of children with Autism is discussed in depth.  In this video autistic children are described as having a different learning style then the regular children in general education classes.  Instead of thinking of things in a more abstract way they see detailed images in their head.  Temple Grandin shared her story about how when she was younger she noticed she did not learn like the other kids around her did.  She also realized that she unlike her peers paid attention to the small and what seemed like unimportant details.  Some examples of famous historical figures that also had some form of autism were Beethoven and Einstein.  She made it clear that children with autism can ultimately function and succeed in society as an individual.  Children who have autism may not be able to speak but then some autistic children could grow up and be very successful.  Many autistic children are very good in one specific area and do not worry about the others.  She mentioned she was very interested in showing off her drawings and was not very good in math. 

Having an autistic child in your classroom comes with challenges and also benefits.  One challenge would be that if the child’s interest was not in math they may struggle with it because they do not see the point in it.  They may also get frustrated and feel defeated because they do not like being bad at something.  A benefit would be that if they do have one particular area that they are very good at and know everything about they could help the other children in the class that may be struggling.