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Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a group of developmental disorders, including Asperger’s Syndrome, Pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS), and Rett's disorder, that can result in varying degrees of social impairment, communication difficulties, and repetitive and stereotyped behaviors. The 1990’s saw a great surge in the number of children diagnosed with ASD. Experts now estimate that six in 1000 children will be diagnosed with an ASD. These students are now college age and consequently, college instructors are starting to see increasing numbers of students with ASD, specifically those on the high end of the autism spectrum, those with Asperger’s Syndrome (also referred to as high functioning), in their college classrooms. The research lags behind the increased awareness of the disorder, however. Although ASD is now an active area of research, studies have only recently begun to address the needs of postsecondary students with ASD (Alpern & Zager, 2007).
The introductory writing class is one of the first college classes facing most college freshmen. It is often one of the first courses that poses a challenge to college students with ASD. Success in a gatekeeper course such as introductory college composition is therefore important to continued persistence. The editors of the new book Autism Spectrum Disorders in the College Composition Classroom: Making Writing Instruction More Accessible for all Students (Gerstle & Walsh, 2011) indicate, however, that there has been little written for college composition instructors regarding supporting the needs of their students with ASD.
Autism Spectrum Disorders in the College Composition Classroom: Making Writing Instruction More Accessible for all Students (Gerstle & Walsh, 2011) is a collection of papers submitted in response to a call from the editors on the topic of students with ASD in the college composition classroom. The papers were presented at a 2005 conference on College Composition and Communication and offer suggestions for practice based on the personal experience of professionals in the field “corroborated by current educational and neuroscientific literature on ASD”(p.8). The first collection of papers deals with the administrative aspects of serving students with ASD in the college composition classroom. The second collection of papers provides specific pedagogical interventions. The editors write that the collection was compiled not from the perspective of “disciplining ASD students to behave normally, rather… one in which the unique abilities of the ASD students can productively transform the traditional composition classroom” (p.8). That asset-based framework sets a positive and progressive stage for the book. While several chapters within the book were consistent with the framework established by the editors, most are not.
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