An adult autistic perspective on growing up on the Autism Spectrum.

Autistics do not learn things the same way other people do. We tend to have more difficulties processing written language.

You may find common teaching practices leave us perplexed and uneducated. Finding alternative teaching techniques coupled with teaching aids is crucial for any autistic.

I did not graduate from high school until I was twenty-one. My education plan had to re-evaluated several times to include special education classes and re-taking of math classes.

Although I write very well, I do not read process what I read very well. If I was required to read large blocks of text, I often found myself re-reading or not even knowing what I had just read.

I have the ability to comprehend and this inability to read large blocks of text often left me looking and feeling quite stupid.

When I read aloud in class, my robotic way of reading word by word and not sentence by sentence concerned my teachers and frustrated the students.

When asked a question about what does this or that mean after reading aloud or for a long period of time, I would be perplexed and confused and thus unable to answer because I couldn’t remember what I had just read.

Now that I am in college, I have learned how to adapt my courses to suit my needs.

All of my books are provided to me on tape through the

Disability
Resource
Center at my college.

I have double testing time, a note taker if I need one for on campus courses, and access to all of the computers on campus that have many different types of software to aid me. The access to these computers are limited to those registered with the DRC.

There are several different versions of software that actually read to you. They include several options that I actually find quite helpful.

My software highlights either word by word or sentence by sentence and I actually hear what is high lighted.

I have several options of voice type and pitch as well as English or Spanish.

They ability to make quick notes that follow an outline type of format so that I can quickly refer back to it to remind myself in case I forget.

There are also online and on TV courses available that teach through video and audio.

I also used dragon naturally speaking before I learned to type effectively. However, I do not annunciate very well and found it to more of a mess when I had to go back and edit my papers.

I usually had to print it out and let someone read it and edit it for me. This was a problem because I still do not like to be criticized and often argued with my volunteer editor about grammar and content.

When choosing a course or class you should first find out about the teaching methods used to see if they are cohesive to your special needs.

Most teachers are willing to allow certain special circumstances to allow students to adapt to the class.

For more ideas and descriptions on teaching aids, please see my Educational Resources.

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