What would an education system for autistics be like?

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Allow people to focus on there individual interests to the exclusion of all else.

You could do much, much better than the normal education system by just visiting Summerhill School and copying them almost exactly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summerhill_School

Hmmm...

Hmmm... perhaps we need a website dedicated to doing things which will help Autists IRL, such as setting up schools, communities etc. It can be as simple as a forum and a wiki. Anyone for the idea who can help carry it forward?

I haven't identified the Canadian university for aspies mentioned in this thread, but I found a college support program for people on the spectrum and with other learning disabilities that operates in several U.S. cities including Berkeley:

http://www.collegeinternshipprogram.com/index.html

I've had some bizarre ideas for educational video games:


-"Phagocytosis": an immune system game loosely based on Pac Man...and antibodies and antigens and leucocytes and pathogens...whatever

-Molecule Mayhem: An organic chemistry version of Mean Bean Machine. Collect hydrocarbon chains, add some functional groups and each reaction earns big points. Gives a whole meaning to the phrase "chain reaction". Polymers, monomers it goes on forever. Ouch .

-Some strange simplified enzyme, substrate 3D puzzle game. Match the correct enzyme to the correct substrate and break down that substrate molecule, form an enzyme substrate complex, get products and big points. Different digestive system puzzle environments: mouth, stomach... Um yuk

-"Generations": kind of organism breeding inheritance game. Pick the allele, mix and match and watch what characteristics the organisms develop.

-"Octomaze" guide an octopus, complete with wriggling tentacles, through marine mazes. Squeeze your cephalopod through intricate networks of transparent plastic tubes, glass
bottles, coral reefs and shipwrecks. Compete against your friends, race the clock and share your scores.

-"Predator vs Prey" or "Animal battles": some kind of interspecific competition game loosely based on Pokemon. Different habitats and climates. Adapt your critter to win this evolutionary arms race!

-"Evolve" an unboring cladistics game that's based on real species (unlike Pokemon).

-"Littoral zone" it's a battle for survival at the seaside. Time and tide wait for no critter. Change the conditions and watch the critters rearrange themselves in the sand or on the cliffs. Oil spills, storms, tides, "alien" species in this interactive marine ecosystem.

-"Weathering and Erosion". The Physical Geography game. Change the weather conditions and watch those cliffs crumble, those stacks and arches form. Speed up time and watch all of those little particles get broken up and washed away. Carve out bays and watch longshore drift. Make giant glaciers and river meanders.


I dunno if these would be commercially viable on not.

Yet more ideas for educational video games:

-Natural Disasters
Earthquakes, volcanoes, tropical storms, floods etc.
Collect scientific data and go on virtual field-trips. Make contingency plans and organise evacuations. Persuade locals to evacuate and leave their homes/businesses/fertile land. Map danger zones and cordont off areas. Set up base camps and research stations. Design structures to withstand natural forces. Run simulations. Collaborate. Watch the disaster and the devastating effects on a map. Get aid to affected areas. Try and prevent disease spreading. Redirect and slow water, lava flows etc. Construct shelters. Calculate costs of damages to infrastructure/communication networks. Save lives, try and minimise losses. Problems...Not even the best simulations can accurately predict where and when things will happen. Sometimes, even the best preparation isn't enough. A potentially traumatising and morbid game. Perhaps this kind of work is best left to the experts in the real world. The word "game" in this context is insensitive too.

-Leisure and Tourism games with a "tycoon" style business mechanic.
Build and run: holiday caravan camps, resorts and summer camps. Keep the guests happy and coming back for more year after year. Keep your pockets full and your guests entertained. Build accommodation and amenities. Hire and fire staff. Run activities and Kids Clubs. Deal with complaints, disruptive guests and give refunds.

-Early Birds!
It's Spring Time and the chicks are hungry. Navigate bird tables, trees, lawns, flowerbeds...Dodge cats, hawks, fight territorial disputes and more! Find worms, insects, molluscs, fruit and seeds...but watch out. The weather can change, someone forgets to recharge the bird feeder. Your food supply might be poisoned with pesticides and slug pellets. Feed your chicks the wrong food at the wrong time and they can get sick and die. Healthy, happy chicks mean big points! If all of your chicks die, it's game over. Only eat what fits your beak. Choose from different species of garden birds. Unlockable secrets! New knowledge to discover every day! Real recorded bird songs and calls! Feed your brood and your mind with this addictive path drawing game.

-Free Range Farm
Run and manage your own free range farm business.
Find out where your food comes from. Feed and breed chickens, pigs, sheep, Alpacas etc for table. Collect eggs. Sell your produce. Attend Farmer's markets. Buy and sell your livestock. Buy and sell grazing land. Farm sustainably. Problem...some people might be disturbed at the idea of sending and transporting cute looking animals to slaughter. Some unpleasant details might have to be left out (ratings issues) and the business statistics mechanics left in.

-Small Fry!
You're just a tiny fish in a big river/ocean. It's a fish eat fish world. Find food, dodge hungry predators and navigate/migrate your way through an aquatic world. Possible species: salmon, trout, cod...
Can you survive to reproduce?

-Salmon farm
Manage your own fish farm.


Problem...fish aren't cute and cuddly, they're slimy. We eat them. Can you get emotionally attached to and interact with something you eat?

Also fish don't act and think like people: there's a danger of anthropomorphising here.
Fish find their way upstream by sense of smell (by that I mean slight chemical changes in the water). How would I depict this visually? Video games aren't like smellivision...different smells could be represented by different color clouds in the water? It does seem horribly crude.

I dunno, perhaps time spent playing the birdie game could actually be better spent feeding your garden birds, birdwatching in the fresh air or reading identification guides?

Field Trips


Ideally, all students should be able to participate without feeling harassed or being in danger.

Students should feel safe.

Assessed field trip activities, I feel, should be marked by teachers/assistants who are sober.
Teaching young adults is stressful, yes. It is even more stressful if people are intoxicated in the evenings. I have nothing against people enjoying a drink on the last night (if they're above the legal drinking age). It's the anti-social binge drinking on trips that I don't understand.

Ideally, a student shouldn't be wondering if a poor mark was down to his/her lack of effort or whether it was due to the fact that the assistant teacher was about to collapse onto the floor. Teacher and student interactions are much more stressful, I find, when the student can smell the alcohol on the teacher's breath and hear the teacher's slurred speech.

I also don't know about teachers promoting clubbing evenings on trips that are basically about how many free vodka shots people can down before 11pm. This may damage people's mental health and social lives. It may also damage the floor. Vomiting on the floor creates more work for the cleaning staff in the morning. It's also disgusting and doesn't make me feel safe or welcome.

Students back from the pub at 3am and disturbing other people late at night might not be helpful if they have assessed fieldwork to do in the morning.

I feel that all students have a right to a good night's sleep on field-trips without being disturbed by people yelling all night. People can function better if they are not hung over/stressed.

I feel that drunken behaviour and harassment on fieldtrips should be risk assessed just like fieldwork.

I also feel that students with sensory/communication difficulties should have access to a quiet area where they can work/recuperate in peace and not be harassed by drunk people.

If a so called introverted/shy/sensitive/autistic person has difficulties with large noisy distractible groups or group based assignments on fieldtrips, then this person should be provided with alternative quieter assignments. These assignments could include solo work and detailed research for the trip. The material that the capable student researches on his/her own could be used to benefit the entire group. People who usually cope better in chatty groups might benefit from an autistic student's detailed and meticulous work. I feel that people shouldn't just be judged on how well they can yell above the noise.

I feel that a lot of capable people could be ignored and failed if group work and extroversion is valued above everything else.

I feel strongly that female students have the right to participate in male dominated technical subjects without being harassed or treated like little girls who don't know what they're talking about.

Female students have the right to feel safe and work in subjects that they enjoy.
I feel that there should be a support system (preferably with female staff) in place other than "How does it make you feel?" to deal with drunkeness and harassment.

I feel that everyone has a right not to have their enthusiasm for a subject squashed by stress, accommodation issues and bullying.

If a student has to look after an elderly or disabled relative, this should be acknowledged as this may affect grades and participation.


Having pre-prepared lesson notes/materials handed out by the teacher is helpful.
It means that students, especially those with communication issues can concentrate more on what the teacher says without having to scribble down untidy notes. It also gives the smarter students more ideas to experiment with and think about later on.

Some of the best teachers that I had gave out good quality materials and spent time with each student. They also had support systems/lunchtime sessions in place for when students couldn't do the work because of illness etc.

The best teachers I had were sober, well organised and looked after their mental wellbeing.
They were calm.

Calm teachers made me feel calm.
Stressed teachers made me feel stressed.

Extremely patient.

I'm going to be highly controversial here and say that the UK system is actually pretty good for autistics. Apart from a bit more training for teachers, and encouraging parents and schools to work together better...

What you have to remember is that once you leave school, you still have to live in a world or 99.something% NTs- so our experience at school has to enable us to do this: so being in a school with NTs, learning in lots of different ways in different styles, learning things that don't necessarily engage us- they all help us later on.
I think extra help is needed, but it's already given: social skills classes help with communication skills, and the UK system of support for children with special needs (if you have good teachers) is actually pretty good and works really well once schools and home start working together constructively instead of constant battling.
The system of School Action/School Action Plus/Statements works well for children with behaviour issues, social issues, communication problems, speech and language difficulties, physical difficulties: many of the things that people with ASD have problems with. Having a "gifted and Talented" register and differentiated work also helps with strengths and thinking skills which often ASD children have in patches- but that is the whole point of G&T.
The school I teach at is great for children with ASDs, and we have several of them. We aren't a specialist school, we're a lower than average, "satisfactory" school in an inner-city area. But we have caring and knowledgeable staff, good support for SEN children, social skills training, a quiet room for retreating when overwhelmed, buddies at playtime and a quiet corner, lunchtime clubs and because we are a small school we can play to the strengths of all our children.
So I think we need change nothing at all.

Reading some of the posts here of what people think of as the perfect learning environment makes me realize how lucky I am in that regard. I am now a college librarian and everyday I sit at a desktop computer that's connected to a bunch of subscribed data bases that most don't have access to. I can call up literally millions of papers, books, articles, etc relating to research in our offered courses, and also special librarian's sites. If I want to keep any of the material I'm also connected to every printer and scanner on campus. I can even scan and e-mail them out to wherever I want.

And of course on top of that I'm sitting in a room full of thousands of college grade books, most of them non-fiction, and all at my disposal. And if THAT isn't enough I also have the interlibrary loan system literally at my fingertips. If we don't have it, I can get it usually in a matter of days.

I'm in a data hound's paradise, I will literally never run out of things to read and study.