What would an education system for autistics be like?

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If we were to design an education system from a blank slate, for autistic people, how would we do it?

Actually i was reading the other day in Canada they are opening a school specifically for teenagers with asperger's which I think is a really good idea.

Unfortunately, I thought I heard this school was privatized and costs a lot of money, which is just wrong.

Magneto, to begin with, it might help if it focused on individual experimentation and action as opposed to the passive inflow of words from some source of authority. For instance, if you wanted to understand physics, you should be encouraged to design your own physical systems, creating a few universal laws and allowing the systems to evolve, as well as solving problems by interacting with simulations of, or real, physical systems. Likewise, if you wanted to learn more about history, you should have access to the original historical sources (and their inevitable translations) and be encouraged to examine them yourself.

I also think the autist's intense focus should be honed, so that the child should learn when to persevere with one task and when to change direction.

Sounds good. I was thinking somewhere along those lines. I personally find it easier to learn on my own and having a teacher aside in case I get stuck, though I don't know about other people.

Keep the idea flow going, and maybe a few new schools/academies can be set up?

As I would like to open a centre for autistic people some day, I have given some thought to how it would work:

Melissa’s Centre for Autistic People

Objective: To prepare each pupil/student to develop his or her abilities and live independently, productively and happily, to the greatest extent possible.

Principles:
1. While the primary focus is traditional school ages, adult students still receiving benefit from the Centre’s programmes are welcome to remain.
2. Instruction is largely provided either individually or in small groups. Students thriving on independent study will be permitted – even expected – to do so, under appropriate guidance.
3. There is no concept of grade level or academic year. Each person progresses at their own pace, which may be quite different for various subject areas.
4. There is a core curriculum which includes foundational and essential knowledge and skills. This core curriculum is deliberately limited in scope to accurately reflect truly essential competencies required to function successfully in current and foreseeable future times.
5. Outside of the core curriculum, programmes are tailored to individual interests, needs and abilities. Subjects that are “distractions” and not particularly relevant to a student’s field of study are de-emphasised or eliminated outright.
6. Achievement is a combination of objective and subjective measures, using “real-world” criteria; i.e., the highest-performing students should be the most effective contributors in their adult endeavours. The Centre prepares students for gainful employment in their fields of interest and expertise.
7. The physical environment will allow for a wide range of sensory preferences. Students are not limited to desks and chairs – other types of furniture may be used, and instruction (and particularly independent study) may occur outside or during activities.
8. Continuity is provided to the extent possible – consistency of schedules and instructors is maintained to the extent possible.
9. Social activities are offered but are never required and only encouraged for students likely to benefit from them.
10. The preferred arrangement is for boarding students. This allows further flexibility, such as accommodating students that learn best during later hours as well as for greater consistency of schedules and routines when needed.
11. Discipline is based on the principle of punishment when a pupil/student does something known and understood to be wrong, as opposed to nominal infractions of rules. When possible and effective, discipline is constructive in nature. Behavioural guidance is achieved primarily through incentives and encouragement to the extent possible, with punishment introduced only when necessary to protect staff and other students as well as maintain a proper environment for all.

Very, very flexible. Autistics are extremely different from each other.

Focus on pictures and text rather than auditory input to compensate for processing speed differences.

Primaloath - what you say matches right perfect with A my long term interior ideas as to how to teach linguistics and B what I got from Ms. Nesmith, first class History teacher in Austin Texas years back whom I valued immensely.

Give me an internet connection and then leave me alone. Cheap too.

Wouldn't work for everybody, though. The Internet is total choice overload before you learn to do research.

But teaching kids to obtain information on their own would definitely be a big thing at any autism school, probably secondary only to establishing flexible communication skills.

Hmm, yes I spent a few years overwhelmed, but I'm sure that's part of the learning process.

I think we really should decide what the purpose of education is, first. My ideas are probably not the same as everyone else's.

I'm a big fan of self directed, self structured, self motivated study. My imposed education was a waste of time and taxpayer's money.

1) All online
2) Multiple source books to study from
3) Focus on goals and cover methods incidentally, aka the intuitive method
4) Visual & kinesthetic process
5) Required/scheduled tutoring
6) Conceptual, rather than procedural, testing

If we're talking about something online, I say we just give everyone on the spectrum an iPad.

Not everyone can use online education, and a lot of people would benefit from actually interacting with people.

Having such a school be residential, at least in part, would allow it to be even more flexible. Single rooms, definitely, that make easy bolt holes, each with a computer terminal. A nice big library, as well. It would be good if all/a majority of the staff were autistic themselves, since it would allow them to understand how people are feeling, although if any Entie applying for the job can understand that kettling doesn't work, they might get a job

Dispensing with multiple compulsory subjects would make sense, and instead allowing people to focus on their interest. Class attendance would, of course, be voluntary.

To be quite frank, the school system isn't that great for NTs either. And speaking from experience, it's the places where NTs don't do well, and aren't really encouraged academically, that have been hard for me. A school that really, really worked for NTs would work decently for us.

I don't like the idea of making it residential. You risk turning the place into an institution.

It has to be flexible, which would be a huge benefit to NTs as well. It has to present subjects in such a way that the students can learn it, and it has to recognize when someone can't grasp a particular concept and stop wasting time, and also recognize when someone could benefit from more intensive tutoring. It has to offer alternative approaches and not be dogmatic about doing something a particular way. It has to make the subjects interesting, and it would benefit from not having a fixed syllabus (but as the law requires a certain amount of rigidity and does not allow a school to be too good, this is really too much to hope for). Further, arbitrary requirements for having completed certain courses before taking others should be done away with because the prerequisite skills might be totally different for someone who does it in a different way.

Classes in nontraditional subjects would be nice, too. Also, the environment has to be sensory-friendly to the students, but that means vastly different things to different people, so it may be impossible.