I had a talk at an autism event yesterday and a lot of the questions afterwards had to do with my experience of mainstream schools. Which weren't so good, as most aspies can probably vow for.
How about this: imagine a school where you do subjects in, say, two week intervals. You do Biology the first two weeks, perhaps spending the weekend on a practical (e.g. planting a veggie garden) and your final "exam" is a project hand-in (and for that, all the creative stops can be pulled out!). The next two weeks is English, and perhaps the assignment is to create a magazine. The two weeks after that it is Geography and perhaps it includes a visit to the countryside to study geological formations. And so it continues.
I have found the "a little bit every day" approach very disruptive and unfocussed while I was at school. In changing classrooms every hour to go to the next subject, by the time I was settled at my new desk, the class was almost over and I certainly never listened to anything the teacher said. Having lots of little things to do for homework was really difficult: I spent many an exam cramming the whole year's curriculum into my head in a couple of days (sometimes hours!) with much more focus and energy than I had the whole year (just much more stressful, though).
I really think this could be most beneficial to ALL kids who doesn't find value in the current mainstream learning model, not just autistic kids.
What do you think? PLEASE ask your kids, also? I am looking forward to your replies.
20 Apr 2008, 1:50 am
