Learning With A Visual Brain In An Auditory World

Children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often present parents and educators with perplexing symptoms. This book presents strategies that are based on the language of the way individuals with ASD learn.

A unique book recommending strategies based on the language of the way individuals with autism spectrum disorder learn.

Visuals of all kinds (photographs, checklists, line drawings, cartoons, flowcharts, stick figures, etc.) are commonly used as supports for individuals on the autism spectrum who tend to think and learn visually. However, not all visuals are created equal and, therefore, visuals don't all work equally well. This companion to Learning With a Visual Brain in an Auditory World helps the reader understand how to match the developmental levels of pictures and visuals to the developmental level of the person looking at the visual. In this way, appropriate visuals provide the language development for children with autism spectrum disorders. Drawing from their experience with children and youth for decades, the authors also show how effective communication can help reduce the confusion and anxiety that often lead to behavioral outbursts. --Google Books.

Combining their years of experience working with individuals on the autism spectrum, the authors bring practical ideas and teaching methods for offering visual supports to students with autism spectrum disorders.

Literacy teaching tends to take a structural approach to language, focusing on auditory products or skills such as sounds, morphemes, words, sentences, and vocabulary. However, new research suggests that the majority of English speakers actually think and learn in visual concepts, and that there is a cultural and linguistic mismatch between auditory teaching methods and the way students think and learn. This has important implications for all educators including those who work with students with neurogenic disabilities, such as autism spectrum disorders and ADHD. In her new book, Dr. Ellyn Lucas Arwood outlines a revolutionary four-tiered model of how a learner acquires language, and suggests ways to impose visual language functions onto an auditory language like English in order to improve learning for both neurotypical learners and those with neurogenic disabilities. Dr. Arwood provides tried-and-tested intervention strategies that work with all levels of ability, giving readers the knowledge and confidence to teach learners to become more literate in a way that raises learners' abilities to think and problem solve. This book takes a fresh look at how language and literacy interact, and will be of interest to educators and special educators, speech and language pathologists, and other professionals who support language learning and development.