College Students ' Perceptions Of Peers With Autism Spectrum Disorder

I myself have grown up with someone who has Autism. There are definitely some difficulties especially in the beginning, but once you get to know them the are just like anybody else.

Stereotypes tend to be made by those who lack understanding whether is unintentional or not. Understanding is the key to accepting and valuing all differences. Whether it is about our race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, or whatever else makes up an individual’s identity. It is this lack of understanding that normally leads to stereotyped views, prejudice and discrimination. This sadly is mostly the case for those with autistic spectrum conditions and has a large affect on not only the

In my personal story, I reviewed my own experience of being a parent to a child with an ASD diagnosis. As it was demonstrated both from the literature review and though my personal story, it is clear that facing an ASD diagnosis is a big crisis. Part of the crisis relates to the stigma of ASD. Parents face judgment and resentments toward their children from the general public as well as judgment on their parenting style. This judgment comes as a result of the typical appearance of most children with

Autism has been made to seem like this huge issue, something that needs to be stopped. While there are many issues that come with autism, it is not something that should be getting such negative attention. People with autism seem to be the most extraordinary out of any of us. “They are usually intelligent, gifted, honest, hard workers when interested in a task and excellent problem solvers. People with high-functioning autism are thought to become excellent scientists and engineers or enter other professions where painstaking, methodical analysis is required. Some believe this particular assertion is a stereotype, as some high-functioning autism adults tend to struggle with the traditional work setting and the surrounding societally accepted ways of behaving,” (Synapse, Pg 2). There

Most parents wonder what is the next chapter after their child with autism spectrum disorder graduate from high school, for some individuals, it is to move onto higher education. As stated by Cai and Richdale (2015), the USA has one of the lowest rates of college enrollment for individuals with ASD, with over 50% of these individuals being in neither education nor employment following their secondary school, with similar finding in the UK (p. 31). For the individuals with ASD who move forward in gaining a higher education will have to learn to adapt and determine how to transition into higher education. Mentioned by Cai and Richdale (2015), a USA national survey illustrated poor outcomes from transitioning from secondary school into adult-hood. “The findings showed that after young adults with ASD left the public school system, 80% continues to live at home, only 32% attended postsecondary education, just 6% had competitive jobs, while 21% had no employment or education experience at all. Further 40% reported having no friends. (p. 32)”

Autism is a disorder that I seem to hear more about every day. I hear about it on the television news, in news articles online, and even personal blogs that I read. It seems that everyone has some knowledge of autism and most people know someone personally that it affects. As far as my own personal knowledge and experience of the disorder, I learned it at camp. I have volunteered many years for at Camp Tik-A-Witha. This camp provides a week long session for children with special needs (mental and physical handicaps) called Elizabeth Gwin Session. While volunteering at camp, I have seen children with blindness, Cerebral Palsy, Down syndrome, and autism.

Autism Spectrum Disorder. ASD. Autism. When people hear any of these, it’s either “avoid that person at all costs”, “be super sympathetic”, “pretend to be their friend” or “I have no idea what that is”. My best friend and illustrator of my second book, has no idea what autism is. I tried explaining it to her. It’s very hard to explain how you feel, first of all. To put the fact that you are autistic makes it even more difficult. It doesn’t bother me too much that she doesn’t know. As long as she knows that I truly am a good person, we’re good.

Over the years, more people are becoming aware of Autism Spectrum Disorder, ASD. The growing number of individuals who are affected by ASD have been increasing over the years. This could be do to the new DSM development of what is considered ASD or simply more children are being born with ASD. Either way, ASD is more predominate in our society today. ASD is defined in the DSM 5 as having abnormal social aspects, lack of social skills, non-verbal communications skills, deficits in development, lack of understanding of relationships, and self-stimulation through repetitive behaviors (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Although these are not all of the symptoms caused by ASD

The project topic is appropriate to pursue because the guaranteed rights of special education are significant. There will always be students with exceptional needs in the world; consequently, the unsurpassed idea is to learn as much as possible about specific details in order to justify an individual with the disorder if necessary. Autism is relevant to most individuals because depending on what type of employment an individual is involved in, an individual with autism may require guidance at a specific point in time. I would like to present my research to future parents of children with autism in order for the parents to prepare for any changes. At this given point in time, autism is a prevalent subject because of the prodigious changes that are being made every day. Researching this

Autism can be a beautiful diagnosis to have, it allows individuals to see, hear, and feel things that most people do not. I have had the pleasure of becoming friends with many people who have been diagnosed with different levels of autism and they are some of the most interesting, caring, and intelligent people who I have encountered. So many people in the world do not have personal experience or knowledge of this diagnosis. Individuals

If students with ASD are not taught social emotional skills they will be greatly effected as adults. Research done has suggested that adults with ASD will often experience social isolation. Approximately one-half to two-thirds of these adults have no close friendships, and in the cases where friendships do occur they are often less close and less supportive than friendships had by adults in the general population (Orsmond, Shattuck, Cooper, Sterzing, and Anderson 2013). Studies have been done in Canadian and European populations and have found that fewer than half of adults with ASD participate in social events in the community such as attending church or special interest groups that would provide social opportunities (Orsmond, Shattuck,

The common traits of ASD, which include anti-social and often disruptive patterns of behavior, can make children with autism challenging for typical learning children to approach. Though the issue of including children with disabilities in mainstream classrooms is a complex one, peer-mediated interventions can promote the growth of social skills at every level of education. By educating the general population of typical peers and empowering them to be a part of the process a dent can be made in the social exclusion often experienced by the ASD children in mainstream settings. Implementing these interventions enriches the lives of all of the children involved, “possibly developing sustainable social relationships” expanding the effects of the program beyond the academic setting (Hughes et al., 2013). Also, these methods provide teachers an unobtrusive method of teaching that has benefits for the entire class. These methods could be helpful to other student populations that have intellectual

Interacting with people with disabilities, should be judged based on the person in front of us instead of based on stereotypes created through arts. Creigh, a college student who grew up with an Autistic younger sister, Caley in her article “I CANNOT CALL MY SISTER CUTE: AUTISM AND INFANTILIZATION” explains, “Caley’s got a sticker stuck to the door of her bedroom which reads, ‘When you see, meet, or think about a person with a disability, PRESUME COMPETENCE” (Creigh, 1). Competence the ability to do something successfully or efficiently. Throughout the arts people who have autism are being portrayed as cute, and due to this have to deal with the ways “normal people” see, meet or think about them. People within the autistic spectrum are inaccurately portrayed as “cute” in the arts.

Most parents wonder what is the next chapter for their child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) after they graduate from high school. For some individuals, it is to move onto higher education. As stated by Cai and Richdale (2015), the USA has one of the lowest rates of college enrollment for individuals with ASD, with over 50% of these individuals being in neither education nor employment following their secondary school (p. 31). Individuals with ASD who move forward in gaining a higher education will have to learn to adapt and determine how to transition into higher education. Mentioned by Cai and Richdale (2015), a USA national survey illustrated poor outcomes from transitioning from secondary school into adult-hood. The findings show that after young adults with ASD left the public school system, 80% live at home, 32% attended postsecondary education, only 6% had competitive jobs, and 21% had no employment or education experience at all. In addition, 40% reported having no friends. (p. 32)

Van Hees, V., Moyson, T., & Roeyers, H. (2015). Higher education experiences of students with autism spectrum disorder. Challenges, benefits and support needs. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 45(6), 1673-1688.