Experiential Education & Autism
Children learn through various means. Children with Autism learn through the world around them as opposed to standard classroom education. They learn through experiences.
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What is Experiential Education?
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To learn how to sail a boat, you must actually experience being on the boat. Experiential education, or "learning by doing," is an educational approach that allows the student to experience a situation and then discuss it. This allows the student to form their own ideas and opinions on what they've learned through the experience.
Who Introduced Experiential Education?
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The belief is spreading that the chalkboard is not enough to teach students. John Dewey began spreading the idea of experiential education in the 20th century. As an educational philosopher, he believed that direct experience was more valuable than the typical educational approach of the students ingesting the information given to them, or standardized teaching.
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Autism Uses
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Experiencing the world is a learning opportunity. Students with Autism learn through exploring and experiencing the world around them through sight, touch, smell, taste and sound. Experiential educational is used to draw on the strengths of the student with Autism to develop new skills. Evaluation of an experience works to test the knowledge of the Autistic student as opposed to standardized testing.
How Does It Look?
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Tangram puzzles are used in teaching spatial reasoning and picture completion. An experiential educational classroom will consist of learning centers. At these centers, students with Autism are encouraged to work through tasks independently and at their own pace using the tools provided. There are no wrong answers only discoveries. Students experience success through exploring new ways to complete tasks. For example, a student with Autism may be given a set of Tangrams and be asked to complete a picture. The student will often study the pieces and once they know what they want to make, they will form a picture out of the Tangram pieces. This may not be the same picture that someone else made.
Why Use Experiential Education
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A person with Autism can communicate their ideas developed from experience through drawings like this blueprint. Experiential education encourages the Autistic student to think and communicate ideas. For the Autistic child, communication is a challenge. Experiential education can help remove this challenge in a positive way. For example, a group of Autistic children did a musical about Autism for an HBO special. The children were given basic tools to use to develop their play. The children wrote songs and small skits to communicate their ideas about Autism. The parents of the children were interviewed stating that they were amazed at the effect the experience had on their children.
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References
- Photo Credit kuttersegeln image by Rebel from Fotolia.com today image by alwayspp from Fotolia.com flowers and princess image by anna karwowska from Fotolia.com silhouette de cygne réalisée avec les 7 pièces d"un tangram image by Unclesam from Fotolia.com drawings image by Chad McDermott from Fotolia.com
