2 posts tagged “education”

When one asks me what it's like to be Autistic, I usually talk about differences in sensory perceptions or differences in social interaction but truth be told, I'm still discovering what it is and what it means to and/or for me and others with the condition. One thing i'm sure of is it is not a curse nor is it comprable to a fatal car accident or cancer.  Until fairly recently Autism was not talked about much by doctors and the US educational system had little to offer Autistic children.  I was initially labelled Learning Disabled but by the time I attended middle school I was labelled Emotionally Impaired.

Some look at Autism as a puzzle. I see Autism in a larger context of the wonderful mystery of the human mind. There is so little we know about how the brain works and why one person thinks in one way while another person's mind operates differently. Wouldn't it be awfully boring if our minds all worked in the same way? Without neurodiversity we would not have da Vinci, van Gogh, or Picasso. We would never have had an Einstein.

Some would have us believe that we have an Autism 'epidemic' on our hands. But it seems more likely that more people are being diagnosed with Autism. There is also the potential risk now of over-diagnosis. I think back to when I was a child and diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder. Though I believe it to be a real medical condition I'm not sure I necessarily have it and believe it to be over-diagnosed. I don't always understand people when they give me directions. Not all teachers were as understanding as others. It was easier for me to make a joke than to admit in front of other children that I had no clue what the teacher was talking about or wanted me to do. At the same time, instead of the so-called experts admitting they didn't know what was wrong, I was given the label of Attention Deficit Disorder and put on the powerful stimulant Ritalin. Nowadays, some US doctors are claiming that Attention Deficit Disorder is really a childhood form of bipolar disorder because the similarity of the symptoms when they are described on paper. Previously bipolar (formerly called 'manic depression') was diagnosed in teens and adults, yet now five year-olds are being diagnosed with the condition and put on medication much more powerful than the Ritalin I was given as a child.

Instead of looking at medication as a quick fix, it may be better to look at a child's surrounding environment. For instance, direct florescent lighting has been proven to cause anxiety in certain people and is often used in classrooms. Florescent lighting is more suited for indirect lighting. For instance, I have a florescent bulb in a lamp in my living room which shines upward towards the ceiling. I prefer it over my ceiling light which is actually a non-florescent light! Another thing is it can be difficult for children to concentrate on their work with various distractions around them. One special education teacher had us sit in cubicles which technically were just regular desks with cardboard around each desk. The cardboard had wallpaper on it to make it look nicer. Such solutions only require creativity and are much cheaper than medicating children in the long run.

Recent research confirms what I've long suspected: teens have to get up too early for school and are not getting enough sleep.

The following is from an article entitled: 'How Much Sleep Do I Need?':

Until recently, teens were often given a bad rap for staying up late, oversleeping for school, and falling asleep in class. But recent studies show that adolescent sleep patterns actually differ from those of adults or kids.

These studies show that during the teen years, the body's circadian rhythm (sort of like an internal biological clock) is reset, telling a person to fall asleep later and wake up later. Unlike kids and adults, whose bodies tell them to go to sleep and wake up earlier, most teens' bodies tell them go to sleep late at night and sleep into the late morning. This change in the circadian rhythm seems to be due to the fact that the brain hormone melatonin is produced later at night for teens than it is for kids and adults. This can make it harder for teens to fall asleep early.

Here is an excerpt from a second article:  'Most Teens Want a Later Start to School Days';

"Teenagers need more sleep than adults [eight to nine hours vs. seven to eight] and their circadian rhythms are phase shifted so that their ideal bedtime is midnight to 1 a.m.; yet they have to get up at 6:30 or earlier for high school," study author Dr. Richard Schwab, of the University of Pennsylvania, said in a prepared statement.

High schools should start classes at 8:30 or 8:45 in the morning, he said.