Book Details
McMahon-Coleman, K. & Draisma, K. (2016). Teaching university students with Autism Spectrum Disorder: a guide to developing academic capacity and proficiency. Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Available from Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Event
Book launch
15 July 2016
The Terrace Restaurant
University of Wollongong, NSW
Address given by Dr Nola Norris
Ladies and gentlemen,
I am very excited to be talking about Kimberley and Kim’s new book, Teaching university students with autism spectrum disorder: A guide to developing academic capacity and proficiency. This book addresses an area of great need and I wish it had been available during my husband’s study of a university degree. Years before he was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome in 2005, he was given a place in a University of Western Sydney pathways program, Unistart. He thrived and succeeded with the level of academic support he received in Unistart and then began a degree in computer programming, a field in which he worked and already had strong expertise. He quickly encountered problems, such as not being able to finish or submit his programming assignments unless the code ran perfectly, therefore receiving no marks for his work.
With the benefit of a firm diagnosis and knowing what I now know, I can appreciate that he was behaving absolutely logically in his own terms, having no way of comprehending that the lecturer’s intention was not to assess whether the program ran successfully but to evaluate the student’s level of mastery over the code.
My husband’s diagnosis of Asperger syndrome was an epiphany that resulted in my increasing awareness that many learners, including those among my own students, have characteristics affecting their learning, of which I had no understanding despite my years of experience in education. This problem led to my doctoral research and I was indeed fortunate to have one of the authors, Dr Kim Draisma, as my doctoral supervisor.
According to the book’s authors, here at the University of Wollongong (UOW) Learning Development Centre, ‘Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are [one] of the largest sub-cohorts’ (p. 13) presenting for assistance. It’s a safe guess that most university learning developers will be encountering a similar sub-cohort of students, who clearly have strengths and areas of giftedness that brings them to the university, but who may lack some of the academic skills, such as time management, required for success.
Kimberley and Kim’s book speaks intently into the professional relationship between the learning developer and their student with ASD, while describing student learning characteristics and interaction with the learning tasks, most of which are written or have written components. As an aside, I find it helpful that the book incidentally maps the domain of academic writing; a secondary feature that will guide disciplinary lecturers in identifying concepts such as ‘genre’ and ‘register’ appropriate to their discipline, and assist them with the wording of assignment questions and instructions so that the task is clear for all learners, not just students with ASD.
Because this book is easy to read, it will also be helpful to put into the hand of parents and life-partners who want to understand the issues surrounding their family member’s participation in university education.
Kimberley and Kim have provided absorbing case studies from their experience to illustrate the topics they discuss. For example, in the chapter titled ‘Rigidity of Thinking and Literal Thinking’, this example about the use of metaphor in academic instruction:
James had an essay question that required him to respond in terms of explaining an art theory, discussing the work of a related practitioner, and then adding a reflective viewpoint in each paragraph. The tip sheet used the metaphor of a layer cake, with theory/practitioner/reflection as layers that were to be repeated in order. James asked in horror, ‘do I have to bake a cake?’ Even when advised that this was not the case, he continued to wave the tip sheet as evidence that he did. He struggled to be convinced that the tip sheet was tangential to the main task and a metaphoric way of providing advice, instead; since it was something concrete and provided by the tutor, he reasoned that it must be critical. (p. 103)
Case studies such as James’ are discussed, and the strategies and scaffolds employed with the students are shared, firmly grounding the authors’ approach in real-life examples.
The coverage of topics is comprehensive, in terms of both: the characteristics of ASD; and the learning development process with students. Some of the topics canvassed are:
- discipline matches and mismatches
- interpreting expectations and codes of conduct
- learning cultures
- assessment
- group work
- technology-based strategies.
The book directly addresses disciplinary lecturers with practical sections titled ‘Tips for Teachers’, and students with ASD with sections titled ‘Tips for Learners’.
Prof. Tony Attwood, whose work has a wide-reaching impact on education about ASD, commends the book by saying:
‘Academic staff, students who have an Autism Spectrum Disorder, and their parents, need a comprehensive guide to successfully graduating from college or University. The explanations and recommendations in this book are based on extensive experience of supporting and explaining the thinking and needs of students who have an ASD, while understanding the perspectives of both staff and students. Academic success and graduation will now be much easier to achieve.’
In conclusion, to Learning Development lecturers, thank you for the important work that you do with students with ASD. This book will be a valuable tool for your professional practice. It will help with planning, with your analysis of particular student learning issues, and provide you with teaching strategies and learning scaffolds.
To disciplinary lecturers, thank you for taking the time to learn about the needs of students with ASD. The value of your deeper understanding of their learning issues to those students, and their families, is immeasurable. In fact, building on the report from a 2008 secondary school research study (Humphrey & Lewis, 2008)*, I suggest that students with ASD benefit most, not from lecturers with high content knowledge but from those who offer them understanding and acceptance.
To Kimberley and Kim, I offer my thanks for the labour of love that you have invested in this publication. The book brings the benefit of your wisdom, experience and expertise to a much wider audience. Ladies and gentlemen, I thank the authors for their profound contribution and heartily commend this book to you.
* Humphrey, N. & Lewis, S. (2008). ‘Make me normal’: The views and experiences of pupils on the autistic spectrum in mainstream secondary schools. Autism, 12(1), 23-46.