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Learning at school, college and university level as an Autistic adult w/wo dyslexia

NAS80540

Hello I am new here...although I have been lurking around the NAS website and such for about 3 years :D :s  I am an autistic adult and after years of struggling to maintain employment I have decided to start my own healthcare business. I am a healthcare professional and eventually hope to have students from universities and colleges. Due to my own experiences I want to try to redefine the experiences I had as an autistic student, so I am thinking of all the ways I can support those better with disabilities. One of the things I have come across in regards to education (and I know this is taught to teachers and educators) which is blooms taxonomy (or versions of). This is basically a pyramid that lists 'the order in which you should learn' or helps frame assessments etc. but I wonder whether this may be different for autistic people or for neurodiverse people in general and whether this 'order' is different for us. I know this is something I have really struggled with and wanted to know whether other people experienced something similar.

For example the bottom ladder of this pyramid is remembering (so for healthcare for example you might have to list anatomical structures of the pancreas)

the second is understanding - So what do these anatomical structures do

the third is applying - so how would knowing what these structures do help you apply a healthcare intervention

fourth is sometimes grouped together into evaluating, analysing , creating - so weighing up pros and cons of certain interventions, how this may impact other structures, can we treat this differently than we already do.

I find the higher level thinking much easier (how things work rather than what they are called) , so from understanding onwards and often become word blind when i need to verbalise things. People assume i don't understand it at all because I cant remember the name of something, but can I tell them what it does, how it works, analyse it, interpret data around it ? ..... yes I can.

So it makes me think are we letting down lots of people because they struggle with the first level when actually their understanding is deep and complex but haven't been asked the right questions. Ive seen educational resources and research for autistic people that show how to use blooms taxonomy, but I just think its different for us and I wonder are we being held back because of this?

Hope this makes sense Slight smile

  • in reply to NAS81330

    I think it depends on how you define Knowledge. Epistemological theory includes perception and awareness as part of knowledge. I like Personal Construct psychology, which basically states that there is no objective reality, we construct our world-view as a result of our interaction with the environment and other people. What you know and what I know about X will hopefully have a commonality, but also individual differences. That citrus fruit is an orange - but is the colour you see the colour that I see? There is no objective way of telling - we can only process the world through our own senses and cognitions. I cannot get inside your head and think with your brain.

    Knowledge is constructed from affect, sensation, perception, mental imagery and cognition. We also learn from each other, as in Bangura's Social Learning Theory. (Let's beat up the Blobby doll!) Humans are unique in that we can transfer information and knowledge across time and space, through literature,communications media, and artefacts. We literally do not need to reinvent the wheel.

    That reminded me of developmental psychology and Piaget's theory about concrete learning coming before abstraction.  I wonder if anyone has compared the development of autistic vs neurotypical kids in Piagetian terms. Does anybody know? Piaget's three mountains experiment examined kids' theory of mind - something that autistic people tend to struggle with - are our developmental trajectories qualitatively different from NTs?

  • Based on my observations, autistic people have much more stages of study than described in Bloom's Taxonomy. For example, before proceeding to ""Knowledge"", an autistic child should be aware of what is happening and the perception of objects.  I think that at the level of more complex educational processes, there will be a division into several sub-stages. Unfortunately, I am not professionally engaged in teaching children or adults with autism, so my opinion is subjective.  I want to enroll in asa college miami https://miami.asa.edu/ . If you are interested, you can find out if they have courses for autistic people.

  • One version of the taxonomy that I have seen has the base as "knowledge"  -  this may involve remembering facts but it could include knowing that a piece of information exists and where to find it, not necessarily in one's memory but in a book or computer file. In order to drive safely you need to know the Highway Code with its rules and road signs.  But how do we acquire knowledge? That is where learning styles come in.  Google VARK and "Honey and Mumford". Some people learn by reading, or listening, or just by "having a go and seeing what happens."

    Check out learning theory - Google terms like " social learning theory "  "zone of proximal development " and "scaffolding". This involves how we move from what we know to what we don't yet know in small stages.  It's a bit like how you need to learn addition, subtraction, multiplication and division and some trigonometry before trying to learn calculus.

    You say you are a healthcare professional interested in training ... you might want to look at an inter-professional Practice Educator Course. Your professional development team should be able to give you advice (presuming that you are employed by a large authority, that is.) Or look at CPD and Postgrad courses at your local university.

    I am a social work Practice Educator and also an assessor. I am also autistic and have ADHD. Feel free to direct message me if you want an informal chat.