Are we really the minority we're told we are?

I'm not sure we are such a minority as is thought. If I hadn't happened to watch a documentary featuring an autistic woman I might never have guessed I was on the spectrum, and there must be other adults like me who haven't thought about it. Even with kids it can be masked. Until we get widespread testing we won't know. I wonder if the Sally & Anne test could be introduced as part of base line testing when children start school, or maybe the AQ50 test could be given to teens at secondary/high school?

Children start school so early these days do you think a 3-4 year old would understand the test? At that age they've not developed abstract thinking, would that skew the test? Otherwise I think it's a good idea, even if it wasn't done when they first start school, mabe it could be done a bit later, when they're about 7 maybe?

I believe Simon Baron-Cohen at al did the test on 5 year olds and another source claims that most children aged 4-6 who are not autistic can answer correctly, however it could of course be delayed until 7, as it has been reported that older children who are autistic usually still give an incorrect answer.

I doubt that either the Sally - Anne test or the AQ50 for teens would be implemented though, as I expect the government would fear what they call "over diagnosis" and many parents would then want a full professional diagnosis to get their child support in education, which would be costly.

That makes more sense Lotus, but I have seen teachers combine all 3 or 4 learning styles in their lessons and I've been on the recieving end of it a few times, hense my confusion.

 TheCatWoman  - apologies, I don't think I have explained the aural/visual/kinaesthetic approach as well as I should have. It isn't about explaining the same thing three different ways - it's about combining learning styles in one lesson. Here are some examples:

For the dyslexic children I worked with, I taught them to read and write simple nouns by drawing a picture of what the word represented (e.g. a cat), saying the letters that make the word (c, a, t) and then writing the word. This means they hear the word, see a visual representation of it, and learning is reinforced physically by writing the word. 

For the adults I worked with, I used a lot of pictures and sometimes videos to show the meaning of the words in English. Also we often got the students out of their seats and moving about the room, for example if we were practising how to ask someone what their hobbies are, we would tell them to mingle and practise asking each other what their hobbies are and then write down some answers e.g watching TV, playing football, etc So they would be shown some pictures of hobbies, be told the words for them,speak to each other about which ones they like, and the moving around is the kinaesthetic part which helps reinforce  the learning.

A good teacher should be monitoring students to check understanding - there is no reason to explain something a different way if a student already has the correct answer. The dyslexic children I worked with were sent out of the class to work in a small group with me, because they had specific needs the other children didn't have. In language schools students are tested and put into classes at the appropriate level for their understanding.

I don't do any sort of teaching now, and I haven't worked in a mainstream school since the mid 1990s. But if they are still working the same way, I would suggest more streaming. We had such a huge range of abilities, from 7 year olds who could not read at all, to gifted 10 year olds who were not being stretched academically. But some kids who can't read do well in maths, and vice versa so it's not easy, and getting the right mix of teachers and teaching assistants is also difficult and costly. 

You know that explaining to you three times in three different ways has been the bane of my education, I end up totally confused, I think I've understood then I doubt my understanding during the next three exlainations. This is why I think classes or schools seperated by learning style would be so much better, it would lead to less confusion and move things along quicker and stop people getting bored.

As a teacher and and autist, what would you like to see change about the way schools are structurerd and subject are taught?

I agree. I've worked in education twice in my life - as a special needs teaching assistant with 7-9 year olds, and then later as a teacher of English as a second language. All learners have different needs, and all teaching staff should be trained to teach in a way that can accommodate all learning styles. Even when training to teach adults, we were taught to teach in 3 different ways: aural (telling them) visual (showing them) and kinaesthetic (doing an activity to help them absorb the lesson)

Lotus I suspect you're right, not only would there be fears of over diagnosis, but the SEND budget would go through the roof. I wonder if the answer isn't to have more diversity in schools in general? School's seem to fail so many young people, everyone has a different learning style, whether they're NT or ND and I wonder if this wouldn't be a better way of getting the best for all children? Obviously there would still need to be "special schools" but maybe the number could be reduced if we thought about how we educate differently.

I've got to be honest and admit to being a bit wary of Simon Baron-Cohen, I know he's rowed back a bit on it now, but he was the one who promoted the extreme male brain stuff that has negatively impacted the lives of so many ASC women.

Lotus I suspect you're right, not only would there be fears of over diagnosis, but the SEND budget would go through the roof. I wonder if the answer isn't to have more diversity in schools in general? School's seem to fail so many young people, everyone has a different learning style, whether they're NT or ND and I wonder if this wouldn't be a better way of getting the best for all children? Obviously there would still need to be "special schools" but maybe the number could be reduced if we thought about how we educate differently.

I've got to be honest and admit to being a bit wary of Simon Baron-Cohen, I know he's rowed back a bit on it now, but he was the one who promoted the extreme male brain stuff that has negatively impacted the lives of so many ASC women.

 TheCatWoman  - apologies, I don't think I have explained the aural/visual/kinaesthetic approach as well as I should have. It isn't about explaining the same thing three different ways - it's about combining learning styles in one lesson. Here are some examples:

For the dyslexic children I worked with, I taught them to read and write simple nouns by drawing a picture of what the word represented (e.g. a cat), saying the letters that make the word (c, a, t) and then writing the word. This means they hear the word, see a visual representation of it, and learning is reinforced physically by writing the word. 

For the adults I worked with, I used a lot of pictures and sometimes videos to show the meaning of the words in English. Also we often got the students out of their seats and moving about the room, for example if we were practising how to ask someone what their hobbies are, we would tell them to mingle and practise asking each other what their hobbies are and then write down some answers e.g watching TV, playing football, etc So they would be shown some pictures of hobbies, be told the words for them,speak to each other about which ones they like, and the moving around is the kinaesthetic part which helps reinforce  the learning.

A good teacher should be monitoring students to check understanding - there is no reason to explain something a different way if a student already has the correct answer. The dyslexic children I worked with were sent out of the class to work in a small group with me, because they had specific needs the other children didn't have. In language schools students are tested and put into classes at the appropriate level for their understanding.

I don't do any sort of teaching now, and I haven't worked in a mainstream school since the mid 1990s. But if they are still working the same way, I would suggest more streaming. We had such a huge range of abilities, from 7 year olds who could not read at all, to gifted 10 year olds who were not being stretched academically. But some kids who can't read do well in maths, and vice versa so it's not easy, and getting the right mix of teachers and teaching assistants is also difficult and costly. 

You know that explaining to you three times in three different ways has been the bane of my education, I end up totally confused, I think I've understood then I doubt my understanding during the next three exlainations. This is why I think classes or schools seperated by learning style would be so much better, it would lead to less confusion and move things along quicker and stop people getting bored.

As a teacher and and autist, what would you like to see change about the way schools are structurerd and subject are taught?

I agree. I've worked in education twice in my life - as a special needs teaching assistant with 7-9 year olds, and then later as a teacher of English as a second language. All learners have different needs, and all teaching staff should be trained to teach in a way that can accommodate all learning styles. Even when training to teach adults, we were taught to teach in 3 different ways: aural (telling them) visual (showing them) and kinaesthetic (doing an activity to help them absorb the lesson)