comics

Hi Marlowe Cavendish 

Your reply was interesting. I understand a bit more now why you are trying to link comics with ASD. 

However, I'm still struggling to understand how one trial of children with ASD which showed an improvement in learning when images as well as text were employed leads to the conclusion that comics help the learning of some people with ASD.

Firstly, were comics actually used in this study? There are other ways to use images to improve learning and memory apart from reading comics. For example: a colleague I once worked with knew a Spanish language teacher who would use imagery to help students learn vocabulary. For example, the Spanish word for donkey is Burro. This sounds like the English word burrow, so he got them to envisage a donkey digging a burrow in a field. That sort of image will help me with learning, as will diagrams. However I've never really taken to comics, because when I read my mind creates my own "movie" of the story in my mind. I don't like someone creating this "movie" for me with pictures which show what they think the characters and scenes look like. 

Another issue I have with that study is that I'd like to know if the children with ASD had any learning difficulties, such as dyslexia, ADHD, etc. If these weren't screened out, you cannot make a judgement about ASD, because it could be showing that dual coding helps the learning of children with a learning disability. ASD in itself is not a learning disability. 

We all have preferred learning styles. My friend has strong AS traits (AQ score 29) but is a kinaesthetic learner. I find verbal information very difficult to process and prefer text. We're all individuals, whether AS or NT (neuro-typical) 

Finally, you stated that comics helped your learning comprehension and your friend learned to read through comics. But you didn't say if either of you are on the Autistic spectrum. It's nice that this format helped you and that it's something you enjoy,  but from a scientific point of view it doesn't help your hypothesis if you're not AS. 

Hi Marlowe Cavendish 

Your reply was interesting. I understand a bit more now why you are trying to link comics with ASD. 

However, I'm still struggling to understand how one trial of children with ASD which showed an improvement in learning when images as well as text were employed leads to the conclusion that comics help the learning of some people with ASD.

Firstly, were comics actually used in this study? There are other ways to use images to improve learning and memory apart from reading comics. For example: a colleague I once worked with knew a Spanish language teacher who would use imagery to help students learn vocabulary. For example, the Spanish word for donkey is Burro. This sounds like the English word burrow, so he got them to envisage a donkey digging a burrow in a field. That sort of image will help me with learning, as will diagrams. However I've never really taken to comics, because when I read my mind creates my own "movie" of the story in my mind. I don't like someone creating this "movie" for me with pictures which show what they think the characters and scenes look like. 

Another issue I have with that study is that I'd like to know if the children with ASD had any learning difficulties, such as dyslexia, ADHD, etc. If these weren't screened out, you cannot make a judgement about ASD, because it could be showing that dual coding helps the learning of children with a learning disability. ASD in itself is not a learning disability. 

We all have preferred learning styles. My friend has strong AS traits (AQ score 29) but is a kinaesthetic learner. I find verbal information very difficult to process and prefer text. We're all individuals, whether AS or NT (neuro-typical) 

Finally, you stated that comics helped your learning comprehension and your friend learned to read through comics. But you didn't say if either of you are on the Autistic spectrum. It's nice that this format helped you and that it's something you enjoy,  but from a scientific point of view it doesn't help your hypothesis if you're not AS.