Autism+and+Blogging

 Autism and Blogging

Autism, also known as Autism Spectrum Disorder, is a cognitive disorder that affects the ability to interact and communicate with other people. Autism is quickly becoming a prevalent condition in this country. According to recent CDC statistics, every 1 in 68 children in the United States is on the autism spectrum. This statistic has steadily risen over the years. ([])

Autism causes major social impairments. Children with autism have a very difficult time interacting appropriately with peers. As a result, they generally don’t function well in a traditional school setting. These children have a hard time making friends and completing whole group and partner activities in class.

Blogging is a great way for autistic children to complete assignments and cope with the idea of having to work in groups. A blog is basically an online journal. In education, blogs can be used as an online response journal to create, comment, discuss, and share their ideas, as well as answer questions about particular topics. They enhance the idea of an online community, and allow students in a classroom to develop a closer bond. Students are able to be open and honest about their ideas and use their creativity to express their thoughts.

Blogging allows children to think through their answers independently and express their thoughts openly. Autistic children often do not speak much and have difficulty communicating their thoughts to others when they do speak. These students can avoid this problem by answering questions and completing assignments through blogs. The students have total control of what they are putting out their on their blog so they have creative freedom. Blogs are engaging for the whole class and allow opportunities for peers to make comments and suggestions on the blogs they write. These comments can be done without having any face to face interaction which is often more beneficial for Autistic children who may not like social interactions. Using blogs would make the classroom more inclusive for an autistic child. It also allows them to have extended time to respond. These students have more to time think about social responses without the pressure of time constraints. Blogging allows them time to think about the words they want to choose and put them in sentences that make sense to them or allows them to respond with pictures from the internet. It allows them time to read over what they have written and fix any mistakes they see. Blogging is also less stressful for these students because they do not have to understand all of the nonverbal cues that go along with face to face communication. This eliminates some of the social anxiety they are faced with daily. Blogging allows these students to still feel like they are a part of the group without feeling overwhelmed, anxious, and panicked in social situations within the classroom. Blogging is a beneficial way to help autistic students overcome the barriers of group work in a classroom setting. Blogs can be easily shared with their caregivers to bring that success of the what is happening in the classroom home with them as well.

Michele McKeone launched an online learning program that teaches digital literacy to students with autism. This program includes blogging and she states, "By giving them digital media and giving them their own website to identify interests, they had their own voice, and the frustration went down."

The most beneficial aspect of adding blogging into a classroom with students who have autism, is it allows them to express themselves in a community that is safe and welcoming. These students can become part of a network and communicate with others coping with autism. They are able to form friendships while learning from one another through their blogs. They can discuss topics that interest them and share any struggles they are facing. Being in a community where people are coping with the same problem, may allow these students to be more open to expressing themselves which gives the teacher a chance to learn more about their students.

Families with autistic children have utilized social media as a outlet for parents to connect with other parents who are dealing with the same issues. Using these platforms creates social bonding that allows for the sharing of information as well as experiences. Using content from outlets like blogs and Twitter can be analyzed to help develop useful learning tools for these families and their children. With these tools for parents to use it has been found to reduce the stress since they are able to create a tight-knit community with others who are dealing with similar problems. It also allows for children with the same disabilities to connect and create a bond with someone who understand with what they are dealing with. An outlet to let out their emotions and frustrations. In some cases this is the only outlet for some since they are not fond of the face-to-face social interactions. This will create a stress-free environment for those children. (http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-16268-3_53) 

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