Post updated in June 2022
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a set of ‘complex disorders of brain development’. Most of us in education have dealt with students struggling with ASD and we know exactly what these students go through in their learning. But while ASD poses some learning challenges it should never be viewed as a crippling condition. Several students with autism, according to Autism Speaks, ‘ excel in visual skills, music, math and art’.
As teachers, we need to work hard towards fighting the social stigma unfairly associated with autism and the first place to start this fight is in the classroom. There is a lot of misconception and misinformation surrounding ASD that should be unmasked to students. To this end, I have curated for you this list featuring a number of TED talks on autism that you can use in class to educate and raise awareness among students. For mobile apps, check out this list of the best apps for students with autism.
1- How autism freed me to be myself, by Rosie King
2- What I’ve learned from my autistic brothers, by Faith Jegede
3- Autism — what we know (and what we don’t know yet), Wendy Chung
4- In the key of genius, by Derek Paravicini and Adam Ockelford
5- The world needs all kinds of minds, by Temple Grandin
6- A new way to diagnose autism, by Ami Klin
