The word ‘stress’ has a negative connotation for most people. Stress is anything that thrills us,worries us, scares us or threatens us. Stress can be a strong motivator and energizer at the appropriate intensity.
With too little stress or energy, a person may feel ‘bored’. For the child with autism, if the arousal drops below an optimal level, he will likely seek stimulation from other sources to keep himself alert. It may be in appropriate or inappropriate ways, for example, he may withdraw, start chewing on his shirt or poke another child.
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Behavior is an action or reaction to internal and/or external events, people, objects or stimulation. It is a function of the interaction between the person and the situation.
In all children, behavior is typically either internalized or externalized. Children with autism often experience extreme patterns of internalization you may not notice initially. There may be a lengthy period of time during which the child’s internalized behavior builds up. The child may exhibit small changes or symptoms, like adhering more rigidly to routines or increased sucking or chewing of his clothes. Usually, in retrospect, caregivers who know the child well can put the pieces together and recognize when the build up started. With such a protracted time-line, determining the cause or causes can be challenging.
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Children with autism would exhibit strengths in the areas of Visual-Spatial, Musical-Rhythmic and perhaps Bodily-Kinesthetic modalities. This view was based on years of work with children with autism.
Each of these learning strengths will be reviewed and their relationship to autism will be discussed below.
A person with Visual-Spatial strength, as a means of learning and making sense of the world:
• readily understands, retains and remembers information he can see
• is able to create visual experiences
• shows sensitivity to color, line, shape, form, space, and relationships among them, often noticing minute details
• prefers orderly, tidy environments.
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Lets find out the relation between learning preferences with Introversion-Sensing-Thinking-Judging (ISTJ) type and
the key characteristics of autism. Examination of each preference is presented below and examples within the realm of autism will be highlighted.
A person with an Introversion preference, as an energy source:
• is slow to warm up to new settings, people, information, and activities
• feels more comfortable receiving input than initiating contact and is generally selective about sharing thoughts Read the rest of this entry »
Below are seven learning strengths:
1. Verbal Linguistic
Verbal-Linguistic learning strengths are seen in the learner’s ability to think in words, to use words to express what is on his mind and to understand language. He may use his abilities in reading, writing and/or speaking. He enjoys playing with language, manipulating the sounds, words and structure with relative ease. Listening tends to be a strength and he can easily understand, interpret and remember what has been said or read. His ability to communicate clearly and precisely with others is strong both verbally and in writing. The person with Verbal-Linguistic strengths likely learns other languages with relative ease.He is interested in language and strives to refine and enrich his language skills.
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