Autism - What Schools Are Missing: Voices for a New Path

Overview

With more than half a million children in the United States diagnosed with some degree of autism, public schools are struggling to keep up with the growing needs. The majority of these students are educated in local public schools, and those schools must now step up to the challenge. Schools have both a moral and legal responsibility to educate these children about both academics and social skills. Autism encompasses a very wide spectrum of behaviors and learning problems. The variety of traits they present makes it particularly challenging for teachers and schools to guide these children to adulthood. Autism—What Schools are Missing: Voices for a New Path examines the advantages and disadvantages of our public education system for those on the spectrum. This book takes a close look at the strategies and supports that have proven to be successful compared to those that actually increase the educator’s burden and limit the student’s success. Educators can use the practical strategies detailed in this book to build an enabling environment for this growing population.

Author Biography

Dr. Linda Barboa holds degrees in speech pathology and audiology, psychology, and early childhood education. She is an experienced speech-language pathologist, with a background as a special education director, director of a center for autism, and university professor. She has worked as an educator in the United States and Europe and has presented numerous programs to professionals across the country. Dr. Barboa is the author of several books about autism, including Stars in Her Eyes: Navigating the Maze of Childhood Autism, Steps: Forming a Disability Ministry, and Tic Toc Autism Clock: A Guide to Your 24/7 Parent Plan, It’s No Biggie: Autism in the Early Childhood Classroom, and Oodles and Skoodles of Friends. Along with Jan Luck, she is the co-author of the Albert series of books to help children understand autism.

Dr. Barboa, is the recipient of the prestigious JEFFERSON AWARD FOR PUBLIC SERVICE. She is the founder of an award-winning program to create autism friendly cities.

Dr. Brenda "BK" Bradshaw is the founder of Goldminds Publishing; an award-winning author; playwright; former elementary and middle school teacher, special reading teacher, and assistant professor of elementary education. BK has appeared on the podcasts, The Autism Show, Talkin Live with Eli, Care Activities with Neil Hogbin. She has made appearances on Ozarks Live! news show in Springfield, Missouri, volunteered with the Horse Tales Literacy project and met with hundreds of children and teachers across the Ozarks in school and barn visits. She recently opened a school for students who need an alternative to traditional education, Infinity Academy. As a research assistant in graduate school, and as a classroom teacher and professor, Dr. Bradshaw developed an interest in creating thematic units to help teachers utilize literature as a springboard to make ties to content across the curriculum. She has written numerous thematic units for classic children's literature, her own books and for many authors at Goldminds.