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spunky commented on the article |i hv asperger's - musician, artist, writer. i was an educator for almost 2 decades, hv written music text books for children, produced my own music and currently pursuing a research masters in music composition and inter-disciplinary multi-sensory live art performance. i m very interested in finding any kind of further study programme in perhaps a field of psychology that specialises in autism and in addition if there are any courses in interdisciplinary art therapy or educational approaches to help ppl with ASD. as someone who is in the spectrum myself, i feel i hv a lot to offer to help others in this area but it is frustrating to find no programmes for my specific areas of interest / needs.
hoping to find a programme somewhere?
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spunky commented on the article |i hv asperger's. my music, art and literary education did not come from the mainstream school system that i was FORCED into because at the time i was growing up, where i come from, autism = classic, kanner's autism with low IQ... so i was just berated as oddball and difficult and lazy, and lauded as brilliant, talented and extremely intelligent... nobody knew how to educate me of course, so i sorta educated myself by instinct.
all my formal education from childhood has been inadequate at addressing my learning needs, but i instinctively formulated my own learning programmes thru whatever means were available to me, and endured mainstream school as a waste of my time but something i was forced to do... my parents encouraged learning, my father was also extremely high-functioning aspie - multi-disciplinary man, he was a practising dental surgeon, electrical engineer and fellow of the IEEE, bred hybrid orchids, painted, made music, carpentry etc. he was my inspiration to learn... and my mother (NT) was very tolerant of our various 'projects' together...
i m currently doing a research masters in multi-sensory inter-disciplinary live art performance and music composition, with some reference to my own asperger's condition, but i wld like to find a way to do further research and learning in the area of the arts and autism, specifically in order to be more useful to the autistic community, but i hv been trawling the internet with little results... i kw there r programmes in music therapy, and art therapy, but i cannot find any in a comprehensive artistic approach to autism education. anyone has any advice on where to look?
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spunky commented on the article |read ur post with interest. i m a trained musician and artist, and hv written several music text books for children used in primary schools in my former country of residence. i was recently diagnosed with asperger's and although i was a preschool teacher for many years, i hated most of it (because some obvious sensory issues, known now to me but a mystery and frustration then). the one thing that i loved to do was to teach music and art to the 'special children'. we embraced neurodiversity and there was a mutual attraction between myself and the autistic children that came our way. i had not learnt abt music or art therapy at the time, but devised my own way to reach these kids and found it tremendously fruitful - it was thru one particular child with whom i worked more intensely that i confirmed my own 'oddity' to be asperger's. he was non-verbal at age 2, exhibited all the classic signs of autism and hence i asked the parents to hv him tested and my hunch was spot on. this child had a marked talent for music and art, and thru my own music and art programme, tailoring it specifically to the child's individual needs and expressions, he learned to read, write, speak fluently in full grammatical and meaningful sentences, and even express his emotions in a limited way.
i m now doing a research masters in music composition which includes the use of mixed media across different artistic disciplines (eg. visual art, literature etc) to create a multi-sensory 'live' art performance where not just one sense is addressed also hearing, seeing, touch, taste, smell... with particular emphasis on my own personal asperger's perspective...
i m wondering if i can further pursue this line of research with a more concrete studying in psychology in the area of autism as applied to the arts, anywhere in the world? are there special programs like this in the USA or UK or Australia, i wonder?
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spunky commented on the article |school abuse is all too prevalent... i am glad u r actively pushing for change... i m 43 with asperger's - during my time, teachers ran rough shot all over any kids who were different and dared to speak up... i was one of those who did not suffer in silence, but was abused anyway... until i learnt how to excel in key areas and get myself 'protection' from other teachers who valued my talents in those areas... it was an early lesson in socialisation... but only very high functioning kids can manage this... i think abt all those others who just could not get around the terrible system...
i agree with "Ed none" that "the opportunity to report what has happened to them won't be enough. They need to be in an environment where they are encouraged and empowered"...
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