Using Young Adult Literature to Develop Content Knowledge of Autism for Preservice Teachers

Removing Barriers to Teaching Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder Using Fiction with Preservice Teachers

“…Undergraduate special education courses commonly use textbooks to deliver course information. While textbooks provide factual information about the history, process, and delivery of special education as well as the types, causes, and characteristics of specific disabilities, they have been criticized for their one-dimensional perspective (Hughes et al, 2014;Jones, 2001). Supplementing textbooks with fiction allows the student to connect the dense information taught from the textbook with real life in a less technical and more enjoyable way.…”

“…Marlowe and Maycock (2001) found that literary texts were effective at promoting a positive attitude toward those with disabilities when used in teacher education. Hughes et al (2014) used fiction literature as a supplement to textbooks with preservice teachers to explore changes in students' content knowledge about individuals with ASD. They found that the students who read the fiction literature along with the textbook indicated increased knowledge and a greater perspective of the complexities of ASD.…”

“…Teaching to ensure equity demands both academic cognitive knowledge and empathetic knowledge. Hughes et al (2014) found that preservice teachers' schema for academic cognitive knowledge about individuals with ASD increased after reading Young Adult (YA) literature featuring characters with ASD and participating in digital discussions about their reading.…”

“…This study sought to expand on the work of Hughes et al (2014) and explore the effects of using contemporary YA realistic fiction literature, coupled with more traditional instructional strategies, on undergraduates' academic cognitive and empathetic knowledge of students with ASD. Results suggest that strategic and purposeful use of YA realistic fiction interwoven within a preservice education course can meet both of these demands, supplementing content knowledge while providing opportunities for increasing affect through perspective-taking characteristic of realistic fiction reading (Prater et al, 2006).…”

Pre-service educators' understanding and perceptions of ASD before and after reading ASD narrative fiction

“…If educators had an understanding about ASD from an aesthetic stance, through narrative fiction perhaps, and the educator lived through the experiences of someone with autism, then it is possible that the educator may adjust instructional practices (Winter-Messiers, et al, 2007), classroom and school management techniques (Osburne & Reed, 2011), as well as reconsider communication experiences (Nielsen, 2011) in order to meet the needs of students with ASD. Though empirical research supports the notion of using narrative fiction to help readers empathize with others (Brindley & Laframboise, 2002;Marable, Leavitt-Noble, & Grande, 2010), only a few research studies demonstrate how fiction can be a conduit to help pre-service teachers understand students with an ASD (e.g., Hughes, Hunt-Barron, Wagner, & Evering, 2014). A large gap within the literature regarding pre-service teachers' perceptions about ASD (Park, Chitiyo, & Choi, 2010) is evident.…”