Practical Considerations for
Teaching Artists
with Autism
Gillian J. Furniss
In the United States, the likeli-
hood that an art teacher may
teach a child with autism in
an inclusive classroom is high,
since one out of every 166 children
in the country is diagnosed with
autism. Federal law mandates that
every child has the right to a free
and appropriate education. Some
children with autism have excep-
tional artistic abilities and are main-
streamed into art classrooms with
typically developing children. The
challenge for the art teacher is how
to design a universal curriculum
that accommodates the learning
abilities of all students and to assess
them accordingly.
teacher is to accu-
rately assess what
the child with
autism has learned.
Temple Grandin
states in her book
about her life with
autism, Thinking
in Pictures, that
many individuals with autism
think in visual images rather than
in language. Many individuals with
autism choose subject matter such
as objects they see around them, or
people and objects they watch on
the computer screen, television, or
in a movie when making art.
An example of depicting visual subject matter is this drawing
by twelve-year-old Robert Cohen of his favorite character from
the Disney movie The Lion King. Robert Cohen has Asperger’s
Syndrome.
seat for the entire school year if
they so choose. For example, a child
with autism who is hypersensitive
to sound may prefer a chair that is
located in a quiet corner.
Visual Learning
Individuals with autism have
impairments in abilities controlled
by central executive function such
as planning, problem solving, and
organizing. They will benefit if
visual aids are provided to help
them stay on
The challenge is how to design task such as
a universal curriculum that what art mate-
rial should be
accommodates the learning used next. For
abilities of all students. example, an art
teacher could
hold up a pair of scissors (or a pic-
ture of one), while at the same time
telling students “Now it’s time to
use your scissors.”
Gathering Information
It is critical for the art teacher to
gather valuable sources of informa-
tion when designing art lessons.
Individuals such as teacher aides
and parents know the behavior of
the child with
autism from
a previous
school year
and outside
of the school
environment.
Ask these adults questions such as:
What are this child’s favorite subject
matter, art materials, and art media?
Does this child make art at home?
How long and how often does the
child make art and with whom?
Current Research
Current research on autism has
implications for art teachers who
have children with autism in their
classroom. A study by Linda Pring
and Neil O’Connor of Goldsmith
College in the United Kingdom con-
cluded I.Q. test scores and artistic
abilities are not dependent. This
result implies that art teachers
should not assume that a child with
autism is not a talented artist. Ste-
phen Wiltshire, the most celebrated
British child artist with autism,
had an extremely low I.Q. A study
by Ami Klin and his colleagues at
Yale Child Study Center concluded
that individuals with autism prefer
to look at—implying they prefer
to think about—inanimate objects
rather than people when viewing a
movie.
Introducing Lessons
When introducing an art lesson, an
art teacher should give a specific
example of something the student
knows from his or her own life
experience, ideally something that
is of great interest. This point is
critical since the goal of the art
Creating a Routine
Many children with autism need a
routine so they can concentrate on
learning without becoming over-
whelmed with processing new sen-
sory information. Let the child with
autism know ahead of time when
they will have to do something new.
Art students with autism should
be allowed to remain in the same
Resources
Grandin, Temple. Thinking in Pic-
tures. Vintage, 1995.
Gillian J. Furniss is a doctoral student in
the art and art education department at
Teachers College, Columbia University, in
New York City. gjf12@columbia.edu
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