A cultural attaché from our culture to the culture of autism: providing explanations and understandings

As noted above, it can be useful to think of autism as a culture, a way of engaging with the world. This means that the TA should be aware of these two cultures and be sensitive to when these cultures can complement each other but should also be aware of potential culture clashes.

Catherine Leigh of the West Kent Attendance and Behavior Service noted a difficulty arising from the literal misunderstanding of a child with ASD as reported by his parents. One child was impossible to bath because he constantly jumped up and down in the water. It was later observed that prior to bath-time, his parents would indicate it was bath-time by saying it was time to ‘jump in the bath’. Once his parents used a different more literal expression of what was expected, the problem stopped.

We can learn a couple of things from this vignette. First, we can learn something about ourselves and about people with ASD who are non-compliant with our expectations. We communicate with each other using short-hand phrases, which often do not mean what we literally say and this is called implicature.

A lack of familiarity with implicature can get a school child with ASD into trouble quite quickly, if there is no knowledge among staff about autistic thinking. For example, a child with ASD is talking to other children on his table about his enthusiasm for a particular brand of trading cards, rather than doing the work that has just been outlined by the teacher. The teacher waits for the child to stop talking but he doesn’t, so she asks the boy, ‘Rajik, would you like to stop talking and get on with your work?’ To which Rajik replies, in all sincerity, ‘No, Miss.’ This is an implicature double whammy because Rajik, not only does not understand what the intention of the teacher is; she is not asking a question here, this is an instruction to get on with the work, but he also answers the question in a way that implies non-compliance and cheekiness. With the wrong teacher at the end of a stressful and demanding week, the outcome for Rajik may be unfortunate.

The second thing we can learn from the bath vignette is that non-compliance often arises from not understanding what the task exactly is or involves. If we can make the implicit demands of the situation explicit in a form that the learner can understand, he or she will stand a better chance of doing what is required.

So a person with autism may find it difficult to understand the culture of people who do not have autism. This is a vital point to understand. A culture consists of values, concepts and ways of doing things. Most children learn the culture from reciprocal interaction with their carers, significant others and peers. They can do this because they automatically think about the meanings and intentions of others from about the age of three when the theory of mind begins to start work, but before this they will interact with carers to build shared attention that creates common meaning. For example, a young child will follow the direction of gaze of its mother, or may recognize the expression in the face of an adult that denotes a preference or a dislike. Infants with ASD may not have access to such interactions so that they do not develop cultural understandings.

Key issues

We have provided a range of starting points to develop appropriate responses that will enable the inclusion of learners with ASD. Building on the knowledge and experience of the school and beyond, much can be done. The follow-up readings and websites provide an extensive resource to develop your understanding of the challenging and perplexing condition. While there is as yet no cure for ASD, there is a vast amount that can be achieved by thinking and acting positively as part of a team that includes outside agencies, parents, the school and the child.