How Do Children with Autism Learn?

Children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are capable of learning vast amounts of material in specific areas – yet, they often show learning delays across multiple domains. Additionally, they show an intact ability to learn from the outcomes of their own actions, but difficulties learning from others’ actions and communication. What is the nature of these puzzling phenomena? This workshop will address this question by examining recent scientific research on early learning processes in children with ASD. Using innovative methodologies, research is unveiling the mechanisms through which early learning in typical development is built on the child’s self-directed engagement with their social environment, and how in young children with ASD this process is complicated by differences in early emerging attentional, motivational, and cognitive processes that support engagement with people and objects. Implications for adapting clinical and educational interventions to the unique learning style of children with ASD will also be discussed.

Expert

Giacomo Vivanti, PhD, Associate Professor, Drexel University, A.J. Drexel Autism Institute, Philadelphia, USA.