Holly Tabor | art student | Autism Cognizance |

Editorial philanthropist Holly Tabor promoting awareness and inclusion of autistic youth in mainstream education

Holly is a art graduate who campaigns for greater support and inclusion of autistic students in mainstream education. She has written on the importance creativity can play in educative emersion.

Autism spectrum disorder (also known as ASD)

ASD is a developmental disability caused by differences in someone’s brain. Individuals with autism can act in many different ways, for example, they could find it hard to interact or communicate with other individuals and especially crowds. People diagnosed ASD often will find it hard to understand how others think or feel in certain situations. Some individuals manage with different levels of ASD from mild, where there are few visible signs, to severe where social interaction is very difficult to manage and there is a debate about the need for specialist education support of total integration with mainstream education. I strongly believe children with ASD should be in a mainstream school or a school that specializes in autism. I also believe specialist support should be the norm both in education and the work place. Not all children diagnosed with autism will have to go to a specialist school, for example my cousin and younger brother (6 and 12 years old) both diagnosed with autism, are in mainstream schools. Although they are in a mainstream school, they have not found it easy to fit in or adapt to the learning curriculum that teachers must follow. Both family members have acted out at times at school due to sensory overload and the teacher do put it down to naughty behaviour which sometimes isn’t the case. Minor adjustments can benefit these children attending mainstream school for example teachers that are specialised in this can help. Although some mainstream schools say that they are not equipped to teach children with autism adequately and can’t provide a safe environment for these children, but this can be easily adapted for the mild to moderate children with ASD allowing a positive view o