My Cousin Scott

     My cousin Scott is autistic.  It took several years for him to get diagnosed, due to conflicting doctors and parents who had a hard time dealing with the diagnosis.  At the time, we did not know much about this disorder.  Why children are affected and what treatments are available?  To date, there are still debates in the medical field.  Although the argument that vaccinations play a role has been discredited, there are still many unanswered questions.

            The Autism Canada Foundation defines autism as, “a complex neurobiological condition...  It impacts normal brain development leaving most individuals with communication problems, difficulty with typical social interactions and a tendency to repeat specific patterns of behaviour” (www.autismcanada.org).  Scott would be considered a high functioning autistic child.  He is able to speak, but will not speak to you directly unless prompted.  As well, he will never make eye contact with you or look directly at you.  Considering forty percent of children afflicted with autism cannot speak (www.provincialautismcentre.ca), we are extremely grateful for the communication we are able to maintain with him.

            Scott continues to be in my thoughts as I read Tomasello’s book.  I feel this book is helping me better understand why Scott is unable to do some of the everyday things we take for granted.  Why he would prefer to sit by himself and line up my grandmother’s dolls in rows instead of playing games with the rest of the kids at family functions? 

            Tomasello states that at nine months of age, human infants begin to see others as intentional agents.  As a result, they are able to learn from others about their cultural heritage and take advantage of the cognitive skills and knowledge of these conspecifics. Autistic children are not able to comprehend that the people around them have intentional relations similar to their own.  They do not understand that these conspecifics have similar goals and could learn from them how to obtain these goals.  Autistic children live in their own world and some may never allow anyone else to enter that world. 

            Autistic children have problems with a variety of joint attentional skills which normally begin developing as an early age.  Tomasello states that they include imitative learning, engaging in symbolic play and learning and using linguistic symbols in communicatively appropriate ways.  Imitative learning, according to Tomasello, involves learning from and identifying with adults and their goal-oriented actions.  Understandably, if a child is not able to comprehend and identify with the actions of the conspecifics around them, they will never be able to communicate effectively that they understand them.  If a child cannot make eye contact, how will they ever understand the ability to follow someone’s gaze in search of an object or to make eye contact in order to catch someone’s attention?

Tomasello also believes that, “the difficulties of children with autism in understanding other persons as intentional agents leads to deficits in their symbolic skills...” (p.133).  As humans, we should be able to utilize our cognitive abilities to look at a situation from various perspectives which will help increase our vocabulary.  According to Tomasello, children with autism are unable to see the world through anyone else’s perspectives.    They will always approach a situation the same way.  It is this lack of perception that will limit an autistic child’s language capability and provides some insights into why many autistic children cannot speak.  A rose may only ever be a flower in Scott’s world and never a symbol of love and affection.

Along with Tomasello, I also agree that social and physical environments do play a role in the development of cognitive abilities as a child grows, whether they are affected with an issue such as autism or not.  Once again, images of Scott as a child flood my thoughts.  If he had been diagnosed earlier and had the advantage of special programs and tutors would he be more functional today?  Could he be more self sufficient and communicate more effectively in this “normal” world?  Was/Is there an issue with his home environment that contributed to his diagnosis?  Is there an unknown environmental issue with his living situation?  Is there technology available that may help him communicate more effectively?  Tomasello mentions that sign language has been an effective tool assisting autistic children communicate.  Could it work in this instance?  What kind of educational programs are available for autistic children and adults?

Unfortunately, we may never know the answers to these questions.  Scott’s family do not have the financial means to seek out these answers.  As well, they have never been willing to take financial help or research alternatives.  As a family member and someone who does not deal with this disorder every day, I must respect their decisions. 

            Scott recently turned sixteen.  He does go to school, but is in a special program and is never in a normal classroom environment.  He is obsessed with video games and NASCAR and is able to quote any major statistic on any professional NASCAR driver and the car they drive when asked.  At family functions, he prefers to sit alone with his laptop or DS playing video games.  He continues to be in his own world and does not make any attempt to socialize with others.  It is my hope that in the future, answers will be discovered and funding will be in place so educational programs will be available to assist those dealing with autism live as “normal” a life as possible.  We must look to examples of those who are overcoming this disorder such as Temple Grandin who are able to lead productive and fulfilling lives.

References

Tomasello, M. (1999). The cultural origins of human cognition. Cambridge Mass.: Harvard University Press.

Autism Canada Foundation    www.autismcanada.org

The Provincial Autism Centre     www.provincialautismcentre.ca

Put Yourself in Their Shoes

      As I read Tomasello and ponder cultural learning in humans versus non human primates, some old “South Shore” sayings come to mind – “Put yourself in their shoes.” “I would not want to be in their shoes right now!”  These old sayings, that I am sure we have all heard in one form or another over the years, keep appearing in my thought processes.  We sit at home watching the news wondering what it would be like to deal with the flood situations in Australia.  We learning how to tie a tie by watching it on Youtube.  Who knew that thought processes and learning opportunities like these, that we have every day, were such a distinguishable characteristic that puts us in a class by ourselves. 

Tomasello believes that humans have this capability due to our social cognition ability.  He states that this form of social cognition is “... the ability of individual organisms to understand conspecifics as beings like themselves who have intentional and mental lives like their own” (p.5).  This form of “mental shoes” that Tomasello refers to allows us to “... learn not just from the other but through the other” (p.6).    We can imagine ourselves in that situation and how we would resolve it.

Tomasello identifies three basic types of cultural learning that humans have to ability to participate in as a result of our social cognition abilities.  They include collaborative, imitative and instructive learning.  We see these various forms of learning all the time, including group work and lecture style.  Reading Tomasello reiterates the importance of a deep approach to learning and allowing humans to have the opportunity to critically reflect on what they have learned and the outcomes.  As a result, we will continue to contribute to Tomasello’s “ratchet effect” as we continually work to improve the tools of our forebears.

Humans have the advantage of being goal orientated, while non human primates do not.  This ability to investigate the causality in learning situations allows us to understand that there is a reason for why things happen and why there was a particular outcome.   After watching the Youtube video and taking the time to practice, my brother can now tie a tie.  So, the next time my brother has to attend a formal function in which he has to wear one, he has the peace of mind he can tie his tie himself and not ask for our father’s help.  He accomplished a goal and can continue with the Tomasello’s ratchet effect by someday passing on this newly learned wisdom to his offspring, who may even discover an easier way of accomplishing this task.

As humans, Tomasello comments that we also have the ability to recognize that our peers also set goals and learn how to accomplish them.  We can identify with why one of our peers learned to do something one way, whether we agree with it or not.  Yes, the ape learned from his mother that rolling over the log allows you to find termites to eat.  But what will happen to the ape when the next log is too heavy to lift on his own?  Since he only has the ability to learn through emulation, he will not be able to understand that he could use a stick to help him lift it and instead continues to search for a log he can lift and wait longer for his meal.  As humans, we would have known to use a stick through imitative learning, as Tomasello argues that humans are focused on learning the process of completing a task, not just the outcome.  This is part of the ratchet effect as we innovate new ways of completing tasks.

We are all participants in the cumulative cultural revolution as we continue to learn to innovate and improve the ways of our forebears.  As we continue to improve the processes of our ancestors and learn to solve problems of the past, Tomasello points out that we are putting ourselves in the “cognitive shoes” (p.39) of these previous innovators.  We learn how the previous innovators completed the task and then implement our modifications if we deem it necessary.  We allow ourselves to learn and evolve by participating in the types of social and cultural learning that enables us to utilize the tools and artifacts of the past in new and innovative ways. 

Two hundred thousand years ago, our ancestors began to migrate out of Africa.  We are able to modify their cultural traditions and tools in order to live in various climates as a result of cultural learning.  This makes me think that it really is okay to ask questions about EVERYTHING!  Even if it drives some people crazy!  Asking questions enable us to learn not only how to do something, but why we do something.   Is there a better way we can accomplish this task?  It is all part of our cultural learning as humans. 

As adult educators, we need to embrace cultural learning to ensure that lifelong learners are in environments, both physical and social, in which they can utilize the various forms of cultural learning and question is there is a better process to reach the desired goal.  All humans deserve a safe environment where they can ask questions, learn from others and reflect.   What would you do in that situation if you were in his/her shoes?

References

Tomasello, M. (1999). The cultural origins of human cognition. Cambridge Mass.: Harvard  

     University Press.