Folk High School as a Supportive Environment for Participants with High-Functioning Autism

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Joel Hedegaard ◽  
Martin Hugo ◽  
Cecilia Bjursell

The aim of this article is to explore the Folk High School as a supportive environment for participants with neuropsychiatric functional impairments, primarily high-functioning autism, from the perspectives of the participants, the staff, and the principals. The participants’ perspective consisted of 21 interviews, the teachers’ perspective was observed in three focus-group interviews, and the principal’s perspective through 19 telephone interviews. Folk High School is shown to be supportive because it: (i) creates a safe and caring environment, (ii) places the individual participant at the centre of its operations, and (iii) is based on the provision and articulation of clear structures. A limited focus on the classroom and the course content is too narrow for a group of individuals with high-functioning autism. It is important to examine the relationships between different categories of workers and how they, in an interwoven symbiotic system, can provide the participants with the best possible conditions for learning.

2000 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 154-171
Author(s):  
Ove Korsgaard

Grundtvig's Educational Ideas - On tying bonds and cutting knotsBy Ove KorsgaardFormer reseach into Grundtvig’s ideas has concentrated mostly on his pedagogical ideas and the folk high school. A third category must be added - Grundtvig’s ideas regarding enlightenment.These ideas can be understood only in the light of the main complex of problems which occupied Grundtvig throughout his entire life, namely the question: What does it imply to be a human being, a human being in society and a human being in the world? The assignment is to »develop a complete enlightenment of man«, and »human life through thousands of years«. Grundtvig wanted to establish a school system based upon two columns: the people and mankind - a folk high school and a university.We now live in the era of the school - resulting in an individualization of man which may become dangerous if there is no agreement on »the common good«. Only true enlightenment will result in the triad between the individual, the people and mankind. The folk high school was to enlighten the people. The university was to be »a spiritual workshop«, striving towards a universal understanding and towards clarification. Grundtvig’s university was never established.However, in this time of globalization the need for research into Grundtvig’s ideas of enlightenment is as great as ever.


2016 ◽  
Vol 371 (1693) ◽  
pp. 20150373 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. von der Lühe ◽  
V. Manera ◽  
I. Barisic ◽  
C. Becchio ◽  
K. Vogeley ◽  
...  

This study was conducted to examine interpersonal predictive coding in individuals with high-functioning autism (HFA). Healthy and HFA participants observed point-light displays of two agents (A and B) performing separate actions. In the ‘communicative’ condition, the action performed by agent B responded to a communicative gesture performed by agent A. In the ‘individual’ condition, agent A's communicative action was substituted by a non-communicative action. Using a simultaneous masking-detection task, we demonstrate that observing agent A's communicative gesture enhanced visual discrimination of agent B for healthy controls, but not for participants with HFA. These results were not explained by differences in attentional factors as measured via eye-tracking, or by differences in the recognition of the point-light actions employed. Our findings, therefore, suggest that individuals with HFA are impaired in the use of social information to predict others' actions and provide behavioural evidence that such deficits could be closely related to impairments of predictive coding.


2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 1139-1155
Author(s):  
Jenny M. Burton ◽  
Nancy A. Creaghead ◽  
Noah Silbert ◽  
Allison Breit-Smith ◽  
Amie W. Duncan ◽  
...  

Purpose The purpose of this study was to characterize social communication and structural language of school-age girls with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (HF-ASD) compared to a matched group of girls who are typically developing (TD). Method Participants were 37 girls between 7;5 and 15;2 (years;months)—18 HF-ASD and 19 TD. Children completed the Test of Pragmatic Language–Second Edition (TOPL-2) and Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals–Fifth Edition. Parents completed the Children's Communication Checklist–2 United States Edition (CCC-2) and Receptive and Expressive Communication subdomains of the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales–Second Edition. Results In the area of social communication, girls with HF-ASD earned significantly lower scores and were more often classified as having an impairment on the TOPL-2 and the CCC-2. However, 28% and 33% earned average scores on the TOPL-2 and the CCC-2, respectively. In the area of structural language, no significant differences were found between groups on Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals–Fifth Edition indexes. In contrast, girls with HF-ASD earned significantly lower scores and were more often classified as having an impairment on the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales–Second Edition. Sixty-one percent and 83% scored below average on the Receptive and Expressive Communication subdomains, respectively. Conclusions It has been argued that girls with HF-ASD, when compared to boys with HF-ASD, may have advantages for social communication and structural language that mask their impairments. However, when compared to girls who are TD, girls with HF-ASD demonstrated impaired social communication and structural language. Clinicians should include and carefully examine multiple sources of information when assessing girls with HF-ASD.


Crisis ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 265-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meshan Lehmann ◽  
Matthew R. Hilimire ◽  
Lawrence H. Yang ◽  
Bruce G. Link ◽  
Jordan E. DeVylder

Abstract. Background: Self-esteem is a major contributor to risk for repeated suicide attempts. Prior research has shown that awareness of stigma is associated with reduced self-esteem among people with mental illness. No prior studies have examined the association between self-esteem and stereotype awareness among individuals with past suicide attempts. Aims: To understand the relationship between stereotype awareness and self-esteem among young adults who have and have not attempted suicide. Method: Computerized surveys were administered to college students (N = 637). Linear regression analyses were used to test associations between self-esteem and stereotype awareness, attempt history, and their interaction. Results: There was a significant stereotype awareness by attempt interaction (β = –.74, p = .006) in the regression analysis. The interaction was explained by a stronger negative association between stereotype awareness and self-esteem among individuals with past suicide attempts (β = –.50, p = .013) compared with those without attempts (β = –.09, p = .037). Conclusion: Stigma is associated with lower self-esteem within this high-functioning sample of young adults with histories of suicide attempts. Alleviating the impact of stigma at the individual (clinical) or community (public health) levels may improve self-esteem among this high-risk population, which could potentially influence subsequent suicide risk.


2011 ◽  
Vol 42 (01) ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Linnartz ◽  
B. Kuzmanovic ◽  
R. Tepest ◽  
A. Georgescu ◽  
K. Vogeley

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