Autism as a Learning Disability in the School System Research Paper

Autism as a Learning Disability in the School System - Research Paper Example To increase the learning experience of children with ASD in special school, it is important to maintain a small group of students in each class, provide autistic children with intensive intervention of at least 25 hours per week and 12 months per years, document each child’s learning development, and accurately identify the specific needs of the students in order for them to effectively remove the students’ learning barriers. As a life-long non-curable disease, autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neural developmental disorder that is often characterized by having impaired verbal or non-verbal communication and social interaction aside from showing repetitive behavior such as the act of arranging objects in stacks or lines, continuous hand flapping or making unusual sounds, body rocking, and ritualistic behavior like eating the same food each day or performing a ritual when dressing (Geschwind, 2008; Lam & Aman, 2007). In most cases, autism is four times more prevalent among male as compared to female individuals. As reported by the Autism Society, at least 1 percent of the entire U.S. populations of children between the ages of 3 – 17 years old was diagnosed with ASD (Autism Society, 2010). As reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2007), between 1 to 1.5 million Americans today are suffering from the health and learning consequences of ASD (ibid). Autism can lead to a learning disorder. Based on the report of the National Institute of Mental Health, ASD can include a number of other disorders including Asperger's disorder, childhood disintegrative disorder, Rett’s disorder, Pervasive developmental disorder, and autistic disorder