Book List - Autism Acceptance Month

For insight into why I use the term Autism Acceptance instead of the more popular Aurism Awareness see my previous post.  In a similar vein, the books on this month's list are not necesarilly about promoting awareness of Autism Spectrum Conditions or helping children understand people with Autism Spectrum, though any book with well developed characters that have Autism should naturally do this.  Which is what these books do have, characters with Autism Spectrum.  Some of these characters are the narrators some are not, but I wanted to find books were the characters with Autism Spectrum were active, where they were more then learning experiences for others.  I haven't read every book on this list, so if I fail in my goals then I apologize.

P-K - Kindergarten
Jeffery and the Despondent Dragon by John Sprecher (The author wrote this book for his son who has Autism)

1st - 2nd Grade

Troy’s Amazing Universe by Sharon Kennedy Tosten (A series of four books where the narrator, 7 year old Troy has some incredible adventures.  Tosten wrote these books for and about her son Troy, who has Autism)

3rd - 5th Grade

Rescued by a Cow and a Squeeze: Temple Grandin by Mary W. Carpenter (A book about Temple Grandin and how she used her Autism to revolutionize the farming/meat industry)

Young Adult

Wright & Wong Mysteries by Laura Burns & Melinda Metz  (A series about 7^th grade detectives.  One of the main characters has Asperger's.  Is appropriate for younger children.)

Curious Incident of the Dog and the Night Time by Mark Haddon (This book approaches the adult edge of YA fiction.  It is very emotionally heavy. While never explicitly stated the 15 year old narrator/detective Christopher is generally considered to have Autism Spectrum Conditions)

The Boy Who Ate Stars by Kochka (12 year old Lucy moves to France and meets Matthew, a four year old with Autism, his mother and silent nanny.  These three people change Lucy’s life.)

Out to Get Jack by James M. Williams (11 year old Jack is always blamed for other people's misbehavior, just becuase he has Autism.  Jack decides to take matters into his own hands and becomes a detective.  The author has autism and wrote this book when he was 13 years old)

Autism Acceptance

Technically April is the month of Autism Awareness, but there are problems with only striving for awareness.  Also, a recent post on Shakesville pointed out some problems with the Autism Awareness Community and how their events aren't always very accepting of people with Autism Spectrum Conditions.

I use the term Autism Spectrum Conditions over the other options for two reasons.  First, it is a spectrum that includes Asperger's, high or low functioning versions, and the exact definitions and classifications keep changing as doctors/psychologists learn more about the brain and Autism Spectrum.  Secondly, I use the term conditions because I also am neurologically atypical and I hate when my ADD or LDs are referred to as a disease or disability.  My brain, and the brains of people with Autism Spectrum do not always function in a "typical" manner.  This manifests itself in various conditions like disgraphia, sensitivity to loud noises, difficulty in reading facial expressions, shortened attention spans, inability to stand certain textures or sensations, hyperfocusing and various and myriad other ones.  But it does not automatically mean I or others who are neurologically atypical are sick or in need of a cure.  Certainly some people feel this way, but not all of us do, so I'm against anything being considered a disease or disability and therefore something bad and in need of curing when people with the actual condition disagree with the definition.

This is not to say that people with Autism Spectrum Conditions don't face difficulties in life that are unique to their situations.  However, many of these difficulties come not just from the conditions of being neurologically atypical, but how the priviledged majority in society treat people with Autism Spectrum.  For more on the priviledge of being Nueologically Typical in regards to Autism Spectrum see this list.

Originally this post was meant to be a book list, but it turns out I had more to write about Autism Acceptance than I thought.

Standardized Testing

Generally speaking I'm against standardized tests.  It's not so much the idea of state wide assessments so much as the way they're carried out.
Here's a collection of links that help explain the different types of tests and why I'm opposed to them.

Mother Jones - Education: Standardized Tests, Explained

USA Today - Five Years After NCLB took effect, problems remain

New York Times - Schools Cut Back Subjects to Push Reading and Math

Fair Tests - What's Wrong with Standardized Tests?

High Stakes Testing are Standardized Tests that are used for grade promotion, scholarships, determining teachers’ salaries, and funding.  NCLB makes the States Standardized Tests tied to the schools' Title I funds and whether the schools might be taken over or sold to private companies.  Individual states tie their testing to other benefits and reprisals.  Massachusetts requires all students to pass the sophomore level state test to graduate and scholarships to state colleges and universities are partially based on a student's score.  Meanwhile, Florida bases teacher's salaries on the testing abilities of students.

On some level a lot of the basis of High Stakes Testing makes sense, as does the consequences.  Most problems arise from implementation.  Firstly, the tests are often partially biased, both culturally and in an individual day to day manner.  Students from the suburbs test better because of the wording.  When I did an assessment of a test for second graders one section had picture analogies.  These were meant to test students reasoning skills, and ideally they were using everyday objects.  However, if you like in a city and don't have a yard you're not going to get the relationship between a rake and trowel or sprinkler and watering can.  Or if you do it takes longer to come up with the comparison because these are not objects you'll be personally acquainted with.  These biases exist in all tests and are the reason that students from the mid-west score better on the ACT than they do on the SATs, while the reverse is true for students from the East Coast.

Meanwhile, simple things like amount of sleep, whether a person ate breakfast, has a head ache, or numerous other small differences effect how a student scores.  This also ties into larger biases when students live in poorer areas and 80-90% of students are on free or reduced meals.  Something that might affect several of students from one area, and make them perform more poorly on the tests, is part of the daily lives of the majority of students from other schools.  Add the fact that many of these Title I schools are in urban or extremely rural areas and suffer from the biases of the test construction and it becomes apparent that some schools and districts go into High Stakes Testing already behind the curve, and these schools are the ones reliant on government funds to meet the varied needs of their students.

Often these schools are forced to devote a good deal of their time preparing students for the Tests, so subjects like history, science, and foreign languages are over looked.  Students also learn how to answer multiple choice questions or word short answers to get more points, but they have no meaningful understanding of the material they're learning and often have difficulty applying it to other scenarios.  There are scenes from Season 4 of The Wire that are almost identical to what some teachers and students experience, and it's heart breaking.

Another mark against High Stakes Standardized Testing is that they don't properly account for students with special needs.  Under NCLB schools may exempt a certain percentage of their students from the tests for reasons are special needs.  However, this percentage is far less than the 20% of students with ADHD and the 10-15% with learning disabilities that require extra time or other accommodations to test at their actual achievement level.  Also students who speak English as a second language must take the State Tests after being in US schools for two years; however most of these students are not proficient enough to score well in this time frame.  One of my friends works as a bilingual school in New York City, and from kindergarten to 5th grade they transition the students from speaking primarily Spanish to having full English comprehension, and this time frame is rather necessary when students come from homes that don't speak English.

And all of these reasons are why I find the tests themselves biased and therefore damaging to students and American schools.  These articles and what I've written barely touch on the consequences of these tests.

Book Review - How to Ditch Your Fairy by Justine Larbalestier

How to Ditch Your Fairy is set in the future city of New Avalon, Australia where many people have invisible fairies who give them certain skills, types of luck, or in some cases a great number of difficulties.  This is the story of Charlie, a sports lover, who is unlucky enough to have a parking fairy.  This means if Charlie's in a car it'll find the best parking spot no matter how busy the place.  She's always being called upon to help her mom, dad, and their friends or being kidnapped by fellow student Danders so he can do his shady business without worrying about finding a good parking spot for a quick get away.  

Charlie absolutely hates her fairy and spends most of the book trying to get rid of it so she can, hopefully, get a cool fairy, like her friend Rochelle's clothes shopping fairy.  Over the course of  the story Charlie makes a new friend in Fiorenze, deals with the ups and downs of first love, learns a bit about fairness, and spends as much time as she can becoming the best athlete possible.  

How to Ditch Your Fairy is written in first person, rather like it's Charlies diary.  I'm not the biggest fan of first person, but I got over my dislike of the tense by the end of the first chapter.   Charlie's a very focused character, her main concerns are sports and how her parking fairy is ruining her chances of being a great athlete.  This makes it very easy for the reader to enter into Charlie's mind and care about the same things she does.  However, it also means Charlie doesn't spend much time questioning the way things are and she can be throughtless and even a little cruel at times because Charlie doesn't spend much time trying to see things from other people's points of view.  This means she doesn't question her dislike of Fiorenze until she's forced to spend time with her and circumstances put Charlie in Fiorenze's shoes.  Likewise, she has a crush on Steffi, a new student, but doesn't try to get to know about him before he moved to New Avalon until he calls her on her self-centeredness.  However, by the end of the book Charlie's gotten a lot better at thinking about other people and what's important to them.

One thing I loved about this book is how Larbalestier shows the relationship between Charlie and Fiorenze.  Fiorenze is cursed with an All the Boys Like You Fairy and it makes Charlie and a bunch of other girls really resent Fiorenze and treat her horribly.  Over the course of the story Charlie realizes how unfair this all is and becomes good friends with Fiorenze.  I think this is very applicable to real life.  I see so many girls and women treat each other horribly because of men. So often you see stories, in songs, TV, movies, and books where the guy the female protagonist is into likes another girl and this means that other girl is a horrible person.  I hate these types of stories and what it teaches young girls, so I was so excited that How to Ditch Your Fairy shows the exact opposite.

One area I was disappointed in was Charlie's relationship with fairies.  The set up of the story seems like Charlie should be learning about how fairies can give people unfair advantages and that it's better to succeed on your own talents and hard work.  Other characters learn this lesson, they're worried about the consequences of what they're fairies get them.  However, even at the end of the book Charlie still wants a cool fairy and is really excited about the one she ultimately gets, even though it dimishes her personal hard work and success. 

So if you want to give your child or student a book about keeping an open mind, the importance of family and friendship, or how we should be considerate of other people and their wants and needs this is a great book.  If you want to teach a lesson about hard work and perseverance, be prepared to talk about Charlie's fairy obsession and her societies reliance on fairies to make things easier.

This book identifies as Young Adult and content wise it is better suited for 12 and older children.  At times it's necessary to think critically about Charlie's opinions and actions and most elementary school children will have a harder time considering this and making judgements.  Reading skills wise, this book can be used to help children work on learning the meaning of words through context.  It is set in an imaginary city in the future so the characters use slang that doesn't exist in the real world.  All of the words are included in a glossary in the back of the book, so even if kids can't guess an accurate meaning they don't have to spend much time looking for the answer.

The books Reading Level, and even the content of crushes, friendships, and getting on a sports team, can be managed by somewhat younger children.  Some of my forth graders are reading this book and enjoying it.  As long as people are Self Extending Readers they can manage the words and content of this book. (More on Reading Levels) I think How to Ditch Your Fairy is a book that sparks conversation so I definately would recommend it for a book club.

UPDATE

The Book List for Women's History Month has been updated.