Creativity and the Autistic Student: Supporting Strengths to Develop Skills and Deepen Knowledge

Carrie Snow

ian. 2015 · Teachers College Press

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Using creativity as a lens to explore the meaningful learning experiences of autistic youth, Carrie Snow evaluates and challenges common conceptions about autism and offers a strengths-based demonstration of the many ways that autistic people express creativity and imagination. She then identifies key qualities of education that are commonly cited by autistic people to be significant to the development of fulfilling lives, healthy identities, promising careers and vocations, and creativity in general. This important resource shows how educators can support autistic K–12 students in public, private, inclusive as well as specialized schools. Creativity and the Autistic Student forwards the idea that autistic people offer valuable skills and abilities that can strengthen communities, within school and beyond.

Book Features:

First-person narratives by autistic people that challenge the prevailing medical model. A strengths-based perspective that highlights the resourceful, novel, relevant ways that autistic people navigate their lives. A focus on the importance of cultivating what creativity scholars term “everyday creativity” in autistic youth. Strategies for inclusive curricular and instructional ideas, adaptations, and structures. Visions for a future that invites and thrives on the creative contributions of neurodiverse citizens.

“What a beautiful book! This is not just an attempt to highlight the creative abilities of those on the spectrum, it is a call to explore how those who see the world differently are helping us all better understand creativity itself. Snow does a lovely job of illustrating how art, expression, and imagination can be tools for communication, human connection, and so much more.”
—Paula K. Kluth, consultant, advocate, and author of You’re Going to Love This Kid: Teaching Students with Autism in the Inclusive Classroom

“Why should it be so hard to imagine that people who think differently might be creative? Carrie Snow’s Creativity and the Autistic Student is a must-read for anyone interested in developing the untapped potential of neurodiverse learners.”
—Ralph James Savarese, author of Reasonable People: A Memoir of Autism and Adoption, Professor, Grinnell College

“How can you cultivate the creative capacity of autistic students? Few authors have been willing to tackle such a complex and important question. Carrie Snow is an exception. Drawing on her experiences as a special educator and the accounts of autistic students, Snow provides a provocative, compelling, and at times moving exploration of this question. Be prepared to rethink your assumptions and discover how to take a strengths-based approach to supporting creativity in the everyday learning and lives of autistic students.”
—Ronald A. Beghetto, editor, Journal of Creative Behavior and Professor of Educational Psychology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT