Fictional Narratives about Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Focus Group Analysis and Insight

Given the CDC’s report of a 30% increase in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnoses over the past two years, it is important to increase awareness and educate teachers and students in both general and special education classrooms. One way to bridge the gap between students with and without ASD is to use authentic narrative fiction as a teaching tool. The goal of this study was to identify aspects of stories with characters with ASD that contribute to authentic and accurate depictions. Insights were elicited from focus groups that included insiders, individuals or family members with ASD, and educators who work with students with ASD. The participants read, reviewed, and discussed fictional narratives that highlighted a character with ASD. Various themes emerged from the focus groups regarding views on authentic and accurate ASD depictions. Discussion and suggestions are presented for future use of narrative fiction in raising awareness in educational settings

Bridging the Basics of Business Law through Digital Storytelling

Digital storytelling is a powerful and effective instructional tool to engage students in active learning and to support problem based learning. This paper reviews the AACSB standards for quality teaching as a starting point for the creation of a digital storytelling project for use in the undergraduate business law class in the College of Business Administration. The project provided an opportunity for students to learn 21st century skills by creating their own digital stories of actual legal cases in a collaborative learning environment. Each digital story served as a case to be presented to the class for legal analysis, discussion and debate. This paper provides an overview of the digital storytelling project. Benefi ts and challenges are addressed

Localization of type 1 diabetes susceptibility to the MHC class I genes HLA-B and HLA-A

The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) on chromosome 6 is associated with susceptibility to more common diseases than any other region of the human genome, including almost all disorders classified as autoimmune. In type 1 diabetes the major genetic susceptibility determinants have been mapped to the MHC class II genes HLA-DQB1 and HLA-DRB1 (refs 1-3), but these genes cannot completely explain the association between type 1 diabetes and the MHC region. Owing to the region's extreme gene density, the multiplicity of disease-associated alleles, strong associations between alleles, limited genotyping capability, and inadequate statistical approaches and sample sizes, which, and how many, loci within the MHC determine susceptibility remains unclear. Here, in several large type 1 diabetes data sets, we analyse a combined total of 1,729 polymorphisms, and apply statistical methods - recursive partitioning and regression - to pinpoint disease susceptibility to the MHC class I genes HLA-B and HLA-A (risk ratios >1.5; Pcombined = 2.01 × 10-19 and 2.35 × 10-13, respectively) in addition to the established associations of the MHC class II genes. Other loci with smaller and/or rarer effects might also be involved, but to find these, future searches must take into account both the HLA class II and class I genes and use even larger samples. Taken together with previous studies, we conclude that MHC-class-I-mediated events, principally involving HLA-B*39, contribute to the aetiology of type 1 diabetes. ©2007 Nature Publishing Group

Pre-service educators\u27 understanding and perceptions of ASD before and after reading ASD narrative fiction

Pre-service teachers and other educators are expected to understand and teach students from diverse backgrounds and varying abilities. One group that is growing in all classrooms across the U.S. are students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). As such, it is essential that teacher preparation programs prepare pre-service teachers and educators to teach students with ASD. The purpose of the research was to examine the effects of pre-service teachers understanding and perceptions about ASD before and after reading young adult literature about characters with ASD. Results of parallel mixed-method research showed an increase of positive attitudes of pre-service teachers and educators\u27 perceptions concerning people with ASD after reading young adult fiction. In light of these findings, we recommend that teacher preparation programs provide experiential opportunities, in this case through authentic fictional books, to enhance the perceptions and understanding of students with ASD and their families