Visual Thinking and Autism

For some months, InspireIT team have mapping out strategies on how to reach out to more children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) through our STEM Club Project. One of the strategies that we have been critically looking at is "Using Visual Thinking to Improve Critical Thinking." The critical thinking skills of children with ASD needs to be developed from an early stage. 

Last year, when we had autism sessions and visited some autistic centers in Nigeria as part of our STEM Club Project, we noticed that most of the centers do not have access to the internet neither do they have computers/laptops/projectors etc for teaching. Most of the teaching were done using books, blackboards and in some centers, they use the walls in their offices by placing cardboards on the wall. 

Books are important but we are also in the 21st century where technology tools , technology gadgets and the internet are playing huge role in skills development.

Caring for an autistic child can be quite daunting sometimes. It takes a lot of patience, understanding, expressive communication and lots of interactive engagements. In some cases, frustrations and anger can set in when teaching an autistic child. It is not uncommon to see people who don't know much about ASD taking out their anger and frustrations on autistic kids because they feel the child is too slow in understanding what they are saying. Sometimes, people also tend to take advantage of them and are not patient enough to listen and understand their needs.

We are currently looking for illustrators (all over the world) who are willing to share their skills with us (on a volunteer basis) to help us in our quest to reach out to more children with ASD in Nigeria. If this is you, please feel free to send us an email at: writetousinspireit@gmail.com

InspireIT STEM Club Project was expanded in 2020 to include children with ASD between the ages of 8-17.

Our website on autism was also launched last year. 

Yay! InspireIT has been nominated for WSIS Prizes 2021. Please vote for us under "Category 15 — AL C8. Cultural diversity and identity, linguistic diversity and local content."

Link for voting: www.itu.int/net4/wsis/stocktaking/prizes/2021/#start

An African proverb says "Little by little, a little becomes a lot."