English for Students of Educational and Social Policy - 4Th Semester

English for students of Educational and Social Policy - 4th Semester

by Mersini Karagevreki

UNIT 3

1. Look at the picture.

- Who do you think the people are?

- Where do you think they are?

- Why are all the young adults wearing the same T-shirt?

- Describe the atmosphere in the picture.

- What caption would you choose for this picture? Why?

Now look at the picture on the next page. Is the caption similar to yours? If not, why do you think the writer of the article has used this caption?

2. Read the following definition. Then read the first paragraph of the article below the picture. Is the term "idiot savant" used in the same way? Why/Why not?

The autistic savant is one of the most fascinating cognitive phenomena in psychology. "Autistic savant" refers to individuals with autism who have extraordinary skills not exhibited by most persons. Historically, individuals with these exceptional skills were called 'idiot savants,' a French term meaning unlearned (idiot) skill (savant). In a 1978 article in Psychology Today, Dr. Bernard Rimland introduced a more appropriate term 'autistic savant,' which is the current label.

Teacher Doris Walker and her talented group

Achieving a new awareness and changing their lives

They All Have High Hopes

A unique school develops the gifts of the mentally impaired

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50 / The idiot savant has a long tradition in the U.S., much of it as victim. A typical 19th century savant, Tom Bethune was sightless and barely able to grunt monosyllables. But he had the ability to play complicated classical piano pieces by ear, and promoters exhibited him in vaudeville as an amusing freak. Since that time, savants - retarded and autistic people who have inexplicable gifts, usually in art, mathematics and music - have been the objects of diversion and exploitation. But at a unique institution called Hope University in Anheim, Cal., they are being trained to reveal surprising gifts and develop self-confidence. Some have multiple handicaps: Paul Kuehn, for example, is blind, yet he has the ability to reproduce and create music and is one of the stars of a school group, the Hi Hopes [...]
Kuehn and 37 other young adults owe their progress to a dynamic 62-year-old school secretary turned educator. Recalls Doris Walker: “I was a little old lady in tennis shoes to my classmates when I went back to college to get a degree in special education. “With her new teaching certificate in hand, she took over a public school special-education class in Buena Park, Calif. Twelve years later, in 1980, she founded Hope University - Unico National College for the Gifted Mentally Retarded. Despite the grand title, the institution is located in two cramped rooms behind a shopping center. Still, says Walker, “we have a good beginning, and I have big plans.” [...]
The college’s slogan is “adult education through the fine arts.” As Walker explains it, “We want to develop the whole person, and we use the elements of performance, music education, music therapy, drama, dance and art to enable our students to achieve new awareness, personal growth and change in their lives.” She developed her approach while at Buena Park, where one of her students, Kuehn, was considered autistic and virtually untrainable. During a music period she mumbled under her breath, “Now what key do we do this song in?” Kuehn correctly piped up, “Key of G.” His vocal training began immediately and gave rise to the first Hi Hopes group. [...]
[...] the students at Hope University have learned emotional and physical control through music and art instruction. Indeed, Hope’s program has been so successful that many students now hold part-time jobs.
[...] Psychologist Bernard Rimland, of the Institute for Child Behavior Research in San Diego, notes, “It isn’t surprising that we don’t understand much about these aberrations. We haven’t even begun to understand how the normal brain functions.”
Researchers, however, have been making some progress. Darold Treffer, a psychiatrist in Fond du Lac, Wis., who is a nationally recognized expert on savants, points out that sophisticated tools like computerized scans have improved methods for investigating the functions of the brain. Reading and language ability seem to be controlled by the left side of the brain; art, music and mathematics by the right. Says Treffert: “The skills of the savants are generally right-brain skills, and we know that in many cases of savants there is left-brain damage.” He explains, “We think now that the right brain tends to overdevelop in order to compensate for left-brain injury or other prenatal influences that cause underdevelopment of the left side.” [...]
The gifts of the savants, writes Neurologist Oliver Sacks, author of The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, can be a “quality that takes one aback.” He says, “Often the severely retarded have plenty of potential if educated right,” but adds, “The question is, What constitutes right? The mental language of each person is different.” Nevertheless, the parents of Hope University students take heart at the ways Walker and her small staff are developing talent and self-confidence. As one father, University of California Biology Professor Howard Lenhoff, puts it, “The one thing that worries every parent of a retarded child is what will happen to them after we die. Developing our daughter’s music and teaching her to perform it in public have given her an option she did not have before.”

-By Edwin M. Reingold/Los Angeles

Time, March 2, 1987:53

barely = hardly, scarcely; vaudeville = music hall; retarded = less advanced mentally than most people of their age; diversion = amusement; aberrations = sudden changes away from one’s usual way of thinking/behaving; compensate for = balance sth; prenatal = before birth; takes aback = surprises; potential = possibility for developing

3. Read the article about the idiot savants. What does the text say about these people?

- Tom Bethune

- Paul Kuehn

- Doris Walker

- Bernard Rimland

-Darold Treffert

- Oliver Sacks

4. Vocabulary

a. Match the words with the definitions.

1. grunt
2. freak
3. cramped
4. mumbled under her breath
5. piped up
6. take heart from something / a. began to speak unexpectedly in a high voice
b. limited in space
c. feel encouraged, optimistic
d. make a short deep rough sound like that of a pig
e. a living creature of unnatural form
f. spoke, said in a low indistinct voice

b. Try to guess the meaning of the following words from the text:

inexplicable (l. 5)handicaps (l. 9)took over (l. 14)

virtually (l. 25)

5. Answer these questions:

a. How has society treated the idiot savant since the 19th century?

b. What is the slogan of the college that Walker has founded?

c. What is the aim of the college?

d. What can the students in Walker’s college learn through music and art instruction?

e. What do scientists know about the function of a normal brain?

f. - Which side of the brain is developed in many cases of savants?

- How does this affect the development of skills and abilities?

g. What is the constant fear of parents of retarded children?

h. Why are parents more optimistic for the future now?

6. Language focus

a. Look at this sentence.

- Indeed, Hope’s program has been so successful that many students now hold part-time jobs.

- Can you rewrite the sentence using "such" in the place of "so"? Make all necessary changes.

- What do "such" and "so" express?

- What follows after "such" and "so"?

- Use "so" or "such" to combine the following sentences.

1. There were many people in the cinema. I had to sit in the last row.

2. You are reading fast. I can’t follow you.

3. He is a bad student. He isn’t going to pass the exam.

4. The room had only old furniture. We decided to redecorate it.

5. This is a violent sport. Children shouldn’t be allowed to watch it on TV.

6. The film was very boring. I almost fell asleep.

b. Rewrite the following sentence using the adjective "surprised". Make all necessary changes.

- It isn’t surprising that we don’t understand much about these aberrations.

c. Look at the two examples:

Which example sounds most like an insult?

- I think you are bored.

- I think you are boring.

d. What do adjectives ending in -ed describe?

What do adjectives ending in -ing describe?

e. Complete the following sentences with the correct form of the words in the box.

1. interest3. worry5. embarrass

2. embarrass4. interest6. worry

1. I didn’t find the book ------.

2. I found the whole situation ------.

3. It is all very ------.

4. They are not ------in maths.

5. I was ------by her behaviour.

6. He is ------about her.

7. Read the definition of autism in Black’s medical dictionary (pp. 79-80) and complete the following table.

AUTISM
Time of appearance:
Cause:
Frequency of occurrence:
Characteristic features
a.
b.
c.
Outlook:

AUTISM, or INFANTILE AUTISM, is an abnormality of early childhood development characterized by inability to develop relationships with people and by poverty of language. There is failure to develop social relationships, with a tendency to self-isolation. In the vast majority of cases the cause is unknown, but in some instances it may be associated with brain damage. It occurs in around 4 per 10.000 school children. The onset is usually insidious from birth, or may follow a period of one year’s or two years’ normal development.

The most characteristic feature of the condition is the child’s impaired emotional contact with people, strikingly demonstrated by gaze avoidance, the child refusing to look people straight in the face. The child is aloof, and there is little communication with other people. The second characteristic feature is the lack of language development. The child either never develops language at all, or loses what speech he had developed. There is impaired understanding of what other people say, repetition of what is said to him, and reversal of pronouns, the child, for example, referring to himself as ‘you’ and not ‘I’. In addition, there are repetitive movements, such as jumping, flicking of the fingers and grimacing, as well as obsessional habits such as insisting on his food being always served in a certain manner, or insisting on wearing certain clothes. If these obsessions are not respected, there may be screaming attacks. Yet another feature is that these children tend to pay no attention to what is said to them. Intellectual ability ranges from severely subnormal to normal.

The outlook for these children is not very promising. The best results are obtained in those with a relatively high intelligence quotient. Another good sign is the presence of useful language at the age of 5 years. The earlier treatment is begun, therefore, the better. There is nothing specific about this. It is all aimed at trying to gain, and maintain, emotional contact with the child, a process which depends as much as anything on the patience, understanding and sincerity of the parents. Parents of autistic children can obtain help and guidance from the National Society for Autistic Children, 1a Golders Green Road, London NW11 8EA.

infantile = typical of a small child; poverty = lack; onset = beginning; insidious = doing harm secretly; impaired = weakened; aloof = remote, not participating; flicking = light touch; grimacing = making grimaces; obsessions = fixed ideas that occupy one's mind; outlook = what seems likely to happen; intelligence quotient = a measure of human intelligence; therefore = as a result, thus; obtain = get

8. Speaking

Imagine you are a pediatrician and one of your patients is a two-year-old boy who suddenly, a month ago, started losing what speech he had developed.

In groups of 3 or 4 decide what kind of questions would ask the mother to find out if the boy suffered from autism.

9. Listening

Listen to someone talking about autism. For questions 31-5 choose the best answer.

31. What does the speaker say about the film Rain Man?

32. According to the speaker, what is true about autistic people?

33. What does the speaker say about scientists doing research into autism?

34. Which of these had made research difficult?

35. What is true of all "autistic savants"?

31 a It made people more aware of autism.
b It made people feel sorry for autistic people.
c It was the first film about autism. / 33 a They have found a cure for it.
b They have found drugs that treat some symptoms.
c They have found no treatment for it.
32 a They may not be able to smile.
b They have no facial expressions.
c They may not understand what a smile means. / 34 a Few autistics have children.
b Most autistics have genetic problems.
c Few autistics are twins.
35 a They have a very good memory.
b They are artistically gifted.
c They have unusual capabilities.

Source: Evans, V., (1996). Final Tests 2 for Michigan Certificate of Proficiency in English. Express Publishers. Athens. p. 116. (material also available for use in SAC)

10. Read the following passage and complete it.

The ------Rain Man exposed millions of people to autism as ------as the autistic ------phenomenon. (Unfortunately, some people now have the ------that all autistic individuals have these ------.) In the movie, Raymond displayed a great memory for ball player statistics, memorized parts of the telephone ------, and counted cards in Las Vegas. One wonders why this year's national autism conference is being ------in Las Vegas!

The ------why some autistic individuals have savant abilities is not known. There are many theories, but there is no ------to support any of them. For example, Dr. Rimland speculates that these individuals have incredible concentration abilities and can focus their complete ------to a specific area of interest. Admittedly, researchers in psychology feel that we ------never truly understand memory and cognition until we ------the autistic savant.

exposed = made known; displayed = showed; speculates = thinks without having the necessary facts

11. Complete the passage with the correct form of the words in the box.

1. contrast (v)
2. autism
3. institution
4. arrange / 5. usual
6. severity
7. adult
8. residence / 9. depend
10. relation
11. rely
12. conscience / 13. awkwardness
14. eccentricity
15. interview (v)

In (1)------to 20 years ago when many (2)------individuals were (3)------, there are now many flexible living (4)------. (5)------, only the most (6)------individuals live in institutions. In (7)------some people with autism live at home with their parents; some live in (8)------facilities; some live semi-independently (such as in a group home); and others live (9)------. There are autistic adults who graduate from college and receive graduate degrees; and some develop adult (10)------; and may marry. In the work environment, many autistic adults can be (11)------and (12)------workers. Unfortunately, these individuals may have difficulty getting a job. Since many of them are socially (13)------and may appear to be (14) '------' or 'different', they often have difficulty with the job (15)------.

autism.org/overview.htm; p. 2

severity = intensity; residence = a house where people live; awkwardness = clumsiness, state of having little skill