[Englecturers] OCD and Asperger's Syndrome in the Communications/Composition Classroom (4/20/05; CCCC, 3/22/06-3/25/06)

[englecturers at lists.ucr.edu]

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-cfp at lists.sas.upenn.edu [mailto:owner-cfp at lists.sas.upenn.edu]
On Behalf Of Lynda Walsh
Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2005 12:50 PM
To: cfp at english.upenn.edu
Subject: CFP: OCD and Asperger's Syndrome in the Communications/Composition
Classroom (4/20/05; CCCC, 3/22/06-3/25/06)


I am soliciting abstracts for a concurrent session at CCCC 2006 (Chicago,
March 22-25) on OCD and Asperger's syndrome as challenges in the composition
and/or communications classroom.  

 

If interested, please send a 250-word abstract to lwalsh at nmt.edu by April
20, 2005.  See session proposal below:

 

Proposed Concurrent Session for 2006 CCCC Annual Convention, "Composition in
the Center Spaces:  Building Community, Culture, Coalitions"

Area Cluster: 101-Practices of Teaching Writing (Classroom situations and
strategies)

Title:  Asperger's and OCD in the building of composition/communication
classroom culture

 

In October 2004 the Chronicle of Higher Education reported a sharp increase
in college students with Asperger's syndrome over the last decade, and the
CDC estimates that one in every 165 children in the country has some form of
autism-related "pervasive developmental disorder."  Many of these students
have also been diagnosed with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders (OCD) that
exacerbate the challenges they encounter in coping with the
rigidly-structured social environment of a college classroom.  

 

These developments pose a special challenge for teachers of composition and
technical communication, whose courses and curricula are (1) usually general
degree requirements that all students must complete; and (2) intensely
interpersonal as compared to large lecture courses.  Current ADA guidelines
stipulate only that OCD and Asperger's students be given extensions on
assignments and tests.  However, those guidelines are inadequate for
ensuring these students' success in a composition classroom.  Further, the
institutions matriculating OCD and Asperger's students often provide
inadequate academic and social support for them, which places an additional
burden on their instructors.  

 

How can we best accommodate OCD and Asperger's students in the composition
classroom?  How can we channel their unique perspectives and abilities to
enrich our classroom culture?  And how do we cope with classroom dynamics
arising from other students' reaction to OCD and Asperger's students' social
behaviors?  These are some of the questions that will open this inquiry into
a major new challenge to composition and communications instructors.

         ==========================================================
              From the Literary Calls for Papers Mailing List
                        CFP at english.upenn.edu
                         Full Information at
                     http://cfp.english.upenn.edu
         or write Jennifer Higginbotham: higginbj at english.upenn.edu
         ==========================================================