Abstract
This paper explores the possibilities of the pedagogical use of Socratic dialogue as a basis for educating students diagnosed with autism. The Socratic dialogue is a particular pedagogical method used in educational settings to enhance student’s thinking and dialogic abilities. Research has proven that Socratic dialogue may result in improved language, interactive, and critical thinking abilities, as well as have effect on students’ self-evaluation. The social nature of dialogic learning may scaffold children with specific abilities to effectively interact with others and perceive those others’ emotions. Presently, education of students diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) use a variety of educational interventions, mostly inspired by behaviorist theory. These include little or no systematic use of dialogue as a pedagogical means of scaffolding students' abilities. However, several of these behaviorist methods have been tried out for a long period, educating students with ASDs, and have also proved to be successful to certain extents. In this article, we explore why and how Socratic dialogue can be used as an effective strategy for educating individuals diagnosed with autism. Hence, the investigation ends by introducing a dialogue-based teaching design that is compatible for children diagnosed with ASDs, to be explored and evaluate.
Highlights
The ideal pedagogical dialogue could be described as an activity directed towards discovery, new understanding, teaching, and learning in a decentered and non-authoritarian way (Burbules, 1993), even though this ideal might be difficult to reach in classrooms (Burbules, 2000)
Children diagnosed with other Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) may benefit from this model, since social and emotional difficulties seem to be the most prominently described common characteristic among all children diagnosed with ASDs
Children diagnosed with ASDs are said to exhibit limited capability in generalization of knowledge and skills to new situations (Pierce et al, 1997)
Summary
The ideal pedagogical dialogue could be described as an activity directed towards discovery, new understanding, teaching, and learning in a decentered and non-authoritarian way (Burbules, 1993), even though this ideal might be difficult to reach in classrooms (Burbules, 2000). The Socratic seminar – a German and Swedish tradition, and the Paideia seminar – an American tradition, are a particular pedagogical method for preschools and classroom learning using inquiring dialogue to enhance student’s thinking and dialogic abilities. It is an educational approach, that consists of certain steps, where the teacher will help a group of students to build a respectful climate for dialogue, and the seminar will consist of the following steps (Adler, 1984): 1. Interaction with other people is methodically facilitated and encouraged, helping both teachers and students co-construct their knowledge and develop their understandings in flexible ways. This paper is, the starting point of this work, discussing why and how a dialogue based teaching is compatible with the educational needs of children with ASDs
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