PC Alum, Rebekah Martin and education professor, Dr. Julia Wilkins, recently had an article entitled, Creating Visually Appropriate Classroom Environments for Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder, published in the peer-reviewed journal, Intervention in School and Clinic. Their article was based on research that Martin conducted for her education capstone class in Spring 2019.

While conducting her practicum experiences in local schools, Martin noticed that there were often students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in regular classes. In many cases, these classrooms were over-stimulating to students with ASD. However, when students with ASD were in classes for students with disabilities, teachers seemed more aware of how to create an autism-friendly classroom environment.

For her capstone research, Martin reviewed studies on how individuals with autism process information, which indicated that individuals with autism have particular strengths when processing information visually. The implications of this research are that teachers need to be particularly aware of the visual cues, physical layout, and lighting in the classroom. In their article, Martin and Wilkins make several recommendations for how general education teachers can adapt their classrooms to meet the needs of students with ASD.

Martin is a second-year teacher at Waterloo Elementary School, where she teaches 2nd grade.