Answer key: Understanding Autistic People

Lesson Plan: Understanding the Social Signs of Autistic People

II. While Reading Activities

Word Inference

  1. Autistic |ôˈtistik| adjective–relating to or affected by autism. autism |ˈôˌtizəm| noun- a mental condition, present from early childhood, characterized by difficulty in communicating and forming relationships with other people and in using language and abstract concepts.
  2. desperate |ˈdesp(ə)rət| adjective- feeling, showing, or involving a hopeless sense that a situation is so bad as to be impossible to deal with: a desperate sadness enveloped Ruth.
  3. unsociable  |ˌənˈsōSHəb(ə)l| adjective- not enjoying or making an effort to behave sociably in the company of others: Terry was grumpy and unsociable.
  4. paradoxically |ˌperəˈdäksik(ə)lē| adverb- in a seemingly absurd or self-contradictory way: [sentence adverb] : the strength of capitalism is, paradoxically, also its weakness.
  5. sustained |səˈstānd| adjective-continuing for an extended period or without interruption: several years of sustained economic growth.
  6. echolalia |ˌekōˈlālēə| nounPsychiatry- meaningless repetition of another person’s spoken words as a symptom of psychiatric disorder.
  7. consequences |ˈkänsikwəns| noun- a result or effect of an action or condition: many have been laid off from work as a consequence of the administration’s policies.
  8. presumption |prəˈzəm(p)SH(ə)n| noun-1 an idea that is taken to be true, and often used as the basis for other ideas, although it is not known for certain: underlying presumptions about human nature.
  9. interventions  |ˌin(t)ərˈven(t)SH(ə)n| noun-action taken to improve a situation, especially a medical disorder: two patients were referred for surgical intervention.
  10. misinterpreted |ˌmisinˈtərprət| verb- (misinterprets, misinterpreting, misinterpreted) [with object] interpret (something or someone) wrongly.

Reading Comprehension

True /False/NA-Statements

  1. F- The belief about autistic people — that they are not interested in other people — is almost certainly wrong.
  2. T-Seventy-five years ago, the first published account of autism described its subjects as “happiest when left alone”.
  3. F-They may not make eye contact or they may repeat lines from movies that don’t seem relevant in the moment.
  4. F-They may flap their hands or rock their bodies in ways that other people find off-putting.
  5. T-Autistic people experience loneliness, say they want friends.
  6. T- Naoki Higashida is an autistic author.
  7. F- Autism is a neurological condition that affects how people perceive, think and move.
  8. T-Echolalia occurs when  people say the same thing over and over again.
  9. T- Sometimes autistic people repeat phrases as a way of connecting at a deep level.
  10. T-Improving the social lives of autistic people will require putting aside assumptions about how social interest is expressed.

Grammar: Word -Recognition

Directions: Students choose the correct word to complete the sentences taken from the article. They are to choose from the options presented.

If you assume a person is not interested in interacting with you, then you probably won’t exert much effort to interact in the first place. This can lead to a situation where neither person wants to interact with the other. Or you might insist that he or she interact in the ways you expect socially interested people to interact.