Project Prospectus

Essential Question:

What treatment strategies are effective in improving the communication skills of pre-school children with autism who do not communicate verbally?

Foundation Questions:

1.)  What is autism?
2.)  What are common characteristics of autism?
3.)  What are common characteristics of autism regarding language?

Tentative Points:

My goal is to illustrate the process of childhood autism intervention by following the development of a yet-to-be-named character.  I was hoping to subtly incorporate various subcategories of information throughout the different genres:  for instance, characteristics of onset will be described in the journal entry.  This research project was created primarily to educate the audience on techniques used to stimulate language in preschool children with autism.  Hopefully it will also persuade parents to watch for developmental milestones in their children--the sooner a pervasive developmental disorder is identified, the more opportunities a child will have to catch up with his/her peers. 

Genres:

Genre 1:  Webliography
Voice:  Clinician
Audience:  General Public
Rationale:  This is the equivalent to the "About the Author" flap found on bookcovers.  It probably explains my motivation in creating the project, (I'm a student), and though it doesn't particularly add anything to the content, it gives the audience a feel for *who* exactly designed this site.  It makes the process more personal. 

Genre 2:  Journal entries
Voice:  Client's mother
Audience:  Possibly to tell symptoms to tell a professional, but also for private use  
Rationale:  Hopefully is an interesting way to imbed information on the immediate abnormalities that may coincide with infantile autism and may continue through the toddler years.

Genre 3:  Powerpoint presentation
Voice:  Clinician
Audience:   General Public and Client's Family
Rationale:  The Powerpoint presentation will explain how the Picture Exchange Communication System works.

Genre 4:  Observation report
Voice:  Student Clinician
Audience: Client's family (and for clinician's personal use.) 
Rationale:  The observation report will make note of the child's specific language stimulation techniques, and the child's strengths and weaknesses regarding behavior and communication in the child.

Genre 5:  Pamphlet
Voice:  Clinician
Audience:  General public

Genre 6:  Interiew
Voice:  Client's mother and SLP (clinician)
Audience:  General public
Rationale: The SLP will be getting information from the child's mother about how she communicates.

Genre 7:  Poem
Voice:  Client
Audience:  General Public
Rationale:  The poem will offer a perspective from the child and perhaps shed light on the unique thought patterns of autistic individuals.  

Aniticipated Integration of Genres:

With the exception of my webliography, all of my genres will revolve around a little girl (hypothetical, but I'm trying to stay in character) with autism.  Hopefully when these different genres will come together they will explain the characteristics and the treatment of autism.