For our latest assignment, the Informative Genre, I would like to research and write about the conditions in which children with autism may thrive. It will focus mainly on the conditions that are related to school activities and curriculum and the surrounding environment.
The two main audience that I would like to target are concerned parents and school officials of the local district. The reasons for choosing these two audiences are as following: concerned parents are those parents who are either directly or indirectly affected by ASD (autistic spectrum disorder) and they would surely want to pay attention and participate in any discussions or debate resulting from this research topic (second stage of publicity); school officials will be the targeted audience because they will be the individuals who will make a difference in any changes depending on the pressure put forward by the concerned parents (third stage of publicity). More thorough analysis will be done on the parents since they are the group which I would try to persuade in the research writing. More research on demographics, interests, values, assumptions, and knowledge base will be ascertained in order to decide on the tone of the writing. Perhaps the Providence Journal Bulletin or a local medical news magazine can be a good publication for gaining access to this target audience?
In order to appeal to this audience, I need to do a scientific based research, with references to studies, first in order to make the writing credible. Once the credibility is established, then my plan is to appeal to their sensitivity and empathy for these children. The research will be offer answers to questions like following: what is ASD; who can if affect; what is the rate of occurence in the US; what do these children need in order to succeed to the best of their ability; what can the audience do to help?
For research, I plan to read some peer reviewed journal articles. For fieldwork, I would like to interview some parents of children with ASD, and visit some support groups for parents with ASD either by internet media or a center.
Does anyone have any suggestion for me?
It sounds like you have a great start! I look forward to seeing what you find out since I have friends with siblings that were diagnosed with Autism. I especially like the fact that you want to interview parents that struggle with this. It gives the audience something to relate to.
ReplyDeleteI love that you chose to do this topic, especially since my younger brother is mildly autistic. It's amazing how autism can be such a gift though, my brother is autistic yet he receives all A's in his class and he is the brightest musician I have ever seen. He can pick up any instrument and know how to play it due to his knowledge of other instruments that he has played, his feel for music and his strong ability to be able to hear something and play it is unbelievable to me. I love that you are doing this topic because it brings out the notion that having autism isn't a drawback, kids can thrive with it (like you said) based on their school curriculum and school activities that they take part in.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a great topic as well! Sarah is so right that autistic children can be the most amazing people ever. Yes, people with autism may be different than everyone, but they are fighters and will show you they can do anything. Autism is something very popular and it needs to be dealt with correctly in school. If they are capable to be in a classroom they should be allowed there because being around other kids will benefit them the most. I think you should try to even talk to teachers that deal with autistic children. You should find out how they deal with it and incorrporate them into the classroom.
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