Digital Comics: Creating A Pathway For Autistic Children To Connect Through A Superhero Narrative

Cognitive models of autism

Desceibe about the digital comics: Creating a pathway for autistic children to connect through a superhero narrative.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or autism is a “complex developmental disability”. It is detected in childhood and impairs the communication ability of an individual (Thompson, 2013). It is characterized by certain set of behaviors and is called as spectrum condition that affect each child differently and to a varying degree. In United Kingdom autism occurs in every 1 in 68 births (ADDM autism prevalence report, 2014). It has been estimated by autism society that the US cost for autism annually is $90 billion. Autistic children face bewildering and irrational challenges in the world. They are expected to cope with this challenges which results in high level of anxiety, stress and behaviors. Dealing with such behavior becomes difficult for people around them and offers a significant challenge to the health care service providers, educators, and other professionals such as social workers, language therapists (Park et al., 2012). Some of such behaviors include difficulty with executive functioning, poor motor skills’ and sensory sensitivities, difficulty making eye contact, delayed learning of language, persistent fixation on particular object, lack of ability to socialize with peers, distorted speech and language. It implies the need of a practical approach to understand the behavior of the autistic children and provide necessary support (Radley et al., 2015). According to Burn & Durran, (2007), children do not “outgrow autism” but it is treatable through early diagnosis and intervention. Recently there is an increasing popularity of superhero narratives representing the both the embodied and social experiences of autistic children such as the “Super”, “Circling Normal”. These emerging tools have the ability to breach the wall of ignorance build up around the children with autism and generate greater public awareness of such disabilities. The unique characteristics of these comic strips are to promote the rights of autism children, demonstrate the impact of autism on the families and empower children to become successful in their environment.

In this assignment we will deal with how digital comics acts as a pathway for autistic children to relate with their cognitive disability and breaks the confining cultural framework through which some people are overlooked and other are seen. Further, the paper also discusses the Piaget’s theory of cognitive development and children learning. It explains how this theory can help teachers to tackle autistic children and improve their learning skills. A thorough literature review is performed to support the facts in the paper and lastly conclusion is drawn based on the discussion.

How does superhero narratives connect with autistic children

Autism mainly consists of three primary symptoms which involve behavioral, social and communication aspects. Several theories have been developed to explain the dilemma related to cognitive dysfunction of autism (Park et al., 2012). The “mind deficit theory” refers to the ability of children for imagination, beliefs, desires, and emotions and makes other mental states. Autistic children have a cognitive deficit as they cannot understand other’s thoughts (Locke, 2005). As per the “executive functioning theory” children mind involve in planning, impulse control, mental flexibility, inhibition, working memory and monitoring of action. Autistic children have executive dysfunction which is reflected in their repetitive and restricted behavior. Their poor social connection appears to be defect in cognitive shifting an important factor of executive function (Cohn, 2013). The persistency in particular behavior and focusing on specific parts of the objects seen in autistic children can be explained through “weak central coherence theory” which refers to inability of the child to see broader side of things or context (Simmons et al., 2014). According to “Piaget’s two factor theory” related to figurative and operative functions, autistic children have a defect in sensory motor neurons resulting in arrest of operative functions while having normal figurative functions (Marion et al., 2016). Thus higher-level of figurative, social skills fail to develop completely due to this arrest in children.  However, no cognitive theory so far could provide a complete picture of autism development and has only explained the static cognitive impairment (Hall, 2012).

Comics are an art form of communicating various messages in an artistic way using “outlandish fantasy and absurd characters” (Gresh & Weinberg, 2003). Since the last couple of centuries they have been playing an important role in the life of children and have been embraced by academia as well (Saraceni, 2000). Recently comics are developed with characters playing the role depicting particular disability. The advent of digital comics have has revolutions this art work. With the growing demand of tablets and smartphones, usage as well as desktop screen reading comics are increasing released in digital format (Rutter & Schopler, 2012). For example, the Marvel comics offer a subscription service for users to read online comics from Marvel’s history.

According to the survey reports Schreibman et al., (2015) most girls get bored with princess movies but never with superhero narratives. Most of these girls have in their opinion that a superhero will always win in a fight against a princess. Superheroes are highly engrossed in the childhood culture. According to Radley et al., (2014) the most common thing about superheroes right from masked villain to caped crusader that all the children love irrespective of being autistic is their “power”. It is their power to fly, read minds, shoot fire, throw cars and fighting skills. According to the research conducted by Justin Martin the psychology professor at Whitworth University, it is not just the power that makes attract these kids towards superheroes rather the pursuit of justice (Wood, 2015). Gardner, (2013) demonstrated that justice is the first thing that shrine when looking at superheroes. Kids mostly like the superheroes’  “self-sacrifice and hope” in the face of insurmountable odds. As per martin, the powerful impetus for change for young autistic children is the unique origin of each superhero story. For example, Peter Parker receiving unique powers after being bitten by radioactive spider and later uses these powers for personal benefits and turning into Spider-Man. He further sinks in the message that great power brings along a great responsibility. Piaget, (2013) studied attitudes of kids towards superhero comics and learned from a 7 year old girl that she personally preferred Scarlet Witch because of her moral arc.

Superheroes such Batman, Spider-Man and Superman are extremely popular among children irrespective of their growth environment (Wilson, 2005). Curiosity and imagination are the key aspects of growth of every child and they imitate adults and talk to strangers in order to show their fascination with things that are beyond their “realm of possibilities”. Children need their moral imagination to be healthy and refined for decision-making. The components of this moral imagination are the “ability to view one’s life as narrative and utilization of moral perception” (Burn & Durran, 2007). The story of “Guardians of the Galaxy” has inspired the autistic children to be like a superhero in the movie (Inhelder et al., 2014). Children with autism who cannot do metaphors can relate themselves with Drax the Destroyer in the movie who also cannot comprehend metaphors. Superhero comics with characters playing the role of an autistic individual or having any other disability help autistic children to reflect on their life experiences, and allow them to decide the important factors of their life (Autism Society, 2016). The autistic children enjoy comics because they can relate themselves with the characters in the story, which allows them to reconstruct their identity.

Therefore, superheroes can be a great “moral-teaching tool” for teachers and parents (Wilson, 2005). Children believing in a “just world” are known to find learning a positive experience, trust their teachers and succeed in school. Martin believes that superhero narratives are more desired among autistic children for whom the world appears to be filled with terror. Among these children, superhero narratives become a personal treasure. Autistic children watching Batman helping the city of Gotham and neighbors on the street learn empathy and tend to make positive connections around them (Autism Speak, 2016). These superhero narratives also introduce these children with interpersonal superpowers such as differentiating between right and wrong, truth and lies and other emotions (Bainbridge, 2015). Therefore, the justice factor emphasized by the superheroes and its relationship with children’s beliefs in just world has been recognized to serve as an “educational function” for autistic children to enhance their moral development.

Digital comics are a source of motivation for impressionable young audience and teach autistic children who have low self-esteem and confidence that they too can be heroes (Martin, 2007). It demonstrates the world that anything can be done by having a right mindset and a pure heart. It sends a message that heroic mindset does not pay heed to perceived flaws, poor medical condition and disability (Burn & Durran, 2007). These digital comics illustrate that in order to be a hero one does not need to mould their true nature to appear in certain way rather can be a true self. The superhero comics act as a tool to instill belief among these children in that just world (Rubin & Livesay, 2006).  Superheroes fill a void in the life of autistic children by instilling a hope even in darkest hour. These believe act as a catalyst for change on a micro-level and in addition, it have a trickledown effect on the kids and adults. Various characters in superhero narratives such as (Seth in Circling Normal or Drax in Guardians of Galaxy) have a given a confidence to millions of mentally challenged children that they can uphold responsibility and wield great power (Bainbridge, 2015). These children too can now indulge in fantasy like other normal kids and dream of themselves developing and showing heroic spirit. Autistic children relating themselves with superhero characters in comic movie and stories indicate the positive power of superhero movies in enhancing personal attachment where kids can take a piece of action to their home calling their own (NAS, 2016).

Recently, it has been observed that superheroes not only appeal and connect with kids in comics rather their ability has seeped into the classroom as well. Some researchers have found success in creating social skills training for autistic children using superhero themes and is highlighted in (Wilson, 2005). According to Piaget, (2015), most autistic children have trouble relating socially with their peers and simply teaching such social skills is not enough for them. It implies that a program that resonates with autistic children is required to be developed. Therefore, superheroes was recognized as a “sticky factor” that is difficult for autistic children to get out of their head. Hence, Jenson the professor of educational psychology at Utah University and his team have developed a “superheroes social skills program” for teaching autistic children. This multimedia program uses different characters such as Scooter, Iron Man, to teach different lessons. The results of this program were found effective. Educators of autistic children are geared towards their moral development through powerful comic characters rather than focusing on the test scores (Bainbridge, 2015). The aim of developing such classroom is to foster positivity and practicality in children and help them lead one such life as depicted in superhero narratives. Teachers can use a “child’s fascination with superheroes” to explain them the way of behaving inside and outside the classroom. Park et al., (2012) suggested that educators can monitor “students’ superhero play” and use the characters in the play to help students differentiate between the negative and positive behavior, cooperation and the ways of conflict resolution. However, teachers must lay little emphasize upon the dark side of these superheroes and instill in minds of children that violence is used as last resort. For example, Spider-Man responds only to situation that are morally important and use violence only when they recognize that not apprehending the villains may harm well being of others. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the educators to facilitate development of autistic children using superhero tool (Inhelder et al., 2012).

Burn & Durran, (2007) highlighted a fact that the influence of superhero comics on autistic children has larger implications for society. For example Comics such as “The Ride Together” has well demonstrated that how autism becomes part of the family’s collective identity. In this comic story, “Paul and Judy Karsaik” describes their experiences of growing up with their brother, who is autistic. In one of the comic strip Paul narrated that how their autistic brother loudly applauded and behaved unusually while watching a movie and how he was embarrassed.  In “Circling Normal” Montague-Reyes has based her strips about Seth who was diagnosed with autism at age of two and depicted his emotional experiences such as aggression, anxiety. Similarly, X-Men has motivated large number of children as he demonstrated love and acceptance through his work towards uniting humans despite their individual differences by internalizing his professor’s teaching (Gresh & Weinberg, 2003). These comic strips have addressed the debate topic “whether to accept or normalize children” (Locke, 2005). These comics help autistic children to meet the standards set by their adults being inspired by the mighty image of superhero coming out victorious from unfortunate of circumstances (Rubin & Livesay, 2006). The comic strip conversation has been recognized to improve the autistic children’s social skills and reduce the signs of loneliness. Autistic children fail to express their thoughts as a result of which they experience isolation from others. These comics give them a sigh of relief making them believe that their behavior is normal and assure them that they can also live happy life (Rutter & Schopler, 2012).   The literature review has showed that autistic children are more engaged with friends and peers after applying superheroes social skills programs or interventions (Radley,  Hanglein, & Arak, 2016). This has further led to positive outcomes and improved language skills. These comics play an important role as they have become a form of academic studies which aims to incorporate the “fullness of experience” of autistic children (Burn & Durran, 2007). The comics are powerful in demonstrating the emotional, social, motor, sensory, and cognitive factors affecting an individual, therefore, avoiding the person being reduced to “stereotype of one particular facet of his or her identity”. These superhero narratives assist society to accept such people and embrace them inspite of the differences (Rutter & Schopler, 2012).

Teaching programs in classrooms include assigning children with roles of different superhero characters to play help resolve various conflicts when for example, assigning same superhero character to two children, and debated over team goals (Piaget, 2013). When individual roles are assigned to the children, it helps them to resolve issues of gender equity, for example some girls preferred “X-Men” than other superheroes (McLoud, 2000). The reason behind such preferences being the fact that the unlike other superhero groups, X-Men group represents female members (Rubin & Livesay, 2006). These superheroes are agents of social change as they fight for justice and equality. Use of superheroes in social skills training program for autistic children by Jenson has helped such children to perform their work even when others disagree with them. They tend to align themselves with the prosocial behavior demonstrated by their superheroes (Inhelder, Sinclair & Bovet, 2014). Conclusively, superhero narratives are creating a pathway for academic, moral and social development of autistic children. Educators must understand as to why a particular child fascinate about a specific superhero character and use this fascination to foster their growth and similar behavior in them (Burn & Durran, 2007). It implies for the teachers that they should incorporate favorite superhero character of children into play activities and lessons to facilitate their learning process and ensure that the influence is positive and educational (Piaget, 2015). Various schools have used Manga to teach chemistry and biology to the students and results showed that children have found these strategy interesting and has improved the learning of complex subject (Radley, Hanglein & Arak, 2016).

Educators can incorporate the Piaget’s theory of children learning to improve learning outcomes of autistic children. As per Piaget’s experimental observations with children of different age, it is necessary that a teacher should mainly focus on the thinking process of an autistic child (Burn & Durran, 2007). While checking answers teachers must analyze that what thought process made a student to reach particular answer. According to Piaget’s experiences with children, positive learning outcomes are built on their cognitive functions and such experiences can be provided to the students only when the teacher appreciates children’s basis of reaching a conclusion (Piaget, 2013). Piaget emphasize on providing an environment with conditions of inventions for children rather than giving them a readymade knowledge (Martin, 2007). This will ensure promotion of children’s self initiate and active involvement spontaneously. Further most teachers in UK and US intend to speed up the development and learning process (Rubin & Livesay, 2006). However, in piagetian classroom, children have a window for true cognitive understanding. It implies for the teachers that premature teaching should be avoided as it only leads to superficial acceptance of the adult formulas. Further, education programs based on Piaget’s theory includes “acceptance of the individual differences” in developmental progress (Tatalovic, 2009). Teachers must take into account that each child has different rate of cognitive development and therefore arrange classroom activities accordingly including small groups of people rather than involving the total class. Further, the teacher must regularly assess the progress of individual child in terms of their previous course of development. Educators must avoid taking into consideration the “normative standards provided by the performance of same age peers” (Inhelder, Sinclair & Bovet, 2014).

Therefore, keeping in view the theories of Piaget, some of the promising strategies for teaching autistic children include teaching plan that is abstract, concrete and well structured as autistic children cannot handle complex stuff (Martin, 2007). Teachers should focus on “scaffold language support” by segregating children according to language level and use more simple language while teaching lesson (Rubin & Livesay, 2006). Teachers should ensure developing a fun and nurturing classroom environment that will increase self-motivation by fostering self-esteem and confidence. More classrooms in US for autistics are decorated with colorful funny pictures that most children fascinate about. These also include comic story superheroes to motivate them (Wilson, 2005). The strategies also include increasing social initiations, use of role-play and modeling to teach social skills. It also includes use of behavior charts, and reinforce particular behavior with stars to reduce other interfering behaviors (Wilson, 2005). As per the Piaget’s theory children need to interact with materials and people around them to suffice their curiosity (Tatalovic, 2009). These strategies also include promotion of “skill generalization” by promoting peer involvement, involving parents and multiple trainers. Children should be allowed to practice skills in a natural setting providing multiple opportunities (Tatalovic, 2009). There must be regular evaluating system to track the progress and provide students with home assignments in addition to practical sessions (Burn & Durran, 2007). The Social skills training program by Jenson utilize similar strategies and have come with positive outcomes. The key aspect of these interventions is the need to focus on “one-on-one” direct teaching by truly creating a social situation involving interaction with varied people. According to Thompson, (2013) partnership and cooperation can be encouraged by involving children in group activities (Schreibman et al., 2015).

The most important aspect of teaching social skills to autistic children is to promote children’s learning by explaining the relevance of a particular skill. This will help children stuck in learning a skill (Park et al., 2012). The sum of these strategies is also called as “Pivotal Response Treatment” (Park et al., 2012). Schreibman et al., (2015) highlighted that the social story method is effective for helping a child with autism to understand, respond and meet the expected needs. The stories of superheroes or any other comic strip conversation help children to learn and behave appropriately and have significantly improved their inclusion in classroom activities. Further, teachers support the autistic children to communicate through computer or typewriter. Overall the autistic children need learning environment that is conducive to the unique needs of children and it has been observed recently that incorporating superhero narratives in every stage of child development have helped to enhance the learning experience of autistic children and invigorate the educators working in such supportive learning environment.

Conclusion

The correct approach for dealing with autistic children is still a mystery for the teachers and physicians.  Learning the autism and teaching theories may help care providers to deduce correct approach and steps for building up the knowledge for autistic children. Digital comics are useful in being an empathetic representation of autism where they can highlight both the values of difference and the ordinariness of aberration. Comics promote social change by advocating for human rights for people with autism. Colorful comics representing autism spectrum allow family members to develop strategies to help their autistic kids to strive to be successful in their environment and in life. Superhero narratives are creating a pathway for academic, moral and social development of autistic children. Comics are excellent in conveying the experiences of the disability in a lived context because of the ability to depict both the spatial and temporal relationships simultaneously. Majority of children and adults embraces comics as they provide a means to realize our own life by seeing into experiences of the characters by the use of thought bubbles, jagged lines for demonstrating anxiety, sound effects and relative fullness.

Comic book’s superheroes characters are efficient in raising public awareness about disability issues. Consequently, it leads to personal empowerment, promote cultural understanding, and raise activism across cultures. Diverse modes of communication are required to understand autism that will assist humanities scholars involved in the studies of disability to incorporate different perspectives in their work. Studies of comics paint a picture of multiple embodied and cognitive style of living. They emphasize the importance of nonverbal form of expression, for example some comics portray the “powerful communicativeness of silence”. The literature review implies for the teachers that it is not difficult to teach the students with autism or convey their messages. Educators, therapists and the general practioners can use the theories of Piaget’s cognitive development and the various aspects of superhero narratives to develop an effective teaching plan to meet their educational and development needs. The speech and language therapists too can use some of these components to enhance their language skills. The effectiveness of media teaching has been explored by several researchers and thereby it is recommended to all the educators, therapists and teachers of autistic children for keeping latest technology and children’s fascination in mind while delivering any services.

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