Why classical myth and autism?

Why classical myth and autism?

The idea for this project started to take shape at a meeting in 2008 with a special needs teacher, who mentioned that, in her experience and those of her colleagues, autistic children often enjoy classical myth. I began to wonder why this might be the case, and whether – as a classicist who researches, and loves, classical myth – there was anything I could contribute. I started this blog to report on my progress which was often sporadic until the launch of the Warsaw-based European Research Council-funded project Our Mythical Childhood (2016-22) to trace the role of classics in children’s culture.

My key contribution to the project is an exploration of classics in autistic children’s culture, above all by producing myth-themed activities for autistic children. This blog shares my progress, often along Herculean paths, including to a book of lessons for autistic children focusing on the Choice of Hercules between two very different paths in life. The image above, illustrating the homepage of this blog, is one of the drawings by Steve K. Simons, the book's illustrator, of a chimneypiece panel in a neoclassical villa at Roehampton in South West London. The lessons centre on this panel.

Tuesday 17 July 2018

Resource Pack 1: The Choice of Hercules - draft version for consultation and feedback



As I have mentioned in the previous two postings to this blog, my autism and classical myth project is moving to a new phase, where I seek feedback on  the activities I have designed concerning the Choice of Hercules. To help with this process it seemed a good idea to update the versions of the activities that I presented via this blog earlier in the year. I have, therefore, created a document that presents the activities along with an introduction explaining what they are seeking to achieve.

The document is here, on Academia. If you're unable to access it, do let me know and I could send you the pdf.

The picture that starts this posting is one of those discussed in the activities: please see page 10 of the pdf.

Feedback welcome via this blog, via emailing me at s.deacy@roehampton.ac.uk or via the Academic session I've started.



 
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