Autism and Classical Myth: Introducing a Hercules-themed resource pack for use with autistic children

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 10 April 2018

Introducing a Hercules-themed resource pack for use with autistic children - abstract and venue

With this posting, I am sharing two linked pieces of news. The first is that I have the green light for my title and abstract for the session I shall be delivering in Warsaw next month - as part of a programme of meetings and workshops for the Our Mythical Childhood project.

The second is that the venue for this session has now been confirmed and it is the most ideal one. it will take place at Life is Cool, a café run by autistic people. The image that accompanies this posting is one of several here that captures some of the distinctiveness of the venue. I'm looking forward to visiting the café - let alone to presenting there.

Here is the title and abstract for the session:

'At every crossroads': introducing a Hercules-themed resource pack for use with autistic children

In the months at the end of 2017 and then in early 2018 I produced a first set of classical myth-related activities for use with autistic children for the Our Mythical Childhood project. In this session, I shall present these resources, which centre round a particular artefact depicting Hercules - a hero with especially rich potential in relation to autism - who is faced with a choice between two divergent paths in life. First I shall explain the rationale and scope of the activities. Then I shall introduce the activities - I envisage this part of the session being interactive.