Autism and Classical Myth: Autism and classical myth event with experts

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.

Friday 28 September 2018

Autism and classical myth event with experts - about to happen

A while back I shared some really good news I'd received namely that I'd gained some funding from the Institute of Classical Studies - from their Public Engagement Fund - for a workshop with autism experts. The event in question is about to happen! On Tuesday 2 October! I'm going to be welcoming a group of specialists, including those whose work has been foundational to my project on autism and classical myth, to Roehampton and specially to the Adam Room, the home of the chimneypiece which is the focus of my first set of resources for autistic children. I'll be writing a report on the event for the ICS - and also a post for their blog. I aim to do this asap after the event to capture it's energy and I'll share the link via this blog. I'm so excited to be sharing what I've been developing with a group of wonderful people. To think - we'll all be together talking about autism and myth - with Hercules making his choice in our presence. I'm so deeply grateful to the ICS supporting and enabling the event.