Authentic Literature - A Case Study - Ben and His Helmet series

By Adrienne Jensen, B.A, B. Ed

All holistic instruction begins with a study of each child in a class. When aware of unique needs, teachers can begin to select materials and set up situations to facilitate learning for all. For greatest success, opportunities for learning must be grounded in actual experience, in the real lives of children. Nelle Frances' Ben and His Helmet series provide opportunities for all children to see their daily school lives on display. The series greatest achievement is that they allow other children to see this daily interaction through the eyes of a child with Asperger's Syndrome.

As educators, we are aware of the benefits of authentic literature, and by this, it means works by writers with something to say and the skill to say it well – this alone has the potential to motivate students to read. (Sloan, 1995: 2) Nelle Frances delivers this explicitly and implicitly in her narratives.

Language skill and acquisition flourishes in situations where actual purpose and function are clear to learners, where children are active participants in every step of the process, receiving affirmations of their efforts from those around them who are already speakers, readers, and writers. (Halliday 1975, Smith 1986)

Stories can be viewed as a source of comfort, a means to connecting all aspects of life and an opportunity to live experiences rather than merely know about them (Barton and Booth, 1990). In this way stories provide the context for making meaning. In her picture story books, Frances' Ben is on a journey that many children undertake – the similarities of the main character are validated by each student's own feelings of accomplishment, confusion and misunderstanding. They are Ben, and in seeing this, they are open to the other intricacies of Ben's life in school as an Asperger's child.

Storytelling is a process of construction that makes organised sense out of experiential pieces. Meaning permeates stories and storytelling communicates meaning by inviting listeners to agree with meaning of a storyteller's story, or to search for their own meanings to the story, through meaning they already possess (Hawkins Wendelin 1995:59) For the Asperger's child, he is no longer an outsider – his feelings, although exaggerated, are the same as many other students.

Children with Asperger's Syndrome typically exhibit strengths in their visual processing skills, with significant weakness in the ability to process information auditorily. Therefore the use of visual methods of teaching, as well as visual support strategies should always be incorporated. Illustrations can be crucial to a story because of their potential to extend the text by adding an extra dimension to the literary elements (Giancolo, 1995: 151). The colours and clear illustrations within the Ben and His Helmet picture storybooks draw out the feelings felt by the main character. This is then continued in the use of exaggerated font within the text – allowing the reader to use expression to make the oral meaning clear. Children think about their feelings, thoughts and associations, as books are read to them. In re-readings they carefully re-examine the illustrations for details that were depicted either directly or inferred. Children may need direct instruction about various techniques used, as this makes it possible for students to increase their awareness of what the illustrator did to help the reader appreciate, feel and understand more fully the thoughts, needs and emotions of the characters as they responded to one another and to the particular problem or conflict confronting them (Giancolo, 1995:151).

Children with Asperger's Syndrome can exhibit low self-esteem – they have a desire to ‘fit in' socially, yet have no idea how to do this. This is a trait exhibited almost constantly by the main character Ben. Nelle Frances provides teachers and other students with such situations, and with the means to deal with them. Most children are able to pick up social nuances without being specifically taught. However, Asperger's children have difficulty recognising, understanding and applying appropriate social skills to various situations. They have unique processing systems that do not allow for this. Ben's story enables these nuances to be identified, and in being stated, practised and learned.

Asperger's children may have difficulty identifying (labelling and understanding) varied emotional states, both in themselves and others. In addition, regulation of emotional states can be extremely difficult. Knowledgeable teachers recognise this and seek to facilitate this understanding, as Mrs Greenwood does within the story. Teacher becomes friend and facilitator. Regulation requires reflection time, analysing past actions and developing plans for future actions – not easy to accomplish in a busy classroom. Hence the introduction of the quiet corner within Ben's classroom. Many classrooms have this as a regular feature, allowing all children to understand the concept, and make use of it when needed. For those who do not, Nelle Frances' story provides an encouraging reminder.

Asperger's children will need to be directly taught through social skills (recognition, comprehension and application) from highly structured, supportive contexts to less structured settings, to real life situations (Stokes, 2003: 4) Social stories teach appropriate behaviours for social situations. The repetitious ‘reading' of the script make this an effective strategy for the Asperger's child. The layers of social stories within Ben and His Helmet make repetitious reading enjoyable and effective. All small children enjoy hearing the patterns of behaviour drawn out and explained – they identify, modify and relate with feeling, to Ben and his daily struggles to understand the nuances of body language.

Communication skills – as opposed to language skills – can result in the Asperger's syndrome child demonstrating what seems to be purposeful or manipulative behaviour. These children may exhibit significant difficulty in engaging in two-way relationships for example, the initiation and maintenance of appropriate conversations and turn taking. They can also have significant difficulty interpreting non-verbal social communication skills used to regulate social interactions. Nelle Frances' stories highlight these difficulties as a sensitive and thought-provoking dilemma facing teachers and students alike. In delivering Ben's story, she also highlights Ben's climb to success and accomplishment within these areas. In doing so, she supplies vital demonstration of pragmatic language skills, highlighting Ben's way forward through explanation, role play and practice – in effect, the very strategies that teachers of Asperger's Syndrome children are asked to target. Along with this, the non- Asperger's child is also given clear direction, scaffold and support to develop these non-verbal communication strategies.

All creative comprehension includes emotional response such as appreciation for what was read or heard, and an ability to relate it to one's own life. Children naturally learn to analyse and synthesise information; to compare and contrast; to draw inferences and to hypothesise; to apply concepts; and to evaluate and critique; and of course, to relate what they're studying to their own lives. (Weaver, 1990:170) In-depth reading and examining of Ben and His Helmet is guided along by a series of activities that enable children to respond to the issues that are part of Ben's life. Alongside of this resource support, Nelle Frances offered individual support in the form of email or letters. Children in my class were able to communicate their ideas and questions to Nelle Frances, enabling them to see authors as real-life storytellers, who were prepared to continue their narrative after the initial story ended. With the introduction of each sequential book, the children's delight in Ben and his story reached authentic levels – he ceased to remain a character in a book, and became part of the learning path towards their own understanding and that of others.

The children's interest in writing, as a craft, moved to new directions. They had acquired new information, or attitudes, about literature. They were able to compare and contrast this new information and responses to what they already knew and valued, and could draw a meaningful relationship from their interaction with the main character, Ben. They began to be able to transfer that meaning when evaluating other literature that they were reading or reflecting on. Positive attitudes about the ‘magic' of learning do not grow until we know, understand and can take action in our world (Tomlinson, 1999:39).

The use of resources such as Nelle Frances' series enables teachers to develop the sorts of experiences that the world outside the classroom may not be able to build for the child. Children learn more enthusiastically those things that connect to their interests (Tomlinson, 1999:49), especially when there is appreciation for what was read or heard, and an ability to relate it to one's own life (Weaver 1990: 169). Creative comprehension for both the Asperger's Syndrome child and those that are not, needs to include an emotional response (Weaver, 1990:170).

A literature-based programme, in a whole language environment empowers children naturally to learn to analyse and synthesize information; to compare and contrast; to draw inferences; and to hypothesize. They apply concepts to evaluate and critique, and to relate what they're studying to their own lives (Weaver 1990:170). Nelle Frances cleverly uses this understanding, and as she weaves her tales of Ben and His Helmet, children of all similarities and differences fall under her spell. Her magic is her storytelling ability, but her legacy is the growing comprehension of children with differences, and how others in the wider world, can embrace them.

Bibliography:

Barton, B. and Booth, D. (1990) Stories in the Classroom. Portsmouth, New Haven: Heinemann.

Halliday, M.A.K. (1975) Learning how to mean: Explorations in the development of language. London: Edward Arnold.

Hawkins Wendelin, K. (1995) Questions of definition, in Teaching with Children's Books. Ed. By Sorensen, M. and Lehman, B. USA: National Council of Teachers.

Sloan, G. (1995) Questions of definition, in Teaching with Children's Books. Ed. By Sorensen, M. and Lehman, B. USA: National Council of Teachers.

Smith, F. (1983) Essays into literacy: Selected papers and some afterthoughts. Exeter, New Haven: Heinemann.

Stokes, S. (2003) Children with Asperger's Syndrome: Characteristics/Learning Styles and Intervention Strategies in Autism Papers. Wisconsin: Dept of Public Instruction. (under a contract with CESA 7 and funded by a discretionary grant.)

Tomlinson, C. A. (1999) The Differentiated Classroom – responding to the needs of all learners. USA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Weaver, C. (1990) Understanding Whole Language from Principles to Practice. Canada: Irwin Publishing.