Anxiety In The Classroom: Article Analysis

Within this article, Maureen Bennie describes numerous factors that may impact the ability for autistic individuals to learn successfully. She argues that anxiety, which many ASD affected individuals struggle with, is the number one cause of problems within school. This is because of when experiencing high levels of anxiety, one’s capacity to learn is greatly reduced. Not only that, but she also argues that there are many anxiety disorders that are likely to affect people with ASD; phobias, social phobia, obsessive compulsive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and selective mutism. She then goes on to describe the sensory issues autistic people can face within the classroom. Bennie argues that when the sensory systems do not work well together it results in an under-reaction or over-reaction to stimuli, which heavily distracts from education. She then speaks of the psychological factors that can arise from autism, including sleep disturbances, a restricted diet, and lack of exercise, which can put the student in a state of hindered learning before even entering the classroom. Bennie states that teachers should be made aware of these potential struggles and work to support and uplift autistic students.
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This information presented within this article is both reliable and valid. This can be proven by the various statistics the author cites in order to support her claims. The facts she uses within her article can also be found in multiple other sources, reaffirming their validity. It is a good start for introducing the topic of autistic students in the classroom and opens the door for further research in the area.
b. This article was published in February of 2011, making this article just over seven years old. Thus, it remains a topical and relevant source of information and commentary for my research on the