Further Than Pluto: A Novel and Compendium Based on a Real Case of a Young Woman's Struggle with Autism, Communication, and the Paradox of Simultaneously Inviting in and Shutting out the World

• Main Author: Johnson, Sigrid
• Other Authors: Cole, Ardra
• Language: en_ca
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: autism; communication; animals; special needs; arts-informed; language; 0357; 0529; 0628; 0472; 0347; 0625; 0633
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1807/30112

This thesis is divided into three texts. The first is a compendium, which situates the major themes of the second text (a fictitious novel) into a scholarly context and delves into the broader academic questions that arise from it regarding the treatment and care of people with special needs. Those themes are put into a context that enables special education teachers to expand thier notions about communicating with and understanding their autistic and special needs students. It not only examines my own autobiographical connection to the novel (by the fact that I have a sister with a combination of Down Syndrome and autism) but also extends the themes into a broader context, and looks at typical expectations in families with mentally handicapped members and the various methods and approaches of communicating with them. The third text elaborates on specific aspects of these themes in an endnote format.