Visual Communication And Autism

In Modern day America, everything in the world is changing, from technology to the education provided for all children. As mentioned before our world is changing, and it is becoming a media oriented world! With that said there are many people who believe that Visual communication is affecting children's Verbal ability. Then there are those who disagree and say that Visual communication does not affect children in a negative way. In this essay we will determine for ourselves if we believe that Visual communications indeed affects children's learning ability.

Visual Communications, also known as Graphic Design is basically what surrounds us everyday in our modern world. Visual communications is everything from print images (like those in children's books), graphic design, and TV, all the way up to architecture, design, and urban design. Those are the very elements that are seen, and that surround us in our everyday life.

Although Visual Communications is something that surrounds us, there are people who believe that Visual communications is affecting children's learning abilities.

There are reasonable amounts of information that support the claims people have made on this position. I will be analyzing 3 articles that support the position of Visual communications affecting children's learning ability.

In the article "Synthetic Theory of Visual Communication", by Paul Martin Lester, Ph.D. He explains how Visual Communications is the art of using images with or without words to either promote or explain something to you. Lester also talks about how educators, including parents, question how things got to the point where their kids can't read. "The answer is often simplistic: Too many pictures and not enough words", says Lester.(par.3) Another thing that Lester talks about in his article is how "To a Child, There is no difference between words and pictures-they are one and the same."(par.20) Then he goes on to say that "Words are repressive while pictures are fascinating [and] easily understood".(par.2)

In the article "Visual communication Theory: A Search for Roots", a study by Colorado University, they also talk about effects on children's learning ability. Howard Gardner, a scholar who writes in this article argues that "Visual Communication processes are entirely different than language-based processes and that visual thinking and learning should be kept separate from language-based models."(par. 20) Just like in the first article of this position both Howard Gardner and Paul Martin Lester agree that visual communication affects children. Howard believes that visual communication should not be put together with a language based model, and Lester believed that there are too many pictures and not enough words in a child's picture book.

In the articles analyzed we have seen and learned how there is a reasonable amount of information on visual communications effecting children. We also learned how each scholar had their own views, but they went hand in hand with each others views. Both Gardner and Lester agree that Visual communications effect children's learning ability.

Whenever there is one side to a subject there has to be another side. Next we will be looking at articles that believe that Visual communications has a positive effect on children's learning ability.

In the article "The Grammar of Visual Literacy within the World of Interactive Media" by, Anne Bamford, she argues that "From the days of the earliest cave art, learning had been a visual process."(pg 1) Bamford also says,"[she] sees visual literacy as being an eclectic notion, but when related to information technology it implies being able to think, learn and express oneself in terms of images."(pg. 1) She also goes on to talk about how "The impact of this new visual technology is most apparent in children in the middle school years; and that she also believe these Visual communication skills are important for High school and college students as well."(pg. 2)

In the article "Instruction in Visual Art: Can It Help Children Learn to read?" by Kristin Burger and Ellen Winner, they argue that visual arts improves reading. During their researching and studies Burger and Winner found 9 studies meeting their strict standards of acceptable research that investigated the relationships between visual art instruction, compared to regular reading instruction.(pg.139) They