Dawson, M., Mottron, L., & Gernsbacher, M. A. (in press). Learning in autism. In J. H. Byrne (Series Ed.) & H. Roediger (Vol. Ed.), Learning and memory: A comprehensive reference: Cognitive psychology. New York: Elsevier.
This book chapter, mostly written circa the fall of 2006, was accepted for publication recently. It's more like an encyclopedia entry, where there are four volumes to the (very ambitious, and expensive) encyclopedia, encompassing some 159 articles and more than 3,000 pages. So far as I know, this encyclopedia is scheduled to be published in early 2008. It should also be published online, making individual articles available.
Our piece of the encyclopedia was limited to ~6,000 words, which wasn't nearly enough, particularly given that we had to write for a general readership (which may or may not have any knowledge of autism).
Researching and writing this review article was a both an enormous challenge and a fantastic opportunity. Whatever its limitations (I never have any difficulty spotting limitations in my work or work I'm involved in), I hope our short overview of a neglected area of research will encourage a more systematic and rigorous study of learning in autism, of how and why autistics learn well and learn poorly.
