Sideno 1

Carla Sideno
Writing 2
Matt Wilson
3 June 2016
WP3 Final Draft
The original genre for autism was an academic journal intended for an adult audience, but
the new translation piece I turned it into is a comic that can be found in informative childrens
magazines. Magazines like the National Geographic KIDS or Time for Kids are two informative
magazines for children in higher elementary school levels and even middle schoolers. The
specific target I am aiming are the students in middle school. The translation would entertain as
well as inform the audience because it goes into the social and non-social cognition of one boy
who has autism so that the audience can get an insight into what a child goes through.
Students in middle school need to be more aware that there are others of all ages who are
different and need the extra help to do what most can do on their own or those who cannot
socialize as easily as others. Many are more aware of those in the special ed program and
automatically think theyre weird without considering what theyre going through. Its important
for the children who are entering their teen years to be aware of those children and to think
before saying anything negative. Growing up and attending multiple elementary schools, a
middle school and a high school, I always noticed children who had special needs. It wasnt until
high school that I realized those children just needed extra help but were no different than me.
Children who are autistic look like every other children but cannot socialize as easily as others
can and have certain habits that may not seem normal for other children in their age group. In the
new translation, I mainly incorporated the social and non-social cognition that may be related to

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autism to show some social situations that children may face when in school or at home
(Leekam). The translation would entertain the audience as well as inform them with a little
comic that would show the different social situations children with autism face with other people
or children.
Those who had autism also stood out the most to me because I have family friends and
know adults who have children or know of children they are close to who have been diagnosed
with autism. I will also add what I know because of what I have seen or experienced with my
family friends children who have autism. They often have a repetitive routine when around a big
group of people, they dont associate themselves with others unless its with their parents, and
they lack eye contact and are more to themselves. Even though it is difficult for them to interact
with others, they have special talents that may be surprising and unexpected for someone with
autism to have. Some examples would be to be musically talented, to be educated with facts
about anything and everything like dinosaurs and snakes, or to be artistically talented by having a
photographic memory and being able to redraw it back on paper.
The new comic translation is effective because its mainly pictures since comics should
contain more pictures than words. Those in middle school will be able to focus more on the
pictures and small descriptions that they can understand. They are being informed at the same
time because they are introduced to one, possibly new, vocabulary word that is interpreted
throughout the comic. The comic is emphasizing what someone goes through when they have
autism and shows that someone who is autistic finds it difficult to socially interact with others. In
Navigating Genres by Dirk, it is easier be more descriptive when the audience knows what the
author is talking about or is familiar with the topic, but in this case, there is not much of a high
chance that the middle school audience knows anything about autism. I had to include what I

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learned from Bunns, Reading Like a Writer and fill my audience with curiosity about what
was going on. That was done through the, somewhat, eye-capturing visuals and limited
descriptions that had a lot of meaning. Knowing the genre well enough to explain it to the chosen
audience was difficult, but what was done was the best I was able to do.
Many struggles were faced throughout the process of translating the academic journal for
adults into a comic found in a childrens magazine for middle schoolers, especially when keeping
the same ideas needed to be done. Simplifying and making the translations understandable to the
new audience was the most difficult. Knowing that someone in their preteen years may not have
a basic understanding of autism was something that had to be kept in mind because it would be
too difficult to be very descriptive on a topic that the audience may not be too aware of. What
was done was creating a Word of the Week section that had a comic that went with it so that
the audience can visually see what autism was since not everything can be understood through
just a definition. Not being able to translate the idea of informing a younger audience of the
social struggles of someone with autism was also a concern, but after realization and assumption,
the audience should be more mature about bigger words that they dont understand. There is no
doubt that the new audience are surrounded by others who have autism and they should be more
mindful of what they think and say about them. Middle schoolers are more judgmental than those
in elementary school because a majority of those children believe to be best friends with
everyone. High schoolers compared to middle schoolers are more aware of children who need
extra help or cannot easily socialize with others and will less likely to be disrespectful towards
them. Autism is more of a medical term, but it is important to teach younger children who will
understand it enough to grasp the concept of being more aware of others feelings if they think

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they may be different from them or the rest of the community. It is also essential to not exclude
others because they may not fit in with everyone else.

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Works Cited
Bunn, Mike. Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing. Vol. 2. Fort Collins, CO: Parlor Press
and The WAC clearinghouse, 2010. How to Read Like a Writer. Web.
Dirk, Kerry. Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing. Vol. 1. Fort Collins, CO: Parlor Press
and The WAC Clearinghouse, 2010. Navigating Genres. Web.
Leekam, Susan. (n.d). Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological
Sciences. Retrieved May 9, 2016, from http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?
vid=6&sid=dbde7859-7f29-4c36-8263f6499f3301f2%40sessionmgr4004&hid=4201&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d
%3d#AN=112071177&db=a9h