The understanding profile of a student with low-functioning autism in geometry.

Students with low-functioning autism are students who experience interaction and communication disorders and are with low intelligence levels. This disorder causes obstacles in learning in the classroom; individuals with this disorder have a difficulty understanding concepts. Geometry is a mathematical concept that is very relevant to everyday life. This study aimed to describe the profile of an autistic student's understanding of basic geometric concepts, especially on rectangles and squares. The subject in this research was an elementary school student with low-functioning autism. Data were derived from a task-based interview using an instrument measuring the understanding of the concept of geometry. The geometric concept understanding profile uses the devices of interpreting, exemplifying, classifying, summarizing, inferring, comparing, and explaining. Some characteristics of autism were very perceptible in the student when he was attempting to understand the concept of geometry. The subject interpreted squares and rectangles as solid figures, naming them boxes. There were several real objects that he could imagine as squares and rectangles, but they were very limited in number. He was able to classify shapes into squares, rectangles, and shapes that were neither squares nor rectangles. He was experiencing limitations in expressing what he thought about the characteristics of the two shapes. He thought that the two shapes are similar in the sense that both are boxes and that they differ in color (referring to the pieces used herein); this was far from the correct concept. He thought that a square can also be referred to as a rectangle because the two shapes are boxes. That a box is a visualization of a square or a rectangle had been embedded in the subject's imagination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]