By the end of the first week of the course, I was feeling that the authors are thinking about ASD as a disease that needs to be cured (as opposed to the idea of neurodiversity). The shameless promo of the MIND institute at the end of week one made me do some research on them — and what do you know, at least two of co-founders are adepts of 'vaccines cause autism' religion, which kind of explains it all. As an adult diagnosed with ASD, I find this course extremely dangerous, misleading and offensive.

Short, superficial, and sometimes even condescending towards people with ASD.

The course looks fine, but is slightly weird. Looks more like an advertisement for a while, but some of the data and affirmations are still slightly weird. So, I've checked the comments and it seemed this institution supports the link between autism and vaccines. It's nothing secret, you can find it in their webpage, but I think the course try to avoid the topic on pourpose.

Considering the lack of scientific evidence for this, I will not recommend this course.

Clear and factual course with well presented materials. I found the scope of the course to be very narrow though, lacking a diversity of perspective and no consideration given to the new directions that international autism research is taking. For example, the challenges to the role of theory of mind in autism deficits or the research being conducted by autistic academics. There are autistic individuals working in academia who are responsible for more than photocopying and making the tea! It is also somewhat telling that Autism speaks features prominently in the recommended reading, not to mention the implied ABA bias in the intervention module.

It promotes ABA.

Lightweight and marginally informative. While it is clearly aimed at a lay audience, a deeper presentation of the scientific foundations of the disorder is sorely needed. If you're interested in the etiology of autism, you'll need to look elsewhere.

Simplistic, not current on most recent developments and research, very little attention given to adults with ASD, and people with ASD very minimally represented.

Quite short videos. Mainly promoting their research rather than a thorough introduction of ASD.

Me encantó. está muy bien hecho, es concreto, da una mirada general pero precisa del espectro, y creo que es muy útil para familias con niños con trastorno del espectro autista, o profesionales que traten con niños con autismo, como profesores, personal de la salud, cuidadores, etc. De verdad muchísimas gracias

Very interesting and informative. I taught children with special needs for 33 years. I think this course would be very helpful to new teachers and anyone interested in learning basic info on ASD.

My 2-years old niece in China has just been diagnosed as a ASD child. I took this class to help the parents understand the disorder and take prompt steps to start intervention when she is still young. The class is concise and informative. The 5 week contents provide just enough information for parents who have ASD children that has just been diagnosed to briefly understand the challenge and solutions of having an ASD child. I find the videos that illustrates how ASD children behave and what the proper intervention needed from parents, friends, and teachers very useful. By participating the class, I understand what ASD disorder is and I will pass what I have learnt to our big family so everyone has a correct and positive perspective to ASD and offer help to alleviate the anxiety for the parents. This is a very good course.

I thought that this course was very informative for being an overview of ASD. I know that there is so much to learn about Autism, but this course was a great starting block for learning about ASD.

It is a good introduction couse, but I think it would be really helpfull if they provide further reading for each topic.

This course portrays autism as something negative by referring to symptoms as "red flags", by supporting Autism Speaks which talks about autism as something horrible that needs to be cured (and who does several other problematic things) and by having ties with institutions who believe/propagate that autism is caused by vaccines. How Coursera let this course on their platform is beyond me and I have already made an official complaint against them. I hope this course gets taken down and that the creators will be ashamed of themselves.

this class supports autism speak which is at its worst.

I took this course about 3 years ago when I was first assigned to work with high functioning students with autism. Although I had many years of experience working with students in various learning environments, this position was my first time working specifically with autistic kids. This course was a real eye opener and helped me better understand how the mind of a person on the spectrum works. I gained a better understanding of Autism after taking this course and have used many of the strategies taught in this course with my students. If you are employed in the education system and will be working with students on the spectrum, I would highly recommend taking this course. The information you will discover about this disorder alone is worth investing the time.

Very rich in information and very organized and structured and is easy to follow as well. Gives you the opportunity to acquire new concepts and to be up to date in the field of ASD. Enjoyed it a lot!

Loved the videos, lots of good material. Wish there had been more discussion, but I was so busy, I might not have been able to participate very much. Overall helpful and useful in my profession.

This course provided an excellent review and knowledge of ASD. I think it is imperative that all staff in a school setting take this course to better become aware and familiar with the students

Amazing....

I was really, really hoping that this course would be educational. I personally work with an individual with AS and I excepted to have a better insight into some of the things he goes through. So far, however, I have found many of the lectures condescending. As a person with a disability I find it highly offensive when people speak like they're doing the person with whatever kind of disability a favor for even helping them. People with disabilities are just that, people.

They gave false claims that the course was available in Spanish. How come someone thinks that just because the videos have subtitles, it's considered as an "Spanish Course". I encountered the horrible surprise that the test in each module was in english. How you expect me to answer those questions if I'm not an english speaker, but again, you claim that the course was in Spanish. Shame on you.

Autism Speaks is a hate group that should not be featured as a credible source on autism. Interview actually autistic people instead of just their neurotypical parents. This course perpetuates a lot of harmful, offensive, and untrue misconceptions about autism. Were any actually autistic adults consulted during the making of this course??

Autism Speaks is not a good organisation, and the first reading suggested using resources from them.

It was good but I didn’t get my certification I bought for it Please contact with me.