Is he able to articulate which piece is causing the anxiety? Is that what you meant when you said he's embarrassed to share his feelings about people? Is the assignment all emotions based, or would "scientific observations" work, too?
Howler's daughter has used a method she calls the Jane Goodall approach. Maybe you can have your son research her and then see that he can pretend to be Jane Goodall but instead of studying chimpanzees he is scientifically studying humans whenever he has an assignment like that. Maybe see could explain it more.
I love the Jane Goodall analogy--and I've seen it frequently ascribed to girls/women on the autism spectrum. Cookie, does your son show an interest in other people's social behaviors? Mine doesn't, really. He is pretty black and white in his thinking. I imagine in a similar assignment, we would have similar results. I'm not even sure my DS could choose six people to discuss.
There's a thought: instead of completely ix'naying the assignment, do you think the teacher would modify it (allow DS to choose just one person, for instance)?
I totally understand this is not a work ethic issue, and that you are making sure your DS writes something, so that is clear to everyone. For my DS, I'd want him to be able to do *something* responsive to the assignment, even if it was imperfect, limited, or immature. I'm sure that is debatable. Much like one might argue that a child with dyspraxia shouldn't be required to use handwriting, since it interferes with learning...
Are you suggesting (to the teacher) that the anxiety is the disability you're accommodating, or the ASD? I realize that is a complicated question. I think the most current thinking about anxiety is that triggers shouldn't be avoided, but (slowly) confronted, through desensitization. Maybe there is a compromise somewhere--where your DS writes the octopi research as you've stated, but also makes an attempt at "personifying" an octopus and making a shorter response to the original assignment, using the octopus as his "person." <---I know that sounds a little absurd, but that's the sort of thing I might do, as a teacher.
