Aspergers Students: Tip for Teachers

By Mark Hutten, M.A.
As a teacher, you are responsible for helping to shape the lives of young people and preparing them to be successful adults. Your Aspergers (high-functioning autistic) students may come from different family backgrounds and leave your classroom for different futures, but they spend a significant portion of their young lives with you right now. Next to their parents and immediate family, you have the greatest opportunity and the power to positively influence their lives. To do this successfully, you need to understand and be able to meet their needs. You already know that, in addition to intelligence, passion, and enthusiasm, teaching requires patience, sensitivity, and creativity.

Having a youngster with Aspergers in your classroom will present unique challenges for you as a teacher, but it also gives you the opportunity to learn new ways to teach young people the academic and social skills that will last them a lifetime.

With the passage of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 1975 and subsequent legislation, all kids with disabilities are entitled to a free and appropriate public education. Inclusive classrooms, where kids with all types of disabilities are included in the general education classroom for part or all of the day, are now the norm in public schools. Given the increasing numbers of kids diagnosed with Aspergers, chances are good you will have a youngster with the disorder in your school and at some point in your classroom.

Having a youngster with Aspergers in your class will have an impact on the educational and social environment of the classroom. Kids with Aspergers have academic strengths and weaknesses like all kids, but the effects of the disorder require different teaching strategies to discover and capitalize on their strengths and facilitate successful learning. Kids with Aspergers also face many obstacles to successful social interactions and relationship building, which are essential elements of the school experience for young people.

As a teacher, you can help ensure that kids with Aspergers are fully integrated into the classroom and are able to participate socially with their peers in the day-to-day activities of school life.

The first challenge for you in teaching a youngster with Aspergers is to recognize it as a serious mutual challenge for the student and you. It can be very deceptive, almost invisible to the untrained eye at first. Kids with Aspergers can look and act like their typical peers and often perform as well or better academically, thus masking the potential effects of Aspergers.

Popular posts from this blog

List of Symptoms for High-Functioning Autism

By Mark Hutten, M.A.
Image
"Is there a list of symptoms or traits associated with high functioning autism in children? We currently have suspicions that our 6 y.o. son may be on the autism spectrum and are wondering if we should take the next step and have him assessed."    Below is a list of common traits among children and teens with High-Functioning Autism and Asperger's. However, no child will exhibit all of these traits. Also, the degree (i.e., mild to severe) to which any particular trait is experienced will vary from child to child. Emotions and Sensitivities:    An emotional incident can determine the mood for the day. Becomes overwhelmed with too much verbal direction. Calmed by external stimulation (e.g., soothing sound, brushing, rotating object, constant pressure). Desires comfort items (e.g., blankets, teddy, rock, string). Difficulty with loud or sudden sounds. Emotions can pass very suddenly or are drawn out for a long period of time. Inappropriate touching of self in
Read more

The Telltale Signs of ASD Level 1 [High-Functioning Autism]: A Comprehensive Checklist

By Mark Hutten, M.A.
Image
Below you will find the majority of symptoms associated with High-Functioning Autism (HFA), also referred to as Asperger’s. The HFA child will not usually have all of these traits. We will look at the following categories: sensory sensitivities, cognitive issues, motor clumsiness, narrow range of interests, insistence on set routines, impairments in language, and difficulty with reciprocal social interactions. Sensory Sensitivity Checklist— 1. Difficulty in visual areas: Avoids eye contact Displays discomfort/anxiety when looking at certain pictures (e.g., the child feels as if the visual experience is closing in on him) Engages in intense staring Stands too close to objects or people 2. Difficulty in auditory areas: Covers ears when certain sounds are made Displays an inability to focus when surrounded by multiple sounds (e.g., shopping mall, airport, party) Displays extreme fear when unexpected noises occur Fearful of the sounds particular objects make
Read more

Traits of Partners/Spouses with Aspergers

By Mark Hutten, M.A.
Image
The partner with Aspergers (high functioning autism) can manifest a wide range of varying behaviors with varying intensities. However feedback from their partners in marriage suggests there are many common threads in their experience of marriage. Below is a list of some common characteristics of the marriage experience and of the partner with Aspergers, as described by members of our website: • A tendency to correct and instruct those around them. • After marriage the partner with Aspergers often seems to lose motivation to keep working on the quality of the relationship as though the wedding day has “completed” their pursuit, allowing them to pursue other interests. • An essential need to have things done in a prescribed manner or order. • Apparent evidence that the partner with Aspergers is not “reading” situations or people intuitively and is consequently behaving insensitively or inappropriately for the circumstances. • Interests and hobbies of some par
Read more