My ASD Child

What is Aspergers? Aspergers (high functioning autism) is a complex developmental disability marked by impairments in socialization, communication, cognition, and sensation. Like classic autism, Aspergers is a neurological disorder that affects a child’s ability to communicate and relate to others. It is a lifelong disorder that carries with it considerable and long-term behavior problems. Although the characteristics of Aspergers will differ from person to person, common effects of the disorder include: • A persistent preoccupation with objects or narrowly focused topics of interest • An inflexible adherence to a nonfunctional routine or ritual • Difficulties with fine-motor skills and sensory integration • Repetition of movements or words and phrases • Trouble understanding social cues and conversational language styles Aspergers may be diagnosed when a child exhibits atypical repetitive patterns of behavior, interest, and activities, such as the examples listed

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

Kids with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are often perplexed when it comes to picking up social cues. Social stories for kids with ASD help to teach these skills in a simple and direct way that kids better understand. Teachers and moms and dads can write their own or find printable social stories online. What Are Social Stories? Social stories are used to teach kids with ASD more appropriate social skills. Kids with ASD don't just pick up social skills, so social stories can provide a great tool in teaching a skill in a direct way. Social stories for kids with ASD help to give kids a better understanding of other people's thoughts, feelings and views. They also help the student to better predict another person's behavior based on their actions. Social stories present various situations in a structured and direct way so that the youngster can understand a situation without having to "read between the lines". Social stories are written from the youngster&#