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Aspergers Syndrome and Autism: Views of Education

Christen Shelley EDLD 370 Honors Program

Sticks and stones will break your bones but words will never hurt you. Its not true; words hurt a lot.---Temple Grandin

History of Autism
In 1943, Leo Kanner described a group of children with seemingly unusual behaviors that differed from children with other disabilities. Kanner noted special needs including: inability to relate to other people, delayed speech and language, obsessive environmental sameness, etc. Coined the term autism from autos (Greek meaning self).

Autism Today
Today, autism is called autism spectrum disorders (ASD). As many as 1.5 million children and adults in the United States have autism. The average lifetime cost of caring for a child with autism ranges from 3.5 to 5.5 million dollars. One disorder included in the autism spectrum is Aspergers syndrome, whose main feature sis impaired social interaction skills.

Temple Grandin, Ph.D.


Temple Grandin is a doctor of animal science and a professor at Colorado State University. Changing the world with her insights into animal behavior and food-animal welfare. Placed among TIME magazines 100 Most Influential People in the World. She has high-functioning autism and is largely known for her work in autism advocacy. She is also the inventor of the hug machine designed to calm hypersensitive persons.

Elementary School Years


Grandin had friends because other children in the class enjoyed doing craft projects with her because she was good at making things other children were interested in, like kites or tree houses.

High School Years


Grandins real problems started in high school, when students stopped being interested in crafts and became purely social beings. She was kicked out of a large girls school for throwing a book at a girl who called her retard. In the 9th grade she went to a small boarding school for gifted children but troubled students, but within the first week she was being teased with names like bones and tape recorder. She responded by fighting, but her mother took away horseback riding privileges, so she stopped. She began crying when she got upset instead of fighting.

Brief History
Sixty years ago, the Austrian psychiatrist Hans Asperger wrote about children who were smart, with above average vocabulary, but who exhibited a number of behaviors common to people with autism, such as pronounced deficiencies in social and communication skills. The condition was named Aspergers syndrome in 1981. In 1984, it was added to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders used by mental health professionals.

About Aspergers Syndrome


Aspergers exists along a continuumsome people exhibit the symptoms to such a degree that their ability to function alone in society is seriously impaired. Others, are affected mildly enough that they can make their own way, after a fashion. Aspergers is something youre born with, not something that happens later in life.

Prevalence of Aspergers Syndrome


And Aspergers is turning out to be surprisingly common:
A February 2007 report from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that 1 person in 150 has Aspergers or some other autistic spectrum disorder. Thats almost 2 million people in the US alone.

John Elder Robinson


Look me in the eye. Nobody trusts a man who wont look them in the eye. You look like a criminal. I had read that [serial killers] were shifty and didnt look people in the eye.

Autism Spectrum Disorders


Young children with autism spectrum disorders do not learn by listening and watching like typical children. They need to be specifically taught. A good teacher is gently insistent with young autistic children in order to get progress.

ASD
Teachers have to be careful not to cause sensory overload, but at the same time be somewhat intrusive into the childs world of silent withdrawal in order to engage the child in learning. When children get a little older, they need to be exposed to many different things to stimulate their continued learning in different areas of life.

ASD
The different thinking patterns of individuals with ASD require parents and educators to teach from a new frame of reference, one aligned with autistic ways of thinking. Expecting children with ASD to learn through the conventional curriculum and teaching methods that have always worked is setting them up for failure.

Behavior
There also needs to be expectations for proper social behavior. Bad Behaviors that Should Be Corrected (ASD is not an excuse):
Sloppy table manners Dressing like a slob Poor grooming Being rude to people Swearing Laughing inappropriately Inappropriate sexual behavior in public Manipulating adults by throwing fits Cheating at games Stealing and lying about it

Behavior
Behavior problems caused by ASD:
Screaming when a fire alarm rings because it hurts their ears Tantrums due to sensory overload Removing clothes/excessive scratching/itching. Cannot tolerate feel of certain fabrics Hyperactivity and agitation under fluorescent lighting Sloppy handwriting (often due to poor motor skills). Allow child to use a computer

10 Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew


1. I am first and foremost a child. I have autism. I am not primarily autistic. My autism is only one aspect of my total character. It does not define me as a person.

10 Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew


2. My sensory perceptions are disordered. Here is why simple trip to the grocery store may be hell for me. My hearing may be hyper-acute. Dozens of people are talking at once. The loudspeaker booms todays special. Music whines from the sound system. Cash registers beep and cough, a coffee grinder is chugging. The meat cutter screeches, babies wail, carts creak, the fluorescent lighting hums. My brain cant filter all the input and Im in overload.

10 Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew


3. Please remember to distinguish between wont (I choose not to) and cant (I am not able to). It isnt that I dont listen to instructions. Its that I cant understand you.

10 Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew


4. I am a concrete thinker. This means I interpret language very literally. Its very confusing when you say, Hold your horses cowboy! when what you really mean is, Please stop running.

Idioms and Clichs: Dont Say You are the apple of my eye. Im at the end of my rope. Bite your tongue! Instead Say I love you very much. Im about to get angry. Please dont speak to me like that.

Lets call it a day. I smell a rat.

Its time to stop for now. This doesnt seem right to me.

Nonspecific Instructions:

Dont Say

Instead Say

Hang it over there.

Hang your coat on the hook by the door.

Stay out of the street.

Stop your bike at the end of the driveway.


Keep your feet under your desk.

Quit kicking.

Lets get going.

We are going home now.

Inferences:

Dont Say

Instead Say

Your rooms a mess!

Please hang up your clothes.

You didnt turn your homework in.

Please put your book report on my desk.


Wear long pants instead of shorts today. Please turn down the sound on the TV.

Its too cold outside for that.

I dont like that noise.

Phrasal Verbs:

Dont Say

Instead Say

We look up to him.

We admire him; he sets a good example. The car is not working right.

The car is acting up.

Jamie was kicked out of class.

Jamie was sent to talk to the principal. Its time to stop playing trains.

Lets wrap this up.

10 Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew


5. Please be patients with my limited vocabulary. Its hard for me to tell you what I need when I dont know the words to describe my feelings. I may be hungry, frustrated, frightened or confused but right now those words are beyond my ability to express.

10 Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew


6. Because language is so difficult for me, I am very visually oriented. Please show me how to do something rather than just telling me. And please be prepared to show me many times. Consistent repetition helps me learn.

10 Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew


7. Please focus and build on what I can do rather than what I cant do. Like any other human, I cant learn in an environment where Im constantly being made to feel that Im not good enough and that I need fixing.

10 Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew


8. Help me with social interactions. It may look like I dont want to play with the other kids on the playground, but sometimes its just that I simply do not know how to start a conversation or enter a play situation. If you can encourage other children to invite me to join them at kickball or shooting baskets, I might be delighted to be included.

10 Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew


9. Try to identify what triggers my meltdowns. Meltdowns, blow-ups, tantrums, or whatever you want to call them are even more horrid for me than they are for you. They occur because one or more of my senses has gone into overload. If you can figure out why meltdowns occur, they can be prevented. Keep a log noting times, settings, people, and activities. A pattern may emerge.

10 Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew


10. If you are a family member, please love me unconditionally. Banish thoughts like If he would just---, and Why cant she---. You did not fulfill every last expectation your parents had for you and you wouldnt like being constantly reminded of it. I did not choose to have autism. But remember it is happening to me, not you. Without your support, my chances of successful, self-reliant adulthood are slim. With your support and guidance, the possibilities are broader than you might think.

The way I see it, a huge mistake many teachers and parents make is to try to make people with autism or Aspergers into something they are notturn the geeky nerd into an ungeek, for instance.---Temple Grandin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zt _G7Zw5I8c

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