What would an "Asperger's friendly" classroom look

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I know, I know, we're all different and that's just as true of anyone who may have an Asperger's diagnosis. I also understand that for many people with Asperger's, there are sometimes common difficulties, e.g., around sensory processing, social skills, anxiety, etc. I have the ear of some important and influential people at the moment and I would like the maybe offer a "perfect world" picture of what an "Asperger's friendly" school learning environment might look like. I've read a lot of the research, now I want to hear from real people!

I'm particularly interested in primary (I think that's elementary in US) school education, i.e., grades 3 to 6. I guess what I see from my experience (and reading the experiences of other people), for people with an Asperger's diagnosis, mainstream is not a good 'fit' for their needs but traditional Special Ed is not appropriate either.

Some ideas to think about:

* Class size
* Lighting
* Spaces for individuals vs the idea of learning centres
* Separate facility or within larger school environment
* Wall colours / decorations
* How desks might be set up
* Access to technology - maybe even emerging educational technology, e.g., use of iPods
* What the role of the teacher would be
* How the school day might be organised
* Schedules / visual schedules
* Exercise / sport / other activities
* Social skills development
* Is it even a good idea at all? Should everyone just adapt to what is available?

Anything and everything else you might suggest. Thanks for your time!! !

One thing is that you would hang cloth or rugs on the walls, this would lower the noise level.

Also make sure that the sunlight does not pass in through the windows into the eyes of the pupils. One other suggestion is to make booths for each pupil to stop them getting distracted by what another pupil is doing.

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Diagnosed under the DSM5 rules with autism spectrum disorder, under DSM4 psychologist said would have been AS (299.80) but I suspect that I am somewhere between 299.80 and 299.00 (Autism) under DSM4.

Those are good ideas. By happenstance, I found this interesting news article and below is a link regarding architectural design with regard to AS:

http://autism.lovetoknow.com/architecture-design-autism

What a great topic!

* Class size: ten or less (with one adult for every two kids when possible)

* Lighting: no flourecent lights but natural lighting or full-spectrum light bulbs

* Spaces for individuals vs the idea of learning centres: distinctly marked areas of the classroom (group circle, reading, writing/desk time, art)

* Separate facility or within larger school environment: depends on the goals of the school. Would they want the kids to be totally integrated into "regular" classroom settings with NT children? Or could they choose to stay in the same environment or similar all the way through graduation?

* Wall colours / decorations : soft pastel walls with very little decoration. Lots of plants and an aquarium or two. Natural wood furniture, and natural fabrics. Anything that would be "off-gassing" VOC's would be awful. (That goes for wall paints and cleaning supplies too)

* How desks might be set up: For quiet work time, I agree that the desk partitions are a good idea. Plus ear phones to help tune out noise. And lots of soundproofing, yes.

* Access to technology - maybe even emerging educational technology, e.g., use of iPods: YES!! And iPads. There are so many possibilities for non-verbal kids as well.

* What the role of the teacher would be: Quiet and observant facilitator who would step in to give instruction in clear and concise language. Then they'd be available when asked, or if needed to help regulate emotional states.

* How the school day might be organised: Each subject/activity would have predictable transitions that would preferably include a motor activity (outside time or exercise room time with therapy swings etc.) If they were allowed to choose most of what they study, that would be nice too. Any teacher with imagination could make 10 different study plans work at the same time.

* Schedules / visual schedules: YES! Parents would be given similar materials for use at home. The teachers and caregivers would also be in constant contact about changes in behavior, mood, eating habits...anything that would affect school performance. It'd be so important to make the parents true partners in the effort.

* Exercise / sport / other activities: "Guided" free play! I think circus arts and more solitary sports like running, swimming, or yoga would be ideal. In these areas, success is built on preserverence which is an aspie specialty. And they are great stress relievers too!

* Social skills development: If the teacher(s) in the classroom are observant enough, they can create many opportunities for the children to practice scripts that could be generalized for outside of school as well. (For example, learning self-help skills out in the community like how to catch a city bus, going to the store, etc.) Building trust with their teachers and each other would go a long way in preventing the isolation that could come as they reach puberty.

* Is it even a good idea at all? Should everyone just adapt to what is available? YES and NO. If there is any opportunity to create something ideal, then those ideas could later be adapted for other schools with less resources. You'd just need creative and open-minded people on your planning team.

Just a few ideas (My brain is overactive tonight)

Please keep us up on how it goes!

I always learned best when no one tried to verbally teach me anything. If the specific concept was in text form, I could understand it faster and more thoroughly than anyone else in the class. I have a hard time understanding academic concepts when they're explained through speech. I am good at science, but I'm terrible with labs because I just can't think clearly with that many people talking and clanking glassware. I was always in accelerated and honors classes, but I just could not learn when other people explained things to me. If I could not self-teach, I probably would've been in special ed.

I guess the ideal AS classroom would be really quiet, with alot of text-based scholastic material. Many aspies are natural information hoarders; and provided that their reading comprehension is not affected by processing difficulties, they work best on their own. I used to get chastised in high school for not taking notes, but I don't think the teachers realized that I was just there for decoration. The real learning happened on my own, when I didn't have someone clouding my head with verbal noise. I think the role of the teacher should be more of a source of structure than actual learning. Someone to make sure everyone minds their own business and is doing what they're supposed to be doing. It would also be a good idea to provide noise cancelling headphones to the kids, and not have fluorescent lights for those that are visually sensitive.

As far as free time goes, it should be highly structured. I can't speak for others, but I was at a loss when the teachers let us out for recess. If someone just gave me a goal or a specific activity, that would have made life much easier for me. NT kids can have a good time with freedom, but an aspie won't always know how to interact or play spontaneously. Organized team sports might work, but only if the kids are getting into it. I always excelled at endurance sports, but team sports were not my forte due to my lack of coordination and communication. Maybe some sort of biking or running club would be better. I think alot of aspies have the ideal mindset for an endurance athlete. It's all about persistence and repetition.

* Class size
It would be pretty spacious, in case they needed to get up and pace around
* Lighting
It wouldn't be blinding (like most classrooms) but it wouldn't be dim
* Spaces for individuals vs the idea of learning centers
???
* Separate facility or within larger school environment
* Wall colours / decorations
It wouldn't have a bunch of posters or decorations, those are distracting
* How desks might be set up
In rows, tables make social pressure and are awkward
* Access to technology - maybe even emerging educational technology, e.g., use of iPods
computers, but no internet (it's too addicting)
* What the role of the teacher would be
teach, answer questions, do examples, explain
* How the school day might be organized
I would always stay the same, and it would have the easiest classes at the beginning of the day, and the hardest in the middle, and the middle at the end
* Schedules / visual schedules
visual schedules? It would DEFINITELY have a visual type of lesson for every lesson taught
* Exercise / sport / other activities
It would have running (but that is a matter of personal preference)
* Social skills development
They would teach the exact technicals of social skills
* Is it even a good idea at all? Should everyone just adapt to what is available?
It is a good idea, but not practical.

Instead, I think the most important thing is that when asides are taking tests (FOR THE LOVE OF TEST-TAKING, give us a place that isn't noisy, no foot or pencil tapping, no rubbing, no heavy breathing, no paper-scratching). Also, I have been thinking about the general education system, and I think that every teacher should teach through all auditory an visual means (because aspies tend to be more visual, and nt girls are usually auditory and nt guys are usually visual)....I HATE when teachers teach through auditory means....blah, blah, blah, blah....it's dumb.

....to everyone who was able to provide information and feedback. I put together a report on best practise in an Asperger's-friendly educational environment. This was evidence based and certainly supported all the great suggestions you all provided.

If I can work out how (and if I'm allowed to) then I'll post that report here somewhere.

I passed it on to the VIPs - let's hope some good comes of it for someone, even if it's five or ten years down the track. Because we have a long way to go....

No one their including teachers, they tend to be just as evil as the students, hell they may even bait you, you bite and than you'd get the cane up to 3 times on each hand and where not talking Saudi Arabia folks where talking Australia in the 90's not 18' s but 19's ! !!

They ended violence against children in the late 1990's would you believe.

Anything to stop all the noise from bouncing off the walls and into my ears. That's the last thing I want.

One without obnoxious people in it.

I'm posting a longer post later for both my elementary age son's benefit and mine. But for now here's an overarching response.

Minimize competitiveness, social favors and rewards, and visual/auditory distractions

Both my son and I love inspirational teachers who have a lot to offer, but the more the teach can stay on task and off making jokes for a select few, the better.

The environment most distracting at school is the social one. One way that manifests is in feeling left out or feeling that situations are unfair, but you are unable to pinpoint why, which is my son's complaint --He doesn't like it when it appears that others are being unfair or not following rules.

So in that regard, the teacher is part of the environment and needs to be impartial and equally fair to all. A big trend I see nowadays, is the "pal" teacher who is very social and ends up developing big connections with the more social students. I often see this in the grade 5-12 system as a defense mechanism -- If they are on my side, they will support me as their leader and I can maintain control. NT students in those age ranges today do not have patience for pure assisted learning or instruction; they have to be won over and entertained and that is why I will not go into that profession.

The popular "pal" teachers make it harder for everyone else though including non-NT teachers and students. They make the classroom experience more about fun and fitting in, and less about subject material and learning. Sometimes this leads to student-teacher relationships that blur boundaries or even destroy them when it passes over into attraction. To avoid this we as a collective society need to change what we "value" in instruction.

If a teacher could control the social aspect, and be completely impartial with attention and jokes, then a big part of the solution's costs can be contained right there.
You don't really need iPads and expensive stuff. Just a clean natural material room, with some basic resources, and a calm understanding teacher who appropriately directs learning and does not let it devolve into social darwinism.