Simple advice for preschool teachers

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Hi I am new to this , my 4 year old has just been diagnosed with aspergers. It was the playschool teacher who alerted me to his issues about 3 months ago and as I stood listening to her a penny dropped and I thought she is right he is not just quirky there is something wrong. Now having read lots and trawled the Internet I can see lots of traits he has that are typical of aspergers, and his clinical assessment confirmed this. What I would like to get is something to give his three playschool teachers to inform them, and give any advice on ways they can help him. I was talking to one and she is lovely but admitted she knows nothing much about the condition. He has no behavioural issues, but loves solitary play and has comprehension issues when asked some questions. I have tried lots of sites to get resources , most seem aimed at school going children. Appreciate any help.

He needs at least one friend who he can interact with and talk to. If no he will not learn much.

Try to talk about his interactions and see if he can find friends by himself. Problem is that children with AS might find friends, but the interactions are going to be rigid and might be disappointing to the kid.

Thanks for reply, I have started to organise a play date with one kid in particular , so hope that will help the friendship develop , have you found any simple info sheet for preschool teachers, I don't expect them to devote all their time to him but know each personally and they will help what ever way they can.

Depends on level of communication, he may have trouble speaking up for him self or verbalizing his interest or motives. If that is the case maybe the teachers can address him directly. A direct approach is best and giving direct instructions. Note if your son can learn quickly he will get adjusted fast in which case too much of special treatment is no good so the teachers should follow up and see how he progresses. I think talking about day to day problem and having step by step approach is best for the start. Some AS kids have hard time picking up on things, but once they focus they are much faster than their peers, which in many cases can be frustrating. In other cases your son my fall noticably behind in which case some extra attention is needed. Other than this I can not help.

One possibility might be to contact the early intervention program in your state. In my state if a child has ASD and attends regular preschool, they will send a therapist who specializes in ASD to the preschool to sit in for a couple of days. The therapist will then give suggestions to the preschool teachers of what they might be able to do to ensure that your son succeeds (for example, they might repeat directions directly to your son or give him extra warning when they are getting ready to transition etc...). The difficulty with ASD is that all children are a little different so that type of help would tailor directly to what your son needs.

The YMCA in our area had a program that would send a behavioral therapist to a preschool for a few visits to do an observation and to make suggestions to the teachers. Maybe you could find something similar from one of the local ABA therapy clinics.

Unfortunately since Aspergers tends to be identified later, most of the materials are geared toward either elementary school children, or to the more severely affected, who would ususally end up in a special ed preschool run by the school district. If your child has another year of preschool, you could consider going to the school district for an IEP and placement in their program.

This cartoon might help explain AS to the teachers, although it doesn't have much in the way of practical suggestions:

http://www.dudeimanaspie.com/2012/04/dude-im-aspie-kids-edition.html

These are the books I found the most helpful in late preschool, when my son was diagnosed:

Asperger Syndrome and Young Children: Building Skills for the Real World by Teresa Bolick
The Out-of-Sync Child: Recognizing and Coping with Sensory Processing Disorder by Carol Stock Kranowitz
Raising Your Spirited Child Workbook by Mary Sheedy Kurcinko (be sure to get the "Workbook" version)

one biggie for me was that I wanted my son to participate in the group. I was a special ed teacher who worked in typical pre schools and daycares, and found a lot of the time the IEP kids were left on their own, not in circle time, not in group play, etc...and the kids were fine with it, but I didnt want that for my son. I wanted hiim to be encouraged to join the group, or at least sit with them. I didnt send him there to be on his own for hours.

Another for my son in particular, was he was very quiet unless he was specifically ASKED. Funny, now he is the opposite. We cant get him to stop talking. When we do programs and classes he has motor mouth, but as a preschooler, he was very quiet and didnt participate unless called upon. SO, I asked them to make sure they specifically asked him questions in the group setting.

Social awareness, spacial awareness etc...is this a typical class setting?

good luck!

Thanks for all the replies, I will get talking to the teachers and check out the state help , I am in Ireland and it is not as defined what I can access regarding professional help.but good to seek it out .

I just was watching the Itunes U podcast about autism from Yale university. They talked about a "peer mediation" therapy called "Stay, Play, Talk" Here's a link: http://blip.tv/autismlive/stay-play-tal ... ge-6418863

This sounds to me like a terrific and simple idea - doing some simple disability awareness training, and then prompting a kid to interact directly with the child who is isolating him or herself.

Another book I'd recommend - I think it works especially well for younger children - is "All Cats Have Asperger's Syndrome"

Many thanks for all replies