Survey: Help educators to better serve Aspies!

Post Reply New Topic

I posted this survey a few days ago and was banned for cross-posting an invitation to the survey. I understand the decision to ban me, initially, but then I found that my ban, which Alex thought he'd lifted, had been doubly reinforced because both my name and user name had been separately banned, putting me on "double secret probation" for the past four days.

This has greatly delayed my issuing results to my colleagues, but I have asked for patience while I tried to sort this out.
Now that Alex has fully reinstated me, if you would all consider sharing your insights for these questions, I will be able to share them with my colleagues and with this "pebble" we may be able to start a "ripple" that can start to improve educational services for Aspies in this country, and perhaps the world at large. I can only hope.

In your reply, please tell me what degree of credit/anonymity you desire. I would like, if I cannot give your real name or your user name, to be able to include your A/S/L, as is common for anonymous responses to such surveys. If this is okay, please put "A/S/L only" in the subject line. If even this is too little anonymity, please indicate that by replying with "100% Anon response" in the subject line. If you'd like to reply by private message only, that would be fine. Obviously, the demographic information request at the end is purely optional, but it would be helpful.

Also, if you feel, as someone told me, that not all the questions can apply to you, give the best answer you can for each, substituting your own situation for one that you feel does not apply to you.


1. Aspies are often described as being "socially awkward". The explanation for this is most highly attributed to an inability or lack of accuracy in reading "social cues". Please describe key experiences you have had in this regard and offer, if possible, examples of activities with which you have been involved that you feel have minimized this perception of social awkwardness, either in yourself, by others, or both.

2. Aspies are also described as having a strong affinity for specific intellectual pursuits. Aspie children are often looked at by peers and teachers as "little experts" (please forgive any perceived diminution) on subjects upon which they "fixate" or "obsess". Please describe key experiences you have had in this regard and offer, if possible, your advice on the question of how much indulgence you feel is appropriate, on the part of educators and parents, to allow Aspie kids to peruse these "fixations", even though they may sometimes be thought to do so to the detriment of studies in other important disciplines.

3. Considering your experience as a child or young adult in school, what do you think are the most common misperceptions that child and adult NTs have about Aspies? Why do you think those misperceptions exist? How might a teacher act to challenge or dissuade NT students, or their colleagues from maintaining or propagating these misperceptions?

4. Again, considering your experience as a child or young adult in school, what, if anything did you feel may have been missing from your educational experience which may have been useful in your growth and acclimation to adult life? If you are a child or young adult answering this question, what do you feel is missing now?

5. What special accommodations, if any, do you think would be most helpful to a child or young adult Aspie in an educational institution populated mostly with NTs and WHY? If you feel no special accommodations are appropriate, please give your reasoning for this opinion.

6. Considering that your answers to this inquiry will be shared with educators across the United States and perhaps (and only after securing permission from each respondent) published on line for other educators to see, what would you want to tell the educational community about how to better serve Aspies in their work, that young Aspies might achieve their highest potential, however they might decide for themselves this to be defined?

If you could, please provide the following demographic information. It will be used only for the purpose of sharing your survey responses and will not be sold or otherwise shared or bartered to anyone for any commercial purpose or otherwise.

Your age:

Diagnosis status and age when (if) diagnosed:

Your gender:

Your location:

Your level of education:

Occupation/Field of interest (major):

I had actually done a fairly lengthy response and then found your post banned between the time I read it and the time I tried to reply. You can use my username "Liverbird". I am a 38 year old female who lives in Indiana.

Scoey wrote:

1. Aspies are often described as being "socially awkward". The explanation for this is most highly attributed to an inability or lack of accuracy in reading "social cues". Please describe key experiences you have had in this regard and offer, if possible, examples of activities with which you have been involved that you feel have minimized this perception of social awkwardness, either in yourself, by others, or both.

I feel that I do have social errors because of my inability to read social cues. I often take things too literally. I often look at people's fingers when they point rather than at where they are pointing. I have learned to cope by building a library of picture cues in my brain. This comes with age and experience. I also have built in resources of natural supports that keep me from getting to obnoxious to others in social situations. I am often awkward in conversations and don't know when or how to end them. To have a natural support that can help me understand these conversational cues is a great thing. I'm also fairly high functioning and have managed to learn how to fake eye contact and other conversational things that help people to converse with me more easily. Having these natural supports and resources are an amazing way to get through the problems presented by everyday life.

Scoey wrote:

2. Aspies are also described as having a strong affinity for specific intellectual pursuits. Aspie children are often looked at by peers and teachers as "little experts" (please forgive any perceived diminution) on subjects upon which they "fixate" or "obsess". Please describe key experiences you have had in this regard and offer, if possible, your advice on the question of how much indulgence you feel is appropriate, on the part of educators and parents, to allow Aspie kids to peruse these "fixations", even though they may sometimes be thought to do so to the detriment of studies in other important disciplines.

I was the little know it all all my life. I was always able to entertain my special interests because no one in my life knew quite what to do with me. A genius off the charts in a small school system what would they do? From a teacher's perspective, this helps me to understand children on the spectrum better and how their brains operate. I feel a certain amount of indulgence is definitely necessary especially when you can use this indulgence as a motivater to get things done that children on the spectrum would not normally do. A good teacher can teach whatever standard they want in accordance with these special interests. It's not an all or nothing world, so why teach our children that it's a do what I want you to or else universe?

Scoey wrote:

3. Considering your experience as a child or young adult in school, what do you think are the most common misperceptions that child and adult NTs have about Aspies? Why do you think those misperceptions exist? How might a teacher act to challenge or dissuade NT students, or their colleagues from maintaining or propagating these misperceptions?.

The most common misperception is that we can just stop being weird. I'm not going to magically wake up and not be weird one day. I'm almost 40, I'm sure it's not going to happen. I'm sorry, Mom and Dad. I also can't just be like everyone else. No matter how hard I try, it's not going to happen. I can wear the exact same outfit as a preppy cheerleader and I'm still gonna do something to it so I look drastically different. There's always going to be a hat or a rhinestone or something. Teachers sometimes condone treating the weird kids like weird kids without realising. They need to perpetuate the idea that it's okay to march to your own drummer and have your own music. The world is the way it is because people thought outside of the box and invented something. Also, encouraging out of the box thinking would be way appropriate.

Scoey wrote:

4. Again, considering your experience as a child or young adult in school, what, if anything did you feel may have been missing from your educational experience which may have been useful in your growth and acclimation to adult life? If you are a child or young adult answering this question, what do you feel is missing now?

I never had opportunities that challenged me in school. I was bored and often found inappropriate things to entertain myself. I also didn't know that there were others out there who thought like me and this caused a lot of depression as a child. Knowing that there wasn't anything wrong with me just because I didn't think in the same straight lines as other people would have made a huge difference in my self esteem.

Scoey wrote:

5. What special accommodations, if any, do you think would be most helpful to a child or young adult Aspie in an educational institution populated mostly with NTs and WHY? If you feel no special accommodations are appropriate, please give your reasoning for this opinion.

Accommodations can be very helpful in normalising AS kids. Social stories, one on one aides, and peer tutors are invaluable in helping with the problems that AS kids find. Having opportunites to relieve stress and anxieties with purposeful movement such as scooter boards, elliptical machines, treadmills, stationary bikes, running, etc. are integral to the success of a student in school.

Scoey wrote:

6. Considering that your answers to this inquiry will be shared with educators across the United States and perhaps (and only after securing permission from each respondent) published on line for other educators to see, what would you want to tell the educational community about how to better serve Aspies in their work, that young Aspies might achieve their highest potential, however they might decide for themselves this to be defined?

Understand that being different is not a crime. Know that you must be a constant resource for teaching, interpreting, and buffering social problems as they arise. Make room for "literal errors". Have a sense of humour when dealing with these extraordinary little human beings. Have patience, I learn actively through repetition, but once I learn it, watch out! Help them to not be the weird one out. Make other kids understand that different isn't good or bad, it's just different.



Your age: 38

Diagnosis status and age when (if) diagnosed: Asperger's Syndrome, 38 years old

Your gender: Female

Your location: Indiana

Your level of education: Bachelor's degree in early childhood education

Occupation/Field of interest (major): [/quote] preschool teacher by trade, now working as a transition counselor.

Thank you so much for your candid, generous answers.

I hope others will follow your example. Please let any friends you have made on WrongPlanet know about this survey and ask them to take some time to help me with this. I am certain it will be a positive for all.

As a humorus aside, I'm just a year older than you and I caution you to stop looking at yourself as "almost 40". I will be there before you and don't want to hear a lot of people saying "40" like it's time for "Carousel"! !! (A reference to "Logan's Run", in case you haven't seen the film).

BTW, by "transition counselor" do you mean helping young adults with the adjustment to adult life and the work world? I once looked into that job in SF. Perhaps you could e-mail me and tell me how that's going for you?

Scoey, I don't mind answering your survey; however, I would like to know a little more of what it's about, who you and your colleagues are, what the information will be used for specifically (now and all future uses), and whether you are being overseen by any sort of ethics committee.

I am in research and these are standard questions. Perhaps you had answered these in your earlier post. But if you could, could you reiterate these?

Also, if you can provide this information, I have a forum as well and you may consider approaching the admin staff in order to post the survey. We have much stricter rules, however, so if you're interested here is a link to the TOS:
http://asdgestalt.com/viewtopic.php?p=8005#p8005

The group of educators I am working with are a diverse group of public school teachers, teachers of multiple subjects in multiple grade levels. Some have been teaching for several years (myself and a few others), some are aspiring teachers from other vocations, and we are led by Dr. Virginia MacEntee of SUNY. If you like, I can supply contact information for Dr. MacEntee who can give you more information about her own expertise and work.

For my own part, I am studying the ways in which teachers of regular education classrooms are taking on the challenge of adapting their classroom procedures and teaching techniques to meet the needs of students with physical, social and learning disabilities. In the case of this survey, in addition to the purposes mentioned above, I am certainly indulging my own personal interest in AS and those who experience it, perhaps foremost as a result of my own cousin having been diagnosed as an Aspie and knowing what an amazing person he is. (I mean "amazing" in the way someone might who is talking about someone they admire, as I do my young cousin.)

My intent is to share the results of this study with Dr. MacEntee and the others in our group who are developing their own data on other disabilities (which I still am not convinced is the right word for AS), both statistical and anecdotal, to use the power of our combined intellects to propose new ways of thinking about the way teachers do their jobs. For those of us who are currently working as classroom teachers, this will have immediate effects on our work; for those who are new to the field, it will provide a useful foundation on which to build their attitudes and strategies as their careers mature. In this regard, this is not purely a survey for research purposes, but more for real-world practical application in the short term, and then just a "cog in the wheel of progress" for teaching professionals to come.

Once I share the results, whether given anonymously or not, with my colleagues, they will examine the information I collect and read my analysis, then they will provide analysis of their own, and all of it will be evaluated by Dr. MacEntee who will, at her discretion, use this information (or not) as she sees fit for the purposes of informing and enculturating future educators in the practice of educational inclusion. There is no profit motive involved save for the intellectual benefit of the experience. No checks are being cut for what I am doing. I am actually taking a bit of a hit financially from this since I could otherwise be spending time working as a private tutor this time of year.

In short (in case you skipped to this short part) I am in no way a professional researcher. I am a devoted professional educator doing research for the value it brings me and the others in my work group. When our work is completed, which should be within a month, I will be happy to share the results, including our analysis, with anyone on WrongPlanet who expresses an interest.

In the sense that this survey is my own creation and not developed under the auspices of an ethics committee, I would be open to your criticism regarding my methods. However, I believe everything I have done in this matter to be completely transparent and in good faith, though I did unknowingly break the cross-posting rule to "cast a wider net", for which I have repented and will sin no more. I will take no offense whatsoever should you find fault with my methods, so long as your criticism is as complete, if not as verbose, as this reply is to your query.

I thank you for your interest and look forward to your responses.

I think your intentions are good and there ar probably people who would like to help but the way you have set up the questions...don't work with my brain. Maybe has nothing to do with As but a life time of seeing questions like this...


section A
1)kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk


2)kkkkkkkkkkkkk


3)kkkkkkkkkkkkk




section B
1)kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk


2)kkkkkkkkkkkkkkk


leaving space inbetween that people and quote the whole thing and fill in each individual question as they are going. I have heard some aspies have photographic memory but others of us have difficulty when things aren't broken into neat little systems and and trying to go back and forth gets confusing.

I think that maybe the reason you are not getting more responses .
Would you consider restructuring this and posting it again. If you want to cope down the info from llivebird and then PM me, I can delate this post and you can repost an alternative post . Just let me know...


krex

I PMed you.

Welcome back to WP!

I'm bumping your thread so more people can see it. Plus, I like posting on green background and my last post was blue.

1. Aspies are often described as being "socially awkward". The explanation for this is most highly attributed to an inability or lack of accuracy in reading "social cues". Please describe key experiences you have had in this regard and offer, if possible, examples of activities with which you have been involved that you feel have minimized this perception of social awkwardness, either in yourself, by others, or both.

I don't quite understand this question. I had always assumed that everyone hated me and no one wanted to talk to me or be my friend. So I never reached out. I learned the most about socializing by attending a boarding school for the last two years of high school. It was sort of like 'language-immersion' for me. Living with all of those other girls in a dorm, eating all my meals in the cafeteria with others. I finally had a front-row seat to observe normal people. Public school just doesn't provide that kind of contact. (and my whole family is Aspie, so no one could help me, ie. blind leading the blind.)

2. Aspies are also described as having a strong affinity for specific intellectual pursuits. Aspie children are often looked at by peers and teachers as "little experts" (please forgive any perceived diminution) on subjects upon which they "fixate" or "obsess". Please describe key experiences you have had in this regard and offer, if possible, your advice on the question of how much indulgence you feel is appropriate, on the part of educators and parents, to allow Aspie kids to peruse these "fixations", even though they may sometimes be thought to do so to the detriment of studies in other important disciplines.

I think the special interests should always be encouraged. Make sure all the homework and studying gets done, and then let the child do what makes them happy. If I had more support and encouragement in my special interest, I might have become a veterinarian. Instead, I was only encouraged to find other things to do, branch out, etc. But it only confused me, because I learned that what I felt drawn to do (learn about animals) was wrong. I was always discouraged from persuing my own interests, so as I graduated high school, I felt lost and confused, unable to have internal self-direction. So I just entered the work force. Years later, I went to tech school and got my vet tech degree. If I knew then where I would be now, I would have gone to vet school right out of high school. But now I have two young kids and a mortgage. I can't go back to college full-time for the length of time it would take to earn another degree. Aspie kids are not going to turn into NTs through any amount of encouragement. And they aren't going to switch interests because someone said so either. Although they may on their own sometimes.

3. Considering your experience as a child or young adult in school, what do you think are the most common misperceptions that child and adult NTs have about Aspies? Why do you think those misperceptions exist? How might a teacher act to challenge or dissuade NT students, or their colleagues from maintaining or propagating these misperceptions?

Well, when I was a child, there was no such thing as Asperger's. No one knew I had it, including myself. I really have no idea about misperceptions. I was bullied a lot. I think everyone should just be taught about Asperger's, teachers and children alike.

4. Again, considering your experience as a child or young adult in school, what, if anything did you feel may have been missing from your educational experience which may have been useful in your growth and acclimation to adult life? If you are a child or young adult answering this question, what do you feel is missing now?

Where do I start?! Any kind of social education would have been extremely helpful. Also life skills and self-care.

5. What special accommodations, if any, do you think would be most helpful to a child or young adult Aspie in an educational institution populated mostly with NTs and WHY? If you feel no special accommodations are appropriate, please give your reasoning for this opinion.

I did not have the ability to ask for help when I needed it. It would have been nice if teachers had quietly asked me each day if I needed help with anything. Also because of central auditory processing disorder, I had trouble remembering homework assignments. Someone should have taught me how to use an assignment notebook at a much younger age (as soon as homework starts getting assigned).

I would have loved school if it had been like this: Get all of the assignments for the day in writing. Then quiet time the rest of the day as everyone worked on their assignments, with the teacher available for help.

In fifth grade, I had detention because I kept forgetting to do my homework. So after school, I got to sit in a quiet classroom and do all my homework. I had never in my life gotten so much work done. I loved it! I wanted to ask if I could have detention every day, but I thought my teacher would laugh at me for asking for punishment. I was very conflicted, and never asked.

Then in seventh grade, I got an in-school suspension (for finally fighting back at a bully who harassed me for years). I got to sit in a silent office off the principal's office for the whole school day. All my teachers brought me my assignments for the day, and I finished them all and had time to read for pleasure. I wondered why the heck this was considered punshment! If school could be like this every day, I would love it!

6. Considering that your answers to this inquiry will be shared with educators across the United States and perhaps (and only after securing permission from each respondent) published on line for other educators to see, what would you want to tell the educational community about how to better serve Aspies in their work, that young Aspies might achieve their highest potential, however they might decide for themselves this to be defined?

If a child seems uncooperative, they are most likely just confused and unable to ask for help or clarification. And don't force eye contact. I am watching your mouth when you are talking. Because of the CAPD, I am sort of lip-reading to help catch what you are saying. I am not lying, and I am not hiding anything, except maybe my confusion or embarassment. Try not to mistake an Aspie kid for an abused kid.
[/quote]