help or ideas?

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Hello!

I have stumbled across this site in search of some help or ideas to help me with a 10 year old AS child I have in my class (im a grade school teacher in australia)

I am looking for any ideas that will help this child feel comfortable and at ease in my class and any ideas that may have worked.

Thanks for your time
Carls

Classes by definition are going to be tough. The problem is, we like what we like, and don't do what we don't. What we are good at, we can be very good at. This is sort of the opposite of what most schools are able to offer. For myself, one of the big kickers was whether or not it was assigned. I could spend large quantities of time and effort on what I wanted to chase after, but almost none on assignments, even if I got to pick the topic. Still, I would tend to know a great deal about the subject matter that was really required.

Some more information would be nice.

Have the parents decided that thier child is AS?

What kind of symptoms does the child display?

Are any of the Symptoms disrupting the Class?

The child has been diagnosed with AS, and has previously attended a school specifically for Autistic kids. His parents have transfered him to my school in the hope of 'making him normal'.

His functioning in class is fine, although, at the moment he is seeking approval from one of the most popular boys, this boy understands that the other boy is different and to his credit, has been fantastic with him.

One thing, when he loses, or gets out at a game, he does not seem to be able to cope, and will often get very upset, also, when he is spoken to for doing something wrong (for example, he swore at a teacher the other week and got in trouble) he seems to go into a 'shell' with lots of tears and can not be calmed down.

what i am looking for, is the best way to deal with these problem times. the boy has an aid with him 4 days of the week, but she is pretty much useless.

does being left alone when upset help? should i be trying to talk to him while he is upset or is it better to wait until he has calmed down?

Thanks so much for your time and ideas, I really want this year to be enjoyable for my boy and have been reading some of the horror stories that AS children have been through at school. I am trying to do everything I can to be the best teacher for this child.

We had an AS misbehaving kid at school - fits your description on some levels -sadly he didn't make it, and was taken back to where he came from. The final straw was when he stole the teachers wallet/handbag.

---I think this is what is prudent for all teacher/parents to instill into thier pupils/children

-Show them who is the boss yet being fair - and I am sure some of the subjects you have undertook at UNI have already taught you this.... there is nothing all that wrong with the AS kid - he is probably easier to control than any ADD kids you have in the class at the moment (I am sure you have at least 1 if not more ADD kids)

-I cried when teacher 'told me off' and or 'punished me'.... I got into my corner where I was left alone - if I had to sit at my desk, then I would sob, and finally I had learnt how to control the 'Shame' emotion. The first couple of times the teacher sent me out into the hallway, so that class could continue.

-There was one kid that, even in Grade 5 would actually run home when ashamed of themselves (He lived about 800m from school) -in those days it wasn't as big a deal for this to happen (sue happy parents didn't exist then), there was also a girl that did it a couple of times (she copied the boy) -except she leaved pretty far away!

--The key I think is to just treat the traits, like there were TODDLER traits that the child still has - not all kids are the same, some are smarter, some are dumber - being the teacher it's your responsibility to 'Teach to the Child' , on the individual level. (The actual class content can be singular)

My Grade 2/3 teacher was the best (This is the one that had the Wallet stolen from her)
She awarded the children based on numerous societal merits...

Behaviour : You got a tick on the wall for being good, and a cross for being bad - every 3 months, some-one would get gold.silver.bronze, this in effect allowed me to develop the idea of achieving on the behavioural level (Note being the teacher you can CHEAT the system to educate/punish the ones you want to)
Skill: Same system, but in this particular level (grade 2 and 3) it started off with pen licenses - you actualy got a proper laminated pen licenses when the teacher thought you were good enough.
Skill(Math): Here the teacher actually, 'Pulled' kids out of the group, and gave them difficult work. I wasn't in the group at first - but it didn't take me long (I think I should have been their first - but teacher wanted to teach me that I need to earn it)
Skill: Sport - yeah the hard one - nearly everyone has asthma today - and I wouldn't be surprised if little AS here has it too. -Teacher made us do both indoor and outdoor sports (she was very rudimentary on daily structure, rain hail or shine -> the good thing about being Task based, is that you can reward the class sporadically, and the kids would actually feel the sporaditiy of the reward - in effect you can build an army this way)
Food/Fun Tasks Team Work: The team work thing of corse you have learnt to teach. Some advice I ca give, is not to be caught up on 'the kid that get's segregated' -they will slowly need to learn to 'fit in'. ie don't force the other kids to be frinds, all the time, be strategic about placements and partners. -you see Kid A glancing over to Kid B - but B always glances away - Reward A by letting them 'hold thier hand' and punish B with the same action.

-Dont get cuaght up in the TREND of the day - talking about media influences just makes you look like another drone that the kids see everyday - by being different - you will find that more of them will call you mum. (ie Brainwashing the Greenhouse effect into them - just makes you look stupid, and respect is lost, when the individual child realises that the teacher is nothing more than a MEDIA voice box. -therfore losing all respect for you)

I am an extremely visual learner, and I understand that this is the case for most people with Asperger's Syndrome. I had a great deal of difficulty following lessons, schedules and instructions if they were only given aurally. If I could go back in time and ask my teachers for anything, I would ask them to present things in text and images more often.

This is where teachers are getting lazy... (no offence -then again)

To teach structure through visual aid:

TURN every child in the class into a Desktop Publishing Artist. Instead of Crayoling pictures about Dinosours, and the Planet....
Make them draw signs, make them responsible for 'THIER' class - just like an army wants to keep the latrine clean, soon you will find the kids are autonomously coming up with ideas to make the class even more efficient at learning.

eg.
Structure a daily+weekly routine (and place your 'sporadic' tasks in your diary)
Get the kids to organise, sunjects/tasks/games into specific areas in the class.... the math library - all kids Math books have to go in the Math shelf (makes it easier for you too correct aswell - and you can apiont kids that either like helping you, or have miss-behaved - to gather the books for you for correction)
Libraries ar just one thing - make one for each book/subject that they have to learn - keeping each one seperate (And of course get the class to do the Signage for each bay - and print off some name tags) --it also helps with friendship building, where you wil find kids 'sharing' pigeon holes.

Activity centres - Objects that pertain to completing a task need to stored in thier homes, and should also have a sign. ..painted/drawn by the kids.

The front floor and the back floor : make the floor near the 'bad blackboard' where all the education is done the floor sitting area for educational content based tasks eg. videos.

Make the Back floor (you may need to teach the kids to move furniture) the 'close quarters' emotional story telling area (the area where it's ok to nodd off and have a snooze ,,, get some bean bags.)

Redo the signs, and seating layout every 4 months sporadically out of the blue -one on a rainy day, one on a sunny day, one on a windy day. (use your gut instincts to 'read' the season change')

Then get the class to redo the entire signing arrangement 0 drawing ne signs to an open theme... eg. your favourite fantasy.

Thanks so much for taking the time to write out some replies.

you have all given me something to think about and hopefully put into sucessful practice, especially in regards to visual learning.

thanks again!

First of all, may I commend you on your wish to make this child's school experience as good as it can be. If you do then you'll not only be helping him but also yourself of course!

1. There's no way that these parents can 'make him normal' by sending him to a mainstream school! Are their expectations too high?! Of course you and they can help him to learn about social situations and thus give him tools for life but he's hardwired Aspie!

2. How lovely that the most popular boy is such a star in helping our lad. Iimagine you are praising this boy and encouraging him and his friends to make life at school easier for our chap. Peer mentoring and suchlike come to mind also.

3. Our lad has meltdowns when he gets into difficult situations like losing a game or when criticised...well, losing is just something that anyone has to learn although the almost inevitable meltdowns can be dealt with . You don't say how old he is - over about 6 or 7 then calm, plain logic and LOADS of kindness and patience is the way to go (under that age then it's just MOUNTAINS of genuine kindness and patience!).

The same goes for criticism. Criticism is SOOOO hard for most AS folk I think. Who knows why? It's a bit of a mystery to me this one. But it as it is, and the only thing that 'retrieves' me is SHEDLOADS of loving kindness - I mean real patience and kindness, not the false stuff that most people ladle out and expect you to be ok according to their timeframe. AS people do seem to have an excellent nose for sniffing out b*llshit and he'll be able to tell if you're putting it on (even if he is not able to articulate what he's sensing).

4. I never wanted to be left alone when in meltdown. I needed - and still do - someone who is able to 'hold' the situation, very calmly and kindly and with total acceptance. But that doesn't mean I need or want hugs - just a plain, strong being there/holding presence. I guess it'll be trial and error with our lad...you just have to sense when he's at the right point and most amenable to your calm, kind and patient logical approach. He'll be probably very tired and feeling ashamed or guilty at himself for having lost it, the worst thing is to compound this by making him feel that he's a pain or naughty. If you do that, you'll lose him for life (and I mean for life, he will lose all respect for you and maybe even for other teachers later on. Sorry, but it's a big job you're taking on here!!)

5. Get rid of the 'aid'. Seriously. If she's as useless as she sounds then she will be adding to the chap's problems. He'll be able to sense that she's not competent and this will add to his insecurity and even evoke meltdowns.

Very best of everything to you - if you get this halfway right you'll have done him a brilliant service which will underpin so much of his future academic career.