Teachers who have Aspergers

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I am a career teacher with nearly 20 years of experience. Teaching is stressful.

I want to teach in the future, but I already know that I shouldn't try and teach middle-school or high-school. I look too much like a teen and act a little too eccentrically to be taken seriously by kids - and I can't guarantee that's going to change anytime soon. (I would be more afraid of them than they would be of me - I already know it.) Not to mention that public schools are notorious for politics, both national and personal. Seeing how I noticed the political tension even when I was only seven, I can't say that I have much respect for the institution. It is a necessary evil, I'm afraid.

I do want to teach adults. The academic setting is where I feel most at home besides.. home. I really admire most of my professors, and I am impressed with the university setting for it's emphasis on individuality and tolerance for eccentricities (seems like the opposite of the public school system where they emphasize political correctness and 'being a certain way' - some indescribable way of being that I know I am not). The more eccentric a professor is, the more I feel like I wouldn't have to worry about coming off a bit "odd" to other people. I see myself starting out in a community college/ upgrading department setting, probably teaching low-level English, and then perhaps moving on to becoming a university prof. It's very hard to imagine right now though, but I don't see what else I would like to do that isn't a dead-end job.

However, I'm worried about things like not getting along with the other staff, being disorganized, and misreading social cues from students. As far as creating a course-plan, I think, since I have kept all my course outlines from university, that I would do something like amalgamate the best of them into my own course-plan: I'm good at copying/ improving other people's plans. I've been thinking for a while that I should start taking notes of how my professors handle certain situations and stuff - like a flow-chart of how to handle the job based on observation. Then I would minimize some of the awkward on-the-spot decision making and social floundering.

There are obviously teachers with Aspergers. The question is, do they reveal it to their coworkers and students? Would revealing their Aspergers somehow affect how they are perceived by their coworkers and their students? Should they reveal it to their coworkers, but not their students? When I was a student, I may have wanted to know the gossip about teachers, but in hindsight, the privacy of the teacher should be respected. I believe a professional distance between teachers and students should be maintained. There are some things that should be kept separate. Personal health information and friendships are two of them. I like friendly teachers, but ultimately my friends should be made among the students.

I got offered to do a TA-ship for a grad program I am considering and its very common for students in the sciences to teach undergrads lab but I had to turn it down because I knew I was gonna struggle immensely. I dont understand how a person with a social deficit can regulate a classroom full of students, having to multi-task socially and attend to multiple peoples needs. I was thinking, the most I ever could do is very small group tutoring to students who want to learn with a subject I know very well like algebra otherwise any kind of teaching is waay beyond my scope. I dont understand why people dont see having aspergers as a legit reason why you cant teach.

I almost got my associates in music education until i realized I had almost no desire to be a teacher. No drive, no ambition, nothing (The only reason it was ever my major was because music was the only thing I gave a damn about). I'm glad that I didn't go through with it because I always had such a major problem being in front of people, being watched by people, the whole socially-anxious gamut... for me, teaching would have been purest hell.

I had 5th, 6th, 9th and 10th graders. Actually the older ones weren't the problem but the younger ones. They took advantage of my and my inabilities to react quickly, intuitively and decisively to a discipline issue. I think I was the only teacher bullied by the students True, those particular students were problem students and caused problems for the other teachers, too, but I was worse affected and less able to deal with it. I also felt unable to connect and develop a rapport with the students.

I'm not trying to say that people with AS shouldn't consider teaching at all, I just want to warn of potential problems. If you want to teach kids you need to have a dynamic personality, and a good strong set of coping mechanisms, and identifying problems before they start will help to develop them.

My advice would be to consider private tuition, adult or higher education teaching. I wouldn't recommend state schools. One to one lessons can be extremely rewarding and it's a lot easier to develop a rapport with an individual than a group. Also, you can choose the environment, in your home or their home, avoiding the noisy stressful school environment. Online tuition is also an option. It's also easier to teach adults as there are fewer discipline problems (but other problems emerge such as lateness, attendance, changing arrangements at the last minute, and worst of all private students sometimes don't bother to turn up
MannyBoo: I wouldn't reveal your diagnosis to anyone unless you have to. I think that you'll be discriminated against. This might vary from country to country - if you see that the school has accommodations for students with ASDs then you may feel more comfortable disclosing it. Where I used to work I hadn't been diagnosed yet, but I was required to take a psychological test and was asked if I had any diagnoses. If I had continued working there I would have had to disclose and would have lost my job.

I tried teaching and it didn't work out for me, but I was never open about having Asperger's and the headteacher got frustrated that I couldn't cope with the noise in the classroom and my behaviour management was awful. I found it really, really stressful, which meant that my organisation was terrible (I kept forgetting to bring in sheets for the lessons, or what classroom the kids were meant to be in) and felt like I was spending most of my energy avoiding meltdowns. I'm still thinking of trying again at some point though, but being more open with the school about AS next time.

Oh yes, the noise was a BIG issues at the school I worked in. The classroom was by the schoolyard an the window low down with bars across, the kids played football in the yard and the ball would keep hitting the bars. In summer it was very hot and the windows were left open so the noise was horrendous, and the older kids would smoke unchecked in the yard and I could smell it all the time... yuck!

If you explained your problem with noise they could give you a quieter classroom and you might find it easier - class management is also a bit easier without background noise.

You could teach for an organization like this: http://www.k12.com/

Online = less stressful for you, and (probably) more supervision of the kids by the parents.

Hi there. I have been a very successful teacher. While I was obviously different from all my other colleagues, my differences allowed me to see my students in different ways. It also helped me to be able to see how all the pieces worked together and to see what areas students struggled with. I was a Middle School Math and Science teacher. I originally started out teaching Grade 6, but it was obvious that my passion for Math and Science was more suited for higher grades. I was nervous, at first, with the thought of teaching teenagers, but I quickly figured out that they are just big little kids.

In my 5 years of teaching, I was the only teacher who never ate in the staff room at lunch. I needed my quiet time and space away from adults so that I could restore myself for the next half of the day. I did disagree with other teachers, but kept that mostly to myself. My students would love me because I treated everyone equally and always looked for the good in them, while other teachers would write off the difficult or troubled ones. I always saw myself in them, hoping someone would take the extra time to see through their behaviour and difficulties and actually care.

I found that my incredibly visual way of thinking and seeing the world really came in handy. I often filled up the white boards with descriptive pictures of what I was trying to teach. I loved colour and was the teacher who would use up the markers the most. Not to mention the projector. I loved showing videos.

I certainly wasn't the traditional teacher. The school principal one time took me aside and said that I did everything in the most unconventional, unexpected, wrong ways, but somehow in doing that, I did everything so right. Students couldn't wait until their next class. It was more of a show and presentation. The Wacky Science Teacher, etc. They would say that I told stories and jokes that they would never forget and gave them a fresh chance and start. And above all, I have been thanked by many students for allowing them (and encouraging them) to be true to themselves and not change for other people. I was a living example of how you could be different and yet excel and make a difference.

While I should point out that I haven't been officially diagnosed, I have an official testing date in 2 months. I always new that I was markedly different from my peers and fellow colleagues. Always felt more comfortable around younger people (yet never knew why). And when my son's pediatrician told me a few months ago that he's pretty sure that my son has Aspergers or High-Functioning Autism, I thought it wasn't possible. My idea of Autism was Dustin Hoffman's character in Rain Man. How wrong I was. A positive diagnosis would explain my sensory sensitivities since childhood, social difficulties and isolation, and why I could easily perform Math calculations by visually seeing and manipulating numbers up in the air. I thought everyone could see the world so visually. This is the only world I know. But I've come to see that I have a different operating system from other people. Just like a Mac and PC computer. They both can be used to type, store, and access information. But the manner in which they operate is different. Likewise, I function differently.

I haven't taught in the past few years due to a number of surgeries. I miss my teaching position more than anything else. It gave me something to look forward to. And I got paid to talk about Math and Science all day! How could it get better than that?

But teaching was intense. I had to work hard to make my environment something I could tolerate. Move the ticking clock. Try to switch my classes to quieter rooms. Unplug the stupid humming pop machine they placed right outside my classroom door. Plan quiet activities into my classes to balance the noisy ones. Have a solid plan of what to do. Be confident. And let my passion for Math and Science be visual and contagious for all my students, finding ways to convey that and allow students to enter my rich, visual world so they could catch a glimpse of how cool and interesting those subjects are.

Most of all, reduce the chances for your weaknesses to stand out, and really know your strengths and always ask yourself how you can use your strengths and passion to teach and inspire others.

All the best to you!

Thanks for the advice. I'm about to reapply for teacher training but be more open this time... V v nervous though!

I have been a music teacher in international schools in Asia for 20 years so far. The children are my life and I get on well with them - it's the colleagues/adults/parents/bosses I don't 'get'. My nephew has diagnosed Asperger and having watched him grow, I see almost everything he does in me...the frustration with 'normal life', the clumsiness (I fall down/trip/drop things a lot), the challenges of just getting along with others...crowds, noises, flapping feet and hands, loud voice, social problems...god, the list goes on...

But music has always been my 'intense/singular subject' and I still teach it now - I think my aspie helps me to focus on that and have good/high expectations for my students...I also understand and 'see' any inappropriate behavior and correct it quickly (maybe Aspie is good for something)...and I accept children's differences and 'quirks' as part of the fact that they are still growing and learning...(accept becoz I have 'quirks'?)

Adults...er...different ball-game altogether...not a fan...

Good luck to all aspie teachers - it's a Friday (here, anyway!)