Is my teacher really unfair, or is my AS just holding me bac

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My grades are usually in the high 80s or low 90s. My overall English (usually my favorite class, hate it now) grade is 77, but I don't want to seem like AS is just an excuse. My teachers are supposed to give me extra help and time, and not put stupid unfair things included in your grade!! We watch news every day in English, and have daily true or false quizzes. We fill in the papers as we watch the news. OK, it takes me a little longer than NT's (the entire rest of the class) to comprehend "get" things. My brain takes longer to "think" about it. By the time I thought about what to answer on the quiz, the next answer was just said and I didn't have time to "get" it. It goes way too fast. Next, we have to write a 2 paragraph essay, in 10 minutes, about some random subject. She doesn't give me extra time like she should!! ! I'm there rushing, making mistakes, losing points. And where am I when she tells us the homework due for the next day? Perhaps I'm in the nurse taking my medication!! When I check my grades online, I look at things that were homework and thinking what the heck is she talking about? Did we have to do that? I have never heard of that homework assignment.
This class is way too overwhemling.

How can I ask her for help? Should I tell her to remind me about the homework? How can I tell her everything I just wrote here, without being rude?
Is there anything else you would do otherwise?

Thanks, Guitar Girl

Seriously? I would copy and paste exactly what you wrote here (with a little editing I'll mention below), paste it into a text editor, print it out, and give it to her.

The only things I would change are statements about what you "should" be allowed as opposed to the class in general. Post them as questions instead of statements.

For example, instead of saying, "My teachers are supposed to give me extra help and time, and not put stupid unfair things included in your grade!!" write something like this:

"I believe I should be getting extra help and more time because of my Aspterger's Syndrome."

And instead of saying, "She doesn't give me extra time like she should!! !" Say something like, "I'm under the impression I should be allowed more time for this."

Do you have an IEP? If you do, and extra time is specified in it, she is supposed to be abiding by that, but making accusations will only put her on the defensive. If you put it more as your understanding or as a question, it's not so accusatory and more of an observation. Teachers seem to need some gentle reminders sometimes. If you have an IEP, they do tend to forget that you need special accommodations.

I think you have a valid grievance. I can definitely see how the news project would be difficult due to attention shifting problems that are common to AS.

Is there a special ed teach or guidance counselor you can talk to? Maybe you can print out your original post and have one of your parents get involved?

Yes, I do have an IEP and I should get extra time. She actually did ask me if I wanted to go to my IEP teacher tomorrow to have help on an assignment.
I might write this down and show it to my IEP teacher, and she and I may talk to my English teacher together. Also, I'm doing much better in my other classes because my other teachers are more accommodating.
Do you think those are good ideas?

I actually pay as much attention as I can to the news. It just goes way too fast. I don't really think it's something to get my parents involved in, unless this gets worse and I start flunking. I was going to talk to my IEP teacher, and write this post and give it to her, and then we talk to my teacher.

I agree. You should edit your post and print it out. Get your parents involved and see if there's a Special Ed teacher that can help you out.

Sure! I think it's a great idea. I wish my own kids, who are a couple of years younger than you, would learn to advocate for themselves like that. With any luck they will by the time they are your age.

When it comes to assignments like looking for questions in a video, to be honest I wouldn't worry so much about them. The real purpose behind things like that has to do with seeing how fast you can hear and write down answers. Yes, it is something most of us are really lousy at, but that's just a fact of life. If you were able to do more of it, more than your classmates, as practice, you may actually get better at it. The thing is I don't know what the purpose of those assignments are. Are they practice? Do the grades on them really matter much?

Whatever the case, part of what grading in school is for is to measure what you're good at and what you're not so good at. If too many accommodations are made, it is possible to end up with a grade that doesn't accurately reflect your skills.

If your grades don't match your actual skills you are more likely to be encouraged to move into college programs and/or jobs that match your grade levels, but don't match your actual skills. My own experience is that if you go along with the encouragements you can end up studying or working on things that end up being major frustrations for you.

In the end, I think it's far better for your grades to truly reflect what you are good at.

Nobody in my life knew anything about spectrum disorders. Even so, during the late Sixties and Seventies many teachers were passing kids with better grades than we should have gotten, including me, even though we weren't very good at some of the things being taught. As a result, I felt as though I ended up being pushed into a lot of classes, and later jobs, that I should never have been in. The resulting amount of frustration I and wasted time I experienced was a crying shame.

A low grade, IMHO, is not necessarily a bad thing, as long as it accurately reflects something you really aren't very good at anyway.

IF, though, this thing with answering questions from a video is something you would like to improve, there are ways of doing it. You may need more practice at it. You may need to do similar assignments, in a more controlled environment, such as with a player you can pause when you come to an answer, practicing until you can manage to do it without pausing it. Whether it is worth the time and effort to set something like that up would be up to you and probably your teachers too. Is it really worth it though? What kind of jobs require that kind of skill? Are they the kinds of jobs that would ever interest you?

These are questions only you can answer. School counselors can probably help you decide things like this too. Sometimes it is worth the extra effort. Sometimes a C or D (or even an F!), is no big deal. When applying to colleges, your grades matter, but when you get into the working world, they don't matter so much anymore. What does matter is what you can DO, not so much what you can't do.

What an atrocious exercise! In 3rd grade we had to do current events clippings which I totally did not get [a 3rd grader understands the Korean war?] - but at least it was not timed.

Certainly try to get that adjusted.

Those quizes on the news are a good part of my grade. What bothers me the most are the homework assignment I never heard of. I'll probable talk to my teacher today.Maybe she doesn't even realize what she's doing.

In terms of the news quizzes, I would be much better at answering the quiz if I didn't write the anything down during the report, allowing yourself to understand what's being said, as opposed to being distracted by having to write stuff down as you're still watching it. I would watch the news report, and then find that I remember the answers much better, then fill out the quiz.. If you can find a way of getting away with that, you might be better off.

with the 10 minute, 2 paragraph essays, maybe ask if you can type it. And ask your teacher is there's somewhere online, or whether she can email you all the homework during each lesson, or soon after it. You may have to somehow politely remind her that you have an IEP and that you take a while to think things through.

It is important, however, that you eventually get used to the situation and become adept at thinking fast, as unfortunately this is required by many things in our world.

I hope this help you.

my oldest has problems with hearing assignments as well. he now carries a planner, for every class he writes down homework and other assignments in the planner under that days entry, and at the end of class has the teacher sign it. the signature is so we know he is having his teachers check his planner, if you do it on your own willingly, maybe just have them read what you have written down and let you know whether you are missing anything.

some of his teachers also have a specific spot on the white/chalk board where homework or assignments are written. if your teacher could do that, you could copy it down without having to rely on hearing it.

I agree with what you're saying but at the same time she can't give you full exemption. If she did you would appear as qualified as anyone else for a position in dictation for example, yet you actually wouldn't be. But it's just freaking school, she should get off her high horse and cut you some slack. Her not giving you exemptions isn't going to affect your career.