Life with Asperger's Syndrome

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Hello, everyone!

My name is Katie, and I am new to these forums. While I do not have autism, many of those close to me fall on the autism spectrum. I have babysat a wonderful little boy who has Asperger's Syndrome for years. In addition, a few of my friends from high school had Asperger's Syndrome, and a few others fell on other parts of the autism spectrum. As a substitute educational assistant for my local school district, I often work with young children who have autism. They are all so fun!

Anyway, I am an Early Childhood Education major, hoping to minor in Special Education. I am currently taking a class about educational psychology, for which I must present a project about an exceptionality commonly found in today's classrooms. Considering that it has affected many of those close to me, I chose to research more about Asperger's Syndrome.

Rather than collect monotonous facts and figures about Asperger's, I was hoping to learn more about the deeper, personal impact Asperger's Syndrome has on those who have this manifestation of autism. For an "Autism Benefit Dinner" held at my school last year, some students with autism decided to make a video explaining autism's affect on their daily life and overall identity. It was great, and I thought it did a much better job than any informational brochure could have!

That being said, I would greatly appreciate hearing your stories. You can talk about anything at all--whatever strikes you as most important. I would especially like to know how you feel about society's current views on Asperger's. Do you feel your school/workplace/social circle/family has an accurate idea about Asperger's Syndrome, as well as genuine respect for those with this form of autism? I would ultimately like to take some quotes and place it on a PowerPoint, which I would present to facility in the Department of Education at the end of my university's spring semester.

I ask this question mostly based off of a past experience I had. While working with a student with Asperger's, my friend used "baby-talk" throughout the conversation. "We did a good job, didn't we?" She'd coax, as if speaking to a first grader. "Good teamwork!" This student with Asperger's, who was one of my close friends, was waaay smarter than the girl who spoke to him in this "dumbed down" language. He and I took Calculus class together, and he always maintained a high 'A,' and in fact graduated with a 4.0 (a feat the girl using "baby-talk" most certainly did not accomplish!) While I know her intentions were good, her tone struck me as so demeaning!

Are experiences like this common for students with Asperger's? I truly hope not, as I worry about the boy I babysit. He is so intelligent and sweet--the perfect example of a student. He's already had to switch schools, because his old school--a private, parochial elementary--did not have a teacher who would take him in her classroom.

Sorry--I'm rambling! In short, if anyone could take a moment to share any thought, opinion, or experience with me regarding their experience with Asperger's Syndrome, I'd so appreciate it!

MissKatie

Basically for me it means being unable to relate to people well, real life or fictional. It is as if I am on the outside looking in and my whole life I have been an observer of others living normally. Also having no interest in popular culture like sports, movies, tv shows and preferring to read and watch strictly non fiction. Uhh also I don't feel alone as normal people do and I am very comfortable with my thoughts and in my head. My thoughts are highly existential and curious. I have no interpersonal relationships other then my immediate family and communication with people quickly tires me out. I often find it difficult to physically speak to people and I have a very monotone voice and I find it physically difficult to express emotion in my face. It takes a lot of effort to interact efficiently with people. My life is highly routine, I prefer the same thing day in and day out and I try to keep it that way. My interests are very narrow and my focus is solely on one subject or project at a time which leads me to not liking or accepting a lot of other peoples ideas.

Just a little insight on what it's like living with autism spectrum disorder.

I agree with everything Dreycrux said, to add I find my opinions are often discounted by meny with no real thought and my abillitys often underestimated, I feel I often get defined by what I stuggle at instead of by what I can do better then most. I find not being able to make friends with people I get along with and share intrests with very frustrating and depressing. I have also noticed peoples reaction and treatment to me is usually very black and white, they either love me or hate me and theres nothing I can do to change that, I think some people just have a fear of being different and take offence. I speak with a slur and don't do well at physical actitivtys like most sports becouse of imparments thanks to Aspergers, I just don't have the co-ordination, if someone wanted to fight me or hurt me I know I would lose. I've got to keep in mind i'm an easy target around unfriendly people, experence teaches you who to avoid dealing with. For me Aspergers has ment learning the hard way for so meny life lessions most people tend to get naturally.

I enjoy the independance of thinking my brain gives me, the photogenic long term memory however it makes life hard sometimes becouse I get stuck in my thoughts strong morales and refuse to join in sociaty becouse what my brain comes up with is so different and abstract, I just can't relate to meny people. The will to follow my own thoughts is just is just too strong to have a hope of ever fitting in with the collective concencis of the general public.

Stick with the monotonous facts and figures.

They don't contain personal bias.

Females and males express and show themselves differently. I'm female and just found out I have asperger's a few weeks ago. I now have somewhere I fit in. I have always felt like the outsider growing up, I did everything differently to other children and never fitted in. I realise now I mimic everyone around me (I can't help it). I want to fit in and try so hard but people just look at me like I'm an alien. It hurt a lot, still does but I keep trying, not realising I should just be my self and maybe someone will like me for me. I work as the second in charge at a child care centre, so I emotionally fit in with the children and I get the brain stimulation from working on the computer with the accounts (numbers and problem solving). If I say or do something weird it's ok because I work with children and they don't judge. It is still hard especially the communication and socialising with the adults so I try to ignore them and retreat to the children who love unconditionally. Also I realised everyone who comes into the centre say the room I'm in is always happy and playful, and relaxed while other rooms are strict and plain. I now know it's because the asperger in me is a child and can relate to children better and know what they want and I have the intellect to know what to do to help children.
When I have a meltdown I stay away from the children so I don't infect them with my unhappiness.
I hope this has helped somehow.

OP you could spend some time picking threads to read to get an insight. I'm sure people wouldn't mind you cherry-picking quotes, after all this is already a public forum.

I could tell you a variety of things about how it has affected me in the past and continues to affect me today, but if everyone does that you might end up with a mass of stuff to pick through, whereas looking through the threads means you can choose what to read.

I ask this question mostly based off of a past experience I had. While working with a student with Asperger's, my friend used "baby-talk" throughout the conversation. "We did a good job, didn't we?" She'd coax, as if speaking to a first grader. "Good teamwork!" This student with Asperger's, who was one of my close friends, was waaay smarter than the girl who spoke to him in this "dumbed down" language. He and I took Calculus class together, and he always maintained a high 'A,' and in fact graduated with a 4.0 (a feat the girl using "baby-talk" most certainly did not accomplish!) While I know her intentions were good, her tone struck me as so demeaning!

Are experiences like this common for students with Asperger's? I truly hope not, as I worry about the boy I babysit. He is so intelligent and sweet--the perfect example of a student. He's already had to switch schools, because his old school--a private, parochial elementary--did not have a teacher who would take him in her classroom.

I have worked in the schools and God help our kids! Teachers assistants do most of the work with our kids on IEP to assist them and have NO special training or understanding, in fact most don't have any education experience period! I've witnessed the ignorance and short patienced "paraprofessional" (fancy term for minimum wage teacher assistant) in action with AS children. I refused to believe these kids couldn't feel that they were being treated with indifference despite what we were told in working with them. I also was a paraprofessional for minimum wage without a college credit to my name and got hired because I could pass a praxis exam and had a clean background check. While college credits would have increased my pay as in most districts they do not have to be in education! I worked with accountant student dropouts who made more than me and knew NOTHING about special needs student, nor had the empathy to even be working with them. We often didn't know what their specific needs were and were told they werent applying themselves and dont be fooled:( I have a huge heart and never fed into this. I saw and know their rights are not being protected, nor are they being treated kindly or getting the education they deserve! I'm now in college studying AS and am horrified to look back and know now how much more unjustly schools are treating our kids than I even believed...Katie, please take this and advocate for these kids. I know I sure tried and wasnt taken seriously without college to my credit so Im doing it now...I want to make a difference and believe you do also. Lets start by making sure our educators are educated enough to assist our kids, and do it with the care and empathy all of them deserve, not the indignity they are often receiving. What the heck went wrong in special education?????? AS students are far more misunderstood than most. We have to help them.

The problem with this forum is there's no easy way to go back very far and see what was said in the past. The information posted gets lost after it disappears from the first page.

I've said this before - no one in the USA knows anything about AS unless it directly impacts them in some way, such as a family member having it. If the value offered by someone with AS is more important to an employer than the quirks, such as someone with specialized skills, the person with AS can do okay in the workplace and be tolerated. (AS seems to be more tolerated in the technology sector than anywhere else.) Employers don't care about AS in particular, just what the person can do.

i found out i had asperger syndrome at age 45, over a year ago. i was relieved to hear that, but annoyed that i didnt know earlier. i was led to believe i was a failure, a freak.
my parents were very angry at me when a teacher in school told my mother i walk back and forth in the school backyard instead of playing with other kids. she yelled at me like i did something wrong. my parents ordered me to make friends. they forced me to talk and interact and i hated it.
most people dont know what asperger syndrome is. they know about autism, but dont know half the facts about it. they dont know we are often hyper, about rage attacks, walking on toes, dreamy look in the eyes, love for animals etc. they hear the term "autism" but dont really know what it is. they have a very vague idea what autism is. i dont think they even know about finger flapping, something i do every day.
society view on high functioning autism, or any kind of autism, at least where i live is, they dont know anything about it. they havent the foggiest idea. that's the impression i got.
should start a pole among nts asking, what do you know about autism and high functioning autism? could be very interesting.