Tutoring teens and adults (in college) with Autism and AS

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Parents, this question if for you.

Well, I guess this can also be asked directly to college students as well.

If you have Autism or Asperger Syndrome and you needed tutoring (not math), what kind of help would you like to have? What difficulties do you have in understanding class work?

What kind of person would you want to work with you or your teenager? What is the hardest class you have in college? Are reports hard? What part of the report is hard?

And last of all, what would you expect to pay for an hour and a half session? (If the tutor came to YOUR home and tutored, you wouldn't have to leave or drive anywhere). Would you pay more for a tutor that came to your home at 6pm or 7pm after you get home from work? Would paying in cash only be an issue?

I am starting to tutor (again) and this time, I am focusing on adult (and teenagers, if in senior year of high school) Autism and Asperger Syndrome and I am doing an hour an a half sessions, instead of the tranditional hour sessions. I also tutor learning disabled adults. I went through college and I have a learning disabilty so I understand some of those challenges.
What are your challenges?

I live in West Riverside County (California) and I don't have anything set up for tutoring online, so I only do face to face at this time.

If you think you'd rather not have a tutor (if you are in college) and rather learn on your own, please let me know. The market needs to have ** a need** to start a new business. Thanks! Sandra

the social class, how to not be alone class, how to build confidence for yourself 101, how not become so depressed you flunk out class.

If you could tutor in those areas, and build a time machine to 5 years ago, then this might be helpful

Organisation, organisation and organisation. My locker used to look like a nuclear explosion site. I had to sit on my desk to get it to close and hide stuff in the empty one next to mine. I lost my books. I lost my notes, which were a shambles anyway. And I never once turned in a piece of homework. I never had any problems with the subjects, just in sorting myself out and doing stuff. Back then grades were based solely on end of course exams. I did fantastic, turn up on 1 day and switch on photographic memory for total recall, easy. Nowadays it's continuous assessment. I'd fail because I'd miss deadlines, lose assignments and never know where I was supposed to be at what time.

How much would I be willing pay? Err, nothing. But that is probably because I live in a country where tutoring for students with asperger's is provided free of charge. My daughter (17) currently gets approx 2 hours 1-2-1 tutoring a week. This will increase next year as they have to become more self-sufficient in their studying.

Well, I can't tutor for free. It's not like I have a job and I'm working for someone else. I need to generate a cash flow some how - some way! I already looked it up online for tutoring and they start at $30 per hour and go up to $80 per hour.

When I tutored at $20 an hour in 2008, I was not taken very seriously and you get what you pay for. So, I'm charging $30 an hour - and if people want to get something for free - that is what the school tutors are for, right? So, yeah, if you are not willing to pay for tutoring - it may mean you don't need it that bad. When people needs things and there is a demand for it, people will pay for it.

This may be an indication (if you are not willing to pay anything for it) that OTHERS like you may not want to pay anything for it. But I"m a business person - I'm a business major and - I can't work for free. Even if I earn $60 a week, at least that is something. If I was on SSI, I would not be in this situation. (I don't qualify).

Sandee, everything my son does needs to be broken down into manageable steps. The level of detail for these steps will vary from person to person, but my son can't do complex math problems because he can't keep the steps for long division in his head. He would also need help keeping things in order spatially (with math and AS, they often suggest using graph paper - but for my son, the graph paper needs to have squares big enough that he doesn't get distracted by coloring outside the lines.

Bullet point instructions are important. No instructions longer than a tweet (and even that is long) you can practice by doing the entire tutoring session on twitter.

Instructions may have to include totally obvious things like getting materials, sharpening pencil, getting eraser, etc.

Some people with AS or ADHD are easily distracted. This is not screwing up or deliberate; you may need to tap lightly on the paper to redirect them.

Perfectionism is a problem for many. Make a rule that corrections can be made only by crossing something out with a single line, and then the entire paper can be copied so it doesn't show the mistakes.

Don't insist they show the work: sometimes math is intuitive for Aspies. If this is a requirement of the course, it will be a real struggle (it's a little bit like someone asking you to go through all the steps you follow when you pull your hand away from a candle flame; I know I can either do Algebra or not, but I can't explain how I did it.) You will have to teach "showing the work" as an entirely separate exercise.