Anyone with aspergers a teacher or studying to become one?

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I consider it. I'm currently working alongside with teachers in a classroom.

So far, I found out that's it's not exactly the most fitting job for one who is autistic and ADHD in the way I am (meaning, with the traits I have). The social demand concerning of other teachers, the noise, the chaos, the demand of rash decision making...

I also already know that plain kid care isn't something I could do. Too few structure, total chaos, total boredom.

But teaching is awesome. I really consider becoming a special ed teacher.

I am a teacher, or at least qualified as such; not really a properly thought-through career choice, not really a choice for that matter.
Dutch, second-grade; which is for secondary education at the sub-uni-preparation level (call it B-levels?).

At secondary level myself I had hugely underperformed at the A-level, basically by not performing at all - I had always gotten away with doing my homework in schooltime, all too often during the class directly prior to the one at my hands...
I was teased (somewhat), was certainly not 'part' of things, not shunned but not really bothered with, and have always supposed failing the second year, though not planned, will subconsciously at least have made me not mind dropping a level; maybe also because I was unconsciously aware (if you'll accept that as the paradox it is) of my 'lack of motivation' - as I would have phrased it until very recently and rather too late in life.

But that's gets me back to childhood, not to the teaching...

At whatever level of education, as a kid, I have always been in a situation of being able to explain things. Not that I would have been asked very often, but it happened. And of course, in class I would basically be able to correct the teacher (or even come up with a better way of getting his point across), also because I can see when people do NOT 'get it'. Even adults, in the bus home, when sat next to me, would start to confide in me. I think people have absolutely no eye nor interest for me as the individual 'me' but they somehow know that I have noticed (whatever it was they thought they might have have hidden with anyone else - so for some strange reason I am always the outsider who gets taken in and soon taken apart because the need to own up to you. I suppose I would have made a great parish priest. But there was NEVER anyone for the little priest to confess to, nor any god, as this is a strictly atheist priest.

Naturally, at this sub-uni B-level, I was able to survive, effortlessly in terms of sub-academics, with more than little unconscious effort socially. It was obvious that I was going to do something with language, so was able to postpone any practical career choice by, after a gap of two years, taking this three-year secondary level dutch.

Never got a proper job, one interview without getting travel expenses reimbursed (jump) until I landed a job teaching Dutch as a Second Language to refugees. I was GREAT. I was the only teacher of my level. All the others were at elementary school level - teaching alien adults. They barely knew a thing of grammar at any reasonable level, let alone phonetics. So I was hired specifically with a view to provide support for my colleagues, for which reason I gave every class one three-hour lesson per week, next to their regular teacher. See the pattern: I end up in a teaching capacity even towards my peers. Only later did I get 'my own' group, the very last little lot of Vietnamese boat people, just arrived. I had them counting in dutch, up to one hundred (on their own rhythm dictated by me, who only interjected the required 'new' input just befor reaching the next 'tens') when, during the eighties, my supervisor walked in to see how the newbies were settling in. She could not believe it...

And then, I was twentyfour maybe, so around 1980, the first real post war recession set in. Refugees lost any priority. Cuts were made. I was the last one in, and the first one out. With my jobhunting record, I decided to get back on my required level - back to uni, at 25.

I dropped out age 32, with only a final paper left, really. And hadn't studied without accomplishment either. Just didn't get 'picked up' sufficiently.
Teaching afterwards did occur, with some degrees of success and failure, but not a lot. I did always sort of mentor-like coach people; which was the sort of individual stuff that worked very well for me. Actually taught female professionals youth workers, not just to improve on their written reporting, but also actually to start enjoying writing reports. One of them wanted more, and became my first student of English.

When working as a night doorman of a small 4-star gastronomical hotel, I came into contact with cricket in Holland. Someone of the local 1 team cricket club decided I was one of those people that can get along with everybody. He had a bit of a cowboy company in the lucrative world of courses for shopfloor personnel. I could teach Safety at Work.

That was lucrative enough for me per hour, to start my own 'freelanceship' officially. Textwork and teaching. Safety. I haven't a clue, but I'll guarantee you'll pass the mandatory exam. I am the god of multiple choice.

Time for a break; I assume I'll edit by addit, or would that be addit by edit...


means something like

Oh, I know! I teach teenagers and people in their early 20´s, in professional dance schools; so they are people that know they want to become dancers. I would have a very hard time teaching my subject on a lower/less detailed level, though I have done it at times, but then I have to give them a more general knowledge. I personally have a very hard time teaching kids, and basically avoid that. Though I love children, and do very well with them one on one or in smaller groups, I just can´t take them in big groups. But that´s just me, personally. I´m also lucky in that my job is only very minimally social. I pretty much just come in and teach my classes each day, then go on to the next studio. Usually I pretty much only see the other teachers in passing, as I leave and they come in to the studio! Only time for a "hi, how´s it going?" kind of thing....ha, ha.

Just out of curiosity, what did you do in the National Autistic Society? I´m curious. There´s a society like that here in Hamburg, too. I was wondering if it was possible to do something with children with AS, but preferably one on one, or in small groups....I haven´t inquired yet, though...I really procrastinate with those things, some kind of fear I guess...

Heck, I should probably even inquire about a diagnosis, but don´t particularly want to do it in a foreign language. Anyway, I just never seem to pick up the phone....aarrgghhh

I am part of the 'outreach' team within the National Autistic Society (NAS for short). This basically means that i go to the 'service user's (jargon for the autistic people) houses and take them out, do activities etc. Do things that they can't do on their own and provide some respite for the parents/carers.

It is a good job and is very interesting, but i would much rather work with children than adults - i am trying to transfer into another department within NAS.

Find it quite difficult to take people out since i don't really enjoy social situations myself and have social anxiety! But i try my best, and am better at it than those i work with.

Oh, and maybe i should try speaking to my work about a diagnosis I just think people will laugh it off as i appear very 'normal' on the surface

I'm not a fully-qualified teacher, but I'm qualified to teach adults with problems in reading and arithmetic and people with learning difficulties. I love it. The head-tutor usually puts me one-to-one with the very quiet, nervous learners because I'm patient, and, being fairly quiet myself, I don't scare them. I don't know how I'd cope with a class of boisterous children...probably not very well, but one-to-one I'm OK and it's something I get a lot of satisfaction from doing. Plus we have a good laugh sometimes too.

Yeah i am the same. I am a student teacher at the moment, and when i go out to schools on placement, i really enjoy working with small groups of children. I have a lot of patience and find it ver enjoyable to listen to a small group of children.

On the other hand, when i have to take the whole class for a lesson, i dread going in to school. Once i start my lesson i am usually ok, to begin with at least, but at times it feels like just too much to handle.

Especially when i have different groups of children doing different things. Find it difficult to organise them etc.

I will finish my degree and become a teacher of some sort..perhaps just not a 'typical' teacher that teacges a whole class all day

If I may suggest...over at A to Z Teachers there is a user who is an Aspie teacher. PM me if you are interested in contacting him.

Thanks

Each one teach one topic

I am a tutor of math up to the grade 11 applied level. I also study math to keep my skills honed.

I also tutor in literature and social sciences to help students with essays.

Had my social skills and tasking skills been more in line with my abilities and talents I would have been a qualified school teacher of sorts. As it is I can only handle imparting knowledge on an individual basis.

Good luck.

Thanks

I will be a qualified school teacher, able to teach children in primary (elementary) school from summer 2010! It's kind of exciting but terrifying at the same time!

Just decided to relax a bit and enjoy my time at university...we'll see what happens in the future

This thread has been unmentionably poignant for me. Like the original poster, I have not been diagnosed with AS, but strongly believe that I have it. I went to college to be a teacher. My degree is in elementary education. I have been a student-teacher, elementary classroom teacher, and substitute teacher.

As I've mentioned elsewhere, I have only recently become aware of Asperger's and the part that it plays in my life. Reframing the practice of teaching in the context of AS is a big reckoning for me. Let me preface my further remarks by saying this: Everyone is different. Each person's experience of teaching is different, just as each person's experience of AS is different. My experiences of combining these two things have been largely negative. It's not that way for everyone. I can only speak for myself. Thank you.

Let me share my history of being a teacher.
Coming out of high school, I didn't know what I wanted to do as a career. After a couple of years of messing around and being in and out of community colleges, I took a hard look at what it was that I thought I could do. My interests are varied, yet largely academic. I felt like I could combine them in the practice of teaching. It made sense. I got into a university and started towards that goal.

Things went fine in my classes, and I was feeling good about it all, until I got into the first internship/student-teaching situation. Basically, when I actually had to do some of the actual work of an actual teacher. I found myself experiencing all the pangs and difficulties of social ineptitude in an environment where it was not OK to be experiencing those sorts of things. Failing to conduct a coherent lesson because I was frozen by anxiety is not something that can happen on a regular basis when you are a teacher. Yet it was happening to me.

A couple of years passed, and I was in my final internship, after having to petition the university to let me continue the program, because I had failed a number of key benchmarks... not because I was incompetent or lazy, but because I just could not seem to do certain things. Parent-teacher communication was a big problem. Student discipline was another. Things were out of control.

I somehow got through that, graduated and had my degree. YAY! I was confident about this, and felt like I had learned from my mistakes and could now go out and get a job as a teacher. After a summer of searching and interviewing, I ended up getting a job at an elementary school. It was a good school in a good part of town. 4th grade. I felt like I had finally done something constructive towards a real career.

Things started going wrong immediately. All of the best-practice intellectual training I had received at the university did not help me to deal with the real-life problems of managing a classful of 25 4th-graders. I constantly had problems with kids who seemed to me to be belligerent and underhanded. I basically never communicated with parents, which put increasing amounts of pressure on me, which caused me to retreat further. My stress and anxiety at work caused problems at home, which escalated the problems at work, and so on. A bitter and painful downward spiral.

By the second half of the year, I had parents writing angry letters to the principal; one even calling for me to be fired. I dreaded going to work, and I was miserable every day. With a few months to go in the school-year, it all crashed to a halt. One day I was called down to a meeting with the principal. She explained to me that it was in the best interest of everyone that I be removed from my position. Instead of being fired, I was placed in a co-teaching position in another class, where I rode out the rest of the year.

After this, I wallowed in disgrace for some time. Then somewhat out of financial necessity, I became a substitute teacher. That changed a lot of things. Substituting was (and still is) all the best things about teaching, and none of the worst. I can walk into any school in the district, unknown, with no plans, no background, and do a lesson and be successful. The bottom line and the key difference is this: with substituting, there is no lasting social commitment. I can be an actor, playing whatever character I wish for that day. I can be someone else, somewhere else, tomorrow. That factor of transience was, to me, liberating. I started to look forward to work. Each day became an exciting new opportunity. I learned a lot of those practical classroom social skills that I had lacked. Teaching became a positive, do-able thing again.

So now, here I sit, having weathered all these storms, and come out the other side with a good deal of wisdom. I am still substituting, although looking for a full-time position. Eventually, I'll probably get one, and I will have to step up like never before. But I feel the most confident that I ever have at the prospect of this.

Teaching when you have AS is tough. No doubt about it. But it's not impossible. It can be good in a number of ways. But you have to make it work for you. That's something that comes by doing, and only you can define how it will go.
Good luck to you.

I don't know anything about being a teacher, but I am a parent of two kids, ages 7 and 11. If there is one thing schools REALLY need, it's teachers who understand about AS. They don't always know that they need it, but they do. You may be the one who sees the little girl who is left out of all the cliques and spends her free time lining things up, and recognize that she needs to be evaluated, whereas every other teacher doesn't notice. You'll be able to see these kids from a different perspective, and when you see a kid who does really well in some areas, but who can't find anything in his backpack, or who has meltdowns or gets made fun of, you'll have some ideas about what might be going on.

So, it might be hard, but if you like working with kids, I think you'll have something special to offer, especially to those kids who might otherwise slip through the cracks.

I am a school teacher in a public high school. I have now taught 21 years. My first 19 years I taught sophomore and senior general level English. Now, for the past 2 years I have taught the talented and gifted high school students. My principal was enthusiastic about having me switch to the gifted program as he thought it was a good move for me. So far, I am happy with the change. I have also taught composition classes at a local university.

Thanks for the info! Yes, I would love to do something like that, one on one (or very small groups), with children. How does one go about finding work like that? Do you think it would be strange if I just go the autistic society here and start inquiring? (I´ve never had a job outside of theater related stuff, so I don´t really know how to apply for one! In addition to that, I´m...well...terrified. I have some social angst myself, especially with new situations; known situations are fine though. Anyway, this is why I never get around to doing these things...) I don´t have any experience, aside from the fact that I think I´m on the spectrum...Would I need experience? I wonder if I could combine something theater related, and working with autistic or AS children? Right now, AS is my special interest, and I love to help people.

I can definitely relate about being worried that people will laugh at you! I think I appear "normal" too. I do feel, internally, like I have AS (or residual AS)- I have many more social skills now, so I don´t know how apparent it is to the outside world. Although, all my friends who know me well say it fits, so who knows? (But when I told my parents I thought I had it, they treated me like I was stupid for even thinking about it...that intimidated me and now I´m afraid that others will laugh). However, all the telltale signs were there in my childhood and history, it explains everything about me. But after a lifetime of coping, pretending, and learning about things, I probably don´t "look" to the outside eye like the kind of person they´d expect...I can even make eye contact now, though I didn´t used to....well, who knows...

Well...the only experience i had of working with ASD children/adults was through my course at university - some lectures etc. Also, i have worked in a few classrooms with autistic children in them. Apart from this, i had no experience prior to the job.

To apply for my job, qualifications were desired, but not essential - give a good interview and you couold get a job. I always seem to do very well in interviews and sometimes convince myself that i am a confident person! But anyway, i knew a lot about autism and this showed during the interview.

I think you should contact the autistic society...i don't know what the requirements are for your one, but for mine it was more about commitment, enthusiasm and desire, as well as a willingness to work with atypical people.

It can be a difficult job ie you don't know how someone will react or what mood they will be in that day If you can show your knowledge of autism and show your commitment, then you have a good chance.

I am the same, it took me a year to actually apply for the job and some days i am terrified to go to work...in fact i phoned in sick the other day as it was too overwhelming to go to work. However, when i do force myself to go (majority of times) i actually have a good time and enjoy myself; its the initial thought of being social. New situations are terrifying!

I do have social skills, but i still have that internal fear and resistance that i feel others don't. I try to ignore it and just get on with it, but it's always there. The strange thing is, in my childhood i was the 'popular' girl in primary school - everyone wanted to be my friend. But when i think about it, the children came to me, i NEVER went to them! Strange, i know

Anyway, if you want any more info or a chat, just ask

I have done quite a bit of private tutoring of kids and teenagers, one-on-one. I really enjoyed that and was good at it. I have also taught in classrooms, in a secondary school (high school) which I found a lot harder and less enjoyable, mostly because of multitasking difficulties - I found it impossible to concentrate simultaneously on what I was teaching and on the class as a whole, and which kid was chewing gum, and which kid was throwing paper balls around and which kid was talking instead of listening, and on both teaching and disciplining. I couldn't do it consistently. I have since read articles that say that being a high school teacher is a definite no-no for someone with AS, but I would challenge that, as everyone is different. While I'd say it's a no-no for me, it might be something you are really good at, and you can find your own strategies to make it work.

I think motivation is the key thing. I found I wasn't motivated if the kids weren't interested. I had no desire to make them interested. My attitude was that if they weren't interested, that was simply their loss, and I was only interested in teaching kids who wanted to learn. And it was an inner city school where most kids weren't interested. I think to be a good teacher you have to have a desire to motivate kids as well as teach them, and you need to have influencing skills. I have neither of these. But if you have a passion for motivating kids (if it's kids you want to work with) then I think that is half the battle won.