This good idea for College?

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Since this board gets more activity IMO and this is more about the behavior issues related to my AS I thought general Autism would be the more correct board to place this under. As yall may/may not know I am returning to College in August. YA! but I have fear of OMG what if I upset teachers/students again etc. I suggested to a cousin to state the following to the classroom. Hello I'm Brandy I tend to upset people so if any of your or the teacher Mr. X has an issue with me in any way please feel free to approach me since I don't tend to understand that I am upsetting you so please let me know directly the issue. Thank you. (Does that sound good?) My cousin (Who knows of my AS) feels this is good and "covers my back" I don't understand social skills/body language so I don't know I'm upsetting you. So is my comment ok to say in class?

I don't really understand how you can upset people in class. From my experience: teacher lecturers, some students contribute, some talk and text in the back. To better answer your question, i need to know how you get into trouble. You don't have to utter a word in class unless the teacher asks you something.

I don't think it would be a good idea to draw negative attention to yourself, especially as you have not yet done anything wrong.

If you happen to upset someone, then maybe yeah, you should say that sometimes you say the wrong thing and don't mean it, but don't announce it at the beginning.

It sounds like you spend a lot of time being misunderstood. I don't think I'd tell an entire class - the kind of people isn't predictable. Some folks are just plain mean and they'd be delighted to hear that you are vulnerable. You'd be telling them where your buttons are. Is there a counseling service? Or maybe tell the prof. privately.

That being said, I do have a button I wear on my cap, it says "I'm not ignoring you, I have autism." I wear that to the grocery store and walking the dog. Not every time. It buys me some peace. Only got one negative reaction. It's a chance to take.

Good point.

Where did you get it?

I recommend just listening to the professors and the other students. If you don't speak up much, you can't upset people. Don't assume you're going to upset people before you do it... and the classroom really offers little opportunity to cause much of a problem. But if you stay quiet, you're very unlikely to rub anyone the wrong way.

Staying quiet is the way to go. I was so eager when I returned to school and wanted to be part of everything so I would contribute to class discussions and others would get angry at my opinions and more than once I had an entire class of students red-faced and shouting at me and the class discussion generated into a big attack and the professors tend to just stand there and watch when that happens.

So I learned to be careful not to say controversial things and just save my original thoughts for my papers but then I found I was contributing too much and got comments from other students about dominating classroom discussions. The quandry was that some professors grade on participation so I developed a system whereby if I know I am being graded on participation, I prepare one comment and insert it into the class discussion at an appropriate time and make no other comments, even if my comment is getting misunderstood and straw-manned and ripped to shreds, I just keep my mouth shut. That way I've made my contribution for my grade but no more.

Also, make sure you keep good hygiene and that includes washing your clothes regularly. I thought I was doing well because I was bathing regularly and brushing my teeth and washing my hair but I have a tendency to wear the same clothes over and over and that was my downfall and a girl in class gave me a bag of personal hygiene products like soap and razors and a toothbrush and toothpast and deodorant right in front of everyone in class to humiliate me. And it was a waste, too, because I'm very scent-sensitive and chemical sensitive and have to carefully choose my brands of deodorant, soap, shampoo, etc. because of the smells and her bag was so overwhelming it made me nauseated and I had to throw the whole thing in the trash so no one got to use the products and their only purpose was to make me feel small in front of my classmates. I would have preferred she take me aside and tell me about the smell if it was really bothering her, not make me a laughingstock.

So there are ways to get in trouble in class, even if you keep your mouth shut.

Not to scare anyone.

But be careful. School can be a great opportunity and lots of fun but it can also be a sort of a social minefield.

Saras Dad

I would say more but I already deleted this msg without sending, so i'll just send

ok, this is his website url

Buttons and More

Re whether to talk in class - I never said a word, except that I made a point of asking one "useful" question in each class. It didn't matter if I knew the answer, I was doing class participation. It went well enough.

If you feel it's a good idea, do it. But at my college (in the U.S.) there's a special needs department & my Special needs counselor told my English professor about me when I was having problems with him & he became a lot more understanding & easier to deal with then. As long as your teacher knows, I don't see why the whole class would need to know. But I don't know your particular circumstances, so maybe letting the whole class know is a good idea.