Aspies & the Education System

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AS means your brain is different. Not any worse, not any better; just different. The AS brain is more specialized, more focused, and less socially oriented than an NT brain.

But often, our education is focused on learning to be "normal"; or we're labeled as having behavior problems; or we're ignored because our grades are OK and we're "just a little shy". That sort of education is off-target. It doesn't help in the least.

AS does cause problems for people. But then, being "normal"... that causes problems, too; problems that Aspies often don't have. It's a very unusual Aspie who turns into a gossip or a bully.

We have strengths other people don't have; we have weaknesses others also don't have. The problem is that, a lot of times, Aspies grow up learning how to overcome problems and enhance strengths that are common in NTs. Like I said, off target.

That leaves Aspies without the skills they need to manage their own unique problems; and it leaves the strengths they have untapped. That's normal enough in a lot of public schools; but with Aspies, it's more severe than with most. Being labeled "special" doesn't help, either.

What's necessary is to learn on your own what you can do, what causes problems, and how you can work with those things. Probably, that means self-education; it may even mean discovery of things that no one else has learned before. But, with the increasing numbers of people with AS and autism, it's pioneering work that needs to be done.

The issue comes to the point of when you are the only adult in a room with 30 children, you need some way to educate those children and what way is better than the way that most of those children respond to.

On top of that, you have all of these requirements coming from the state/federal/local governments, the school board and administration, and possibly the citizens. Most of the programs are designed to teach the most amount of children with the least amount of effort and cost.

We say that singling out a child for special attention is bad but if the schools had their way, no child with any kind of issue that deviates from normal would be allowed to even enter one of their buildings. That is why IDEA was created in the first place. Even with the issues surrounding special education, the alternative is scarier.

I was in a gifted and talented class 1st 2nd and 3rd grade they encouraged us to lean facts and figures. We were rewarded with praise and awards for acomplishments like reading a whole book or completeing a workbook ahead of schedule. They encouraged the thing that came natural for us .
They did not teach us what we neede how to get alone with others how to deal with frustrations they did not encourage team building or friendships.
I did well in this enviroment the problems came when I had to join the real world. The first time I completed the workbook for the six weeks in the second week of school the teacher did not give me the next workbook to start on she gave me a new copy of the same work book and told me not to "get ahead of the class"
Show and tell was no longer a monolauge on the current object it was share and tell.

I do not know if they would have continued the program what would have happened but stopping the program was no favor to me. I hated school after that undisiplined kids that did not see the wonders contained in books or why it was important to know the anwser to why?
All they knew was learning was interupting their playtime.
Needless to say this additude did not make me many friends.If I was luck I would find a teacher that would give me extra classwork to keep me out of trouble but most of the time the teachers simply wanted to get through the day and away from us.
I stayed in trouble with both the kids and the teachers.

The additude that all childern should be equal is BS each child is unique and should be treated as such. I know it is impossible but we can at least aknowledge that some kids can learn faster than others and some can make friends easily

So, Callista, having been aspi all my life, and having an aspi son, and having to deal with all the crap.......and finally reading your signature....why don't you write a research grant? I mean, if you have a degree, in any subject, and a half-way descent mind.....go for it. You need some concrete ideas and some written out protocols, but I agree that there is a lot of research that has to be done, and it has to start with an in depth understanding of what it is.....which is not expressed by saying that the brain is "wired differently," because, of course, the brain isn't wired at all. It's all chemical reactions!

Go for it!

BTDT

2 words chick: school. sucks.

if i was king of the nazi world we live in, schools would have an optional "asperger's aid and education" class as an elective for those with AS, have AS diagnosed people teach us, not messed up crack smoking teachers who tell me I ask too many questions or I should ask my peers for help when needed and not bother the teacher when AS is in my IEP.

Oh! You haven't seen nothing yet. Wait until the No Child Left Behind Act gets through, and they base funding on schools for phony performance figures and screw our childrens' minds with standardized testing. It's already being done, and it will only get worse.

If there is a set of three computers and one of them doesn't work, then it would be logical to apply more funds for the one that just doesn't work. You don't apply more funds for the two computers that do work, maybe you increase it a bit, but you don't give a big financial reward. That's what the NCLBA does. It wastes money by funneling it to schools that work and denying it from those that don't work. Somebody better tell that Bush clown to take a course in logic. And I won't even go into the world of standardized tests.

People who are aspie need to be placed in specialized education classes away from the mainstream stuff that flushes 30 kids into a classroom with a teacher who can hardly keep up with the daily routine of school herself, simply because it's all so burdensome. If no child was left behind, then class sizes would be diminished and people who said: "What is the problem? I had a lot of kids when I was in school, and I had no problems." People who say that need to be spat upon.

- Ray M -

Well, you could make a case that neural connections are equivalent to the brain's "wiring". But I do know what you mean; chemicals have a lot to do with how those connections work. Brains are a lot more complicated than computers.

As it is, I don't think my teachers actually tried to mess up my education; it's more that the education system simply doesn't know how to deal with Aspies in general. I was never in either special ed or AP classes, since my schools were always too small for them and my mother wouldn't let them diagnose my AS; so I don't know if either sort of classes might have helped me. I do know that, while I learned independently and almost effortlessly, I was never taught some of the things that I didn't know, but that NT kids just picked up. And the classes that were so hard for NT kids were boringly easy to me...

Being a misfit in the educational system you're in just isn't very much fun.

Once I have my degree, they might listen to me! I really think I would have gotten much further if I had learned how to learn... how to use the brain I had, rather than being expected to have one that was like everyone else's... ah, well; that's the past, isn't it?

I'm 3/4ths done with my BS; and after that, grad school... I'm still hampered by my "Aspie problems"--unproductive special interests and crazy sleep schedule, mostly--but I'm educating myself in handling those things, now; and sooner or later I will have enough information to be able to write said paper, and maybe enough influence to make people read it.

Whether I can do that with a physics degree remains to be determined... Maybe I will have to study psychology as well, though that isn't a very discouraging idea--psychology is one of my minor special interests ("minor"=5 or so hours a week spent, as opposed to 20-40 on my "major" interests).

Until then, all I can do is complain on Internet forums...

All of my weaknesses have become strengths. So have my Social Skills.

Not back east,they spend amazing amounts of money. the school system is mainly concered with making sure no teacher is left behind.

The no child left behind and everyone is equal is B/S. Just within my family the 3 of us kids where all over the map. My sister did well in school and is normal,my brother was kept back twice and even given extra help,sent to summer school and is still no genius.With 2 extra years of school, plus summer school he still was way behind average kids when they handed him a high school deploma just to pump up their numbers of kids that graduated high school. He works in a factory at a job that requires about a 4th grade education Half the people at the factory don't even speak english and have little education.


Young lady you aren't going to change the crazy NT's, just make some money and buy yourself a nice spread in the country and enjoy life and watch the crazy people go at it. There is no reasoning with the NT's, once they have been told something is a certain way thats the end of the story.

NCLB=get rid of the kids they think will bring down the scores. My son's new school looked at the IEP and the ASD and decided he must be stupid. He got kicked out before the end of the year and well before the state-mandated testing.

I guess they didn't look at the records from his previous school where he was always in the 90th percentile.

I had a p-t job at his previous school and it's amazing the hoops teachers jump through to try and make the scores - forget teaching, it's all about the standardized test scores.

wow three2camp, you son's school actually did that? They deserve to fail. One aspect of NCLB that schools keep failing at (because of the fallacy of the law itself) is in special needs students. You would think they would look more closely at any student that can possibly bring that number up. Hell, schools are even trying to find gimmicks to get the numbers of normal students up.

One thing that people do not realize however is that schools have always used standardized tests as a way to classify students. NCLB simply made the process more standardized and out in the open.

The fallacy of NCLB is that children learn at their own pace. John Taylor Gatto asked this question: "If one child learns to read at 6 and the other at 11, with no difference in eithers ability by the time they are 18. did there really a concern?" The way the education system would have it, the 6 yo would be held to the level of their classmates and the 11 yo would be in special education and considered always slow.

Yup - they worked him good.

Here are some recollected conversations with staff at his school:

#1
Teacher: We have a problem, he won't put his book away and transition to math.
Mom: hmm, that's a problem.
T: I tried to take the book but he screamed and now he's sitting on it.
M: So, if he's sitting on it, he can't be reading it, right?
T: Oh, I didn't think of it that way.
M: Give him advance notice, leave the book there until math is finished or I will have to have you set it on my desk - that way he can't accuse you of theft.

#2
Principal: He's having a hard time in the class so we had to move his desk again.
Mom: I see, but you realize moving his desk will cause anxiety and melt-downs?
P: He needs to be near the teacher since she has 27 other students.
M: What about the aide?
P: There is no aide, we don't have the budget for it.
M: No aide? But I was told there are at least 4 other special needs kids in that classroom.
P: We just don't have the budget.
M: What about smaller classes?
P: No budget, no room.
M: So, it's my son that has to pay the price because YOU can't accomodate him?
--(they did get an aide two weeks later)

#3
Asst. Principal: Well, we need to send him home, he's being disruptive again.
M: What about a time-out room?
AP: sorry, no room and he's too disruptive for the detention room today.
M: Today? What do you mean?
AP: Well, that's where we usually send him.
M: You mean he's been in detention AND YOU DIDN'T TELL US!

#4
AP: We need to expel him today. He hit another child.
M: Why? What did you do to him this time?
AP: Well, he KNEW we were moving his desk and he hit the other child while trying to move it back.
M: When did you tell him?
AP: Yesterday.
M: But he told me he spent all day yesterday reading.
AP: Well, I was there when we told him.
M: Did he have a book in his hand?
AP: Yes, but we told him.
M: Did he hear you?
AP: I was there, I know he must have heard.

#5
Asst. Principal: I've worked with autistic kids before, I was a special ed teacher.
M: Oh, so you know how unique these kids are.
AP: Yes, I worked with one girl for years and finally got her into a regular classroom.
M: Good for you, but my son is high functioning.
AP: Yes, that's what YOU say, but I wonder about that. After all, he CAN talk.

#6
Asst. Principal: Mrs. White, did you know how intelligent your son is?
M: Ah, yes, he is 9 years old and I HAVE been living with him that entire time.
AP: Well, we were surprised by how smart he is.
M: Didn't you look at his records from the previous school?
AP: I don't know, did we ever get those records?
M: So, you're only just now discovering this? What about the reading test three months ago that said he's reading 235 words per minute and was the top scoring child in the school?
AP: hmm, I don't think I saw those records.
M: Well, you WERE present at the first IEP meeting when the results were announced.
AP: oh

After the expulsion, we received a registered letter about a meeting after the winter break (they expelled him the day before the class holiday party). Dad did attend the meeting, I was too angry. The principal announced he was no longer welcome at her school and would need to remain expelled until they found alternative schooling for him.

Dad smiled and handed the official withdrawal notice - we're homeschooling now.

That's not quite in agreement with NCLB, but at least they didn't have to worry about my ret*d kid bringing down their scores. And, I know, nobody uses the word ret*d anymore but that's how they treated my son so they may as well have called him that.

We could have fought for him, but it wore us out and we missed the boy that used to live here. We've spent the last few months bringing him back and we're a much happier family now that he's out of public school.

Wow,

Makes me wonder if I ever have any children if I will even try the public education system. I wonder if you could get the district dinged/school dinged on their NCLB score because he attended part of the year (part of the score is based on special needs students who TAKE the test). Maybe talk to the state Education department about that (especially since a district that has the nerve to say "no money" probably used up all of the exceptions they were entitled to).

It makes me angry that children are getting shortchanged like this by the public school system.
I don't think it was much better in my day, at least it was pretty bad at the Central Ohio school I attended from 6th grade to 9th grade.

I remember getting in trouble for reading ahead, not socializing, and not being able to hear through background noise. Also for having meltdowns when I was getting picked on and beat up on.

There is no excuse for a country as wealthy as this one to do such a horrible job as has been done with the school system.