What you would've wanted to tell your teachers at school...

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Intro:
I have suspected AS, so I do have some difficulties; some of which I have overcome, however I wouldn't be classsed as 'low-functioning', which means that I don't know how it feels to have some of the symtoms which are 'classically Autistic.'

I want to become a Special Educational Needs teacher, specialising in ASD. I am generally good with Autistic children for some reason, I have been ever since I was a very young child, but I can always improve, and I'm far from knowing everything. What will make me a better teacher is if I can understand why an Autistic child is doing something etc. Not a lot of teachers will use a forum like WP, but they should do - after all, if you're working with children that are non-vebal/particially verbal for example, how will you know what they want/why they're doing what they're doing, without asking them? Just because they don't communicate verbally, doesn't mean that they can't think or communicate; often they can type, which is why I am asking this over WP, so that I can hopefully learn something, and be a better Autistic teacher.

I know that ASD is exactly that, a spectrum, so I am opening this up to everyone, whether you're 'high-functioning' or 'low-functioning'. (I don't like labels either, but I want to make it clear that I want anyone on the ASD/thinks that they might have an ASD to answer this post if they want to.)

Questions that I want to ask you:
When you were at school, if you found that your teacher didn't understand you, what do you wish that they knew?
Were there any behaviours that you did that your teacher didn't understand? If so, why did you do those things? What would you have wanted your teacher to do in those situations?
Would you have liked your teacher to handle something different? If so what and how?
How did you handle melt-downs? Did you want your teacher to do something specific during one?

If you can think of anything else that you think would help me understand more and make me a better teacher, please say!

I'd want my teacher to have some understanding of sensory issues, so when she seemingly uses an entire can of bug spray to kill one spider, it is a really, really big deal.

I'd want my teacher to understand that when I get nervous, my thoughts run together, and I can either clam up or sputter. And shaking me doesn't help! That is, my teacher does not need to become a bully.

And for teachers, just like major league baseball pitchers, it's really more of a question of how good your B game is, not how good your A game is.

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I am self-diagnosed as being on the Asperger's-Autism Spectrum. In some ways, I guess I could be viewed as "high-functioning," although so much on the job front.

I really like the slogan: We are all middle-functioning! It really drives home the point that we all have a variety of skills, attributes, etc.

To make the bullies stop bullying me.

No oral presentations, and no group projects. If group projects are unavoidable, assign people to to groups instead of letting them make their own. Nobody ever wanted to be in a group with me.

I don't really know.

Stimming. They didn't understand my stimming, and still can't understand it (I'm still in school). I just would have liked them to not care about it, and not making such a big deal about it.

I don't know.

Most of the times, I couldn't handle a meltdown as a child, and I still can't , though they're happening less frequently. And I want teachers to do nothing when I have one, I just would like people to shut up and not stay around me.

I was undiagnosed at school. The teachers bullied me harshly because of my autistic behaviours. I would like to tell them to show a little bit of understanding instead of spending 10+ years indoctrinating me to think I am useless and to dislike myself. Thankfully most of the horrible old bastards are probably dead now. I hope their deaths were painful because they put me through a decade of pain.