Teaching and ASD

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17 Jan 2023, 11:13 am

I think that I was very good at organizing the material to make it easy to follow for a comprehensive understanding, but I was terrible at adapting to individual needs.

Fern
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17 Jan 2023, 11:39 am

Gammeldans wrote:

Hi!
Can people with ASD become good teachers?
I understand that it is not black and white, ie ot is probably more complicated than a yes or no answer.

I ask this because I am at a place (for people with ASD and ADHD) where they have a music teacher with ASD. I thought he would be great for me but seems to have difficulties with people skills. I hope the can find another person for me.
This is not me saying that "normal" people would be great trachers. Some have it and some don't.
But this is only about ASD and teaching.

What do you think about teaching and ASD?
Have you been teaching people?

I teach at the university level. My students tend to give me pretty good ratings (usually just slightly above average), but I find it draining as heck. I honestly would prefer if I could just focus on research and on mentoring students who want to do research.

Gammeldans
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17 Jan 2023, 11:45 am

Dear_one wrote:

I think that I was very good at organizing the material to make it easy to follow for a comprehensive understanding, but I was terrible at adapting to individual needs.

Sounds like the guy I was talking about.

skibum
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18 Jan 2023, 6:59 am

So, here's a new one. I was talking to an nt about myself and about how my Autism affects me, and she got offended. I told her that I wasn't trying to offend her but that I was trying to teach her this. She then told me that my choosing to use the word "teach" in this context was condescending and offensive to her and to neurotypicals in general. She said that as an Autistic person, when I am talking to neurotypicals, I should not tell them that I am teaching them things when I am talking about myself and my Autism but instead, I should say that I am trying to "explain" it to them. She said that the reason that me using the word "teach" in that context when I am talking to neurotypicals is offensive is because it implies that I know something about the topic and that they don't know anything about it. And that is offensive and condescending to them because it implies social hierarchy.

But she thinks it's fine that nts can tell Autistics that they "teach" us. And she had no response when I told her that I have even had some nts tell me that they need to teach Autistic people about Autism. I have even been in her presence and heard her proudly tell other nts that she has to teach me what neurotypicals are like and how they think and feel. She prides herself in telling others how she teaches me about neurotypicals.

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Silence23
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18 Jan 2023, 7:56 am

skibum wrote:

She said that the reason that me using the word "teach" in that context when I am talking to neurotypicals is offensive is because it implies that I know something about the topic and that they don't know anything about it. And that is offensive and condescending to them because it implies social hierarchy.

Classic case of "not my problem". It's not your problem if they get upset over using the wrong words. It's their problem if they are cognitively inhibited just because of one "wrong" word (which isn't even wrong).

Also, you're autistic. You have difficulties to adapt. It's ableistic to judge you because you fail to adapt to their useless irrational word games

skibum
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18 Jan 2023, 8:32 am

Silence23 wrote:

skibum wrote:

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Dear_one
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18 Jan 2023, 10:26 am

skibum wrote:

My thing with being Autistic is not that I can't adapt to their stupid word games, it's that I don't know that their word games exist. I have no ability to know the word games. But it's all about social status. This person considers me as her social subordinate and therefore inferior socially, so she feels entitled to be able to tell me that I am not allowed to teach an nt because I am Autistic.[/quote]

I don't think this word game is a general rule, or even valid. It is just an attempt by a stupid person to avoid facing reality. Of all the handicaps, stupidity is the only one that is mercilessly mocked, so masking is the #1 priority.

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18 Jan 2023, 10:31 am

skibum wrote:

Do you have the name of her superior?
I'd be losing a few bolts over this one.

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kraftiekortie
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18 Jan 2023, 10:44 am

She should EXPLAIN herself

IsabellaLinton
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18 Jan 2023, 11:47 am

My teaching problems were with executive function, record keeping, and multitasking, but I think the question is about teaching one-on-one, so I didn't give examples of those difficulties. With individuals I find the easiest way to teach is to be a good listener or observer so you can figure out what they don't understand. I'm a brainstorming type so once I know what they're struggling with, I can think of several strategies to try.

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Silence23
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19 Jan 2023, 7:02 am

skibum wrote:

This person considers me as her social subordinate and therefore inferior socially, so she feels entitled to be able to tell me that I am not allowed to teach an nt because I am Autistic.

Then make sure she understands that it is useless and irrational to waste time and energy with such word games. She basically makes herself mentally disabled, as it clogs up her brain and other peoples brains with nonsense activity. Teach her to overcome her mental disability. Because in her case it's possible (likely just needs to improve her ego, so it doesn't cognitively inhibit her). In yours it's not.

E.g. you could try to make her realize that her ego has critical errors in its program code. Egos obviously don't like that and may react even more irrationally, getting overly aggressive in an attempt to defend themselves, etc. but it's worth a try. Maybe after a few days she will realize that you were right.

And btw, autistic people can teach NTs many things. Reduced global connectivity in the autistic brain is a disadvantage, but the increased local connectivity (I think it develops as a sort of compensation for the reduced global connectivity) can have significant advantages. Neurotypicals can probably barely ever achieve such an amount of local connectivity.

About the differences in brain connectivity:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4843767/

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