In-Class Report/Presentation on Autism

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Namiko
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01 Nov 2005, 11:26 pm

So, we have to do various "disorders" or conditions for the psychology class that I'm taking right now. Close to the end of the semester (early January), we have to do a presentation in front of the class. Today, our teacher asked us if there was one or two disorders we wanted to do, and said we should come talk to her.

I was going to do BiPolar (but someone else asked first), so I'm doing autism and AS. Does anyone have any suggestions? Only one person in the class (out of about 25) knows that I have AS, and I'm not planning on telling the rest of them. If anyone has any comments or suggestions, it would be much appreciated.

-Namiko


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lowfreq50
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01 Nov 2005, 11:42 pm

Do the report without making yourself a topic in the report. Be disconnected with the topic. If anyone is clever enough to figure out that you are autistic, then so be it. But if you make your own self a topic could get you too emotionally involved and lead to preaching rather than lecturing.



Sean
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01 Nov 2005, 11:44 pm

Namiko wrote:
So, we have to do various "disorders" or conditions for the psychology class that I'm taking right now. Close to the end of the semester (early January), we have to do a presentation in front of the class. Today, our teacher asked us if there was one or two disorders we wanted to do, and said we should come talk to her.

I was going to do BiPolar (but someone else asked first), so I'm doing autism and AS. Does anyone have any suggestions? Only one person in the class (out of about 25) knows that I have AS, and I'm not planning on telling the rest of them. If anyone has any comments or suggestions, it would be much appreciated.

-Namiko

After you give your report on Autism, don't be suprised if some of them see a connection between your behaviors, mannerisms, and personality, and the description you give. Maybe mention that Autistics ability to function in life can range from needing to spend their life in a hospital to being a Nobel Prize recipient (Einstein, for one) to being self-made billionare (Bill Gates). They have probably heard lots of sob stories designed to serve various agendas, so focus more on our range of tallents and what we can do better than most. You could mention how comorbid disorders (such as ADD or bipolar) com into play as well.



Bec
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02 Nov 2005, 12:29 am

When I took psychology two years ago, I did a presentation on AS. The presentation was only required to be ten minutes long. Before the presentation, only the teacher knew about my diagnosis, nobody else in the class knew.

When it was my day to give the presentation, we had already been doing them for quite some time. The class was really bored and tired of listening to all the presentations. The first thing I told the class was 'I chose to do my presentation on Asperger's Syndrome, because I have Asperger's Syndrome.' They all perked up at that point, and each and every student (even the stoners sitting in the back) actively listened to every word in my ten minute presentation.

After each presentation, the presentors were supposed to ask the class if there were any questions. When I did, over half of the students' hand went up. I spent the next forty minutes answering questions about AS, how it has affected my life, and the different way I view the world. They were really interested in gaining an inside perspective of a neurological disorder.

Before my presentation, I was so nervous to tell the class that I had AS. Afterward, I was happy that I had done it. It put a face to AS, while still presenting the information in an unemotional, rational, matter-of-fact way. Had I not told them I had it, the presentation would have been uninteresting, dry, and meaningless to them. After my presentation, it appeared that everyone in the class knew me personally.

Also, the people who would be considered stereotypical NTs were the most interested and got the most out of it.

All in all, it has been one of my best school experiences.



Jetson
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02 Nov 2005, 5:00 am

Bec wrote:
The first thing I told the class was 'I chose to do my presentation on Asperger's Syndrome, because I have Asperger's Syndrome.'
Congratulations. It can be really liberating to get stuff out in the open. People tend to react to things pretty much the same way you present it - if you state things as fact and don't make a big deal than they won't either (except for the really immature ones). If you treat it like a big, dark, shameful secret that you are afraid to discuss then they'll also treat it as a shameful secret and just whisper about you behind your back.


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Namiko
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02 Nov 2005, 9:07 am

I'll have to see if anyone else in my class is doing ADD/ADHD or Tourette's because those seem to be fairly common with autism. I know someone else in my class is doing bipolar, so that probably wouldn't be a good idea to mention it to a great extent.

I was talking to the teacher after class for a few minutes and she was telling me about the person who did her report on autism last year. She'd baby-sat an autistic kid and apparently did really well on the report.


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02 Nov 2005, 9:34 am

You can just mention that AS and Bipolar often occur together. But, yeah, not to go too much further than that. Otherwise you'll be repeating information or doing someone else's report, hehe.

BTW, what references are you using?


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Namiko
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02 Nov 2005, 9:47 pm

We haven't recieved the official report instructions yet, but I've looked up the DSM-IV criteria and checked out a few links from the CDC (where I originally found out about WrongPlanet... followed a trail of links).

Unfortunately, I think our report is only allowed to take up about 10 minutes. I was planning to have almost the whole class period (45 minutes) to cover everything.


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Namiko
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07 Nov 2005, 9:40 pm

I've been doing my research, am going to lecture, probably take the whole class period. I think I'm going to cover the basics of autism (assume class knows nothing), then focus in on either extreme end of the spectrum. It would be interesting to focus in on the extreme end of HFA or AS...

I'm also going to let my best friend (who's in my psychology class) read over my outline. She knows about my AS and can tell me if I'm going overboard with way too many details or if I'm likely to confuse the heck out of the entire class. I think we have another week of research and preparation and then we present. :|


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joku_muko
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07 Nov 2005, 9:47 pm

You sound really nervous. I hope it goes well for you. Let us know what you decide on and how it goes.