What could the teacher do to help?

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Sorry but I'm carrying on from this post - http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt152988.html

I'm taking a sign language class, and other students are excluding me during pairing up or group work.

Last two weeks one group have included me due to proximity and pitty, but this week I was with a different group who excluded me to the point where one positioned themselves with their back to me in front of my chair so cutting me off from the group, I don't think it was done maliciously, it was just ignorant/rude. So I'm back to sitting alone, not able to practice and feeling like a reject - I have to focus on my workbook to seem nonchalant, but two hours of doing so is boring, it doesn't help me in class or stop me feeling upset and angry.

I've talked to the autism support team at college who had a word with the teacher, who didn't realise I was being excluded and instead had thought I was choosing not to join-in. The autistic support team have asked me what the teacher should do to help me when I'm excluded like this - I'd like to have groups put together by the teacher rather than it being based on where we sit so friends form groups and I get left out, but I can't expect the teacher to mess with the whole class for me.

Any ideas on what the teacher could do to help me when the other students exclude me?

I've been in sign language classes where you are asked to work together, and you absolutely NEED to work with other people to be able to understand how to receive the sign language and know how to respond. You are right to get this problem fixed right away.

My one suggestion that the teacher could would be to count everybody off -- i.e., if the class is to be split into three groups, then point to each person and count, one after another "one," -- point to another person "two -- point to another person "three" -- point to another person "one", etc. That splits everybody into groups without anybody being left out. No buddying up this way. Then, YOU have to take it onto yourself to move into the group as quickly as possible so that nobody can edge you out.

Is this a young group of people? I cannot imagine a class with a spread of people who are young and older leaving you out like this. It's really disheartening that this sort of thing goes on. Hopefully when they get a chance to know you better, they'll relax a bit.

It's a mix of younger and older. I don't see them trying to get to know me better.

I would think the 1, 2, 3 way of doing things would make more sense, but then that would be messing with the whole class, and there is still a risk of exclusion as there's only so much I can do to try to keep myself in a group - more difficult too when many in the class struggle with the signs making it hard to start a conversation in sign let alone keep it going. *shrugs* Thanks for your input.

All schools are different, as are all classes and professors, but in one of my classes (where we did not usually get into small groups), the professor (who knows I am autistic) privately emailed me before that class and asked if I would be uncomfortable if she put us into small discussion groups. Then, the day of it, she put us in groups. It went by where we were sitting, but she physically pointed out "you, you, you, you all one group". She has never singled me out in public due to my autism. I think your prof could do something similar without making it a big ordeal for the class. Just point out the groups, and then get into them that way.