Quantcast

Positive Behavior Solutions

Got a behavior problem? You're home!

Sponsored Links

Asperger's Syndrome - Three children I have known.
I'll give you several examples of Asperger's kids I have known. All of the children are diagnosed with Asperger's:

Marla
Marla was a six year old girl with a fascination with mythical creatures and oceanography. During free time, she played with some small toy horses which she named with mythical names like Zeus and Aphrodite. She had no interest in the other children and only was interested in adults because they could take her horses away. One time, her horses were taken away because she refused to go to her math group. After some initial screaming, she did her work. When her horses were returned to her, one was missing. Another kid had taken it. She had a two hour tantrum and obsessed on the missing horse for a month. She also walked half bent over and had not a clue that she was different that other kids.

Another child, Gavin, was included in a regular 2nd grade class. He had serious problems with calling out and did not understand the concept of waiting his turn and would answer rhetorical questions like, "Well class, it seems like we are having a nice day today." He would blurt out telling her what a nice day HE was having. He had serious difficulties understanding time and sequences. One time a teacher was reading a standardized test math question to him. The date of the test was May 2006.The question went like this: See the calendar? It is July 2006. If the date is July 15th, what day does it fall on? He answered, "It isn't July 2006 yet, I'll have to wait."

And then their was Space Pup. Patrick, a 6 year old ,decided that he was Space Pup. He wasn't named Space Pup, he WAS Space Pup. He could do the things that Space Pup could do, but wouldn't do the things that Space Pup couldn't do. He also knew almost every animal in the kingdom and could tell you where if lived and what it ate.

Asperger's children need to have a curriculum that emphasizes social skills. They usually don't have academic or communication problems like autistic kids. They just don't take in social skills almost unconsciously as most of us do, so they have to be specifically taught. Scott Bellini's book, "Building Social Relationships: A Systematic Approach to Teaching Social Interaction Skills to Children and Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorders and Other Social Difficulties," is a wonderful place to start.
Posted: Monday, February 18, 2008 11:23 AM by MissBehavior

Comments

Jane said:

Those three children sound so familiar, especially 'Space Pup'. At age 10 my Asperger Syndrome son wanted to be Inspector Gadget when he grew up and couldn't understand that IG was not a real person. He could also recite IG movies verbatim (all characters). The literal answer of Gavin is also typical. When asked to 'wait a minute', my son would keep asking if the minute was up. I remember when he was told to 'hold your tongue' when being rude. I turned around and he was actually holding his tongue!

# February 25, 2008 10:20 PM

Natural Male Enhancement said:

Thanks for very interesting article. btw. I really enjoyed reading all of your posts. It’s interesting to read ideas, and observations from someone else’s point of view… makes you think more.

So please keep up the great work. Greetings.

# March 8, 2008 6:41 AM

Ariane said:

I enjoyed the descriptions of your students with Asperger's.  I have actually found that these students often do end up struggling with some academic issues, which impact critical thinking skills and writing.  In the earlier grades, they may be hyperverbal, have well developed vocabularies, and be well versed in their own special interest areas.  As they progress in school, difficulties may begin to arise when tasks become more abstract and there are more writing demands.

# March 8, 2008 2:56 PM
New Comments to this post are disabled.