123 School Work

Education of the Aspergers Child

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  Introduction
       Asperger's Syndrome is a form of autism that is on the high-functioning end of the scale of Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD). It is often misdiagnosed as other things and can be mistreated or not treated at all because of these misdiagnoses. Since it shares many characteristics with other developmental and behavioral disorders, many Asperger's children and adults are inappropriately labeled with a variety of diagnoses including Attention Deficit- Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), dyslexia, dysgraphia and other disorders that have symptoms including speech delay, profound reading problems, inability to write, socially inappropriate responses, and lack of social bonding among others. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual IV (DSM-IV) gives an extremely technical psychological definition of the disorder. A layman's definition would be most easily understood by reading a list of symptoms that mostly or all occur in these individuals. These include stereotypic motor movements, marked impairment in the use of nonverbal behavior, unusual social styles and limited social skills, extreme lack of organization, very concrete literal thinking, math disability, strong spelling but poor writing and written work, poor reading comprehension, marked impairment in the use of non-verbal behavior such as eye to eye gaze, body language, and facial expression, failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to developmental age level, lack of spontaneous seeking to enjoy interests or achievements with others, inflexible adherence to routine and change, and a persistent preoccupation with parts of objects.
  The educational environment
  It becomes obvious as this list is reviewed that the Asperger's child will have severe impairment in the educational system. From a very young age, the skills that are expected to be in place prior to the onset of academic instruction including social awareness and desire for play companionship are not part of the Asperger's child's makeup or ability. The "play and learn" environment of kindergarten and even pre-school will already be uncomfortable and perhaps even hostile to these individuals. The job of the teacher is severely impeded by the variety of problems these children have that are educational hurdles...