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Teaching gifted children with Asperger syndrome: practical advice
Tags: G&T Coordinator | Gifted and Talented | Gifted and talented pupils | SEN - Special Educational Needs | SEN conditions | SENCO
Working with very able pupils presents a challenge to any teacher, but when learners also have special educational needs, there are complex issues to address. Julian Whybra shares his experiences of children and young people with Asperger syndrome Before diagnosis, children may be thought of as antisocial, just plain stupid, or as socially inept little professors (and thus targets for bullies). It can also be difficult to differentiate Asperger syndrome from other developmental disorders such as autism, Kanner syndrome and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): as the word ‘syndrome’ suggests, Asperger’s is a collection of symptoms, not all of which occur in every affected individual and only a few of which are used by psychologists as diagnostic criteria. Over the years I have got to know many Asperger children attending GIFT curriculum extension summer schools and other courses, and have had the opportunity of close observation of their characteristics. Physical characteristics can include:
How can teachers help? Each child with Asperger syndrome is an individual and it’s important, therefore, to get to know them and their particular traits. Older pupils often have an understanding of their particular difficulties and can discuss with teachers and support assistants, strategies that support them. Information and advice from parents should also be sought. An important issue with young people who appear ‘odd’ is one of acceptance and inclusion among their peers: helping pupils to understand Asperger syndrome and how to respond to a classmate’s ‘quirkiness’ can achieve a lot in terms of avoiding bullying and embracing ‘difference’ within a school community. (Always refer to Asperger syndrome correctly: it is pronounced with a hard ‘g’ as in ‘hamburger’.)
As a brief example of the kind of problems that can beset a gifted Asperger child let me describe ‘Simon’, a boy I’ve known for 19 years, since he was five. At infant school, he singled himself out because he played alone: he didn’t know that ‘play’ could involve other children and saw their friendly approaches as intimidating and interrupting his train of thought. He didn’t understand their humour and did not smile. At junior school his appearance (large head, long arms, long legs, small body, huge feet) and his ability made him the target of bullying by peers and of teacher irritability. He began to excel at mathematics and was a natural artist, being able to draw perfectly from sight. At lower secondary school he was cruelly made a laughing stock by certain teachers (‘did you draw this or did your parents do it?’) and by undisciplined older students and peers, such that his life was being made a misery without him knowing why. During Year 7, his parents removed him from school and educated him at home. Within a year, Asperger syndrome had been diagnosed and he attended his first GIFT course where he met other children with different problems but similar experiences and he began to make the first tentative steps toward a few friendships. He learned to know when he was supposed to smile (which he still does with a false-politician-rictus-grin) and when he was supposed to laugh (far too loudly and sometimes getting it wrong by laughing at the wrong time – ‘but I haven’t said the punchline yet’). His teenage years were spent in the privacy of his own mind, enjoying those things that gave him pleasure – watching the same Star Trek episodes over and over again, adding to his collection of makes and varieties of electrical plugs – and gradually accumulating GCSEs, which he chose out of pleasure rather than slavishly following the diktats of the National Curriculum. He began an Open University degree at 19 and finished it at 22. As he emerged from his teens, he began to take an interest in the church, and, like most things he took up, took it up à la folie ou pas du tout, such that it was the central focus of his life in his early 20s. He began to dress and groom himself bizarrely (this was how he believed young people dressed but he got it badly wrong). People found him strange and shunned him. He decided to train as a maths teacher but found it difficult to be accepted. By default, he also became involved with a fringe religious sect which threatened to take over his life and from which he had a narrow escape. He is currently working at a ‘bog-standard comprehensive’, where I expect he will be eaten alive. And so he stumbles from one crisis to another, never being quite sure that they are crises, or why he’s stumbling, or what this will mean for him. He is unhappy, frustrated, depressed, and desperately seeking normality without knowing what normality is. There are no answers for people with Asperger syndrome; life is just one continuous question mark. Julian Whybra has worked in the field of gifted education since 1978 and is co-founder of GIFT Ltd. He has written widely on gifted education including Enrichment Activities for Gifted Children published by Optimus Education. Information and advice The Office of Autism and Asperger Syndrome Support and Information Services (OAASIS) produces teaching packs, publications, and an outreach service for professionals. Its website has a complete list of other UK organisations dealing with Asperger syndrome. Managing Asperger Syndrome at College and University by Juliet Jamieson and Claire Jamieson (David Fulton Publishers) is an excellent resource for teachers, tutors and parents of young adults, as well as for young people who have Asperger syndrome. This article first appeared in Gifted & Talented Update - Oct 2007 What is this? What is this? These icons allow you to do one of the following: You can 'socially bookmark' this page. If you like this article and think others will be interested in it, you can add it to one of the sites on which web users share links. These are Digg, del.icio.us, Reddit, ma.gnolia, Newsvine or Furl. Add a link to your Google homepage or 'My Yahoo!' page. Search Technorati, Ice Rocket or PubSub to see if any bloggers have linked to this article. | | | | | | | | | |
Member Comments
ACTION Autism - Aspergers Parallel PlanetSubmitted by Teaching Expertise visitor (not verified) on Thu, 2008-04-10 03:22.
Its bad enough there is no real support for the Adults on the spectrum, but to let our children down, there is no excuse... In general its felt GSE are falling our children, cutting children's teacher aide hours in the classroom and ORRS funding to be removed! GSE action plan promises so much more than is happening... Does Tony Attwood think that schools and social services are equipped for the apparent increase in autism? I have recently set up a action autism nz group www.asplanet.info as was sadden to find this is not one yet in NZ hopefully we can make a small differences together, and up the growing number of frustrated people on and off the autism spectrum, a start to having our views heard collectively.... Me and my son are both on the autism spectrum, I never had an education because of this and it hurts that there is no support or help for my wonderful aspie son. The article raised some very valid and helpful points, hopefully will help others understand that little bit more... » reply
Where is the help and understanding?Submitted by http://imprisoned-thoughts.blogspot.com/ (not verified) on Thu, 2008-04-03 11:22.
Excellent article! My son and I have experienced much of what you mention, and still continue to do so. There is scant help and understanding for children who suffer from AS and, at least in my experience, no assistance whatsoever for adult sufferers. My wife is frequently depressed as a consequence of the unacceptable situation we are forced to endure. I have been fighting to try and bring awareness of AS to a wider audience for 6 years; I run 2 blogs, one for children and the other for adults. Unfortunately, with little success. Matthew. » reply
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