Helping your child with Aspergers to write assignments

8 comments »

1. To say children with Asperger’s do not understand sarcasm is an over-generalization. I understood sarcasm well before school age, because my father, who also had Asperger’s, used it abundently around the house. Eye contact, on the other hand, is something both of us have as yet to master.

   Comment by Laura — August 11, 2009 @ 3:07 pm

2. My daughter hated to write because it was so frutrating and her writing was very messy. She was given the use of a small computer at her desk and to bring home. She could then type all of her assignments and print them out which not only helped her to get better grades, but improved self-esteem because she could actually do her work without al the frustration!

   Comment by Jill Hickey — August 11, 2009 @ 4:01 pm

3. Does your child attend public school? You said she was given probably a laptop, who was it given by? I would love it if my son had a laptop. His writing is also very messy. I know that is why he doesn’t like to write. Any ideas how to apply for one would be appreciated. thanks, Sue Orr susieorr@bresnan.net

   Comment by Sue Orr — August 11, 2009 @ 5:01 pm

4. My son is in public school in Florida and has use of an “AlphaSmart”, it is in his IEP as “Assistive Technology” and is provided by the school. Hope this helps you.

   Comment by Cyndi — August 12, 2009 @ 1:09 pm

5. I homschool my son with Asperger’s and I found the TV Teacher DVD series helpful for handwriting. His handwriting improved significantly in a week! Just Google or search for thetvteacher.com

   Comment by Rebekah Emerson — August 12, 2009 @ 2:02 pm

6. Yes, it was a small laptop and provided by the public school she went to. Per her IEP she was given the assistive technology. I had to request it and her ESE teachers agreed to try it. We are in Broward County, Florida.

   Comment by Jill Hickey — August 13, 2009 @ 8:13 pm

7. I agree with the above comments. We were made for computers and they were made for us. Handwriting was made for Neurotypicals and no amount of scolding will make us write well. Neurotypicals have mental templates in their brains that they are actually tracing on the paper when they write. We don’t have those templates. The best we can do is scrawl. All it takes is one scolding from a teacher about “You can do better if you try harder” (crazy-making if one is already trying as hard as one can) to cause permanent trauma. I was never praised, never wanted. School was not fun. It was self-esteem destroying. I could not draw maps or remember where countries were or “see words in my head” to learn to spell them. I didn’t realize other people could see things in their head and they didn’t realize I couldn’t. (no. I don’t know how I learned to read but I a hyperlexic) I am 52. I am not over the trauma of elementary school yet, never mind college. I dropped out of a class I wanted to take because the professor assured me he would not pass me if I didn’t write neatly. He asked me if I could threat a needle. I can but not easily but being Aspergian and thus too honest I unfortunately answered yes. He decided that meant I was just lazy! 🙁 Second hand smoke gave me asthma and forced me to leave school anyway but there is no way I could have passed that class with that requirement. One warning, the above article reinforces the myth that we are all visual learners. Many of us are not. I can barely see vague wisps of colors in my head. I never could learn from teachers demonstrating anything because I lack the mirror neurons to reproduce inside myself the movements of the teacher. By the time I figured out his/her hand was up there, it had already been several other places and there was no mental energy left to devote to learning the subject itself. Lack of social status meant few teachers would bother to talk me through stuff later which is the only way I can learn from a teacher. For instance I never learned to balance chemical equations because the teacher told me to my face since I wasn’t on any sports team he needed to spend his time tutoring the football players instead so they could stay in the game! the same thing happened when it was time to learn to drive. My father insisted I learn from watching him. There was no way. At 32 my friend sat me down in the driver’s seat and talked me through it. No problem. I have almost had two car accidents because I can’t follow hand gestures. I saw the flag man and once a cop waving their arms around. I thought they meant go. They meant stop. But I could not tell. I saw a flag man do that today but I was not the one driving. His stop pole was leaning against a tree. he was not bothering with it. He preferred to sit and direct people with his hands. I would not have gotten those directions. I’ve had friends give me verbal instructions they supplemented by pointing and then yell at me when I didn’t get that part of what they were trying to communicate. Is there even a name for this learning disability? How many others have it? How many are failing school because this is not realized? I really did. They passed me but despite my brilliance there were classes I never mastered including that chemistry class. He gave me a C and told me to just go to the library and not bother the rest of the class because I kept trying and trying to learn and I was “bugging” folk. I didn’t realize at that time, that was my problem. But I do know I only mastered long division in 4th grade because a teacher was kind enough to talk me through it when after a frusterating day of not being able to figure it out from watching her demonstrate it over and over on the board she just accidentally started teaching to my learning style and started talking me though long division. They wasted hours of my time making me sit there and “pay attention” while teachers waved their arms around and I was supposed to magically get information out of tha I behaved myself, being female but in this day and age a male child would have ended up medicated to keep them from fidgeting out of boredom and frustration but that would not have helped him learn!

   Comment by Elizabeth Hensley — August 13, 2009 @ 8:17 pm

8. comments »
   1.To say children with Asperger’s do not understand sarcasm is an over-generalization. I understood sarcasm well before school age, because my father, who also had Asperger’s, used it abundently around the house. Eye contact, on the other hand, is something both of us have as yet to master.

   Comment by Laura — August 11, 2009 @ 3:07 pm

   HEY LAURA, I JUST GOT MY ASPIE SON TO LOOK PEOPLE IN THE NOSE …. THAT WAY IT LOOKS LIKE HE IS LOOKING AT THEM SOMETIMES BUT REALLY HE ISN’T …. IT WORKS FOR US, HE IS NOW 12.

   Comment by linda — August 27, 2009 @ 3:30 am

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