Ryan+Woolford

//Diagnosis, Assessment and Teaching Recommendations for Students with Asperger’s Syndrome // By Ryan Woolford 2012

A thorough review and analysis of the current peer review journals has allowed me to present several important recommendations for teachers dealing with autism and Asperger’s to find some common Diagnosis and Assessment strategies Before any recommendations can be given, it is important to understand the issue at hand, Asperger’s syndrome. Asperger’s syndrome is a neurobiological disorder and a form of autism. Symptoms range from mild to severe. The syndrome shares many of the same characteristics as High-Functioning Autism and is has only recently been recognized as a diagnosis. Common signs and symptoms include deficiencies in social skills, difficulties with transitions and preference for routines. Obsession with routine, preoccupation with specific subject of interest, difficulty reading nonverbal cues and difficulty determining proper body space are common symptoms. Students with Asperger’s will often be overly sensitive to sounds, tastes, smells, and sights. Some may be bothered by phantom sounds or lights (Volkmar 1995). Their perception of the world very different than other students and special accommodation will need to be made for lessons, classroom management, social expectation and behavioral expectation. Many behaviors that seem odd or unusual are due to those neurological differences and not the result of intentional rudeness or bad behavior. Care must be taken every day to maintain the focus and attention of the Asperger’s student to achieve their learning goals regardless of the many challenges they are faced with. Students with Asperger’s have a normal IQ and many individual’s exhibit exceptional skill or talent in specific areas. Because of their high degree of functionality they are often viewed as eccentric or odd and can easily become victims of teasing and bullying. These students often are extremely literal and have difficulty using language in a social context. (Volkmar 1995)

According to the Education Information Research Center: // “The essential features of Asperger's Disorder are severe and sustained impairment in social interaction and the development of restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, and activities. The disturbance must cause clinically significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning. In contrast to Autistic Disorder, there are no clinically significant delays in language. In addition, there are no clinically significant delays in cognitive development or in the development of age-appropriate self-help skills, adaptive behavior, and curiosity about the environment in childhood. The diagnosis is not given if the criteria are met for any other specific Pervasive Developmental Disorder or for Schizophrenia.”( // // []) // Strategies for effectively teaching students with Asperger’s include a multitude of techniques. I will review several of these techniques focusing on the area of teaching they will be useful in. First, let’s look at classroom management. In order to maintain classroom management with Asperger’s we as teachers must insistence on sameness in the classroom. They are easily overwhelmed by minimal changes in routines, sensitive to environmental stressors and prefer rituals and routines. Make a consistent plan for daily activities and stay to it when possible. Students with Asperger’s will have restricted range of social competence. They are often preoccupation with singular topics such as train schedules or maps (Volkmar 1995 ) . They may ask repetitive questions about circumscribed topics or obsessively collecting items. Provide them with numerous visuals during lessons and use manipulatives to illicit interest. Use what they know and what they like to introduce new topics or subject matter in a way that’s not threatening or foreign.

Second, let’s examine group learning. These students often have impairment in their social interactions. They are commonly unable to understand the "rules" of interaction. They can be poor comprehension of jokes and metaphor and sarcastic speech. Inattention can be another major issue with group learning. Asperger’s students often have poor organizational skills are easily distracted and may focuses on irrelevant stimuli. Most have difficulty learning in group contexts. Make group activities accessible to them by creating a friendly non-judgmental environment where students collaborate. Don’t have a group assign them the task of leading the activity as I may make them ‘shutdown’. Many students with Asperger’s are often unsuccessful in games involving motor skills and will see these games as punishments. Be careful when using any games or activities that require physical coordination (Volkmar 1995 ) .

Now let’s examine study habits and academic issues. Academic difficulties include restricted problem solving skills, literal thinking, and deficiencies with abstract reasoning. Students with Asperger’s are often emotional vulnerability. They may have low self-esteem, become easily overwhelmed, have poor coping mechanics with stressors and self-critical of their performance. Remember to be a source of encouragement and praise as they perform tasks and work on projects. Give Asperger’s students positive feedback and use negative feedback in productive ways making sure not to publically display issues that may single them out.

Assessment of Asperger’s students must be done with care. Testing can bring out anxiety for Asperger’s students. When possible, accommodations must include testing in a comfortable environment and maintaining routines and patterns. The students will need to take the test in the same place each time. The tests should be similar to each other in format and style. The tests should not be written with complex text or require long written responses. Assessment is a difficult issue for the teacher of an Asperger’s student. Care and creativity must be used in the tests design and implementation. Some students will benefit from visuals while others will benefit more from oral or physical presentation of learned content material. It must be the task of the teacher to determine what strategy for assessment best fits the particular students and classroom setting.

There are many special considerations to take into account when dealing with Asperger’s students in a classroom setting. First, inappropriate social interactions and inability to form friendships can cause daily problems, but with bullying and with classroom management. The class must be able to work together and bullying must be stamped out at the root- proper classroom management and reinforcement of general rules of respect. It is not uncommon for teacher to become overwhelmed with the distractions that Asperger’s students can cause. Their intense absorption of topics can be the cause of frustration. Lesson plans must be able to stimulate their interest and allow transition to occur in their thinking at a pace they can handle. Teachers must provide multi-sensory lessons that take the Asperger’s students beyond the lesson and allow for higher level comprehension. Work Cited

Educational Information Research center. ERIC. Asperger. []

Volkmar. //Asperger's Syndrome Guidelines for Assessment and Diagnosis //. Learning Disabilities Association of America. New Haven, Connecticut. 1995