16....never realised that an old obsessive like me might actually be normal! I endorse all that's been said about people being individuals, not the labels society, or worst of all the medical profession, hang around their necks. I think you need a lot of patience to work with/understand aspergers and autistic children. Sadly many adults just don't understand that it's not an illness, or abnormality that needs to be avoided. Time and patience are in short supply these days.
When I worked with special needs children of all descriptions in the "normal" system, it was just time and patience and that was needed to establish how best to help a child fit in to what is often an uncompromising situation. The children often knew how they could be helped and it just needed somebody to explain the why and wherefore to all those staff (and class members) around them.
But it's not just autism - my grandson has cerebral palsy and his mother has fought tooth and nail to get him accepted as "just another child" whilst the medical profession refer endlessly to "a special needs child" and what he can't do. Delighted to say he actually can do considerably more than they predicted, mainly because he has been allowed to "just get on with it" in normal situations.
One of the huge difficulties I found when supporting the parents of children with disabilities is that in order to apply for support for your child you have to emphasise all the things that your child can't do and may never be able to do - all the things that make him/her different from most other children and that is so very depressing for a parent .......... what most parents want to do is to highlight all the positives about their child, all the things he/she can do, all the triumphs and the funny little idiosyncracies that make them so loveable and an important part of their family.
We worked hard to include all the good stuff in a child's SEN and the Statement Reviews, and always ended on a really positive note
One of the Special Schools I worked with would include a video of each child in their review, enjoying the playground, interacting with their peers and making a positive contribution to the world ... as a professional it wasn't really appropriate for me to well up with tears, but I frequently did.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
27 (of course) but no surprise there. Interesting that there is quite a contingent of us on here with special needs experience. Maybe it says something about gardening!
I too worked most of my 30 years in teaching with special needs kids, including Asperger's and autistic and loved the daily challenges of solving communications problems and making subjects comprehensible. We had many great times and I remember many of my students with affection, and happily, those I have met since they left have seemed to return the compliment. It was a long slow battle against ignorance and prejudice amongst other students and staff initially, but our small secondary was eventually a fully integrated teaching environment with many of our SEN students leaving with several GCSEs. This was not considered good enough for school league tables though and our numbers dropped to the point where we were closed. Our SEN students received little or no help in their new school (my daughter went there, knew most of my students and reported back!) and were just left to flounder, while our experienced teaching team were left to find jobs where they could, or for a lucky few of us, take an early retirement package. A sad day for all and dispiriting to know that it still goes on.
I'm a support worker for adults that have learning disabilities, I can't go into details obviously but can give an example of the frustrations.
A person that has severe autisum and no communication goes to specialist learning disability dentist with toothache, dentist says can't really see but the person has teeth and that's not bad compared to other people of this "type"! do I go to the garage and ask how my car is in comparison to my neighbours!?!?!
A visit a drop in centre where I'm told people with a various range of abilities are making glass art by designing patterns on a tile and firing it, great I think, that's fantastic!...no. I go in and the support workers are making art and the people that are supported are sitting in wheelchairs banging their heads! But a box has been ticked to say they are involved! I have departments that think they know best drive me mental on a daily basis, nice to know so many of you have an understanding instead of a pigeonhole. your lovely!
I also spent my entire career teaching children with severe learning difficulties and my special interest has always been working with children with autism. There is no greater job satisfaction than spending time working out what life looks like from their viewpoint and then providing an education that is motivating and relevant for them. It is sometimes very challenging but I have had some amazing moments of success over the years and they will stay with me forever. It is wrong for us to expect those with autism to change their behaviour to fit in with our perception of 'normal' - better that we change our behaviour to understand and embrace their viewpoint.
You do remember forever. One of my autistic boys had a fixation with the word shampoo. It was very entertaining to watch him manipulate the conversation so that you would be forced to say the word - even when you knew what he was doing, it was hard to escape the inevitable and then he would crow and shout 'shampoo' over and over again. Another boy was in my English lessons and really struggled with work that involved understanding character and feeling, even when it was of a simple nature. I tried hard to give him some ideas on how to tackle it, knowing it might not be possible for him and despite some sticky moments we managed a good enough relationship for him to have some success.
The syllabus was not all in my control but the delivery was up to me. I particularly enjoyed covering the RE understanding of other religions aspect through art lessons, making arti lamps from clay for Hinduism, 'calligraphy' for Chinese New Year, Hanukkah decorations and so on, the activity helped the children remember better and the relaxed atmosphere meant they could talk more freely about things that were hard to understand.
What a specialist community we are - in so many ways!
Aspergers children simply don't distinguish between the very unusual and special and the rest of the things they do - it's all just part of life. Thank goodness there are people out there to ensure at least some of them are able to follow the exceptional paths of interest.
Posts
Just goes to show there's no such thing as 'normal' - just variations on an ability to function ... somehow ....
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
16....never realised that an old obsessive like me might actually be normal! I endorse all that's been said about people being individuals, not the labels society, or worst of all the medical profession, hang around their necks. I think you need a lot of patience to work with/understand aspergers and autistic children. Sadly many adults just don't understand that it's not an illness, or abnormality that needs to be avoided. Time and patience are in short supply these days.
When I worked with special needs children of all descriptions in the "normal" system, it was just time and patience and that was needed to establish how best to help a child fit in to what is often an uncompromising situation. The children often knew how they could be helped and it just needed somebody to explain the why and wherefore to all those staff (and class members) around them.
But it's not just autism - my grandson has cerebral palsy and his mother has fought tooth and nail to get him accepted as "just another child" whilst the medical profession refer endlessly to "a special needs child" and what he can't do. Delighted to say he actually can do considerably more than they predicted, mainly because he has been allowed to "just get on with it" in normal situations.
One of the huge difficulties I found when supporting the parents of children with disabilities is that in order to apply for support for your child you have to emphasise all the things that your child can't do and may never be able to do - all the things that make him/her different from most other children and that is so very depressing for a parent .......... what most parents want to do is to highlight all the positives about their child, all the things he/she can do, all the triumphs and the funny little idiosyncracies that make them so loveable and an important part of their family.
We worked hard to include all the good stuff in a child's SEN and the Statement Reviews, and always ended on a really positive note
One of the Special Schools I worked with would include a video of each child in their review, enjoying the playground, interacting with their peers and making a positive contribution to the world ... as a professional it wasn't really appropriate for me to well up with tears, but I frequently did.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
27 (of course
) but no surprise there. Interesting that there is quite a contingent of us on here with special needs experience. Maybe it says something about gardening!
I too worked most of my 30 years in teaching with special needs kids, including Asperger's and autistic and loved the daily challenges of solving communications problems and making subjects comprehensible. We had many great times and I remember many of my students with affection, and happily, those I have met since they left have seemed to return the compliment. It was a long slow battle against ignorance and prejudice amongst other students and staff initially, but our small secondary was eventually a fully integrated teaching environment with many of our SEN students leaving with several GCSEs. This was not considered good enough for school league tables though and our numbers dropped to the point where we were closed. Our SEN students received little or no help in their new school (my daughter went there, knew most of my students and reported back!) and were just left to flounder, while our experienced teaching team were left to find jobs where they could, or for a lucky few of us, take an early retirement package. A sad day for all and dispiriting to know that it still goes on.
18.
My neice's son has Aspergers, he's a great little boy, you just need to understand some of his quirks.
26
In the sticks near Peterborough
I'm a support worker for adults that have learning disabilities, I can't go into details obviously but can give an example of the frustrations.
A person that has severe autisum and no communication goes to specialist learning disability dentist with toothache, dentist says can't really see but the person has teeth and that's not bad compared to other people of this "type"!
do I go to the garage and ask how my car is in comparison to my neighbours!?!?!
A visit a drop in centre where I'm told people with a various range of abilities are making glass art by designing patterns on a tile and firing it, great I think, that's fantastic!...no. I go in and the support workers are making art and the people that are supported are sitting in wheelchairs banging their heads! But a box has been ticked to say they are involved! I have departments that think they know best drive me mental on a daily basis, nice to know so many of you have an understanding instead of a pigeonhole.
your lovely!
Me 5 Husband (scored by me) 28
I also spent my entire career teaching children with severe learning difficulties and my special interest has always been working with children with autism. There is no greater job satisfaction than spending time working out what life looks like from their viewpoint and then providing an education that is motivating and relevant for them. It is sometimes very challenging but I have had some amazing moments of success over the years and they will stay with me forever. It is wrong for us to expect those with autism to change their behaviour to fit in with our perception of 'normal' - better that we change our behaviour to understand and embrace their viewpoint.
(Sorry, pet subject, I could go on and on!)
You do remember forever. One of my autistic boys had a fixation with the word shampoo. It was very entertaining to watch him manipulate the conversation so that you would be forced to say the word - even when you knew what he was doing, it was hard to escape the inevitable and then he would crow and shout 'shampoo' over and over again
. Another boy was in my English lessons and really struggled with work that involved understanding character and feeling, even when it was of a simple nature. I tried hard to give him some ideas on how to tackle it, knowing it might not be possible for him and despite some sticky moments we managed a good enough relationship for him to have some success.
The syllabus was not all in my control but the delivery was up to me. I particularly enjoyed covering the RE understanding of other religions aspect through art lessons, making arti lamps from clay for Hinduism, 'calligraphy' for Chinese New Year, Hanukkah decorations and so on, the activity helped the children remember better and the relaxed atmosphere meant they could talk more freely about things that were hard to understand.
What a specialist community we are - in so many ways!
Aspergers children simply don't distinguish between the very unusual and special and the rest of the things they do - it's all just part of life. Thank goodness there are people out there to ensure at least some of them are able to follow the exceptional paths of interest.