The child with Asperger's Syndrome in school
Children with Asperger's Syndrome have an inability to relate to their peers in a normal way, their social behavior and emotions may seem inappropriate, and therefore they are usually excluded from the group, especially at school. In most cases your intelligence is normal or higher. They are childre
Children with Asperger's Syndrome have an inability to relate to their peers in a normal way, their social behavior and emotions may seem inappropriate, and therefore they are usually excluded from the group, especially at school.
In most cases your intelligence is normal or higher. They are children who show a great interest and knowledge on some subjects, they are easy to learn and a fluent language, although sometimes they use expressions that may seem pedantic.
Physically they are children like others although they have difficulty in their movements, so much so that they can seem clumsy or uncoordinated or show tics if they are nervous. According to all these characteristics, how to facilitate the schooling of the child with Asperger's Syndrome?
How to help the child with Asperger's Syndrome in school
They are intelligent, affectionate and sensitive children but, in school, the rest of the children soon identify that their behavior is different and they have to isolate them. The role of the family along with that of the educators is fundamental to achieve the well-being of the child in the center, following these guidelines:
- The parents must meet with the educators when the child is going to enter the school and provide them Reports about your child's abilities, difficulties, preferences for games or activities, their routines, their interests, their motivations and what situations relax them. On the other hand, they must also explain how to calm him down in situations of stress, what can upset him or what can be unbearable. It is convenient that the interviews are frequent throughout the course to be able to modify the teachers' behavior towards the child and see how it evolves.
- The teachers must be properly informed about how to proceed with the Asperger child, since scolding or punishing him for repetitive movement can be counterproductive, as well as changing his class routines or giving him too literal orders, because they do not understand them. For example, if a teacher scolds the child and says: 'stay still and do not stop looking at the book', the child may remain that way for hours.
- Gym classes can be very stressful for them since they are children with balance difficulties and also reject physical contact. In order not to frustrate them, we must assess the level of demand that they apply to them and the activities they can carry out.
- Although they are children with a normal or high intellectual capacity and who seem to have exceptional skills such as learning to read and write at an early age, memorizing read texts or repeating conversations they have heard, it does not imply that they have understood the simplest aspects of what they have learned. who listen or read The teacher must ensure that the child has understood the instructions or tasks to be performed. It is convenient to ask easy and concrete questions and the literal answers should not be accepted.
- If the child has attention deficit or hyperactivity the educators should proceed as with the children with ADHD: give chores, encourage them and not impose very long work times.
- Make sure that parents are aware of homework, exams or exits by writing it down in an agenda, even if the rest of the class does not. And it is that Asperger children help them with lists, graphs, agendas, planning ... so they can control their activities, their duration and the daily order of them.- Their characteristics can make
focus of jokes and jokes of other children , from the school must be very aware so that this does not happen. The best way is to explain to the rest of the children and their parents what these children are like and why they act like this. The collaboration of others is very important.Girls with Asperger's Syndrome have characteristics similar to boys, but milder. They have less aggressive behavior or interrupt the day to day of the class. They are more passive and learn social behaviors better from their peers.
Source
: Federation Asperger Spain
