Teaching a Student with Asperger Syndrome

Ms. R, this is Adam, he will be coming to your class for social skills from now on.” I remember my principal telling me years ago while introducing me to Adam. Adam has Asperger Syndrome, which is a form of autism. Most people with Asperger’s are considered high-functioning autistics. Adam was definitely a one-of-a-kind student, and like many people with Asperger Syndrome, needed some help with everyday social skills. I was a behavior-disorder teacher in a middle school and teaching social skills was one of my specialties. 

Adam looked around the room, from behind his large glasses and promptly said, “Umm, Ms. R, social skills isn’t really an academic class. Math is an academic class and I am quite good at it.” He then proceeded to sit down and continuously play with his mechanical pencil, spinning it over and over on his desk.

People living with Asperger’s have problems with social interaction. For example, Adam never quite understood why it wasn’t appropriate to draw sexually explicit pictures and pass them around the lunchroom. He really didn’t understand what was wrong with that. With most 6th grade boys, you could talk to them about why it is socially wrong, give them a consequence and the issue is over. With Adam, you could try to explain yourself until you were blue in the face and get nowhere. Because of his Asperger’s, Adam sees the world very differently than others. Therefore, it was very hard to explain to him why something was inappropriate