Teaching Students with Asperger's Syndrome

Having spent 15 years working with adolescent students who had emotional and /or behavioral disorders, some of the most complex students I worked with were those who had Asperger's Syndrome. Asperger's Syndrome is a neurobiological disorder which is part of the autism spectrum. Most children and adolescents who are diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome are usually very verbal and demonstrate average to above-average IQs.

Asperger's Syndrome is diagnosed through examining atypical patterns of behavior, activities and interests. Asperger's Syndrome may affect behavior, senses, and vision and hearing systems. Often children and adolescents with Asperger's Syndrome fixate on a single subject or activity. (For example: A child may only want to learn about trains. Everything will center around trains - books, movies, pictures, drawings, toys, conversations, clothing, etc...) Students with Asperger's Syndrome have extreme difficulty with breaks in routine and transitions. They also have very poor social interactions. Most children and adolescents with Asperger's Syndrome with demonstrate repetitive movements and sensitivity to light, sound smell and/or touch.

Until recently, it is believed Asperger's Syndrome was under-diagnosed. This is because many professionals and adults learned to compensate for Asperger's Syndrome and used their fixations to their advantage.

In a classroom setting, Asperger's Syndrome may manifest in behaviors which include, but are not limited to:

Poor eye contact

Lack of empathy for others

Talking about only one subject/topic and missing the cues that others are bored

Clumsy walk

Lack of facial expressions

Conversations and activities only center around themselves

Inability to usually socially appropriate tone and/or volume of speech

Average to excellent memorization skills - may excel in areas such as math or spelling

Often very verbal

May be teased, bullied or isolated by peers

Lack of common sense and/or "street smarts"

If you have a student in class who has Asperger's Syndrome, here are some ideas for assisting them: