Well, its my first year in college and for the exception of some group work all is well. That is for the exception of some group work. Earlier today i had a meeting with my profesors and they are all concerned about the level of cooperation between myself and the rest of my class. It wasn't until i explained to my profesors that i was dignosed with Asperger's Syndrome, did they finaly understand. At one point they where sugesting that i should switch programs, depending on if the situation gets better or worse. The deam sugested maybe more awerness whould be known to the class, and hopefully there won't be any problems. I have support, however i don't know if it will make much of a impact. I' haven't infromed my parents about this, but whats your take, as well how hard is it rally to work in a group setting with this this disorder
I am the director of a program for children with disabilities and one of 'my' kids is diagnosed with aspergers. It is an autism spectrum disorder so depending on whether your sensory deprived or sensory overloaded group work could be difficult.
What does sensory deprived and sensory overload mean? Is Non-Verbal Listening Disabled on the Austistic Spectrum?
Stinks of discrimination. Fight it! You dont work well in groups, So What? You have just as much of a right to particppate in those classes as any other student! What if you were blind? deaf? crippled? Fight it!
I agree with Shane completely Third Benjamin this sucks. If you had a disablility that your college could see , I bet there wouldn't be such a problem. I would inform your parents about this, and if you see any medical professionals I would consider getting help from them as well....does your college have a co-ordinator for students with special needs, because if it does they should be doing something to help you. Good luck
well, mooninmama to be honest i sorta thought, me being diagnosed with AS, ya right. Until now, high school was sorta easy, but i had been diagnosed by the school previously so they knew i needed some support. I've been meeting with karen at students with disablities, and we where talking about how to inform the class. for me i whould say the bigest problem for me is the interpretation, i saw this has a unfair, but karren sugested there trying to help out.
Benjamin, forgive me if I don't understand you ( I've been up most of the night with one of my children who was feeling poorly) but do you have problems with your diagnosis? Aspergers Syndrome isn't anything to be ashamed of, yes you are different, but a lot of good has come into society through people who think in your way, they're pretty sure Einstein had Aspergers ! I should talk to Karen some more, I don't think that your college wanting to inform the class is a bad thing myself, but it does of course depend on the way they do it in. You have a lot to offer them, staying with the course should be to all your mutual benefits. Sorry if some of this is a bit muddled, I need to go and get some sleep Love Sue
the ADA protects you. Your school has to make REASONABLE accomadations by law and having you work independentley or modifying a group is definitley reasonable. I know a few laywers who work on ada cases down here in the states and some advocates for equal education. If you need any help with this pm me. I also just completed something for work about Asperger's and would be happy to foward it to you. It is just general information and it mostly pertains to children but it has all the basics in there and tips for learning with ease and easy ideas for accomadations that you could bring up to your prof.
sensory deprived means you don't feel enough and sensory overloaded means you feel too much. So some kids with autism spectrum disorders will need really tight hugs and sensory integration when they act out if they are sensory deprived where kids with sensory overload need a quite and dark room with no stimulation.
I'm thinking about switching out just because the industry isn't stable, that plus its all group work. Also when i started i sorta didn't belive it, until i started my first week of college. I'm thinking of starting new in a diffrent program. is it all right if i can pm you???lynsey???
Greetings fellow aspie. I made it through high school undiagnosed because it was a rural school and I was good enough at coping/compensating that when I couldn't do something they just thought I was being lazy (when I was working my butt off just to appear normal, but they couldn't see that...). I finally got diagnosed last summer when working at a camp full of noisy kids brought out my aspie tendencies enough that I wound up hiding in a dark stairwell biting my arm. Sooo glad I got diagnosed before coming to college -- if I didn't know what was going on now I'd think I was going crazy. You asked how hard things were at college, especially group work... I can't give you an absolute explanation, but I can tell you how it's been for me. The worst part for me is the sensory stuff -- even just crossing the street is hard because when things start getting bad I can look both ways before crossing, see a Fedex truck, not recognize that it is a truck and it can hurt me, and step out in front of it. On my bad days I have to stand at a corner waiting forever for somebody else to come along and cross the street so I can follow them. I'm registered with my college's resource center for persons with disabilities, but there's not really that much they can do. They can give me papers saying I need to take my exams in a quiet place and such, but they can't change my teachers' attitudes. Since I have no visable disabilities, and can sometimes appear gifted in certain areas, they assume it's OK to expect the world of me when I'm already running myself ragged just trying to pass for normal. I've got one professor right now who likes to embarass me by bringing class attention te me if I start stimming (I rock, spin in spinning chairs, or repetitively load and unload my mechanical pencils)... I've already tried to explain to her that I've got an autistic-spectrum disorder and that this is normal behavior and when I need to do it I need to do it, but she doesn't seem to get it. And the resource center can't do anything about it because she's not violating any of their accomodations. I've fortunately not had to work in a group setting while at college... I specifically chose my classes in order to avoid that. If you have to have a class where most people would be doing group work, that should be one of the things your school's resource center should be able to give you an accomodation for. It is a "reasonable request", so they are required by the ADA to honor it. A few general pieces of advice for you on dealing with college as an aspie: 1. Don't expect perfection. You sound like you were like me in high school, able to cope well enough to hide the fact that you had a problem. If you can't do it with the additional load in college, THAT'S OK. You are _NOT_ being lazy if you can't deal with everything perfectly... us aspies have to work twice as hard at some stuff to even come off normal, and if we give even a hint of giftedness they require us to be at least twice as good as normal, so that's at least 4 times the work... if you can't handle that, YOU ARE NOT BEING LAZY. 2. Distinguish between academic difficulties and other difficulties. This is especially important if academic performance/intelligence is a matter of pride for you. Having problems doesn't mean you're stupid. If you're doing badly in a class, it doesn't necessarily mean you have trouble with the material... remember it could be anything from the fact that you're usually 20 minutes late because it's hard to find the class to the fact that the professor's voice is at just the wrong pitch and keeps making you space out. 3. Make time for yourself. Yes, you probably can handle 16 credits or more, in the academic sense, but keep the personal sense in mind too -- it is very easy to run yourself ragged and not realize it until you're on the verge of collapse because "the classes are all easy"... the classes may be easy, but that doesn't mean the situations surrounding them are. One thing I've learned from other aspies (and, unfortunately, myself), is that we don't tend to realize we're stressed until it's gotten to the point where it's significantly interfering with our lives. And then we don't know what to do about it and feel bad for being so lazy because other people wouldn't find the situation stressful because they don't have additional Asperger's-related stresses. If you can, find a "safe place", where there are no sudden noises or bright lights and such, and try to spend time there every day. 4. If having to have a roommate is putting a lot of extra stress on you (some aspies can not relax when around another person), a single room is an accomodation for Asperger's for which there is already a lot of precedent, and you are entirely within your rights to ask for one. 5. If sensory overload is a problem for you, find out if controlled sound can help. When I get the "Oh my gawd everybody's speaking Norwegian why can't I understand a word they're saying?" feeling, I find I can make it stop a lot faster if I get out of the situation and listen to familiar music. For some reason hearing songs you know the words to can help you brain get back to processing words. Even if you don't have problems with going non-verbal, listening to familiar music can help you with stress because you already know where the sound is going so it's not as threatening as random noises from your surroundings. If you have an account on LiveJournal, you might want to join the "aspergers" community there... there's a lot of us aspie college students hanging out there (and, interestingly enough, a lot of aspie deadheads...)
Every 1 out of 160 people have Aspergers. It's not a disability, it's a gift! I have to go to counselers, and they help. Listen to this. Eienstien had Aspergers, Bill Gates has Aspergers, and I many other amazing people have it. At times, it is a living hell but use it to your advantage. Me? I can't work in groups, make eye contact, or carry out conversations. Yet, (and I honestly don't mean to show off) I am brilliant! I am 12, and at the social level of a 7 year old. I ahve emotional problems. If you were to ask my mom last time she saw me smile, she would be thinking for a while. As for your problem, you can get an IEP. I have one, and it's awesome. I get so many special privelages at school it's not even funny! People with Aspergers rule! And maybe we can meet up some day, after you and I change the world forever.
My daughter is 6 and has been diagnosed since Feb, she has a bit of trouble at school socializing and concentrating. I wondered if anybody had any advice about how old they were when they found out what they felt like, or at what sort of age to tell a child they have aspergers. I haven't told my daughter yet I think she's too young yet to understand, I've told her different and she's special! Thanks, everyone have a good day!
she is special! I am 12, and my parents began trying to figure things out right away. I think she could understand it by the time she was 10. All she needs to know is she has a gift, but she will have to work extra hard to use it. That's all she needs to know for know, go into details later.
Thanks for your reply! She is gifted she has the most fantastic memory, she remembers everything, she's fantastic on a PC and on the Playstation 2 wich I take it you are aswell! Thanks for your advice! Best Wishes
Great minds work alike. I remember everything, and am very talented on the PS2 and computer. Glad I could help!
