AN OVERVIEW OF THE LEARNER WITH ASPERGER SYNDROME …

[Pages:60]AN OVERVIEW OF THE LEARNER WITH ASPERGER SYNDROME: A SNAPSHOT OF LEARNER CHARACTERISTICS

Brenda Smith Myles

WHERE ARE WE IN IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF LIFE OF THOSE WITH ASD?

|Independent living |Employment |Friendships and other relationships |Community participation

y What is the focus in school, as a whole?

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ASD: THE INVISIBLE DISABILITY

"You could teach a child with ASD the theory of relativity once and he'd get it. But you'd have to to tell him the rules for lining up for recess 500 times."

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PREVALENCE

|1 in 91* |1 in 110** |4 or 5:1 male to female ratio

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(2009) Health Resources and Services Administration, Health and Human Resources

**

(2009) Centers for Disease Control

PREVALENCE

STARTING POINTS

|A growing body of research suggests that autism can be accurately diagnosed by 2 years old

|American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines oppose a "wait and see" approach.

Let's Just Wait and

See

Bishop, S.L., Luyster, R., Richler, J., & Lord, C. (2008). Diagnostic Assessment. In K. Chawarska, A. Klin, & F.R. Volkmar (Eds.), Autism Spectrum Disorders in Infants and Toddlers: Diagnosis, Assessment, and Treatment (pp. 23-49). New York, NY: Guilford Press. Johnson, C.P., Myers, S.M., Council on Children with Disabilities (2007). Identification and evaluation of children with autism spectrum disorders. Pediatrics, 120(5) 1183-1215.

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HANS ASPERGER (1944)

|"... I will describe a particularly interesting and highly recognisable type of child. The children ... all have in common a fundamental disturbance which manifests itself in their physical appearance, expressive functions, and, indeed, their whole behavior".

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CHARACTERISTICS

| Cognitive Differences | Social/Communication | Restricted Patterns of Behavior, Interests,

and Activities | Sensory Differences | Motor Differences | Emotional Vulnerability | Known Medical or other Biological Factors

COGNITIVE DIFFERENCES

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INTELLIGENCE

| Average IQ | No verbal/performance split | 22% have IQs in the superior or very superior

range | Low comprehension scores may reflect poor social

judgment, failure to take responsibility, immaturity, concrete thinking

IQ DIVERSITY OF INDIVIDUALS WITH AN ASD



MATURITY

| Children with AS are generally considered to have the social maturity of someone 1/3 to 2/3 of their age.

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THEORY OF MIND

| Difficulty in ... y Predicting y Reading intentions y Understanding emotions y Explaining own behavior y Perspective or reference y Reading and reacting to others' interests y Understanding social interactions

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After lunch today, I had trouble concentrating because this kid kept tapping his pencil. I told him to stop but he just looked at me and kept tapping. He continued to tap his pencil even after the teacher told him to stop. When I couldn't stand the noise another second, I grabbed his pencil and broke it. It isn't fair that I'm the one in trouble now. This is Asperger Syndrome.

CENTRAL COHERENCE

| Idiosyncratic focus | Preference for the known | Difficulty in choosing and prioritizing | Difficulty seeing connections | Lack of compliance

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A GREAT EXAMPLE OF CENTRAL COHERENCE

Reason No. 4 Why Guys Don't Write Advice Columns Submitted by E.T. Thompson Reader's Digest, 3/08, p. 182

DEAR ABIE,

| The other day I set off for work, leaving my husband in the house watching the TV. I hadn't gone more than a mile when my engine conked out and the car shuddered to a halt. I walked back home, only to find my husband making love to our neighbor. He was let go from his job six months ago, and he says he has been feeling increasingly depressed and worthless.

DEAR ABIE (CONT)

| I love him very much, but I don't know if I can trust him anymore. What should I do? Sincerely, Frustrated

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DEAR FRUSTRATED,

| A car stalling can be caused by a variety of faults with the engine. Check that there is no debris in the fuel line. If it's clear, check the jubliee clips holding the vacuum pipes onto the inlet manifold. Or it could be that the fuel pump itself is faulty, causing low delivery pressure to the carburetor float chamber. I hope this helps.

CENTRAL COHERENCE

| When learning this information, what is important?

| If you have good central coherence, you will memorize the names that match to the parts.

| If you do not, you memorize the words in order.

| Or memorize the colors.

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FOCUS ON THE WRONG THING

AND YOU MISS THE BIG PICTURE

Boys vs. girls

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GET THE FACTS AND DRAW THE

WRONG CONCLUSIONS

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CENTRAL COHERENCE

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Attribution

? Attribution refers to how individuals attribute success and failure

? Students with AS generally attribute failure and success to external causes

? Negative attributions are related to depression levels

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