Asperger Spectrum Disorder and Teacher Understanding of Social Behavior

When you look at a high functioning Asperger Syndrome child he looks just as normal and playful as any of the other children his age. But when talking to a teacher about a child with asperger disorder, she doesn’t always realize that the asperger spectrum child takes things in differently. We recently had teacher to apologize because Austin didn’t understand an eye exam the way the other children were. Austin is a loveable little red head, but as he looks just like other kids, she expected him to react in the same way others would, when having an eye exam. She repeated tasks several times getting angry at him and he would get confused and accused her of hollering at him.

Understanding Aspergers

Teachers have the attitude if he is so smart, why can’t he understand things like other children. He can go on for hours about his special little car and what goes on with it and how it works. But to explain something his teacher wants in detail, he can’t do it. At this point he will get stressed and upset and no matter what you do; he’s not going to listen.

Behavior Difficulties

Many children with aspergers are also taking mood altering drugs to help with their disability. Some children with autism are also diagnosed with ADHD and other diagnosis too, like depression, and bipolar. Some children with autism sometimes take medications to calm them down, and help with their mood swings. Medications for adhd like Stattera, or Adderall have proven helpful for ease in the classroom and at home.

Some teachers have even gone to the point of thinking they know him so well. Some teacher’s think they know all about asperger disorder, and can change his behaviors; blaming behavior on poor parenting skills. There are always those that are opinionated and will blame the parents for the causes of autism. You really have to go through it yourself to know how hard it is to deal with a child with autism. You’ll find yourself in many parent teacher conferences during the year over your child.

Asperger Children Not Social

At times he won’t join in with activities with others because they are too demanding for him. He has a lot of social anxiety, and doesn’t react to children or follow the same social rules as other children. Many times he comes home from school in a bad mood, and it reflects on his siblings at home. When he says something he always speaks his mind, and is always blunt, but he is taken for being rude and arrogant.

He has gets back at kids by spitting, or hitting or expressing his anger, but he never knows why he did something. He can’t say he is sorry, because he doesn’t understand why he is in trouble in the first place, or why he did something. He has a harder time at making friends; others see him as different as the other little boys in his first grade class. He does want friends and has gone to the point of giving away little toys to his friends lately, as a means of making friends.

Parent-Teacher Communication

All you can do when dealing with a teacher, is have lots of teacher and parent communication so the teacher will understand more about Asberger Syndrome. The childs teacher attitude reflects on the child too. There are a lot of teachers that don’t understand about Asperger Disorder, or even know what it is. It’s up to you to try to make them understand what you are going through at home. The teachers assume the problems at school are brought on by behavior at home. In reality, the child has trouble controlling his own impulses.